QUALIFYING: Dale Jarrett won the Bud Pole with a speed of 168.879mph and a time of 00:29.119sec. Rusty Wallace started 3rd with a speed of 168.642mph and a time of 00:29.160sec. Top Ten Qualifiers: 1st-Dale Jarrett, 2nd-Ward Burton, 3rd-Rusty Wallace, 4th-John Andretti, 5th-Jeff Gordon, 6th-Ken Schrader, 7th-Bill Elliott, 8th-Sterling Marlin, 9th-Jerry Nadeau, 10th-Mark Martin.
Notables in field: 12th-Jeff Burton, 18th-Dale Earnhardt, 20th-Michael Waltrip, 24th-Bobby Labonte, 27th-Jeremy Mayfield. Starting Grid
RACE: Jeff Gordon watched Jeff Burton dominate the first 400 miles of the Southern 500, then ran him down twice Sunday and drove off to win a $1 million bonus in another record-setting performance. Burton, who lost a bumping match to Gordon as the final lap began a year ago, led 242 of the first 274 laps. He held an advantage of eight seconds at one point, setting a pace that eliminated from contention all but Gordon. Burton drove despite a case of the flu, which he said was a factor. Although Burton was so dominant, Gordon's steadier pace paid off. He continually reduced the margin until he got by Burton as the cars reached the start-finish line with 93 laps to go. Gordon passed Burton to take the lead, but a slow pit cost him 2 seconds. Burton reassumed the lead and began to drive away. But Gordon made another of his patented charges, again passing Burton at the line with 33 of the 367 laps remaining. Then Gordon steadily drove off to another $1 million payday that extended his record winning streak in the tradition-filled Labor Day weekend race to four, becoming the first driver in the modern era of NASCAR to win the same superspeedway event four years running. Dale Earnhardt -- eligible for the bonus along with Gordon, Martin, Bobby Labonte and Mike Skinner -- was fourth in a Chevy. Top Ten Finishers: 1st-Jeff Gordon, 2nd-Jeff Burton, 3rd-Dale Jarrett, 4th-Dale Earnhardt, 5th-Jeremy Mayfield, 6th-Ernie Irvan, 7th-Rusty Wallace, 8th-Sterling Marlin, 9th-Geoff Bodine, 10th-Kenny Wallace. Notables in the field: 13th-Ken Schrader, 15th-Bobby Labonte, 17th-Michael Waltrip, 40th-Mark Martin. Race Results
RACE RECAP:
After 367 Laps
Leaders: 6
Lead Changes: 12
2 Cautions for 16 Laps
Cars Out of Race: 5
Average Speed: 139.031mph
Winner: Jeff Gordon
Margin of Victory: 3.361
Time of Race: 3:36:21
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