Craven holds on for Old Dominion victory

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Ricky Craven held off Dale Jarrett in a last-lap duel Monday and won the Old Dominion 500, his first victory in 174 starts in the Winston Cup series.

Craven pulled away from Jarrett on a restart with 13 laps to go, opening a wide lead. Then Jarrett began reeling him in, drawing close to his bumper with about two laps to go in a race postponed one day because of rain.

On the final lap Jarrett went outside Craven heading into the first turn at Martinsville Speedway. The cars were door-to-door down the backstretch, with Craven hanging onto the inside position that eventually helped him hold off Jarrett.

Craven's Ford beat Jarrett's across the line by .141 seconds, also giving owner Cal Wells his first victory in NASCAR's premier series.

The race also proved a bonanza for points leader Jeff Gordon, who cruised home in ninth place and added 97 points to his lead over Ricky Rudd. Gordon leads Rudd by 334 points with six races remaining.

Ward Burton finished third in a Dodge, followed by defending series champion Bobby Labonte's Pontiac and Jeff Burton, also in a Ford. The rest of the top 10 included Benson in a Pontiac, Mark martin in a Ford, Mike Wallace in a Ford, Gordon in a Cevrolet and Sterling Marlin in a Dodge.