BURTON SHOWS STAYING POWER, PULLS AWAY TO WIN : CREW ADJUSTS, KEEPS WINNER'S CAR ON TRACK, WHETHER DAY OR NIGHT.

Byline: Joe Macenka Associated Press 

The longest race on NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit can take its toll on drivers and their cars. Jeff Burton's crew members prevented that from happening.

Capitalizing on a car that adjusted well to the changing conditions of the day-into-night race, Burton powered his way to victory in the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway at Charlotte.

``This crew won this race,'' Burton said in Victory Lane. ``I'm so proud of this team. They kept their cool.''

Winning for the third time this year and the eighth time in his career, Burton wound up about 10 car lengths ahead of Bobby Labonte. Mark Martin was third and Tony Stewart fourth, successfully completing his odyssey of driving in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.

The 400-lap, 600-mile race usually confounds many teams because the track conditions change dramatically, but Burton was equally strong before the sun went down and after darkness descended.

Burton started second and led 49 of the first 64 laps while sunshine and 82-degree temperatures kept the track temperature at more than 100 degrees. His Ford Taurus remained robust as the sun gave way to a full moon and the track cooled into the 80-degree range.

His crew appeared to make minimal chassis adjustments on his car throughout the race. Whatever changes they made paid off big; Burton's victory was worth $1,212,500, including a $1 million bonus.

``This crew just kept working and working,'' Burton said. ``They did it under pressure.''

The most disappointed driver might have been Steve Park, who had by far the best run of his brief Winston Cup career before crashing while trying to avoid a slow lapped car that was running low on the track.

Park looked like the driver to beat, leading twice for 84 laps before he and Jeremy Mayfield made contact as they swerved up the fourth-turn banking to avoid the car of Kyle Petty on lap 240.

Park, running second at the time, went spinning down the front stretch and slammed into the concrete retaining wall twice.

Park was uninjured but crestfallen.

``I just can't explain the disappointment,'' said Park, who is in his second full season on the circuit and has yet to finish higher than 11th in a race. ``It was the run of our lives.''

Park's wreck cleared the way for Labonte, Burton and Stewart to battle it out the rest of the way.

The first half of the race was a story of dominance for Park and Burton.

Burton led 103 of the first 123 laps before giving way to Park, who had run up front for one lap all season. But once he overpowered Burton, he gave a view of what was his team is capable of by keeping his Chevrolet up front for the next 46 laps.

Stewart ran up front for four laps before Labonte powered past him on lap 270 as they went through the third and fourth turns. The pass cleared Labonte to start pulling away from the field, but he was far from out of danger.

On lap 325, he appeared to put himself in potential jeopardy when, heading toward the end of the frontstretch he sandwiched his car into a small opening between the lapped cars of John Andretti and Kevin Lepage. Labonte successfully completed the pass, but it brought the fans to their feet as they tensed to see if the move would create a wreck.

It didn't, but in the end, Burton saw to it that it didn't matter.

After all the leaders went in for their final green-flag pit stops between laps 372 and 381, Burton found himself in the lead, courtesy of a 17.3-second stop to change four tires and add fuel.

``We just had a great pit stop. It got us out in front,'' Burton said. ``The pit crew got us out front and they won it for us.''

Labonte passed him on lap 381, but Burton went down low three laps later and powered past as they went down the frontstretch. Burton was not challenged again.

``We changed tires and the car was extremely loose there at the end,'' Labonte said. ``It just didn't go like we wanted to. That last set of tires got loose on me there for about five laps.''

COCA-COLA 600 FINAL RESULTS

Unofficial results Sunday of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Coca-Cola 600 at the Lowe's Motor Speedway with finishing position, starting position (in parentheses), driver, make of car, laps completed, reason out (if any) and money won:

1. (2) Jeff Burton, Ford, 400, $212,500

2. (1) Bobby Labonte, Pontiac, 400, $170,400

3. (7) Mark Martin, Ford, 400, $97,875

4. (27) Tony Stewart, Pontiac, 400, $76,275

5. (28) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 400, $81,125

6. (15) Dale Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 400, $70,225

7. (6) Ken Schrader, Chevrolet, 400, $70,600

8. (12) Ward Burton, Pontiac, 399, $62,900

9. (11) Mike Skinner, Chevrolet, 399, $57,800

10. (9) Jeremy Mayfield, Ford, 399, $64,600

11. (37) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 398, $60,040

12. (3) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 398, $52,300

13. (13) Bobby Hamilton, Chevrolet, 397, $56,150

14. (29) Bill Elliott, Ford, 397, $50,450

15. (36) Kenny Irwin, Ford, 397, $52,290

16. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 397, $36,250

17. (4) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 397, $39,250

18. (42) Johnny Benson, Ford, 397, $48,350

19. (22) John Andretti, Pontiac, 396, out of gas, $48,250

20. (16) Jerry Nadeau, Ford, 396, $39,490

21. (40) Wally Dallenbach, Chevrolet, 396, $43,125

22. (17) Brett Bodine, Ford, 396, $42,785

23. (21) Ted Musgrave, Ford, 396, $34,850

24. (39) Chad Little, Ford, 395, $45,700

25. (30) Rich Bickle, Pontiac, 395, $34,500

26. (41) Kevin Lepage, Ford, 395, $40,900

27. (32) David Green, Chevrolet, 395, $33,700

28. (23) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 395, $40,640

29. (18) Buckshot Jones, Pontiac, 393, $30,585

30. (34) Kyle Petty, Pontiac, 392, $33,265

31. (19) Rusty Wallace, Ford, 392, $46,540

32. (43) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 392, $37,750

33. (31) Hut Stricklin, Ford, 391, $37,515

34. (14) Rick Mast, Ford, 391, $30,510

35. (24) Robert Pressley, Ford, 378, electrical, $30,505

36. (20) Ernie Irvan, Pontiac, 375, engine failure, $37,500

37. (26) Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 367, engine failure, $37,495

38. (35) Jimmy Spencer, Ford, 346, engine failure, $37,485

39. (10) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 341, handling, $56,780

40. (38) Sterling Marlin, Chevrolet, 338, engine failure, $37,475

41. (25) Geoffrey Bodine, Chevrolet, 249, engine failure, $30,470

42. (5) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 246, handling, $58,165

43. (33) Darrell Waltrip, Ford, 32, engine failure, $31,162

FAST FACTS

Margin of Victory: .574 seconds

Average Speed: 151.367 mph

Lap Leaders: Bobby Labonte 1-15, Jeff Burton 16-64, Jeff Gordon 65, Mark Martin 66, Tony Stewart 67, Kyle Petty 68, Johnny Benson 69, Burton 70-123, Steve Park 124-169, Burton 170-194, Terry Labonte 195-196, Park 197-234, Burton 235-248, B. Labonte 249-267, Stewart 268-271, Burton 272-301, Stewart 302-310, Burton 311, Martin 312, Burton 313-316, B. Labonte 317-377, Burton 378-380, B. Labonte 381-383, Burton 384-400

POINTS LEADERS

1. Dale Jarrett - 1,824

2. Jeff Burton - 1,791

3. Bobby Labonte - 1,735

4. Mark Martin - 1,684

5. Tony Stewart - 1,530

6. Ward Burton - 1,481

7. Dale Earnhardt - 1,478

8. Jeff Gordon - 1,470

9. Rusty Wallace - 1,442

10. Terry Labonte - 1,437

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

PHOTO Jeff Burton celebrates his victory at the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR's longest race of the season. Burton pulled away from pole-sitter Bobby Labonte to win by 10 car lengths.

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

BOX: (Ran on Page 13) COCA-COLA 600 FINAL RESULTS (see text)