POP SECRET
Microwave Popcorn 400
Rockingham, NC, October 24th, 1999
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POP SECRET |
Crewchief Todd Parrott cames into the race $5,000.00 lighter (and them's those great big Amurrican bucks!) as a result of a slight verbal transgression at Talledega last week, in reference to some supposed sexual proclivities of DJ's Taurus... he used one of George Carlin's famous "Seven Words You Can't Say on Television", as Allen Bestwick put it... (here it is in a sophisticated secret code: "nirgwedyxjwe").
Betcha crews will think twice before gettin' wired again! If you were a Philly Flyers fan in the '70's, when CBC decided to wire the penalty boxes, this was nuthin' - Bobby Clark and pals woulda had Todd blushin'...
Rockingham is a medium banked one-miler (actually 1.017 miles) that places a premium on tire management. Smooth in, feather the throttle out... that's the way ya do it... for 393 laps. (393 X 1.017 = 399.681 miles, but I guess the "POPSECRET Mocrowave Popcorn 399.681" is a tad cumbersome...)
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| right around corner |
Mark Martin took the pole in what he called a "beautiful run". with Mayfield alongside in second. Jarrett was third, with Gordon on his outside. Fifth back to twelfth were Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Craven, Stewart, Geoffrey Bodine, Schrader, Ward Burton and Nemechek. Terry Labonte was 13th, and Rusty Wallace 25th. Team Childress struggled, lining up with Earnhardt in 37th, and Skinner 38th, using provisionals to get in...
Mike Bliss was back in the #30 car, in "STATE FAIR CORN DOGS" livery, while Stacy Compton was piloting the #9 Cartoon Network machine this week. Four drivers had to go home: Ed Berrier, Rich Bickle, Marcis, and Stricklin. DW made the field after two misses (amusing comment: Apparently he asked Director Mike Helton: "Y'all still hold drivers' meeting before the race like ya used to?")
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On Lap 4, Mayfield took the lead from Martin, followed shortly by Jarrett, as Mark went into Tire-Management Mode. Lap 8 saw Jarrett out front, long enough to get his Bonus Points, then Mayfield reassumed the point. Running order on Lap 10 of Top Twelve was Mayfield, Jarrett, Gordon, Martin, Bobby Labonte, Dallenbach, Jeff Burton, Ward Burton, Craven, Stewart, Terry Labonte and Geoffrey Bodine. Rusty was up to 29th, and Earnhardt to 34th.
On Lap 13, Gordon and Martin passed Jarrett; meantime, Bobby Labonte had faded to 11th place. The two Jeff's, Gordon and Burton, were movin' to the front. Lap 26 had Mayfield still out front, but Jarrett had taken third from Gordon, and soon took second from Martin. Back in the pack, Earnhardt was stirrin' and was up to 26th, while Rusty was now parked in the 13th slot...
Lap 28, and Jarrett dove under Mayfield to take the lead. Three laps later, Martin got under Mayfield, as Jeremy began to creep up the track in the turns, probably a victim of overusing his tires to stay out front. Ricky Craven was making a good run, and got by Mayfield for fourth on the same lap.
Lap 32, and Jarrett was out front. Craven was now in second place, with Martin, Mayfield, Terry Labonte, Ward Burton, Jeff Burton, Irwin, Dallenbach, Gordon, Rusty Wallace and Hamilton rounding out the top twelve. Both Gordon and Jeff Burton had fallen back significantly, while Craven, Ward Burton and Terry Labonte had moved up. Likely this was due to the fact that the others, having pushed their tires harder to run near the front in the first dozen laps, were now slowing dramatically. Earnhardt, driving conservatively, still sat in 23rd place.
The race now settled down into a long green run, with the leaders spreading out behind Jarrett, who, by Lap 40, was 1.5" out front. Frankly, it got pretty tame for a while...By lap 47, DJ was still well out front, with Craven, Martin, Ward Burton, Terry Labonte, Irwin, Mayfield, Wallace, Jeff Burton, Dallenbach, Marlin and Hamilton rounding out the top dozen. Gordon continued to slip backwards, now sitting 17th. There were 39 cars still on the lead lap.
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By Lap 88, all the leaders had cycled thru, and Jarrett was still out front, with Ward Burton, Martin, Wallace, Marlin, Andretti, Rudd, Craven, Terry Labonte, Earnhardt, Bobby Labonte and Jeff Burton as Top Twelve. Jarrett was fixin' to lap Stewart and Schrader, and Gordon was just a few carlengths in front of them.
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The green flag run continued, with Jarrett, Ward Burton and Martin continuing to show the way. By lap 115, there were only 18 left on the lead lap, and Gordon was back to 23rd place... the slowest of the Hendrick cars.... hmmm...
Lap 140, and the front five were unchanged. Jarrett led by four seconds, with Ward Burton, Martin, Wallace, Marlin, Terry Labonte, Andretti, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Park, Hamilton and Spencer makin' up the top twelve. Dallenbach and Kenseth rounded out the fourteen cars still on the lead lap, with Earnhardt down a lap in 16th. Mayfield was now 20th, and Gordon had plummetted to a lowly 28th place.
We now entered the window for the second round of green flag stops. Among the first in, desperate to change something, were Gordon, Rudd, Kenseth, and Ward Burton. By Lap 163, all the leaders had completed their stops. Jarrett remained out front, with Ward Burton still second. Jeff Burton was third, then Martin, Wallace, Terry Labonte and Andretti. Up to eighth was Earnhardt, who, by pitting earlier, had gained valuable track position, as he was faster for a few laps than the leaders who'd stayed out. Marlin was ninth, then Bobby Labonte, Park, Dallenbach, Mayfield and Rudd rounded out the fourteen still on the lead lap. Fifteen laps later, it was lookin' like Ward's changes on the pitstop had paid off, as he closed in and passed DJ to take the lead.
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Speakin' of trouble, Geoffrey Bodine found some - either blowin' a tire and slappin' the wall, or slappin' the wall and blowin' a tire.. replay was unclear of order of events... He kept control of the squirrelly PowerTeam machine, and worked his way off the track, sowing consternation behind him, but not takin' anyone out... Nearly got Tony comin' down, tho - this on top of the penalty thing. Too bad, Geoffrey mighta got a nice new pair o' heat sheilds for his feet thrown his way if they'd collided... (The race needed spicin' up by now anyway...)
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A lap later, and Jeff Burton pulled over, allowing Wallace and Jarrett by. Guess he'd got his five points, and decided to pace his tires... Thus, order on Lap 229 was Wallace, Jarrett, Jeff Burton, Ward Burton, Martin, Bobby Labonte, Mayfield, Marlin, Hamilton, Andretti, Park and Terry Labonte as the twelve on the lead lap... Earnhardt had faded to 14th, but Gordon had worked back up to a surprising 16th, altho still down a lap. Looked like Gordon and Crew had the Dupontster runnin' as fast as the leaders again, just that bein' lapped thing was spoilin' their day now...
Over the next twenty laps, main event was Ward gettin' third from brother Jeff, as the Burton Boyz went at it yet again on a Sunday afternoon. Lap 248 saw Jarrett back in the lead, as Rusty's tires hit a wall, and he began to climb the track in the turns, lookin' for grip. A round of green flag stops began among the leaders around Lap 260. Fourteen laps later, all the leaders had cycled thru, and Wallace and Ward Burton were back out in front of Jarrett, Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte, Marlin, Andretti, Martin, Hamilton, Mayfield, Park and Terry Labonte - the twelve cars still on the lead lap.
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| the wall... almost |
Lap 284, and Rusty was still leadin', still lookin' for a way around the HOME DEPOT mobile chicane... Ward was second, with Jarrett, Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte, Marlin, Andretti, Hamilton, Mayfield, Martin and Park still on the lead lap, with Rusty poised to put the PENNZOIL car down a lap (which he did a couple laps later...). Down one, in 12th, was Terry Labonte, and, behind him, Gordon had worked back to 13th place, also a lap down.
About Lap 296, Rusty finally got around Stewart, also lapping Martin, leaving 9 cars on the lead lap.
Four laps later, the second caution flew, as Craven ended a promising day when he put the MidWest Transit car into the wall. This set up a scenario by which the leaders, if they pitted, and the caution ran 4 or 5 laps MIGHT JUUUST MAAAKE IT to the end, if there were no more cautions. So, in they all came, on Lap 302.The Burton Boyz' crews both banged of real good stops, allowin' Ward out in front of Rusty for the lead, and Jeff out in front of DJ for third.
Thus, at the drop of the green, on Lap 307, Ward led Wallace, brother Jeff, Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Marlin, Andretti and Hamilton over the line, while inside him, Martin, Park and Gordon were lned up tryin' to get back on the lead lap. The CAT car jumped out in front of Martin, who fell in line between Ward and second-place Wallace.
Ten laps later Ward was still in front, but both Jeff and Jarrett had passed Wallace.
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Dale was done, Jerry 'n Wally were wounded, Kenny seemed none the worse for the wear...
All the leaders hit the pits. In the process, Martin got his lap back, and Gordon was now lined up inside Jeff Burton when the green flew on Lap 330. For about six laps, Gordon fought desperately on a line under Burton, to get out front, clear, and back on the lead lap.
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| to stay on the lead lap... |
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| Aerodynamics" quoth Buddy...... |
Five to go, and JB was into traffic, allowing Ward to close on him, gettin' within a few carlengths, 0.3 seconds back, with three to go.
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| close the gap... |
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| see a "BASS PRO SHOP" hot air balloon??... |
This was not one of the more memorable races this season, although there was some good dicin' for position. I am gettin' a little frustrated with TNN's coverage, they seemed to miss a lot of the good stuff, but I s'pose if you spend 40% of the broadcast runnin' commercials, that's gonna happen...
And we'll see what happens in a couple weeks, when the circus reconvenes in Phoenix for the Duralube 500k, again with TNN behind the cameras. The third-last race in '99 - where HAS the season gone??
See y'all there... From My
Couch!!
"Mr. NASCAR" |