QUALIFYING: Ward Burton won his second Bud Pole of the year with a speed of 168.805mph and a time of 00:53.316sec. Rusty Wallace started 3rd with a speed of 167.936mph and a time of 00:53.592sec. Top Ten Qualifiers: 1st-Ward Burton, 2nd-Jeff Gordon, 3rd-Rusty Wallace, 4th-Bobby Labonte, 5th-Joe Nemechek, 6th-Mark Martin, 7th-Morgan Shepherd, 8th-Kenny Wallace, 9th-Dale Earnhardt, 10th-Michael Waltrip. Notables in field: 11th-Dale Jarrett, 13th-Ricky Rudd, 16th-Ernie Irvan, 17th-Ken Schrader,
24th-Ricky Craven, 29th-Jeremy Mayfield, 31st-Sterling Marlin. Starting Grid
RACE: Jeff Gordon survived a bumping from Dale Earnhardt, then used a fast pit stop to retake the lead and drive off to an easy victory Sunday in the Pennsylvania 500. After leading all but six of the first 115 laps at Pocono International Raceway, Gordon fell back into the pack when a host of cars decided not to pit during a caution. Then, as he charged back to the front and passed Earnhardt, Gordon's day nearly ended. Earnhardt tapped him at the end of a furious battle, nearly sending Gordon into the wall as both lost several positions on lap 136. Any pretense of a battle ended with 28 laps remaining, when Earnhardt hit both Chad Little and pole sitter Ward Burton in the first turn -- starting an eight-car collision. The crash -- from which only Earnhardt escaped unscathed -- eliminated contenders Burton and Jeremy Mayfield. The victory gave Gordon 34 for his career. It was his third win on the 2 1/2-mile track. *****Mark Martin is now winless in 24 tries on the mountaintop finishing 2nd in this race. Rusty Wallace remained in the top 10 for most of the day finishing 6th. Ricky Craven had car troubles, Ernie Irvan had a good day finishing in the top 10, so did Michael Waltrip. Earnhardt went on to finish in 7th, Ken Schrader had his second top 10, Jeremy Mayfield finished 18th and Terry Labonte finished 31st after the multi-car accident. Ricky Rudd went out of the race because of his radiator and finished 31st. Sterling Marlin finished in 11th having a good day.***** Top Ten Finishers: 1st-Jeff Gordon, 2nd-Mark Martin, 3rd-Jeff Burton, 4th-Bobby Labonte, 5th-Dale Jarrett, 6th-Rusty Wallace, 7th-Dale Earnhardt, 8th-Ken Schrader, 9th-Ernie Irvan, 10th-Michael Waltrip. Notables in the field: 11th-Sterling Marlin, 18th-Jeremy Mayfield, 31st-Terry Labonte, 41st-Ricky Craven, 42nd-Ricky Rudd. Race Results
RACE RECAP:
After 200 Laps
Leaders: 7
Lead Changes: 10
5 Cautions for 25 Laps
Cars Out of Race: 5
Average Speed: 134.650mph
Winner: Jeff Gordon
Margin of Victory: 1.153
Time of Race: 3:42:48
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