Bobby Labonte Wins

Primestar 500 (March 8, 1998)
QUALIFYING: John Andretti won the Bud Pole Award for the Primestar 500 in Atlanta with a speed of 192.956mph. Rusty Wallace started in 22nd position with a speed of 190.083mph. Top Ten Qualifiers: 1st-John Andretti, 2nd-Todd Bodine, 3rd-Dick Trickle, 4th-Dale Jarrett, 5th-Kenny Irwin, 6th-Mark Martin, 7th-Robert Pressley, 8th-Terry Labonte, 9th-Jeff Gordon, 10th-Jeff Burton. Notables in field: 22nd-Rusty Wallace, 26th-Jeremy Mayfield, 30th-Dale Earnhardt, 36th-Ricky Craven, 42nd-Ernie Irvan. Starting Grid

RACE: It was pretty obvious that the drivers and crews didn't have much practice or preparation for this race. It wasn't a bad race though, the ending was especially exciting. There were seven cautions during the race, two of which were because of rain. Mike Skinner hit the wall and they conducted some catscans to see if he was alright, he got a concussion. And later in the race Derrike Cope hit the wall but he has a bruised chest. There were many mistakes that happened that hurt many teams in the end. Gordon made an early pit stop once, but was stopped for speeding, and went two laps down. Later he got the laps back, then at the end the leader passed Gordon putting him a lap down. He was never a factor in this race. During one of Jarrett's stops the jackman dropped the jack, Schrader was caught for speeding, Kenny Wallace's tire changer fell down. Surprising that rookie Kenny Irwin lead the most laps and won the Gatorade front runner award. Don't worry the ending was exciting though. Bobby Labonte wasn't anywhere near the front until the end of the race. He shot passed Jarrett and took the lead, and held it for the last 47 laps which gave him the win under caution when Jeff Burton hit the wall. Burton made it around one last time and finished in 8th position. The crowd cheered for him because there were sparks flying everywhere out from under his car! Top Ten Finishers: 1st-Bobby Labonte, 2nd-Dale Jarrett, 3rd-Jeremy Mayfield, 4th-Rusty Wallace, 5th-Kenny Irwin, 6th-Dick Trickle, 7th-Kenny Wallace, 8th-Jeff Burton, 9th-Johnny Benson, 10th-Todd Bodine. Notables in the field: 13th-Dale Earnhardt, 17th-Ken Schrader, 18th-Michael Waltrip, 19th-Jeff Gordon, 25th-Mark Martin, 34th-Ricky Craven. Race Results


�2 - Rusty Wallace
�������Started: 22nd ��������������Highest: 4th����������������Laps Led: 0
�������Finished: 4th�������������Lowest: 32nd

�3 - Dale Earnhardt
�������Started: 30th� �����������Highest: 1st����������������Laps Led: 2
�������Finished: 13th��������������Lowest: 33rd

12 - Jeremy Mayfield
�������Started: 26th ������������Highest: 1st�������������Laps Led: 10
������ Finished: 3rd������������Lowest: 26th

18 - Bobby Labonte
�������Started: 14th �������������Highest: 1st��������������Laps Led: 47
� �����Finished: 1st��������������Lowest: 28th

88 - Dale Jarrett
�������Started: 4th �������������Highest: 1st���������������Laps Led: 29
��� ���Finished: 2nd������������Lowest: 16th

99 - Jeff Burton
�������Started: 10th�� �������������Highest: 3rd���������������Laps Led: 0
� �����Finished: 8th������������Lowest: 31st


RACE RECAP:
After 325 Laps
Leaders: 14
Lead Changes: 29
7 Cautions for 52 Laps
Cars Out of Race: 7
Average Speed: 139.501mph
Winner: Bobby Labonte
Margin of Victory: Under caution
Time of Race: 3:36:12
 �������������NEWS



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