Andy Johnson gave Iain Dowie's Eagles' play-off hopes a massive boost as Sunderland got the jitters at Selhurst Park.
Johnson converted a 23rd minute penalty after Mart Poom was shown the red card for a foul and then the Palace hit man made the next two as Palace cruised to a classy win.
It all went wrong for the Black Cats on 20 minutes when Neil Shipperley on the left side cleverly laid the ball inside to Johnson whose darting run came to an abrupt end as Poom brought down the Palace striker.
The Sunderland custodian was given his marching orders and after three minutes Thomas Myhre took over.
But Johnson, as cool as ever, rammed home the spot-kick past Myhre's outstretched right hand.
Sunderland never recovered from this setback as the Eagles took full advantage with a brilliant display.
On 62 minutes Julio Arca played a shocking pass straight to Johnson who obligingly made ground to the right byline before crossing to Shipperley who scored with a diving header for his ninth of the season.
Substitute Dougie Freedman wasted no time getting into the action as within four minutes of coming on he hit an absolute beauty of a volley from 20 yards out following a flick-on from Johnson.
Palace kept possession for long spells allowing little opportunity for Sunderland to hit back. The Eagles now know the top-six spot is a definite possibility if they win their three remaining games and on this performance it should look certain.
Palace boss Iain Dowie said: "It was a good game from the word go and we were very hungry. Sunderland are a good passing side and it was always going to be a good game.
"On balance of play we were very solid and Tony Popovic handed Kyle extremely well. Our third goal was a fantastic piece of execution from Freedman - his third in four games. He must be annoyed that he was a substitute and not in the side but it's all a team effort." Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy said: "We've had lots of games and lots of travelling and when you are down to ten players it's going to count. It would have been difficult even if we had 11 men."