FRONTIER at the GLEN
Watkins Glen, NY, August 15th, 1999
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FRONTIER at the GLEN |
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| to challenge the regulars... |
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Six drivers had to put it on the trailer, including regulars Pressley, Cope, Stricklin and Marcis, and Roadracers Gentillozi and Baldwin. That these two stuggled and missed the cut surprised me - although with the provisionals, they could have been well up the field, and still sidelined... this was Fellows' concern, and he claimed he was very conservative...
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At the start of Lap 2, in the first corner, Gordon and Said passed Wallace, with Fellows, Stewart, Martin and Nadeau in hot pursuit. Fellows outbraked Wallace into the "bus stop" (chicane, at the end of the long straight), and took over third. This order largely held over next few laps, so that by Lap 6, the leaders were stringing out, and the Top Ten were Gordon, Said, Fellows, Wallace, Stewart, Nadeau, Martin, Elliott, Jarrett and Nemechek.
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By Lap 10, Nadeau had grabbed fifth from the less-experienced Stewart, and Jarrett was beginning to feel more comfy, and was up to eighth place. Meantime, up front, Gordon was showin' the roadrace specialists what he could do, and had a two seconds lead over Said, with Fellows a second further back.
Jeff lost the little cushion he'd established, however, when the first caution came out on Lap 14. This was brought about by Brett Bodine, who lost his gears, and coasted to a stop, just beyond the entrance to the "bus stop", definitely in harm's way, at the end of the back straight. At this early stage, none of the lead half of the pack came in, but a number from mid and rear-pack opted for gas 'n tires.
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| for Ernie... |
Under this yellow, all the leaders did stop - except Boris Said. This really jumbled the starting order at the drop of the green on Lap 22. Said led off, but a whole new cast of characters was behind him. Second place was now Kenny Wallace, then Dallenbach, Ward Burton, Benson, Bickle, Lepage and Schrader filled out the first eight spots, before Gordon resurfaced in ninth. Little-known David Murry had the #61 car in tenth, then Rusty Wallace and Mayfield rounded out the top twelve. Fellows was 14th, and Jarrett fifteenth.
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Within a couple laps, the leaders were spread out. JG was on the move, and by Lap 28 was back up to fifth. Fellows was also showin' his slice 'n dice skills, followin' Gordon, and up to eighth place. By contrast, Jarrett had only moved up a couple places to 13th...
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| coyly out of the styrofoam... |
Thus, when the green flew om Lap 32, Wally and the Budmobile led off, followed by Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Nadeau, Jarrett, Bickle, Nemechek, Irwin, Spencer, Hamilton, Elliott and Rudd, as Top Dozen. The former leaders, who'd pitted, Martin, Terry Labonte, Said, Benson, were relegated back to squabble over 21st place... Murry, who was into a good run, had his car start to smoke and blow oil. Anticipating oil on the track, Gordon backed down a notch goin' into Turn 11, only to have Rusty blow by him before they took the caution, the fourth, on Lap 35.
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| up in smoke! |
Wallace and Gordon led 'em off on Lap 38, with Wally D., and Dale Jarrett following. By Lap 46, Gordon had retaken the lead, with Wallace second, then Dallenbach, Jarrett, Spencer, Nemechek, Said - good fight back to the front, Irwin, Hamilton and Fellows - also progressing forward quite nicely.
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None of the lead cars pitted (except Hamilton, from 19th), and when the green came out on Lap 48,Gordon, Wallace, Dallenbach and Jarrett were the frontrunners.
Lap 49 saw Said grab 6th from Nemechek, only to have the gears jam at the "bus stop" strandin' Boris in the no man's land of the chicane run off area. Unfortunately, this put the Federated Auto Parts car onto jacks for an extended stay in the pits... Fellows, meantime, continued to work back up to the leaders..
On Lap 51, Gordon was still out front, followed by Wallace, Dallenbach, Jarrett, Fellows, Spencer, Nemechek, Elliott, Sadler and Skinner, as top twelve. Nadeau was 14th, and Martin 15th. Fellows cranked it up at this point, passing Jarrett the next lap, then taking third from Dallenbach on Lap 53.
Wally headed 'er for the pits as soon as he'd lost the place, as we were just getting into the stages, with 37 to go, where some cars might make it to the end. Lap 55 saw DJ in, with Rusty in on the next lap. These guys were right on the edge of finishing without another stop...Gordon, Nemechek and Skinner were in on Lap 57, and Fellows found himself on the point, with Nadeau in second place. Heady Stuff!!
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Lap 68 had the highly-out-of-sequence cars of Hamilton and Mike Waltrip in first and second, then Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Fellows, Nadeau, Jarrett, Bickle, Stewart, Dallenbach, Nemechek and Spencer roundin' out the Top Twelve.
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Thus, when the race restarted, on Lap 72, Gordon led off Wallace, Fellows, Nadeau, and Jarrett. Fellows quickly disposed of Wallace, takin' over second, and set his sights on JG. On Lap 74, the leaders had begun to space themselves out. Gordon was leading, followed by Fellows, Wallace, Nadeau, Jarrett, Stewart, Dallenbach, Nemechek, Martin, Rudd, Spencer and Elliott, as Leading Dozen. Skinner had worked back to 14th, Jeff Burton was 17th, Earnhardt 22nd, and after the stops, Mike Waltrip was 25th.
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Over the next five laps, order among the leaders largely held. Elliott had worked up to 10th by Lap 83, behind Rudd, then Rudd had his gearbox pack up on Lap 84, leavin' him limping around... Elliott inherited ninth, behind Nemchek.
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The green flew again on Lap 89, with two to go. Gordon got a good jump on Fellows and Wallace. Behind them, Jarrett managed to get by Nadeau for fourth place.
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Behind Gordon, Fellows came in a close second. (I learned later at The Charlotte Observer's THAT'S RACIN' website that Fellows may have developed a skip in the ignition that prevented him from closing on JG.) Wallace finished third, then Jarrett, Nadeau, Stewart, Dallenbach, Petty, Skinner, Martin, Terry Labonte and Steve Park rounded out the Top Twelve. Nemechek and Elliott's good runs were ended when they got together in a cloud of styrofoam and sand on the last lap, launching Joe into the sandtrap. This put them back in 28th place (Elliott) and 30th (Nemechek), at the end of the race. Never did see a replay to know exactly what happened, and Joe's description on THAT'S RACIN' was a little vague...
So, DJ managed to extend his points lead at a road course! He is now 300 up on second-place Martin (Happy now, Peter??). Bobby Labonte is still hangin' in third, with Jeff Burton fourth. Gordon moved past Stewart into fifth, and Earnhardt still has sixth place.
Next week, the NASCAR circus makes its second visit to Michigan this year. For the first time in a long time, I will be gettin' off the couch, and actually takin' in the race in person!! Lookin' forward to it! Of course, I'll need to record the race to see what really happened, so I still hope, The Gods of VCR's and Fools willing, to be able to get a report out by midweek. We can but hope...
See y'all there... From My
Couch!!
"Mr. NASCAR" |