RICHMOND, Va. - It's becoming a common post-race scene in NASCAR's top series: Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrating a victory and at least one driver lamenting how Tony Stewart cost him a chance at winning.
This time, Stewart incurred the anger of four-time series champion Jeff Gordon, nudging him wide with 41 laps to go in Saturday night's Chevy American Revolution 400 as a long sprint to the finish unfolded.
And as Earnhardt took the suspense out of the finish with a lights-out run to his third Nextel Cup victory of the season, Gordon was left fuming.
"We're seeing it every weekend and you think a guy getting abused by the media and the drivers would start thinking a little bit more," Gordon said after saving his car and hanging on to finish sixth.
Stewart said his car slipped in some oil dry left over from an earlier crash and that he wasn't trying to ease Gordon aside.
"I had a top-three night until I ran into the No. 24," he said.
Stewart has had some explaining to do after three straight races, and twice he has had a run-in with Gordon.
Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr. and his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team are making all the right calls.
Gambling that he could win on tires and fuel with 54 laps to go, Earnhardt made it happen, outrunning Jimmie Johnson and Bobby Labonte over the last 45 laps.
"It was a great race car, just had a great long-run setup on it," Earnhardt said after his 12th victory and second at Richmond.
Earnhardt took the lead when Stewart and most of the other contenders pitted for tires and fuel during the ninth and final caution on Lap 344 of 400.
INDY 500: Bryan Herta, Alex Barron and Felipe Giaffone bounced back from Saturday crashes and topped second-round qualifying for the May 30 race.
Barron, a veteran of two Indy starts, turned in a four-lap, 10-mile qualifying average of 218.836 mph, Herta earned his third start at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 219.871 and Giaffone put together a solid 216.259 run as time ran out.
Tora Takagi, last year's fifth-place finisher and top rookie, also qualified at 214.364 for Morris Nunn Racing.
CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS: Three-time series champion Jack Sprague won for the 24th time with a dominating performance in the Ohio 250 race at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway.
Sprague, who returned full-time to the NASCAR series this season after a two-year absence, led the last 54 of 250 laps for his first victory since Sept. 9, 2001. Sprague took the lead from fellow Chevrolet driver Dennis Setzer as the pair rubbed fenders and doors crossing the finish line on Lap 197. Sprague held off Setzer on four restarts to win by .394 seconds, about a truck length.
"I had perfect pit stops today and it all came together," said Sprague, who spent the 2002 season on the Busch Series and ran a partial schedule of NASCAR Cup races last year.
NHRA: Cory McClenathan won the Top Fuel final with a quarter-mile pass of 4.651 seconds at 320.74 mph at the Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga., defeating Clay Millican. Whit Bazemore (5.025, 299.80) won in Funny Car, defeating Gary Scelzi in the final. Other winners were Greg Anderson, who beat Larry Morgan in Pro Stock, and Angelle Savoie, who defeated Shawn Gann in Pro Stock Motorcycle.
