PENNSYLVANIA 500
Pocono, PA, July 25th, 1999
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PENNSYLVANIA 500 |
Funny how disconnected you can get after a couple weeks away from the day-to-day angst that is NASCAR... I must admit that, after filing my report on the JiffyLube 300 two weeks ago, I've only checked in on the NASCAR Wars a couple times. It took a few moments of the opening intro to Sunday's race to get refocussed on Rusty's squawking, and Ned's little boy, Dale's, petulance, over the alleged Earnhardt-like driving of Jeff Gordon two weeks ago. Yup, - if those moves had been done by Dale Earnhardt, theyda been praised as "the new competitiveness" of a "rejuvenated Dale!!!". Instead, since it was JG, whose career, by the way, is now entering its "mature" phase, it's seen as "dirty driving"... However, all this paled against the foolhardiness of rookie phenome Tony Stewart, who had the gall to snub the media and fans after one of the greatest disappointments of his racing career. Never bite the hand, Tony... without them, your diecast sales won't be diddly... (admittedly, he apparently did a good "mea culpa" to patch things up later...)
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| but only to get in!! |
Two major stories this day - first story was Mark Martin, still barely able to navigate, thanks to his injuries of two races back at Daytona, who still needs to be lifted in and out of his car. This allowed Mark to "only" qualify second.... Second story was Larry McReynolds, after seein' his dream of his own NASCAR team go up in smoke, re-signing with the Childress 31 team for three(!) years. (Tryin' to outgun Cal Wells for a sponsor musta really rocked Larry!!) Skinner commemorated his good fortune, and Larry's nasty brush with today's NASCAR realities, by takin' the pole. A third story, but slightly older news, was the choice of Jerry Nadeau to take over the 25 car from Wally D., in '00 with Holigan Homes as sponsor. First beer wars, then department store wars (K-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot...), now its House Wars (Holigan, Oakwood...). What next?
Back to the race, I think we're now discussing qualifying, aren't we? Qualifying third behind Mike and Mark was Kenny Schrader, then Bobby Labonte, Andretti, Dallenbach, Gordon, Ward Burton, Marlin, Nemechek (fifth-row Joe?), Earnhardt and Stewart, to complete the top twelve. Jarrett was 15th, Rusty 17th, and Jeff Burton 18th.
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When the green dropped, Skinner got hisself a good 3 - 4 carlength lead, with Martin, Schrader, Andretti, Labonte and Gordon chasin' in single file. On the second lap, Gordon took fifth from Labonte. By Lap 9, Gordon had muscled into third, and on Lap 11, top dozen were Skinner, Martin, Gordon, Schrader, Labonte, Ward Burton, Andretti, Marlin, Dallenbach, Stewart, Nemechek and Earnhardt.Jarrett was 13th, and Wallace was 16th.
On Lap12, Martin took the lead from Skinner, but relinquished it again on the next lap. On lap 14, Stewart passed Dallenbach to take eighth, and The Home Depot car looked strong, once again this week...
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Under the yellow, all the lead cars pitted. Ward Burton came out in the lead, by makin' a two-tire only change. A number of those behind him would appear to have done likewise, as the lineup for the green was Ward Burton, Marlin, Mayfield, Nemechek, Andretti, Gordon (likely the first with four fresh tires), Skinner, and Jarrett (2?). Misfortune befell Kenny Schrader, as team mate Kenny Wallace had to push him to the pits - he would eventually retire. Mark Martin's crew let a tire run amock in the pits, leading to a "stop-'n-go-to-the-end-of-the-longest-line" penalty, puttin' him back into the thirties somewhere...
The green flew again on Lap 22, with Ward leadin' the pack, only to be passed by Marlin. Within a couple laps, Skinner had got by Gordon, and the leaders began to string out in single file. Skinner continued to move up, takin' Gordon on lap 28, only to lose it a couple laps later as Gordon and Jarrett - last week's squabble forgotten, it seems - drafted by him and Nemechek. So top six on Lap 32 was Ward Burton, Marlin, Gordon, Jarrett, Nemchek and Skinner. Meantime, Martin had bulled his way up to 19th...
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Just gettin' our breath back, we were, and the third caution flew, on Lap 45. This time it was John Andretti, who'd tangled with Stewart goin' into the Tunnel Turn. This sent John into a spin, a la Irwin, with the driver's side goin' into the wall. John was unhurt, but the STP GP was KO'd...
The green flew again on Lap 51, with Jarrett leadin' Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Skinner and Earnhardt over the line. All the lead cars were once again single file. A few laps later - Lap 58 - things got lively again, as JG took the lead from DJ - no shenanigans, and Labonte and Jarrett swapped second back and forth, and Martin settled into 6th place(!!). At the end of Lap 65, Gordon had the lead over Jarrett, with Labonte third, then Skinner, Earnhardt, Martin, Jeff Burton, Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Dallenbach, Mast, and Marlin makin' up the lead dozen cars. Over the next few laps, Burton got up to fifth, and Jarrett retook the lead from Gordon(Lap 76). This was a harbinger of things to come for our Jeffie...
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| season killer? |
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All the leaders stayed out - enuff is enuff - and Skinner led 'em off on Lap 96, trailed by the nine cars of Bobby Labonte, Jarrett, Martin, Earnhardt, Jeff Burton, Rusty Wallace, Dallenbach, Stewart, and Terry Labonte. The next fifteen laps saw little change - Burton got up to fourth, passing Martin and Earnhardt, and Stewart continued to march forward, pickin' up a couple spots over Wallace and Dallenbach. Lap 113 saw Jarrett move to second, then six laps later he had the lead, only to pit under green flag condition for routine gas and tires.
This triggered a run on the pits by all the leaders, as Bobby was in on the next lap, then Earnhardt, then Skinner and Stewart. Lap 123 had Jeff Burton in, then Martin.
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And bide they did. No one had anythin' for DJ over the next 16 laps, and he stayed out front, while Burton took third, and Stewart moved up to fifth.
We had a little rain caution, around Lap 142, for five laps, in which it was reported DJ had no clutch... Uh oh - that'll cramp yer pitstop style!
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| (sorry...) |
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All the lead cars hit the pits, and we got to see how Jarrett would fare sans clutch. Not too bad - had to get pushstarted by his crew, lost a couple seconds, came out in about 9th... no problem if you've got a Yates motor...
The green flag waved on Lap 166, with Steve Park and Rich Bickle leadin' the hoard. Behind them in third was Jeff Burton, then Bobby Labonte, Martin, Terry Labonte, Mike Waltrip, Irvan, Jarrett, and Dallenbach. Bobby L. began to show some muscle, passin' Burton in a lap, then dispatching both Bickle and Park to take the lead on Lap 168.
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| shaken but ok... |
Did I mention fuel strategy? At the stop prior to this one, due to the length of the green to clean up after Elliott, a number of front runners had stopped a second time to top up, which explained how Park and Bickle found themselves out front... you thought they'd RACED their way there?? At this caution, Earnhardt was the only one among the leader to came in, gettin' gas and tires, but losin' HUGE track position.
The green flew on Lap 174, with Bobby Labonte leading Jeff Burton, Martin, Park, Terry Labonte, Bickle, Jarrett, Irvan, Dallenbach, Mike Waltrip, Skinner and Geoffrey Bodine as the top twelve. With all the gas he could ever use, and shiny new rubber all 'round, Earnhardt began a charge thru the field from the high-teens position he'd fallen to - this would provide most of the entertainment over the next several laps...
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Over the next ten laps, there was some great racin', as Earnhardt sliced up thru the field, Jarrett moved up into third, Terry Labonte slipped a few, and Park and Bickle did a good job of hangin' among the top five, under intense pressure. By Lap 186, however, Bobby Labonte had shown he had the equipment for the job, bein' over three seconds in front of second place Martin. Jarrett was securely in third, then Bickle, Park, Dallenbach, Terry Labonte, Skinner, Stewart, Irvan, Earnhardt, and Bodine completed the leading dozen. Mike Waltrip was thirteenth, and Hut Stricklin was doin' a good job, puttin' the #58 Turbine Solutions car into 14th, ahead of Johnny Benson. On Lap 188, Dallenbach took Park, bumpin' him out of the top five...
With ten to go, Jarrett rassled second away from Martin, and it looked like Earnhardt had hit the wall - figuratively, that is - as his forward progress was stalled in about tenth, behind team mate Skinner. Speculation was his hard charge had eaten up his tires. Running order of top twelve was Labonte - well out front, then Jarrett, Martin, Bickle, Dallenbach, Park, Stewart, Terry Labonte, Skinner, Earnhardt, Irvan and Bodine.
Nine to go, and Bickle had Dallenbach and Stewart get by, puttin' him out of the Top Five, in sixth. Six to go, and Bobby was still paddin' his lead, now eight seconds out front. Rusty Wallace had the Penske-Haas fuel blues again, as he had to dip into the pits for a splash 'n go - this would drop him to 18th at the finish...
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Thus, the final order among the top twelve was Bobby Labonte, Jarrett, Martin, Stewart, Dallenbach, Terry Labonte, Rich Bickle, Steve Park - edgin' out his boss, Earnhardt, in ninth - who, in turn, edged out his team mate, Skinner, in tenth , then Irvan and Mikey Waltrip. Gordon limped in in 32nd, and Jeff Burton, in the garage, was 36th.
All in all, it was a good race, with some balls-out passing moves on the Turn One entry, lotsa tight runnin' and minimal interference by yellows. Over the years Pocono has not been my favourite track to watch races, but I may need to rethink that after the two this year!
In the Points Thing, DJ picked up a few more on Martin, now he is at 3014, 254 points out front. Bobby Labonte is third, 29 behind Martin, with Jeff Burton fourth, 72 behind Labonte. The amazing Mr Stewart continues to hold fifth place, 449 points behind Jarrett, and 43 points ahead of sixth-place Gordon, who seems to be goin' nowhere fast.... With the consistency the three frontrunners are currently showin', coupled with his feast-or-famine season so far, JG has a long uphill battle to make any impression... on Stewart... his Championship run is over, I'd say...
But ya never know.. he and his partner Evernham have two weeks to figger it all out, and try and begin to salvage the year, before we hit the bricks in Indianapolis!
"Mr. NASCAR" |