Ward Burton Wins Mall.com 400

Take that, Jeff. There's another Burton who can drive at Darlington.

Ward Burton, second to his younger brother Jeff three times in 1999, grabbed the spotlight Sunday, cruising to a win at the Mall.com 400.

Ward also kept the Burton's winning streak alive at Darlington Raceway. Jeff swept both events at the track a year ago.

Ward, who started second behind Jeff Gordon, took the lead from Matt Kenseth with 36 laps to go and was barely pressured the rest of the way. It was his second career Winston Cup victory, the other coming in Rockingham, N.C., in October 1995.

In between, Burton watched Jeff's Roush Racing team rise to the top of the sport.

"You got a younger brother?," the 38-year-old Ward asked in September after again falling short to his 32-year-old brother. "Then you know how it feels."

And now?

"It feels damn good," said Ward, who won $132,725.

Jeff congratulated his older brother, and Ward got on the phone with his parents, who no longer have to tiptoe around Jeff's victories during family gatherings in South Boston, Va.

"I think everyone was relieved a little bit," Ward said.

Ward said there wasn't a Burton secret to the 50-year-old superspeedway.

"I think it's more that we both have brought some pretty good cars and teams to this place," he said.

"Plus, it didn't rain," said Ward's car owner, Bill Davis.

Both of Jeff's victories at the track were rain-shorted runs.

And while it meant a lot to outrun Jeff, "it was that we beat 40 other teams out there. We came out and beat Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett and Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin," Ward said. "We beat those racers because we had a car that was better today."

This was the first time a Pontiac won at Darlington since Joe Weatherly took the Rebel 300 in 1963 and only the third time in 94 races that the manufacturer can claim a Darlington victory.

Everything went right for Ward in this one. He moved to the front for the first time on lap 15, passing Gordon. He returned to the front three other times and gradually stretched out to a 2-second lead over A href="http://www.sportsline.com/u/racing/auto/nascar/drivers/winstoncup/dalejarrett.htm" target="external">Dale Jarrett with 30 laps remaining.

When Ward dived into the pits with 40 laps to go and Jarrett right on his tail, his crew zipped him out a good half-second before the Winston Cup champion.

"These guys work so hard, they're just the best on pit road," Davis said.

The win ended a 132-race drought for Davis' team.

"It was privilege to ride in that car. It was awesome," Burton said.

He led 188 of the 293 laps and finished with an average speed of 128.076 mph. Burton became the fifth different winner in five races this season.

Burton crossed the line 1.4 seconds ahead of Jarrett. Dale Earnhardt, a winner last week in Hampton, Ga., was third in a Chevrolet. Tony Stewart finished fourth in a Pontiac, just ahead of Jeff Burton, who talked like a proud brother.

"Man, when two members from the same family can win races in Winston Cup, that means an awful lot," Jeff said. "I just feel so good for Ward and those guys."

Jarrett said Ward Burton had the best car most of the race.

"It looked like when the sun was out, we were just as good," said Jarrett, who started 17th. "But he was definitely stronger."

It looked like a group of nervous drivers early on worrying if the cloudy skies would cause a rain delay for a third straight Darlington event.

Ken Schrader, Terry Labonte and Joe Nemechek tangled on the first lap and, after a five-lap caution, Kenny Irwin spun out and collected Jeremy Mayfield and Jerry Nadeau.

In all, 15 f the first 22 laps were slowed by caution.

"People just aren't using their heads today," Nemechek said.

When the racers calmed down, the race was fairly clean. The hardest hit was taken by rookie Dale Earnhardt Jr., who lost traction coming out of turn 3 and tagged the inside retaining wall. He climbed out unharmed.

Three-time series champion Gordon had hoped that his pole run Friday would signal a return to the top. He finished eighth, his best result of the year, but stretched his winless streak to 10 races heading to Bristol, Tenn., for the Food City 500 next Sunday.

Earnhardt had his fourth top-10 finish in five races this season and had generated a lot of excitement after last week's victory by 2 feet over Bobby Labonte. So, he said his performance should have come as no surprise to anyone.

"I don't know where anybody said I was going," Earnhardt said. "We're just doing what we have to do."

The results left few to complain about the competition among manufacturers. There were five Fords, three Chevys and two Pontiacs in the top 10.

©2000 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed