RACE REPORT.(NEWS)

A DRIVER LOST HIS FIRST-ever NASCAR win on a gray technicalityand six champion-ship hopefuls are no longer hopeful. The Amp Energy 500 was just another routine, spectacular show at Talladega Super-speedway, where Regan Smith beat Tony Stewart to the checkered flag and still finished 18th.

Smith, in a Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc., brazenly drove under Stewart in the final 300 yards of the 505-mile race (extended two laps by a late caution). His crew celebrated until word came that passing below the yellow "out-of-bounds line was illegal. Alas, the last-second pass was disallowed, and Stewart was sent to victory lane.

"But he forced me down there, Smith insisted as Stewart basked in his first Talladega win and his first in the series this season. "They tell us in drivers' meetings we can go for it if we're forced down there, especially on the last lap.

Not so, said NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter. "You cannot improve your position anytime you go below the line, he explained. "Regan did that, and the penalty is a [drive through the pits]. Since the race was over, Hunter said, "we moved him to the end of the longest line, 18th. We don't feel he was forced below the line. If he hadn't improved his position, he would have finished second.

The rule may well be clearStewart said he's been caught before; others recall it being excusedbut the urban myth remains that anything goes when gunning for the flag. After all, NASCAR doesn't overturn wins. Craftsman Truck Series official Owen Kern ...