Darlington, S.C. — There were memories of the late Dale Earnhardt everywhere and not all of them good as Dale Jarrett came from way back to win the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 on Sunday.
Jarrett, who started second then fell to 31st just 60 laps into the race, took off from Steve Park during a restart 10 laps from the end to give Ford its first victory of the season. He cruised Darlington Raceway with his arm extended, three fingers to the sky, in what's become each winner's tribute to Earnhardt whose car number was three.
"The pit crew did a great job getting us out front and that's the only way we were going to beat Steve Park," said Jarrett, who only led the last 16 laps.
There was a scary reminder of Earnhardt's Daytona 500 crash only 10 laps from the finish Sunday, when former teammate Mike Skinner hit the wall. He crashed with Terry Labonte and spun to the center of the track, his car in flames.
Skinner, wearing a head and neck restraint system developed by his team, climbed out amid the fire. Earnhardt was not wearing such a restraint when he died of a head injury Feb. 18.
"I thought we was finally going to get us a top 10 here at Darlington. It's a tough break," Skinner said.
Park had 164 of 293 laps, but could not move back up front after losing the lead in the pits to Jarrett.
Jeremy Mayfield was third and Jimmy Spencer fourth as Fords took three of the top four spots. The Dodge Intrepids of Sterling Marlin and John Andretti were next, followed by Johnny Benson, Ricky Rudd, Bobby Hamilton and Rusty Wallace.
Schumacher wins Malaysian
Sepang, Malaysia Michael Schumacher won his sixth straight Formula One race, taking the Malaysian Grand Prix despite an accident, botched pit stop and rain.
The three-time world champion is three victories short of the record set by Ferrari's Alberto Ascari in 1952-53. It also was the third straight win for Ferrari in Malaysia.
The German star has 46 career victories, five shy of the record held by Alain Prost. Schumacher covered the 55 laps in 1 hour, 47 minutes, 34.801 seconds. He averaged 105.67 mph.
Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello finished second, 20 seconds behind. David Coulthard, who briefly led after a series of spinouts and a downpour, was third in a McLaren-Mercedes.
Hornish first in Indy 200
Avondale, Ariz. Sam Hornish Jr. won the season-opening Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200, while Team Penske flopped in its Indy Racing League debut.
The 21-year-old Hornish drove to a 1.378-second victory over Eliseo Salazar. Hornish, the youngest winner in IRL history, averaged 125.072 mph on Phoenix International Raceway's mile oval in the race slowed by five caution flags.
The much-ballyhooed arrival of the Roger Penske's team from the rival CART series ended with series champion Gil de Ferran crashing out while leading and teammate Helio Castroneves' car blowing an engine while running second.
Buddy Lazier, the defending IRL champion and 2000 Phoenix race winner, finished third.
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