QUALIFYING: Rusty Wallace won the Bud Pole with a speed of 125.377mph and a time of 00:21.535sec. Top Ten Qualifiers: 1st-Rusty Wallace, 2nd-Ken Schrader, 3rd-Jeff Burton, 4th-Sterling Marlin, 5th-Jeff Gordon, 6th-Bobby Hamilton, 7th-Dale Jarrett, 8th-Derrike Cope, 9th-John Andretti, 10th-Bobby Labonte. Notables in field: 12th-Mark Martin, 31st-Michael Waltrip, 34th-Dale Earnhardt, 37th-Jeremy Mayfield. Starting Grid
RACE: First Jeff Burton pulled way ahead, then Jeff Gordon reeled him in, stalking him for another
end-of-the-race victory charge. But the Virginia native held off Gordon's furious charge by mere feet Saturday night to win the Exide Batteries 400 at Richmond. Burton withstood five laps of racing with Gordon on his bumper, and crossed the finish line a hood-length ahead of the series points leader, who was seeking his seventh victory in the last eight races and 11th overall. Burton led eight times for 203 laps, including the last 40. It was his fifth career victory, second of the season and second in Virginia for the South Boston native. He also won last year at Martinsville Speedway. The margin of victory was .051 seconds, the closest on the Winston Cup circuit this season. Burton averaged 91.985mph. The race appeared destined to be a duel between Burton and Gordon, who had the strongest cars in the field all night, but a series of late cautions and staggered pit stops left the outcome at least somewhat up in the air. But while the rest of the would-be contenders all had fresher tires, Burton and Gordon dueled alone on rubber put on with 52 laps remaining. It was a long night for Dale Jarrett, who is No. 3 in points. He never got his car hooked up, spun out twice late in the race and finished 16th. Top Ten Finishers: 1st-Jeff Burton, 2nd-Jeff Gordon, 3rd-Mark Martin, 4th-Ken Schrader, 5th-John Andretti, 6th-Bobby Hamilton, 7th-Rusty Wallace, 8th-Mike Skinner, 9th-Jimmy Spencer, 10th-Kenny Irwin. Notables in the field: 16th-Dale Jarrett, 22nd-Jeremy Mayfield, 26th-Michael Waltrip, 35th-Bobby Labonte, 38th-Dale Earnhardt. Race Results
RACE RECAP:
After 400 Laps
Leaders: 11
Lead Changes: 24
8 Cautions for 66 Laps
Cars Out of Race: 7
Average Speed: 91.985mph
Winner: Jeff Burton
Margin of Victory: 0.051
Time of Race: 3:15:41
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