NASCAR: The Winston Cup community breathed a collective sigh of relief after getting through a race weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway with no driver injuries. Jeff Burton led all the way to take the Dura Lube 300, the first NASCAR driver to lead every lap of a race ever since Cale Yarborough did it at Nashville in 1978. Points leader Bobby Labonte was second, with Ricky Rudd, Dale Jarrett and Rusty Wallace rounding out the top five.

Winston Cup director Mike Helton had announced the previous week that restrictor plates would be used at New Hampshire in an effort to keep car speeds down, and that an earlier secret test of foam padding on the walls, involving unmanned cars, had proved unsatisfactory. Teams worked 24-days all week testing setup combinations and gearing under the power limitation, and many drivers groused that the plates would make passing impossible.

But a second groove opened up during competition, and there were many hard-fought battles Sunday, which Burton drove away from, seemingly at will…. Silly season is fully underway: Kurt Busch replaces Chad Little in Jack Roush’s John Deere Ford, while Morgan-McClure and Bobby Hamilton agreed to part ways a year early.

CART: Three races left in the season, and 13 — that’s right, 13 — drivers mathematically have a shot at the championship. Sunday’s Motorola 300 at Gateway International Raceway, Madison, IL, did little to resolve the situation. Juan Montoya picked up his third win of the season driving the Target/Chip Ganassi Toyota/Lola, which put him eighth in the standings, after Michael Andretti’s Big Kmart Texaco/Havoline Ford/Lola exited with engine woes.

Patrick Carpentier, in the Player’s Team Forsythe Ford/Reynard, was the only other car on the lead lap. Roberto Moreno came home third. Paul Tracy briefly inherited the points lead when Andretti dropped out, but then the transmission in his Team Kool Green Honda/Reynard seized and put him into the turn four wall…. Current team owner and CART chief honcho Bobby Rahal is expected to leave CART and cross the pond to take the team director’s reins for Jaguar’s F1 effort.

Formula One: With Grand Prix racing returning to the U.S. this weekend, the current buzz is just what awaits drivers at Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s new road course. Frankly, everybody is confused. Drivers have driven sports cars about the circuit, and computer simulations suggest an average lap speed of 127 mph, but questions about setup remain.

The long main straight suggests a low-downforce setup would be the way to go, but the tight infield section suggests the opposite. “Straight-line speed will be vital for overtaking at the end of the straight, but the cars will need a lot of downforce through the infield,” suggests Ferrari pilot Michael Schumacher. “It will be tricky finding the best compromise.”… Schumacher, incidentally, says he had thoughts of retiring following his victory at Monza’s tragic event, which saw a fire marshall killed by a flying tire from Heinz Harald-Frentzen’s Jordan. FIA president Max Mosley says wheel tether tensile retaining strength will be doubled, to 10 tons, next year.

Elsewhere: At the NHRA meet in Reading, PA, Joe Amato took top fuel honors over Gary Scelzi, while Bruce Sarver won his first funny car event of the year, defeating Ron Capps. Kurt Johnson won pro stock by beating dad Warren, and Matt Hines beat out Angelle Seeling for the pro stock bike win….