TALLADEGA, Ala., Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the EA Sports 500, the third of 10 races to determine the Nextel Cup champion, at the Talladega Superspeedway Sunday.
His Chevrolet finished 0.083 seconds ahead of runnerup Kevin Harvick. The win gave him the lead in the championship.
The victory was Junior's fifth of the season, fifth at Talladega and 13th of his Cup career.
Earnhardt led a race-high 78 laps. It was his fifth
win at Talladega. Only his father, Dale Earnhardt (10) has more wins on the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
Dale Jarrett, Brendan Gaughan and Kurt Busch completed the top-five.
Earnhardt holds a 13-point edge over Busch (5,543-5,530). Jeff Gordon (5,482) fell to third with a 19th-place result. No other driver is within 100 points of Earnhardt. Mark Martin is in fourth place 111 points back of the leader.
