Congratulations to NASCAR for it's 50th great year!!!.
At the second Louden, N.H. race, with the
race more than half over Kenny Schrader had a tire starting to go down and with a little help from
Rusty Wallace hit the outside wall. In this picture Kenny is pointing at Rusty as he goes by during the
ensuing caution period.
At Louden, Jeff Gordon started from the pole but was real bad on short runs. At one point after a restart he was 17th!! With less than 100 laps to go Mark Martin, who was dominating the race, got into the rear of a car he was trying to lap. The caution gave the Rainbow Warriors one last shot. Against Jeff's better wishes Ray called for a 2 tire stop. Here are the crew during that stop.
For the last 70 laps
Gordon held off Martin for his 5th win in 6 races!! After the race NASCAR impounded the wheels
of the #24 and #6 cars for inspection after Martins car owner, Jack Rousch accused Evernham and
Gordon of cheating. As of September 9, 1998 nothing illegal was found in either
car.
Next up Darlington for the "NO
BULL 5" race. Here is Jimmy Spencer spinning early in the race. Bobby Labonte was one of the five
drivers who could win a million but it would not be!!!
It was Jeff Gordon winning his
RECORD 4th "SOUTHERN 500" and the second million dollar bonus!! Jeff Burton, who led the
majority of the race beat Gordon out of the pits during a green flag stop appeared to have it all
going right when Gordon caught up to him. Mark Martin blew his engine and finished 40th.
Richmond, only a few laps in and Dale Earnhardt got caught up in somebody elses wreck. Here's Dale getting out of the car with it on fire. As usual, Dale returned to the car to prevent a DNF
THIS WAS A GREAT RACE!!! Here is the finish. Jeff Burton edges Gordon by half a hood length for the win. Those two ran excellent all night and either could have won the race. They raced real clean and real hard. The last 20 laps was the best racing seen in quite some time. 
Jeff and his wife (along with a crew member) celebrate the win in their home state!! Congratulations to Jeff and his team...that my friends was RACIN'
This was the dominant car out there all day. He led almost 95% of the laps. The Valvoline Ford was very strong for the entire weekend. Gordon only led 7 laps when he got out of the pits first during the middle of the race.
Here are some shots of Mark being congratulated from inside his car and on the cool down lap with Jeff being the first one to give him a thumbs up. Mark only gained 10 points in the championship battle due to Jeff's strong finish
This was another show of "great racing". Ricky Rudd, Sterling Marlin, and a couple other guys who this year have not been in "the hunt" had great days. Here's Gordon beating out Rudd of the pits. However, Sterling Marlin was already on the track....Jeff nor Mark led a lap this day.
In one of the gutsiest shows of determination seen in years Rudd held onto the lead. About 40 laps or so in Ricky's helmet, designed by him to stay cool was failing. Slowly sufficating he 3 or more times requested that a back up driver be put on standby. At one point the crew dumped hot water on him as the 90 degrre Virginia sun heated cool water in the hose. He was so exhausted he needed help from the car and did his interviews in victory lane on his back. This was the 16th year Ricky has won a Winston Cup race. Congratulations to Ricky and his team!!!
Here's the start of the fall Charlotte race. Derrick Cope won his first Bud pole award ever edging out Mark Martin who started outside of row 1. Earnie Irvin did well starting outside of row 2. Jeff Gordon qualified 26th, his worst (timed) effort since Atlanta last November.
On a very long day due to cautions a sewer line broke in the grandstands behind the fence on the backstretch causing a 40 minute red flag because th ewater was coming on th etrack. I'm sure the folks who paid good money for those "smelly seats" appreciated the non refund policy the track has!!! Here's Earnhardt and Skinner BS'ing during the red flag break.
This could have been the beginning of the end for Gordon's championship dream this year. Bobby Labonte "just lost it" while trying to get past Mark Martin who was leading. Martin said there was oil or something on the track.
The ensuing wreck consumed about 10 cars all in the running to win. Terry Labonte, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace (all shown here), Jeremy Mayfield ,Dale Earnhardt, and Mike Skinner all had damage done to their cars. They, along with Martin and Gordon made up the top ten at the time.
The eventual winner turned out to be Mark, followed by a strong Ward Burton. Gordon's car was never the same after the wreck as the back spoiler was raised somewhat causing the car to be loose. He did come on from 8th to 5th in the last 20 laps or so. The top photo once again shows Martin giving Gordon a "thumbs up" as Jeff congratulates him on the track for the win.
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