Forty-eight cars showed up to try and make the race. Ward Burton (Hereinafter known as "WoButtn" thanx to one of my crew...) shook up the troops with a 188.8 mph qualifying run, a full mile-per-hour faster than second-place Mike Skinner. Rounding out the top twelve were Jarrett in third, then Geoffrey Bodine, Mayfield, Rudd, Martin, Andretti, Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Musgrave, and Park. Stricklin put the unsponsored #58 car solidly into 13th, Little E grabbed the 17th spot, and Matt Kenseth, 25th. Jeff Burton was 26th, Bobby Labonte 19th, and Stewart, Earnhardt, and Terry Labonte used Provisionals, starting in 37th, 38th and 39th respectively. Trailered early, and beatin' the traffic out were Brett Bodine, Tom Hubert, Cope - yet again, Darrell Waltrip, and Stanton Barrett.
The green dropped, and WoButtn led Lap 1, only to have Skinner take over for the next ten or so.
("Christ, we're high! What great view of the track! Buddy beside me claims he can see CN tower in Toronto, we're so high... another buddy can't move - he's paralyzed - the height thing... third buddy's too cool to react to it all... Man, my knees won't take getting up and down every 36 seconds two hundred times! Crazy lady behind me... Must be a Gordon fan...")
Jarrett then led the next ten or so, until Gordon muscled through around Lap 26...
(Yup.. she is...)  |
| Tony got nabbed by radar... |
The first caution came at a propitious time, for debris, on Lap 49. Everyone went in for tires 'n gas, and Jarrett came out in the lead. Mark Martin and Tony Stewart had their lives complicated when they were nabbed for speeding on pit road. "End-of-the-longest-line" meant they restarted in 36th and 37th respectively, beginning a long struggle back to the front.
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| WoButtn takes on the Turn 4 wall... |
Immediately after the green dropped, WoButtn and Bobby Labonte touched in Turn 3 as Ward tried to take the Cat Poncho under Labonte. The upshot was Ward into the wall backwards, then slidin' down across the track, in front of incomin'.
(What I saw from the stands: "Whoa! What happened to Ward?? How'd he get wrecked??")Jarrett kept the lead as the green fell, then lost it several laps later to Bobby Labonte, then Gordon took over for twenty or so.
(Settle down, Lady!!")During this time we had a round of green flag stops, starting around Lap 99. Stewart had done a masterful job of slicin' back up thru the field, with Martin close behind. Tony even led a lap in the green flag stops.
The third caution flew on Lap 129, as Robert Pressley lost it between Turns 3 and 4, in a solo effort.
(What I saw from the stands: "Whoa! What happened to Robert?? What's he doin' on the grass??)
All the leaders pitted once more, and we ran until Lap 140, when the fourth caution flew for debris. With about 60 to go, several tried pitting in hopes of topping up with enough fuel to run the distance. That's 120 miles, seemed rather optimistic to me... Mike Waltrip was among those who did come in.
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| Kevin, Ricky and Dick in trouble... |
When the fifth caution came out on Lap 158, Those who hadn't pitted with Mikey came in, and Mike found himself in the lead. The caution was the result of a spin by Kevin Lepage in Turn Four. Poor Ricky Rudd, tryin' to avoid the mess, got all tangled up with Trickle, subbin' for Ernie in the M&M's Machine, and ended up in a long slide across the front dogleg infield.
(What I saw from the stands: "Whoa! What happened to Ricky?? What's he doin' slidin' across the infield like that? What's up with Lepage and Trickle? They get together or somethin'??")
The race restarted with Mike Waltrip in the lead, and his attempt to stay out front nearly brought down the house, as he quickly fell back into the pack. He said on IWC that he got into the corner too hard off the green, got up in the dirty stuff in the top groove, and could not get traction. He quickly fell back into midpack before he could get up to speed.
(What I saw from the stands: "What's goin' on over there in Turn Two?? Who's slowin' up?? Gordon? Labonte??)Well, after the green flew again we were treated to about ten laps of excellent racing. Then on Lap 164 we saw another side of "Tony the Tiger"...
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Tony on the Apron..
at 200+mph!! |
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Burton ended up
the big loser, however... |
This involved the sixth, and final caution for the day. What actually happened was both Stewart and Jeff Burton had a run on Jimmy Spencer, who had to check up. This caused Burton to go low in avoidance. At the same time, Stewart was tryin' a pass on Burton, and had gotten under him. Burton came down the track, forcing the Home Depot car down onto the Apron - all four tires, goin' through the front straight. Tony got 'er back on the banking, and headed up the track into Burton, sendin' him careening along the wall and out of the race. Three theories:
- Theory one: Rookie Mistake, as suggested by Ned Jarrett.
- Theory two: Tony didn't like bein' forced off the track, and decided it was time to establish a little respect at this level, and JB paid the price... This happened last year, in Busch, as I remember.
- Theory Three: Tony's tires got dirty, and he couldn't hold the car down...
What do YOU think. (I go with Theory two, personally..)
(What I saw from the stands: "Oh, Wow! Lookit all the Smoke! Wonder who's in there?")
(By the way... this is where the VCR decided to fire up, so the rest of the coverage is a little more precise...) None of the leaders pitted, and on the drop of the green on Lap 167, Earnhardt led off Martin, Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Spencer and Stewart. Behind them, the rest of the Top Twelve consisted of Jarrett, Mast, Andretti, Nemechek, Wallace and Irwin. Gordon quickly got around Martin, and Stewart disposed of Spencer, then Martin.
With the top four runnin' order of Earnhardt, Gordon, Labonte and Stewart, we now got to see the type of racin' that originally put NASCAR on the map. By Lap 171, Gordon was all over the Goodwrench machine, with Labonte hoverin' behind, to pounce on any error. As they diced for position, Stewart methodically chewed up the distance to the third-place car.
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| Tradin' Paint..at 180+!! |
Earnhardt and Gordon put on a classic show of skill and trust for about ten laps, as Gordon hunted for a way by Earnhardt, whose car seemed exceptionally wide today... Meantime, Stewart had closed in and Labonte was tryin' to get under the front two. The ultimate came with about 17 to go, as Gordon made a Banzai run around the top of the race track, inches from the wall, with Earnhardt puttin' the squeeze on him. This went on for about three laps, until Labonte got under them both, and took the lead on Lap 184. With Stewart threatening to get by them both into second, Gordon and Earnhardt lined up. Unfortunately, the hard racin' took a toll on Earnhardt's tires, and he began to slip back, as Labonte began to put some space between himself and second-place Gordon.
Meantime, Jarrett had slipped back into the fray, takin' third from Earnhardt and Stewart on Lap 189. But neither Dale could hold off the relentless Stewart, who powered by into third on Lap 190.
(What I saw from the stands: From our seats we looked up the front straight towards Turn one, so could see the precision JG and DESr had to use to keep from wreckin' each other. It was an incredible show of precision and car control by two of the best.
You could also see how DESr positioned himself comin' out of Turn Four so that JG could not get a clear run low or high down the front straight. It was when Labonte got into the act that DE could not hold them both off...
The crowd around us was about 50/50 JG/DE, but 100% Stewart when it looked like he might break through. My impression is Bobby L. has not fired up the fans' imagination like these three...)
Top twelve with eight to go, then, was Labonte, Gordon, Stewart, Jarrett, Earnhardt, Little - an EXCELLENT day for Chad, Martin, Spencer, Hut Stricklin - GOOD run in the unsponsored 58 car,
Andretti, Mast and Sadler.
And that was pretty well how it ended... Gordon could not muster a run on Labonte, and the only close race at the end of the day was Little tryin' unsuccessfully to take fifth from Earnhardt.
(It was an excellent day all 'round, and the three-hour wait to get onto the highway after the race only slightly dampened my enthusiasm.)
So, in the Points Thing, we now have Jarrett in front of Martin by 314 points, with Bobby Labonte third, 374 behind Jarrett. Tony's take-out of Burton allowed him and Gordon to relegate JB to sixth place, Gordon being fourth, and Stewart fifth.
Next week, we're off to Bristol, for some good ol' Saturday Nite Racin'. Sound good to me!!
See y'all there... From My
Couch!!
