QUALIFYING: Derrike Cope wins his first career Bud Pole with a speed of 181.690mph and a time of 00:29.721sec. Rusty Wallace started 6th with a speed of 180.771mph and a time of 00:29.872sec. Top Ten Qualifiers: 1st-Derrike Cope, 2nd-Mark Martin, 3rd-Bobby Labonte, 4th-Ernie Irvan, 5th-Bobby Hamilton, 6th-Rusty Wallace, 7th-John Andretti, 8th-Todd Bodine, 9th-Jeremy Mayfield, 10th-Kenny Irwin. Notables in field: 15th-Ken Schrader, 17th-Dale Jarrett, 26th-Jeff Gordon, 27th-Michael Waltrip, 28th-Jeff Burton, 33rd-Dale Earnhardt. Starting Grid
RACE: The way Mark Martin sees it, his best may not be good enough. Needing a good run to stay close to points leader Jeff Gordon, Martin got that and more Sunday. Starting on the outside of the front row, Martin put on a dominating show at Charlotte, leading the most laps on the way to his 7th victory of the year. It came on a day when Gordon battled handling problems over the last third of the 334-lap race and wound up nearly one-half lap back in fifth. It was Gordon's 15th consecutive top-five finish, a streak that stretches back to April. Gordon can wrap up the crown by finishing fifth or better in the remaining events. Now Martin has won 2 of 3 races, the 28th and 29th of his career. Gordon, on the other hand, has never won a Winston Cup race in October or November. Martin led six times for 215 laps. He kept his Ford Taurus up front for the final 66 laps and 133 of the last 134. Martin's dominance came on what turned out to be a long afternoon of racing. The event was slowed by 11 caution flags, and a broken sewer line near the speedway resulted in a backup that produced a stream of water flowing down the backstretch, causing the race to be red-flagged for 42 minutes. The result was the race took nearly 5 hours to complete and track officials turned on the facility's lights for the final 70+ laps. Martin's victory highlighted a banner day for Roush Racing, which had 4 of the top-8 finishers. **Ward Burton was second, his best finish in nearly three years.** Top Ten Finishers: 1st-Mark Martin, 2nd-Ward Burton, 3rd-Jeff Burton, 4th-Bobby Hamilton, 5th-Jeff Gordon, 6th-Kevin Lepage, 7th-Joe Nemechek, 8th-Chad Little, 9th-Geoff Bodine, 10th-Jimmy Spencer. Notables in the field: 13th-Michael Waltrip, 24th-Dale Jarrett, 25th-Jeremy Mayfield, 26th-Rusty Wallace, 29th-Dale Earnhardt, 39th-Bobby Labonte, 40th-Ken Schrader. Race Results
RACE RECAP:
After 334 Laps
Leaders: 8
Lead Changes: 17
11 Cautions for 65 Laps
Cars Out of Race: 11
Average Speed: 123.188mph
Winner: Mark Martin
Margin of Victory: 1.110
Time of Race: 4:04:01
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