EXIDE NASCAR SELECT BATTERIES 400
Richmond, VA, September 11th, 1999
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EXIDE NASCAR SELECT BATTERIES 400 |
Anyhoo, I didn't get to watch the taped race (VCR Worked Like I Asked!) until late Sunday night...
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Some people got it right for qualifying. Mike Skinner put the Lowe's Chevy on the pole, with Tony Stewart alongside. Third was short-trackmeister Rusty Wallace, with Bobby Labonte, better known for his speedway prowess, comfortably filling out Row 2. Geoffrey Bodine took the fifth position, Jeff Gordon sixth, and Jeff Burton and Kenny Wallace made up the fourth row. Kenny Irwin took ninth place, with Park, Spencer and Musgrave rounding out the Top Twelve. Points leader Jarrett qualified thirteenth, two ahead of Terry Labonte; second place Mark Martin started 20th, and Dale Earnhardt lined up in 33rd place. "Little E", in his fourth run, qualified a respectable 21st. New to the field were Mike Wallace, putting the #32 car in 29th, and Ron Hornaday, qualifying the #01 car in 35th. Todd Bodine returned in the #30, with State Fair Corn Dogs sponsoring this week, putting the dogmobile in 34th, and Steve Grissom was back again this week, putting the #9 Melling car in 39th.
There were five more cars than starting spots this week, so Marcis and Stricklin, Stanton Barrett, in Junie's #90, Baldwin, in Falk's #91, missed out, as did Jack Sprague, who tried to get the ex-Bickle 10-10-345 Pontiac into the show.
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After nine laps, Tony Stewart was out front, with Skinner, Bobby Labonte, Gordon, Kenny Wallace, Jeff Burton, Rusty Wallace, Park, Bodine, Irwin, Musgrave and Mayfield rounding out the Top Twelve. Dale Jr was up to fifteenth, and Dale Sr was 27th, and movin' forward.
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Meantime, Stewart continued to add to his lead, as behind him, Bobby Labonte, then Gordon, got around a fading Skinner (the handling thing - see above...).
Twenty-six laps in, order of top twelve was Stewart, Labonte, Gordon, Skinner, Jeff Burton, Kenny Wallace, Park, Bodine, Irwin, Rusty Wallace, Mayfield, and Musgrave. Terry Labonte was thirteenth, Dale Jr had worked up to 14th, and Jarrett was hangin' in, back a couple to fifteenth. Four laps later, Stewart gave up the lead to team mate Bobby Labonte, who led for 2 or 3 laps, before giving it back once again to Stewart. Nice Gibbs-type teamplay, to get your Championship Points maximized. Much more subtle than Formula 1!
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This exercise was repeated a few laps later, as Mayfield shredded the right front, brushing the wall. Unlike Mast, he was able to continue...
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On Lap 56, with Stewart still in the lead, Gordon, Bodine and Skinner lined up behind him, as they crossed the line for the green. Geoffrey Bodine and the PowerTeam Chevy were havin' a good time, as he duelled side-by -side with Gordon for second on Laps 67 - 70, actually gettin' the lead, and setting out after Stewart. Behind him, Gordon now had Martin and Jeff Burton tryin' to take away the third spot...
Utimately, Gordon got control of the situation in third, and on Lap 78, Top Twelve order was Stewart, almost a second out front, then Bodine, Gordon, Martin, Jeff Burton, Skinner, Musgrave, Bobby Labonte, Dale Earnhardt Jr - havin' a good run, Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, and Kenny Wallace. Dale senior had made his way up to 17th, and there were 26 cars on the lead lap.
Gordon seemed to have the handling "come in" around Laps 85 - 90, and he closed up on, and retook second, from Bodine. Likewise, Skinner got back by Burton and Martin, and had settled into fourth on Lap 100.
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Restart order on Lap 110 was Stewart, Gordon, Martin, Skinner, Bodine, Jeff Burton, Rusty Wallace, Jarrett - GOOD stop, Bobby Labonte, Andretti, Mike Wallace and Dale Jr as top twelve. Stewart once again demonstrated the HOME DEPOT Pontiac's dominance, movin' out in a few laps to almost one and a half seconds over Gordon, who in turn had nearly a second on Martin.
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| the JD Taurus!! |
Again, all the leaders pitted, and Gordon and Martin both beat Stewart out, linin' up first and second, with Tony third. Bobby Labonte, Bodine, Rusty Wallace, Jarrett, Jeff Burton, Skinner and Hamilton rounding out Top Ten.
We now ran almost forty laps of classic short track side-by-side racing, as Gordon led off, with Stewart and Martin side-by-side, until Stewart took the lead, letting Labonte slip in to challenge Martin. Lap 184 saw Bobby put Mark back to fourth, and Geoffrey Bodine moved in for the kill, only to have Rusty sneak by him... Lap 189 saw Stewart blow by Gordon for the lead, and Labonte closin' the gap on Jeff. With 202 laps complete, there were 20 cars on the lead lap. Stewart was back out front, with Gordon second, then Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Martin, Jeff Burton, Bodine, Jarrett, Hamilton, Skinner, Marlin and Park fillin' out the Top Dozen.
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All the leaders pitted, and Stewart's slow stop cost him, as he lined up fourth, taking the green on Lap 219 behind Gordon, Martin and Bobby Labonte, with Jeff Burton, Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett on his bumper. Fast company...
A note to Jack Roush here: green rims on a black and pink Taurus is not going to start a new fashion vogue for race car graphicists... (Looks like the Roush team pirated remaining rims from Little's car - Mark also sported 'em a few laps later, with no more aesthetic appeal...) Maybe it was the wheels - Rusty got by Burton for fifth on Lap 225... A couple laps later, Labonte and Stewart were past Martin, followed by Burton, who then challenged and passed Stewart.
Bobby Labonte, after a duel with Gordon, took the lead, only to have Gordon retake it around Lap 235, while Stewart repassed Burton and closed on the front pair. With the help of the lapped car of Mayfield, who ended up blocking Gordon, both Gibbs cars got by, with Labonte leading Stewart, and Gordon seething in third... (Ray said they were "very disappointed" in Jeremy...)
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Everyone headed into the pits - we'd run over twenty laps, after all.... and once again, Stewart was killed in the pits. When the green flew on Lap 247, it was Gordon out front again, chased by the rest of the Top Ten of Martin - great stop, Labonte, Burton, Stewart, Park, Wallace, Jarrett, Earnhardt Sr, and Marlin. Lap 249 saw Martin, now on the previously-noted green rims, challenging Gordon for first, with Labonte and Burton lurkin' in the background... Four laps later, Martin had dropped to sixth, as Chad's wheels just didn't work on the Valvoline car.
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Meanwhile, up front, Stewart, after a good battle with Labonte and Gordon, retook the lead. In the confusion, Burton also slipped by Labonte into third...
Thus at Lap 260, Top Twelve running order was Stewart, Gordon, Burton, Labonte, Martin, Park, Wallace, Earnhardt, Marlin, Irwin, Musgrave and Skinner, with Jarrett still 14th. Around this time, we lost Elliott with a bad vibration...
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| just in case... |
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Lap 317 had Stewart out in front of Burton and Labonte. Jarrett, also with a great pitstop, was out in fifth place, and had passed Wallace for 4th. By Lap 328, Labonte had passed Burton, and we had the two Joe Gibbs-owned Pontiacs runnin' 1 - 2, and seemingly in a class of their own.
Lap 338 saw Jarrett take third from Burton, by Lap 350, Stewart had a two-second advantage on the field, and thoughts of a rookie victory began to loom.
With 40 to go, Stewart was still out front, but catching lapped traffic, and seemingly vulnerable to team mate Labonte, closin' in on him. Lap 357, and there were 17 cars on the lead lap, with Stewart mowin' 'em down, and Labonte followin' thru in the hole, hopin' to put a move on him. Team Orders?? This ain't F1!! Jarrett was still holdin' third, with Burton, Marlin, Wallace, Earnhardt, Hamilton, Martin, Musgrave, Irwin and Andretti roundin' out the Top Twelve.
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We all like to see new faces in the Winners' Circle, especially fresh young ones, so it was time to "coach from the couch", as I guided Tony thru traffic, meanwhile thwarting Bobby's attempts to steal away the win.
Twenty-three to go, and Stewart was up by a second, but closin' on traffic fightin' it's own fight, and lookin' to not get lapped. Meantime, Burton had begun to fade, fallin' back to the end of the lead lap in tenth, with 14 to go. Stewart was still out front, hounded by Labonte, then Jarrett, Marlin, Earnhardt, Irwin, Hamilton, Musgrave, Andretti and Burton made up the lead lap cars. Down a lap, from 11th to 16th, were Skinner, Rusty Wallace - apparently sans power steering, Dale Junior, Kenny Wallace, Petty and Park.
Thirteen to go, and Burton was a lap down.
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A good race, and a win by Stewart, whose "rookie" status is a definite misnomer (like when Clark and Hill came over as "rookies" to Indy in the '60's...)
Stewart is putting together a rookie season that is 25 - 30 percent better than Gordon's rookie year was in every respect. How long before the crowd's attention turns from Gordon to Stewart, and he gets booed for being "too successful"?
Don't think it will happen, Gordon has paved the way, and taken the heat, for the "new Gen-X " racers, and even the most earnest supporter of the good ol' boys (Earnhardt Sr, Elliott, Rudd, etc, maybe even Jarrett after this season..) must see the writing on the wall, and accept the New Order as it arrives... I think that process began in earnest this weekend...
We'll see what happens next week, as we journey back into the Northwest to Loudon, NH once again...
See y'all there... From My
Couch!!
"Mr. NASCAR" |