Johnson Finishes Fast for Easy Win

The leader virtually all night, Jimmie Johnson dropped to fifth during a caution but roared back to the lead with 16 laps left Sunday night to win the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 for the second straight season.

A red flag with six laps left forced Johnson to sweat it out a bit, but when the green fell, he sped away from the field in his Chevrolet at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. He won under caution after Bobby Labonte’s wreck on the final lap. Michael Waltrip, also in a Chevrolet, finished second.

Johnson led an incredible 334 laps -- which would be the entire distance in a 500-mile race -- and came up one short of the record set in 1967 by winner Jim Paschal.

The move that probably won the race for Johnson came with 25 laps to go, when he was in fifth. As he drove to the outside of Kasey Kahne in Turn 3, they came up on the slower car of Robby Gordon.

Johnson got by Kahne, then turned hard left to get under Gordon, a dynamic maneuver so late in the race.

Once he got by that traffic, Johnson wasted little time chasing down Jamie McMurray. He had moved into second four laps later, and he stalked McMurray for a bit before moving to the inside on the backstretch.

He moved ahead in Turn 3 and survived that late red flag for his second victory of 2004 and the eighth of his 2 1/2-year career.

Gordon failed in his attempt to complete a racing double when the Indianapolis 500 was stopped by rain after only 27 laps earlier in the day. With the start of the NASCAR race approaching, Gordon had to leave Indianapolis and backup driver Jaques Lazier took the wheel.

It’s probably just as well. The car dropped out after only 88 laps with a mechanical failure, and Gordon was credited with 29th. At Lowe’s, he finished three laps down in 20th.

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Michael Schumacher won the European Grand Prix at Nuerburgring, Germany, rebounding from last week’s crash in Monaco to win for the sixth time in seven races this season.

Schumacher was on the pole and recorded his 76th Formula One victory. He was followed by Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello, almost 18 seconds behind. Jenson Button was third. His BAR-Honda teammate, Takuma Sato, blew an engine late in the race while in second place.

Schumacher, whose five-race, season-opening winning streak ended last week at the Monaco Grand Prix, leads the driver standings with 60 points. Barrichello is next at 46 and Button is third at 38.

The Renaults of Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso, the only two cars to beat the Ferraris dating to last August, were fourth and fifth on the 3.2-mile Nuerburgring circuit. Trulli won the Monaco race.

Schumacher led easily into the first turn. Then he pulled away with astonishing ease.

“I had a good start and that was half of the race to get the gap I needed,” he said.

After five laps, he led by 11.5 seconds. Two laps later, it was apparent that Schumacher was on a light fuel load. He came in at the end of eight laps and rejoined in sixth place.

However, nearly all the other contenders came in over the next three laps. By the time things sorted out, Schumacher was back in front of Sato and Barrichello third.

At 20 laps, Schumacher led Sato by 16.4 seconds. By the next round of pit stops after 40 laps, Schumacher held an 18-second advantage on him, with Barrichello in third place.

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Brandon Bernstein moved into the top fuel points lead by beating Doug Kalitta at the NHRA O’Reilly Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kan. Bernstein had a 4.729-second run at a top speed of 294.43 mph to claim his second victory of the season and the sixth of his career. Doug Kalitta lost traction and posted a 4.874 at a top speed of 291.95.

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Ricky Carmichael won the AMA Motocross Championship race at High Point Raceway in Mount Morris, Pa. Carmichael crashed his Honda on the third lap of the first 250cc moto. He picked up his bike and passed Chad Reed a lap later, then pulled away to a 2.021-second victory over fellow Honda rider Kevin Windham. Reed was third on a Yamaha. Carmichael easily won the second moto.