Burton gets out of slump

LOUDON, N.H. -- Ward Burton, stuck in a miserable slump since winning the Daytona 500, overcame hazardous track conditions and a late caution to win the New England 300 on Sunday.\nBurton, who had just two other top-10 finishes since winning the season-opening race, passed Matt Kenseth for the lead wiath 10 laps to go then held off Jeff Green by 3.230 seconds at New Hampshire International Speedway.\nDale Jarrett finished third, followed by Rusty Wallace, rookie Ryan Newman, Todd Bodine, Robby Gordon, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler.\nKenseth, who had passed Jarrett for the lead with 17 laps to go, was hurt by the 14th caution of the race.\nDale Earnhardt Jr. brought out the yellow when he tried to move Todd Bodine's car with slight contact and instead went spinning down the track, onto the grass and into the retaining wall.\nThe field was bunched back up and Burton, in second on the restart with 12 laps to go, easily got by Kenseth two laps later.\nHe went unchallenged for the victory the rest of the way in a race marred by poor track conditions after the facilities owner spent $200,000 on new pavement to improve racing conditions.\nDrivers believed the track surface, which showed signs of coming apart during Saturday's final practice session, began to split early in the race.\nSadler spun out in turn 4 on lap 60 and Kyle Petty hit the wall there on lap 106. Drivers began complaining over their radios about the slick surface and gravel popping off their fenders every time they went through turns 3 and 4.\nLater, when Jeff Gordon slipped out of the groove and brushed against the wall, he angrily called on NASCAR to stop the race.\n"NASCAR, they need to red-flag this race -- it is not safe to be out on this race track," he radioed. "All I did was get like a foot wide and the thing almost went straight into the wall. It was like I was on ice, pure ice"