Burton claims victory in rain-shortened race

Sunday, March 5, 2000 | 3:42 a.m.

Jeff Burton won the rain-shortened NASCAR Winston Cup CarsDirect.com 400 Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and captured his third Winston No Bull 5 million-dollar bonus in less than a year.

Burton, who led twice earlier in the rain-plagued race, took the lead from Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin on lap 135 of the scheduled 267-lap race.

Rain brought out the second caution of the day just 10 laps later and the 43-car field was red-flagged after 148 laps.

Burton also won last year's Winston Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in his No. 99 Exide Batteries Ford.

Following a delay of 1 hour and 20 minutes and with more rain on the horizon, NASCAR officials officially called the race at 3:08 (PST).

"We had a great race car today," Burton said. "I wish it could have gone back green. I know all the fans here and the people watching on TV would rather it have gone green, and we would, too.

"We'll take the win however we can get it (because) we had a great race car and we would have enjoyed the chance to put on a good show."

Tony Stewart, the 1999 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, finished second in a Pontiac and was followed by Martin in a Ford. Bill Elliott drove his McDonald's Ford Taurus from the 39th starting position to a fourth-place finish and Bobby Labonte was fifth.

Johnny Benson, Dale Jarrett, Dale Earnhardt, Joe Nemechek and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top 10.