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Martin wins; Earnhardt is disqualified

 
Published Aug. 15, 1993|Updated Oct. 9, 2005

Mark Martin led 92 of 100 laps Saturday and easily won the Detroit Gasket 200 Busch Grand National race.

Martin, driving a Ford Thunderbird, picked up his third Grand National victory of the season and 10th of his career.

He held off a late challenge to win by 0.88 seconds over NASCAR Winston Cup star Dale Earnhardt, who was dropped from second to last in the 41-car field after technical inspectors in a routine post-race inspection found his team had used an illegal carburetor.

NASCAR spokesman Chip Williams said the carburetor's metering blocks, which measure fuel feed, had four holes drilled in them.

"I only run 12 (Grand National) races a year as a hobby and to fulfill an obligation to my sponsor, Goodwrench, so we don't have the facilities, the capabilities, the time or the money to build our own stuff. So we buy it in good faith and we put it in our cars," Earnhardt said.

"I assure you, absolutely no one on this team knew about this until NASCAR showed it to us."

The penalty cost Earnhardt's team about $7,000 of the $9,300 that second place was worth.

In October at Rockingham, N.C., Martin was fined $5,000 for a similar infraction after winning a Grand National race, but was allowed to keep the victory. Williams said there was no specific rule to cover the infraction then, but one since has been added.

Hungarian Grand Prix: Alain Prost won his 10th pole position in qualifying for today's Formula One event at Mogyorod, putting him within striking distance of Nigel Mansell's record 14. Prost qualified his Williams Renault around the 2.465-mile track in 1 minute, 14.631 seconds. Damon Hill qualified second at 1:14.835. Because of the course's twisty layout, pole position means more than at most other circuits.

A win would give Prost 52 in his career and make the three-time world champion hard to catch for this season's crown. He has 77 points, Ayrton Senna has 50.