Dale Earnhardt certainly is not Superman but he'll do until the real thing comes along.

Off to the hottest start of any driver in NASCAR Winston cup history, Earnhardt captured his six victory in eight starts Sunday (April 26, 1987) by taking the world's richest short track race, the $364,630 Sovran Bank 500 before a record crowd at Martinsville Speedway.

It was his fourth straight win and gave him a spring sweep of NASCAR's "short-track" events.

Driving the Wrangler Jeans Chevrolet, Earnhardt beat 1986 Goody's 500 winner Rusty Wallace to the finish line by 2.73 seconds, with Geoff Bodine and Phil Parsons finishing in the same lap.

"I think I was pretty lucky," Earnhardt said. "I could never have beaten Geoff. He had everybody covered and I hated to see him get such a bad break. But we were in a position to take advantage when his problem occurred and we did. Lady Luck sure smiled on us today."

Earnhardt, taking home a speedway record payoff of $50,850, took the lead for good on the 484th lap after Bodine, who appeared headed for victory in the Levi Garrett Chevrolet, tangled with Kyle Petty's Citgo ford while leading and spun out in the second turn.

Wallace, in the Kodiak Pontiac, won $27,325 and Bodine, who was philosophical about his disappointment, $20,750.

"What happened was disappointing," Bodine said. "But it is minor compared to what else is happening in the world. There's starvation. I'm not crippled -I woke up this morning with both my arms and legs, so I think I'm in pretty good shape. I don't think Kyle did anything on purpose. It might even had been my fault."

Earnhardt went the 500 laps and 263 miles on the .526-mile track in three hours, 36 minutes and 44 seconds at an average speed of 72.808 miles per hour. Eleventh caution flags slowed the race for 75 laps.

There were 14 lead chances among seven drivers with Earnhardt holding the front for 156 laps. Bodine led 117 laps. Bill Elliott, in one of hi strong short-track runs in the Coors ford, 65 laps, Wallace 63, Darrell Waltrip 45 in the Tide Chevrolet, pole-winner Morgan Shepherd 34 in the Quaker State Buick and Harry Gant 20 in the Skoal Bandit Chevrolet.

Shepherd had taken the pole with a Winston cup qualifying record speed of 91.355 mph. It was Earnhardt's third victory here after taking the fall Goody's 500 in 1980 and 1985. The 'Chase For The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup' roars into Martinsville Speedway for the only short-track event in the 'Chase' and you can be here! Tickets for the Subway 500 are available now by calling 1-877-RACE-TIX or purchase your tickets online.

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