Although Daytona is always an anomalous race, and seldom sets the trend for the rest of the season, it's still "The Great American Race" and, as we are interminably told, NASCAR's Superbowl - at the wrong end of the season.
Last week we learned who would be on the pole - Gordon and Stewart, and, during the week, the Twin 125's on Thursday set the field for the 500. Tapes of The Twin 125's were broadcast after the Busch race yesterday, and, frankly, they were anticlimactic, since I had printouts of the results, and they got snipped pretty good to get into the timeslot allocated by CBS... and the Busch Race was so damned exciting!
Notable events included Dallenbach takin' out Kenny Wallace in the first half-lap, and the finish, with Bobby Labonte takin' the win over Gordon and Schrader.
Race two saw Dale Earnhardt keep his Twin 125 streak alive, winning his tenth over Mayfield, Jarrett and Rusty. Comments had been made about Irvan's race tactics in the 'Net media (especially by Marcis, who claimed Ernie "had nothing between his ears"), and a couple of his moves left Benny breathless, but all I saw was typical Irvan....
With 59 cars tryin' to get into 43 spots, of which seven were already locked up as provisionals, you know there's gonna be a lot of disappointed racers! This year was particularly brutal on the rookie crop, with only Stewart and Sadler makin' The Show. Glen Morgan missed out, Buckshot got jobbed by the provisionals system, and Pardus was taken out in the qualifier, so never had a chance. Stanton Barrett woulda made the show if he'd been able to move up one spot past Rudd in the 125's. Harmon appears to be history, as Mike Wallace was in Junie's car.
Also missing the show were some of the fringe runners, and some notable veterans. In the former group were Hillenberg, Bouchard, Standridge, Benning, Bradberry and Sauter, while Shepherd, the Green brothers (David and Jeff), Trickle, and Grissom were the veterans sent to the trailer. Not many Cinderella stories in '99; not like 1998...
Thus, the lineup for the start of the 500 had Gordon and Stewart on the first row, followed by Labonte, Earnhardt, Jeff Burton, Mayfield, Schrader, Jarrett, Martin, Rusty Wallace, Spencer and Skinner as top twelve. Mike Waltrip was a strong 13th in his new Chevy, and Ol' DW picked up where he left off last season, using a Past Champion's Provisional to get in. Seven left, Darrell...
This was a NO BULL race, and Gordon, Jarrett, Mayfield, Terry Labonte and Spencer were wearin' the Dayglo today, as top five in the last NO BULL race in '98.
Big Trouble for the rest of the field - DE got his "Lucky Penny" back from last year's car - it had been held hostage by NASCAR, who get to hold the DAYTONA winning car for display for a year, and they took it in '98 while the penny was still epoxied in place!
Anyhoo, the BS stopped when the green fell, and Gordon and Stewart ran the first lap doorhandle-to doorhandle, as did most of the field behind 'em. Tony let his Home Depot Pontiac drift up a bit at the end of the first lap, and soon found himself fightin' with Labonte to stay in line. (The worst thing you can have happen in restrictoracin' is have the guy behind you, and the rest of your train, decide they don't want to stay tucked in behind you anymore. If they all pull out, you're hung out as a train blows by you on either side. If you're lucky, a friend or teammate will let you in... around tenth place or so...)
On the third lap, poor Tony lived this experience, ending up about 12th. Lap seven had two trains, one led by Labonte, Gordon and Schrader, side-by-side with Earnhardt, Burton and Mayfield. Impossible to say who as in front for more than a few hundred yards, let alone what was happenin' further back! The racin' was intense, nose to tail, side-by-side, dicey, but lane discipline was strong - no one wanted to make the move that might make them "the meat in the Sandwich" as Buffet Benny liked to put it...
On lap 10, DE got caught in the middle, hung out as Burton went under him. Teammate Skinner showed no interest in letting Dale back in line, Dale ended up about eighth, after Mike Waltrip left an opening that he slid into. This is how you make friends for later...
By lap 17, the hardnosed Mr Skinner was runnin' second, behind Gordon, with Jarrett, Earnhardt and Labonte next in line. Burton had faded, with a tire goin' down. On lap 21 Skinner led a three-car train around Jeffie, who managed to get back in line about eighth.
On lap 28, we had thirteen cars runnin' in a line - we saw a lot of that all day - with Skinner leadin' Bobby Labonte, Jarrett, Rusty, Stewart - puttin' on a good performance, Mayfield, Ward Burton, Gordon, Spencer, Earnhardt, Marlin, Mike Waltrip and Martin. This group had a 20 length lead on the rest of the field, thanks to their runnin' in a line.
Lap 35 saw Andretti's hopes end as the STP Pontiac went up in smoke... Burton had pitted for a new tire, and was out of sequence, back in 36th. And so it ran for the next 25 or so laps, until the first round of green flag stops. No cautions, and a race -record 180+ average was being maintained. Gordon had worked back up to about fifth just before pitting.
First in among the leaders was the Penske-Haas duo of Mayfield and Wallace, around lap 58. A couple laps later, the rest of the leaders pitted, and once all the stops were sorted out, Wallace found himself in the lead, chased by Jarrett, Skinner, Mayfield, Gordon, Schrader, Martin, Elliott - two tires, Little, Stewart, Bobby Labonte and Hamilton, rounding out top dozen.
Lap 65 had 'em strung out a bit, with front runners Wallace, Jarrett, Skinner, and Mayfield being chased down by Gordon, Schrader and Martin, who were hooked up together. Three laps later, Gordon and his pack were on Mayfield's tail, and Mayfield, being no fool, took the leader role, pullin' Jeff and Co. around Skinner, who soon found himself seventh. Such is restrictorplate racin'... which friends have I not used and discarded yet?
Lap 75 saw Wallace leading yet another six-car breakaway of himself, Jarrett, the perfidious Mr Mayfield, Gordon, Schrader and Martin. Steamin' after them was a steamin' Skinner, now the leader of the second pack of himself, Irvan, Hamilton, Little, Irwin, Elliott, Terry Labonte, Bobby Labonte and Stewart. This order ran for the next 20 or so laps with minor shuffling, no changes in front six. Meantime, the fortunes of some others were not so good, with Jeff Burton back in 32nd, and DW languishing in 39th. He was finally lapped around lap 90, and Burton went down on lap 94.
Imagine poor Jeff Burton's frustration when the first caution occurred the next lap, as Kenny Wallace had his engine go up in smoke, oilin' down the track! Such is racin' luck...
All the lead lap runners came in - 31 cars - and after the smoke had cleared, Wallace was still out front. Bobby Labonte's race effectively ended as he developed a miss, and the hood came up...
The green flew on lap 101, with Rusty leadin' Jarrett, Skinner, Gordon, Mayfield, Martin, Little(!), Irwin, Irvan, Hamilton, Elliott and Schrader as first dozen. Within a couple laps we began to see the trains form, as alliances formed and evaporated over 500-yard stretches of track. By lap 107, we were back to two trains runnin' with Wallace and Jarrett side-by-side for first, then Gordon and Skinner, Irvan and Irwin (yikes!!), and all the rest of 'em further back two and three wide.
Lap 108 saw Craven's day end, as the 58 car went sour... Whatever happened to Bobby's car infected Stewart as well, as he developed a miss in the other Gibbs car.
Finally, around lap 112, the front sorted itself out and we had a five-car break of Wallace, Mayfield, Skinner, Jarrett and Gordon, openin' up a little space.
This running order largely held among the front runners, until lap 123, and the second caution, caused by tire failure throwin' Spencer into the wall, tearin' up the right front. On the way to the caution, Rusty graciously let teammate Jeremy by into first, to allow him to get his lap leader bonus points. How sportin' of him...
Twenty-eight cars were still on the lead lap, and it looked like twenty-eight cars pitted. Bill Elliott was first out of the pits, takin' only two tires, followed by Rusty, Skinner, Gordon, Mayfield, Jarrett, Terry Labonte (!- two tires?), Little (havin' an excellent run; Roush's ace!), and Mike Waltrip (also runnin' well!).
The green flew on lap 127, and Bill led 'em off. Rusty pulled out to put a move on Bill, obviously expectin' third place Skinner to follow. Nearly cost him a ride to the back, as Skinner elected to go with Elliott. Wallace managed to elbow back in without losing a spot, but he and Skinner shared some mighty narrow turf! Thus, we had Elliott leading a line of eight cars, with a scramble from ninth back, on lap 128. Three laps later, Wallace tried Bill again; this time Skinner, Mayfield, Jarrett, Gordon, and Irwin all freight-trained by poor Bill. Ah well, he at least got his lap leader bonus...
A couple laps later we went to commercial, and came back just as the wreck that changed the whole complexion of the race, and may have already sealed the season, happened, on lap 135. What we saw was Jarrett, Martin, Terry Labonte, and Jeff Burton, all caught up, along with Park, Geoffrey Bodine, Ward Burton, Marlin, Nemechek, Bickle, Rudd, and Sadler. Eleven cars, all runnin' in the top twenty taken out of contention.
Multiple replays showed Jarrett gettin' sideways in front of team mate Irwin, who had let off to let him back in line. There appeared to be contact, but Jarrett may have just lost rear downforce. The back end broke loose, and he dropped down onto the apron, where he lost it, shooting back up the track into a shocked Terry Labonte, and the chain reaction was on.
In the PII, Dale seemed to feel he'd been tapped, but was very gracious about it all. Havin' been thumped about like a pinball, and doin' a full barrelroll, it's hard to know if his memory was accurate or not. (After the race, Kenny Irwin wasn't sayin' nuthin...)
Once again, all the leaders (who were left, that is...) pitted. Skinner was first out, and at the green on lap 143, Led Wallace, Earnhardt, Mike Waltrip, Gordon, Irvan, Irwin, Mayfield, Dallenbach(!) and Mayfield over the line in first ten places. Some heavy duty jousting began, with Waltrip and Irvan immediately gangpassing Earnhardt and Gordon, who immediately followed them past the hapless Dale.
How 'bout that Mikey! New Team, different car - runnin' third in the 500!! Go Mikey, go!!! (No, not at all - what makes you even think I'm biased??)
Around lap 146, Irwin and Little made the tactical error of side-by-side racin', allowing Skinner, Wallace, Gordon, Waltrip, Irvan and Earnhardt to break away in single file.
For the next thirty laps they ran in this fashion, with three - four cars lining up and drafting by the helpless driver in front of them. Earnhardt and Waltrip hooked up and pushed Gordon back to fifth on lap 149; Wallace, Earnhardt and Gordon knocked Skinner out of the lead on lap 153; Gordon and Skinner put DE back a couple spots on lap 157; high drama on lap 160, with Irwin, Skinner and Gordon three wide chasin' Rusty... Very gripping, exciting action!
We went to a commercial on lap 170, with Wallace still out front, followed by Earnhardt, Mayfield, Mike Waltrip, Irvan, Little (Go Chad!!), Gordon, Schrader, Dallenbach, and Skinner, who'd run out of dancin' partners...
Back from commercial just as the fourth caution flew, with Hamilton spinnin' down the backstretch. Looked like he just lost it, after a sharp avoidance manoevre. His day was done...
Now we had some intriguing pit strategy. All the leaders pitted - except the Penske-Haas duo of Wallace and Mayfield, who were runnin' up front. I think Robin Pemberton (Rusty's crewchief) was surprised, and felt he'd been snookered... He stated that he'd never expected EVERYONE ELSE to come in... hard call to make at this stage of the race when you're leading...
So Wallace and Mayfield led 'em off on lap 179. The following pack consisted of Schrader, Irvan, Waltrip, Elliott, Earnnhardt, Little, Gordon and Skinner making up top ten positions. Dale and Chad immediately hooked up to pass Elliott, Waltrip, Irwin, then Schrader, landing them in third and fourth! A lap later, Gordon and Skinner were around Irvan, and Little was all over Earnhardt for third. Seventeen to go, and things were gettin' wild!
On lap 185, Gordon found Earnhardt, and, with Skinner and Waltrip tagging along, put Mayfield back to seventh. Lap 186 had Wallace, Earnhardt, Gordon out front, with Skinner and Little, Waltrip and Mayfield, and Irwin and Schrader doorhandle-to-doorhandle (if they had doorhandles...) Rusty was doing a masterful job of mirror-driving, blockin' Dale's pass attempts, and generally sowing chaos behind him. On lap 188, Gordon, Skinner and Mayfield sorted themselves out long enuff to gangpass Earnhardt... Little and Skinner touched on lap 189, forcing Mike to make a masterful save - he's prime-time now!
It all held together 3 wide, side-by-side-by-side, until lap 190, when things got even wilder. Wallace, Skinner and Gordon came screamin' into the trioval three wide, with Earnhardt, Schrader and Irwin layin' in behind 'em, waitin' for a break.
Somethin' Really Big nearly happened, as, out of the trioval, they came up on Rudd, potterin' around in his leftovers on the bottom of the track. In a Banzai move, Gordon threaded the needle, missing him without losing an inch of ground to the other two. Looked like both Rusty and Ricky gave enuff to avert catastrophe. Hey, Jeff - That's an Ernie move!!! My Heart!!
Finally, on lap 191, Wallace got hung out, as Earnhardt played kingmaker, lining up behind Gordon. Dale and Jeff then drafted around Skinner - the Childress team doesn't play together nice, it seems - and Waltrip also got past Skinner. Lap 194 had Gordon, Earnhardt, Waltrip in line out front, with Irwin and Skinner side-by-side. Poor Mayfield's hopes were dashed when he had to come in with a tire goin' down - 6 to go...
With 5 to go, Gordon, Earnhardt, Waltrip, Irwin, Schrader and Skinner were all in line, and Earnhardt was all over him, tryin' to loosen him up and get by.
A bump here a nudge there, frantic sawing by JG to keep 'er straight... Great Stuff!!! No less excitin' behind, as Irwin and Skinner were runnin' side-by-side with Waltrip and Schrader...
Last lap... Dale right under Jeff's spoiler... down the backstraight... into turn three... a little look inside by Dale..no go... into turn four.. onto the trioval... and over the line... Gordon wins his second Daytona 500!!
Whew... I need a beer...
Final Top Twelve order was Gordon (also NO BULL winner again!), Earnhardt, Irwin, Skinner, Waltrip (way to go, Mikey!), Schrader (ditto, Kenny! - Man, will they be insufferable Monday night!), Kyle Petty (!!), Wallace (Tire gave up...), Little, Rick Mast, Jerry Nadeau(!!!), and Wally Dallenbach.
Other notable finishes were less positive - Jeff Burton - 35th; Mark Martin - 31st; Dale Jarrett - 37th; Terry Labonte 38th; Bobby Labonte - 25th.
Whatta ya think, should we just mail the trophy to Jeff now? Can Dale keep up with him? Or will Jeff get a taste of Jarrett and Martin's racin' luck, also?? We'll find out, starting next week at The Rock...
"Mr. NASCAR" |