Martin Overcomes Flat Tire to Win

Mark Martin was lucky enough to have his bad luck early. And his car was good enough to overcome it.

Martin, driving a Ford, lost two laps because of a flat tire. But rain-induced yellow flags positioned him to roar back and win the DeVilbiss 400 Sunday at Michigan Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

“Oh man, I wanted to win this thing so bad,” Martin said after his third NASCAR victory of the season. “But I thought it was going to go up in smoke when that tire let loose.”

Martin averaged 126.88 mph to beat Winston Cup points leader Jeff Gordon and his Chevrolet by 2.009 seconds on the two-mile super speedway. Martin earned $93,045 and is second in the series, 99 points behind Gordon.

“We had the car to do it today,” Martin said. “Now I think I know how the kid [Gordon] feels on Sunday a lot. I had the car today. He’s usually got the car. We had the program today. We had the fuel mileage. We had everything we needed to win.”

Ted Musgrave finished third, defeating fellow Ford driver Ernie Irvan.

Rain caused three cautions for 46 laps.

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No matter what the weather or road conditions, Alex Zanardi is the hottest driver in CART right now--even on a rainy day at Elkhart, Wis.

Zanardi of Italy took the lead with a fast pit stop and pulled away to his fifth victory of the season in the Texaco-Havoline 200 on the rain-soaked, 4.048-mile, 14-turn Road America.

With his third consecutive victory, fourth in five races and fifth of the season, Zanardi leads Gil de Ferran by 38 points in the PPG CART World Series standings. It would take a virtual collapse in the final three races for the second-year Indy-car star to lose the title.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” Zanardi said. “But it’s good.”

Zanardi, who averaged 102.995 mph in his Reynard-Honda, finished 6.148 seconds ahead of runner-up Mauricio Gugelmin. De Ferran was third, followed by Christian Fittipaldi, Scott Pruett, Bobby Rahal and Al Unser Jr.

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Robbie Buhl swerved into the lead when Eddie Cheever had a gearbox problem with two laps to go, then outraced Vincenzo Sospiri to the finish for his first Indy-car victory in the Pennzoil 200 at Loudon, N.H.

Buhl, coming back from head injuries that kept him out of the last two Indy Racing League events, had been stalking Cheever since the 157th lap, and was within two car lengths when the dramatic finish unfolded.

Cheever came barreling out of the fourth turn at the New Hampshire International Speedway and suddenly lost power on the straightaway. Buhl barely swerved to avoid him and took the lead at the start of the 198th lap as Cheever coasted to a stop.

Buhl, driving a G Force-Aurora, averaged 118.829 mph to win by .064 seconds, the closest finish in the IRL’s 10 races. Sospiri was second, Arie Luyendyk finished third and Cheever wound up ninth.

Despite finishing with a smoking engine on the 174th lap, Tony Stewart moved closer to the overall championship with a 14th place finish.

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Alex Barron, of Vista, Calif., earned his fourth career Atlantic victory in round 10 of the 12-race Kool/Toyota Atlantic Championship at Road America in Elkhart, Wis.

Barron averaged 65.838 mph to win by 0.725 seconds over Joao Barbosa of Portugal.

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John Force of Yorba Linda won for the first time since February, capturing the Funny Car title at the NHRA Winston drag races at Brainerd, Minn.

In the final, Force won on a solo pass as Ron Capps had throttle-linkage problems. Force had an elapsed time of 4.974 seconds and a speed of 310.55 mph in his GTX Mustang.

Cory McClenathan of Anaheim won the Top Fuel title over Bob Vandergriff with a time of 4.795 and a speed of 315.01. McClenathan’s dragster launched off the line and into a wheel stand, but McClenathan got it under control.