The Associated Press

SUZUKA, Japan - Michael Schumacher asserted his authority in Formula One again Sunday with his 13th victory of the season but first since August.

The seven-time world champion captured the Japanese Grand Prix, which was run in sunshine after days of rain and a typhoon threat.

Schumacher won 12 of the first 13 races before losing three straight. In his previous race, he finished 12th at the Chinese Grand Prix, his worst finish since 1999.

"I didn't think too much about what happened at the last Grand Prix. I don't really take that into account, questioning anything," the German said. "There wasn't really the extra pressure."

Schumacher, with 83 career victories, clinched the drivers' title by finishing second at the Belgian GP behind Kimi Raikkonen and had gone winless since the Hungarian Grand Prix.

He was 14 seconds ahead of brother Ralf, who finished the 53 laps on the 3.6-mile circuit in second place in a Williams-BMW.

"I had Ralf in my mirrors for quite a while," Michael said.

BAR-Honda had Jenson Button and Takuma Sato in third and fourth to nearly clinch second in the team standings. Fernando Alonso of Renault was fifth.

Schumacher spun in the last two races, each won by Rubens Barrichello.

Barrichello had a mishap during qualifying that left him 15th, but he moved up to sixth before he tangled with David Coulthard on the 39th lap. That knocked both out of the race.

BIG WEEKEND FOR ARMY: From the gridiron to the racetrack, Army had one of its best sports weekends.

One day after Army snapped the nation's longest football losing streak at 19 games by beating Cincinnati 48-29, Army racers took the checkered flag in all three motorsports categories sponsored by the military service Sunday.

"I just have to say thanks to all the troops overseas," Joe Nemechek said after delivering the Army's first Nextel Cup win in the Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway. "This is a cool experience for me, representing the Army."

Also on Sunday, drag racer Tony Schumacher clinched his second Top Fuel NHRA championship and won the title race at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Mohnton, Pa.

In other NHRA action at Maple Grove Raceway, Angelle Savoie won her Pro Stock Bike competition - beating her Army teammate, Antron Brown, in the fastest head-to-head Pro Stock Bike race in NHRA history.

"What an incredible weekend," Nemechek said. "It's just a tribute to the whole Army team."