2.66 miles around... 33 degrees of banking.... real wide track... restrictor plates... lots of sponsor pressure... network tv coverage... all the ingredients for an intense afternoon of racin' came together Sunday in 'Bama. And we weren't disappointed.
For the umpdiddy-umpth time in 1999, we rolled out under grey, threatening skies, with some possibility of rain. Fortunately, it was not a factor thru the day.
Kenny Schrader had made it a two-fer this weekend, first qualifyin' on the pole for Saturday's Busch race, in which he crashed and burned (literally!), following that up with the Pole position for Sunday's shoot-out as well. Beside Kenny was Bobby Labonte - the resrtrictospecialist, followed in the top twelve places by Jeff Burton, Nemechek, Rusty Wallace, Martin, Rudd, rookie Tony Stewart, Chad Little, Mike Waltrip, Dallenbach, and Skinner. Gordon was thirteenth, Earnhardt 17th, and Jarrett 23rd. Five drivers had to pack up and go home early - Ken Bouchard, Dan Pardus, Loy Allen, Dick Trickle, and Derricke Cope. For Cope and Trickle in particular, this has to be a miserable year...
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| under a grey sky... |
The Hendrick squad showed early strength, as Wally 'n Jeff teamed up to draft past the leaders and run at the front - albeit briefly, this is after all, restrictoracin'. Top ten order on lap 7 was Dallenbach, Gordon, Earnhardt - BIG move from 17th place, Bobby Labonte, Skinner, Wallace, Martin, Stewart, Nemechek, and Terry Labonte.
By the 11th lap, Earnhardt had taken the point, after intense side-by-side action with Dallenbach. Behind these two, Gordon and Skinner had been equally intense goin' for the third position. We were well into the "twin-freight-train syndrome" by this time, and woe betide anyone who got out of line - unless, of course a third train formed... Lap nineteen saw the first twenty cars so tightly packed there was only one second from first to twentieth! During the shufflin' Skinner and Gordon, by lap 25, found themselves outside the top fifteen, altho less than a second out of first place. This was TIGHT Racin' - could I hold my breath another 150 laps??
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And so it went for the next ten laps: cut... thrust... give... take...take some more... block... run high... run low... just don't get caught in the middle.... don't make ANY mistakes...
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Turned out Stewart had tried to go under Skinner after gettin' a run on him while both were runnin' in or near the top five or so. Mike was havin' none of it, and pinched Tony to the inside. This caused Tony to hit Skinner's left rear, just enough to put him out of shape, and grassy infield-bound. Stewart was able to regain control and regather, but Mike was toast. Skinner ended up crosswise, headin' into traffic.
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Rusty's Taurus was beyond repair. The Dupont crew frantically began to repair the 24 car, to get JG back for at least a few laps. (JG gave a post-incident interview, a formerly rare event - he was downright jovial - kinda behavin' like someone who feels he has nuthin' to prove and is havin' a Hell of a lot of fun in life... no wonder no one likes him...)
We also had a post incident interview with Skinner, who said things like "I did stupid things in MY rookie year, too!" - so you know where his head was at. From my vantage point on the couch, if there was a rookie mistake by Stewart, it was his assuming Mike would use common sense in that situation... it was early in the race - too early to be pinchin' people down onto the apron... ya gotta live to finish...
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| beat up a tow truck guy... |
Oh, yeah.. did anyone else learn the new word that Jeff Burton's crewchief Frankie Stoddard invented? "We just wanna be precautious" in explaining why the 99 car was in a second time. Love it - gonna use it... During the caution all the remaining lead cars hit pit road, and when the green flew on lap 58, it was Andretti leadin' 'em over the S/F line. followed by Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Earnhardt and Mike Waltrip.
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| in the corners... |
There's no point tryin' to chronicle all the moves over the next 60 or so laps. Mike Waltrip took a turn leading, after a spirited effort to pass Earnhardt; Bickle did a good job bringin' the 10-10-345 car thru the pack into the top ten - especially impressive since no one seemed to want to draft with him - too much of an unknown quantity I guess - think this was about his third time on this track....
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| 30 rolls of duct tape later... |
This run was long enuff under green that we got into green flag stops around lap 108 - 110. First among the leaders in were Jarrett and Earnhardt, who'd been leading. After the stops, Kenny Schrader had reclaimed the lead that he'd lost on the first lap, with Mayfield, Rudd, Jarrett and Elliott followin'. Obviously, there'd been a few take on only two tires in the mix...
By lap 123, we had regained roughly the same situation as before the stops. Earnhardt was out front, followed by Bobby Labonte, Jarrett, Mike Waltrip, Schrader, Mayfield, Andretti, Martin, and Rudd, all runnin' single file. Behind them, Elliott, Bickle, Hamilton, Petty, Kenny Wallace, Spencer, Dallenbach, and Buckshot Jones were mixin' it up real good.
Only the second caution of the day came on lap 134, when Terry Labonte lost a right rear tire, spinning and collecting both inside and outside walls. His day was over.
Once again all the leaders pitted. Again there was a mix of two and four-tire changes, so lined up behind the pace car after stops were over were Andretti, Petty, Bickle, Elliott, Kenny Wallace, Spencer, Jarrett, Mike Waltrip, Jeff Burton and Bobby Hamilton as top ten. Kenny Wallace had clutch problems - it was so hot they hit it with a CO2 extinguisher to stop the slippage until he could get up to speed. This dropped poor Kenny back to 25th - last car on the lead lap.
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| Wild enuff fer ya???... |
Lap 149 saw Earnhardt, Waltrip and Nadeau out front, havin' gangpassed poor Andretti, who settled into 6th... after Mayfield and Lepage (where'd HE come from??) also freight-trained by. Dallenbach was 7th, with Bobby Labonte, Martin and Jarrett roundin' out the top ten. Five laps later, Bobby, Jarrett and Martin were out front - then Jarrett muscled to the front....and so it goes...
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Since we were now down to 20 or so laps, none of the frontrunners came in the pits. With nuthin' to lose, the last five on the lead lap, Spencer, Elliott, Bickle, Musgrave and Dallenbach, came in for tires - no fuel - didn't need the weight...
Thus, when the green flew on lap 174, Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Earnhardt, Andretti and Jeff Burton led 'em over the line. In short order, Earnhardt took Andretti and Burton past Labonte, and one lap later, Jarrett found himself out of the lead, in sixth, as DEsr led the train by him. One lap later, Burton got the shaft, as Mayfield led Andretti, Martin, Bobby Labonte, and Mike Waltrip by him. And just behind them, it was 5-wide racin'!! Too much!!! Bickle, Petty, Spencer, Labonte, and Stewart - all out for a top ten finish!!!
Meantime, some semblance of sanity had taken over among the leaders, and with 6 to go, Earnhardt was out front, with Andretti and Jarrett lookin' to go by.
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| never trust a Taurus... |
And that pretty well sealed it for the top three. Jarrett chased Earnhardt, but never did catch him, and Martin was closin' on Dale, but could make no impression. So, Earnhardt led 'em over the S/F line for his 72nd win, followed by Jarrett, Martin, Bobby Labonte, Stewart, Schrader, Kenny Wallace(!)- good day for the Petrie Teams, Nadeau, Elliott, Andretti - got shuffled real bad..., Jeff Burton, and Lepage as top twelve. Petty and Bickle got 13th and 14th, and Mayfield ended up 15th. Mike Waltrip? Who'd been in the hunt a couple laps back? Eighteenth - behind Spencer and Geoffrey Bodine... Hey! Geoffrey's car was in one piece! Career finishes for Stewart and Nadeau - good for them! Rusty ended up 41st, Terry Labonte 39th, and Gordon 38th - he ran just enough in the Ductmobile to pass his team mate, it would seem - nice...
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| savour it... |
In spite of the prerace glitches, Burton easily held onto first in the Points Chase, by 40 over Jarrett. Martin remains in third, but Bobby Labonte passed Gordon to take over fourth. Rusty still owns sixth, and the surprisin' Mr Stewart is in seventh! So which multicar team is doin' best so far in '99? Joe Gibbs!! Way to go, Joe!
So, where we off to next week? Ah, the palms and sunshine of The Left Coast - at Roger's Raceway. Hopefully, he'll arrange as little sunshine for this one - it's been at a premium so far this year!
See y'all there... From My
Couch!!
"Mr. NASCAR" |