MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Earnhardt Makes It a Lucky 7

There was only one important ingredient missing Sunday after Dale Earnhardt wrapped up his record-tying seventh Winston Cup championship with a victory in the AC Delco 500 at Rockingham, N.C.

“I dedicate this year to Neil Bonnett,” said Earnhardt, lamenting the death of Bonnett in a crash at Daytona in February and the serious injuries suffered by Ernie Irvan in a crash in August.

“He was my best friend and it’s been a tough year, with Ernie’s deal and all, and it’s tough going through some of these things without him.”

But Earnhardt quickly got his emotions in check and began to enjoy an accomplishment that most racing people didn’t think possible--tying Richard Petty’s season-championship mark, which he set in 1979 with his seventh title.

“I’ve been just kind of putting it out of my mind that I could tie Richard Petty’s championship record,” Earnhardt said. “I knew what it would mean, but I can’t take nothing away from Richard Petty. He’s still the king.

“He’s done it all. He pioneered this thing and got us to where we are today.”

Earnhardt got some help in clinching the championship when Rusty Wallace, his closest pursuer, was ambushed by a mid-race engine failure.

Until the checkered flag waved for Earnhardt’s 63rd career victory, the biggest cheer from the record crowd at North Carolina Motor Speedway came on lap 302 when Wallace slowed and drove to the garage area, virtually handing Earnhardt the title that tied Petty’s NASCAR record.

“We probably dropped a valve,” Wallace said. “He ran a great race this year and he deserves to win the championship with reliability like that. We can’t win the championship with me wrecking the cars and the motors blowing up like that. But that’s racing and we’ll go after them again next year.”

Earnhardt, whose previous championships came in 1980, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991 and 1993, entered Sunday’s race an almost-insurmountable 321 points ahead of Wallace.

Earnhardt led 104 of the 492 laps, including the final 77, but had to hold off Rick Mast, who was trying to earn his first Winston Cup victory.

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Scott Kalitta clinched his first Winston top fuel championship at the ninth annual Chief Auto Parts Nationals in Ennis, Tex.

Although Kalitta lost in the semifinals and Don Prudhomme won the event, Kalitta collected enough points to eliminate Prudhomme from the title picture heading into this weekend’s Winston Select Finals at Pomona, the season finale in the NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series.