MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Martin Wins Fourth in a Row

Mark Martin beat the field, the darkness and the odds with a victory Sunday in the Southern 500 at Darlington, S.C.

The stock car driver equaled the Winston Cup modern era record of four consecutive victories by dominating the darkness-shortened event at Darlington Raceway.

“This is just a dream come true,� Martin said. “I didn’t think we could possibly beat the odds. I believed we could possibly beat the competition, but we’re just on a real roll right now.�

Martin, 34, who also has won the last two Busch Grand National events he has entered, matched the mark set in 1976 by Cale Yarborough and reached again in 1985 by Darrell Waltrip, in 1987 by Dale Earnhardt, in 1991 by Harry Gant and last year by Bill Elliott.

Sunday, Martin had built a lead of more than eight seconds and appeared on the way to a runaway when Ernie Irvan spun while trying to make a late entry into the pits on the 326th of the scheduled 367 laps.

Irvan, in his first race in the No. 28 car that was driven by Davey Allison until his death from a helicopter crash in July, was able to continue. But the caution period allowed all the leaders to make their final scheduled pit stops.

It also set up a decisive dash to the end when NASCAR told the teams during the caution period that there would be only 10 laps remaining when the green flag waved.

Martin remained in the lead, with Brett Bodine, Rusty Wallace and Earnhardt--the only other drivers on the lead lap--close behind on the restart.

But Martin’s Ford Thunderbird never faltered and beat Bodine’s Ford to the finish line by 1.46 seconds on lap 351. Wallace finished third, followed by Earnhardt and Irvan.

The winner averaged 137.534 m.p.h. and earned $67,765.

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John Force won the NHRA’s Big Bud Shootout for the third time in the last seven years with a victory over Cruz Pedregon in the finals at Clermont, Ind.

Force, of Yorba Linda, covered the quarter-mile in 5.178 seconds at 285.98 m.p.h. Pedregon’s run was 5.220 seconds at 283.46 m.p.h.

Force is also the leading funny-car qualifier for today’s NHRA National finals. Cory McClenathan of Anaheim is the top-fuel leader. Warren Johnson of Duluth, Ga., is No. 1 in pro stock.