Earnhardt prevails
Dale Earnhardt Jr., driving what he called "the best car over the field we ever had," ran down Jeff Gordon with 12 laps to go and won Sunday's Checker 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Earnhardt bounced back from a bad finish a week ago at Atlanta with his second Phoenix victory in a row

Earnhardt won for the sixth time this year and now stands 47 points behind still-leader Kurt Busch in the championship run. Busch dodged bullets all day and salvaged 10th place on a day which could have been much worse. Gordon, who finished third Sunday, remains second in points.
The race, which took nearly four hours of clock time, was run after rain most of the morning, a rarity in Arizona, and light rain fell off and on, once forcing a 20-minute red flag. Moreover, there were 11 cautions, three in the final 30 laps, and NASCAR used its green-checkers procedure to finish the event.
The constant through it all was Earnhardt, who led 118 what turned out to be 315 total laps, with three added in overtime. He led three times, twice taking the lead with a pass on the track, as opposed to a move in the pits.
"As far as covering the field, that's the best we've ever had them covered," Earnhardt said. "I've had cars that turned better or drove better, but that was the best car over the field we ever had. Nobody could keep up with me. We were three-tenths better all day.
"The car was just really good. It just drove right up through there. I was just getting chills having a car that capable of winning. I couldn't believe those guys didn't have their cars as good as mine."
Junior, who started 14th, passed pole-winner Ryan Newman for the lead on Lap 60 and held it to the second pitstops on Lap 107. Five teams, including those of Elliott Sadler and Jeff Gordon, went for two tyres during the stops and came out in front, with Gordon seizing the lead on Lap 144. Earnhardt, however, reclaimed the lead when Gordon pitted under caution on Lap 145.
The only moment of doubt came when Earnhardt, leading, pitted under green on Lap 203, beginning a cycle of green-flag stops. Gordon also had returned to the pits when caution interrupted the sequence on Lap 226. Earnhardt stood 12th after the yellow, with Gordon back in the lead.
Gordon gamely fought off Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick, then Casey Mears, who emerged as the top threat at Lap 280. Earnhardt, meanwhile, buzz-sawed through the difficult traffic on the flat mile, passing Harvick for third right behind Mears. Mears and Earnhardt then closed in on Jeff Gordon.
Junior bumped Mears once but backed off to let him recover. After waiting several laps for Casey to make a move on the leader. Earnhardt passed Mears as caution came out on Lap 299, then pounced on Gordon after the restart, seizing the lead on Lap 304.
"Gordon's car was terrible at the end," Earnhardt said, noting that Gordon's car plowed badly in the corners. "Casey was actually a little faster than me for a while there, but he got bottled up behind Jeff, and I caught them both."
The show wasn't over yet, however. Mears blew a tyre and wrecked on Lap 307, and almost simultaneously, Robby Gordon's engine blew, oiling the track. NASCAR, mindful of teams' gas mileage, threw another red flag to allow for track clean-up, then restarted the race on Lap 314.
Earnhardt easily pulled away to a 1.431sec victory, in just two laps. Rain began again just the chequered flag was shown.
Latest news
NASCAR bans Chastain Martinsville wall-ride manoeuvre
NASCAR has decided to ban the wall-ride manoeuvre made famous by Ross Chastain at Martinsville that secured him a place in the Championship 4.
Gasly: Mindset for Alpine is "completely different" to Red Bull F1 move
Pierre Gasly says he has a "completely different" mindset for his Alpine Formula 1 move thanks to lessons taken from his failed stint at Red Bull in 2019.
GTD Pro win a “proper send-off” for retiring IMSA stalwart MacNeil
Winning the GTD Pro class at the Daytona 24 Hours was a fitting way for Cooper MacNeil to retire from racing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, says team-mate Jules Gounon.
The all-French F1 partnership that Ocon and Gasly hope to emulate
Alpine’s signing of Pierre Gasly alongside Esteban Ocon revives memories of a famous all-French line-up, albeit in the red of Ferrari, for BEN EDWARDS. Can the former AlphaTauri man's arrival help the French team on its path back to winning ways in a tribute act to the Prancing Horse's title-winning 1983?
The ex-F1 driver taking on NASCAR with a new team
Saddled with uncompetitive Minardi machinery, Tarso Marques didn't manage to score points in his three partial seasons of Formula 1. But now the Brazilian has the chance to show what he can do in NASCAR, and explains the story of his comeback with new Cup Series entrant Team Stange
The early benefits and challenges of NASCAR's Next Gen car
NASCAR’s new stock car generation is encouraging an influx of fresh blood into its top tier. But there are concerns that parts are in short supply as the entire paddock tries to build up stocks at the same time
How Penske's rookie sensation opened NASCAR's new era in style
After holding his nerve and hip-checking his team-mate on the run to the line, Austin Cindric made a perfect start to life as a full-timer in the NASCAR Cup Series by winning the Daytona 500. Here's how the Penske Ford man emerged first across the line in the first points-scoring race for the much-anticipated Next Generation cars
Six key themes to follow in the 2022 NASCAR Cup season
There are plenty of uncertainties ahead of the 2022 NASCAR Cup season as an all-new fleet of cars take to the track for the first time. Ahead of this weekend's Daytona 500, our experts explain what you need to know
How NASCAR had to learn a harsh lesson ahead of its Next Gen arrival
The NASCAR Cup kicks off with the Daytona 500 this weekend, but a major overhaul and a subsequent mountain of work has been required to be ready for the arrival of the Next Gen cars
How Larson took the long way round to NASCAR Cup glory
From villain to hero, Kyle Larson’s journey to the 2021 NASCAR Cup title comes straight from the Hollywood blockbuster scripts. While Larson had to reach his lifelong goal the hard way and go through a very public shaming after a ban for using a racial slur, his talents shone long before his name grabbed the headlines for both the right and the wrong reasons
How NASCAR is gearing up for its "biggest change" in 2022
It’s not just Formula 1 that’s set for upheaval in 2022, as the NASCAR Cup Series adopts its Next Gen cars that will cast any in-built advantages aside and require teams to adopt a totally new way of operating. Far more than just a change of machinery, the new cars amount to a shift in NASCAR's core philosophy
Why Bubba Wallace’s Talladega win is such a big moment for NASCAR
Bubba Wallace claimed his maiden NASCAR Cup Series at Talladega on Monday to become the first Black victor in the category since Wendell Scott in 1963. Both Wallace and Scott had faced obstacles and racism in their paths to their breakthrough wins, and NASCAR is trying to put it right with its range of diversity programmes
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.