Brickyard 400 Automobile Race

Bill Elliott closed his eyes and put his hands over them, to keep the tears back ... and heaved out one hard sob. Twenty-seven seasons of NASCAR racing--and this was as close as he'd ever come to weeping at a racetrack. Forty-three Winston Cup victories, including two Daytona 500s, yet he made Sunday's Brickyard 400, quite clearly, the most emotional win of his roller-coaster life. "It feels," he said with difficulty, "like it's taken me a lifetime to get here."

The Good Ol' Boys of NASCAR brought their stock car show to the home of the Indianapolis 500 for the first time Saturday, only to have a slip of a youth from Indiana steal the show. Jeff Gordon, who turned 23 Thursday and grew up dreaming of racing in the 500, fought off Rusty Wallace and Ernie Irvan in one of the most exciting finishes in Indianapolis Motor Speedway's storied history to win the Brickyard 400.

Juan Pablo Montoya was too fast for anyone on the track to catch. He zoomed, four and five seconds ahead of the second-place driver. He said he cruised. Others said he dominated. It felt, to Montoya, just like the last time he won at the Brickyard, nine years ago in the Indianapolis 500. Then, on Lap 125, eight timing sensors clicked beneath pit road. They calculated Montoya's speed as he drove over them.

Casey Mears was never here to see his Uncle Rick win the Indianapolis 500 four times, nor did he see his father Roger race in the 500 twice in the early 1980s. Nor has the 25-year-old second generation driver from Bakersfield ever raced on the hallowed Indianapolis Motor Speedway track, but he hopes to add his name to the family heritage here this weekend. Mears, a NASCAR Winston Cup rookie, will be in one of Chip Ganassi's Dodges, the red-and-white Target No.

Tony Stewart maintained his points lead with a third-place finish Sunday in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. "I take that we ran third at the Brickyard 400," Stewart said. "There's no shame in that. Forty-three cars and we ran third today. To come here with a new package, a new crew chief, to run third our first time here together, I think that's a lot to be proud of." Stewart leads Jimmie Johnson in the season standings by 192 points. Johnson has won this race three of the last four years.