Auto Racing

Jeff Gordon stayed away from trouble, held off Dick Trickle and won the Champion Spark Plug 300, earning a bonus of more than $113,844 for winning from the pole position at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

In a race slowed by nine caution flags, Trickle and Gordon ran together for the last 50 laps. Gordon opened a slight lead and held it for the final 37 laps.

With Trickle on the verge of a second-place finish, he lost control of his Pontiac going into Turn 4 and hit Todd Bodine’s Buick in the last lap. That wreck allowed Bobby Labonte to finish second.

Morgan Shepherd was third in his Ford, followed by Dale Jarrett and Sterling Marlin in Chevrolets.