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| HOBAS PIPES |
This meant some anomalies in qualifying, as some top teams didn't get sorted out as they usually do, lettin' a couple less prominent teams into the hunt. Surprise, surprise - Jeff Gordon took the pole... It was nice to see goodguy Kenny Wallace line up next to him in second place. Behind this pair sat Kenny Irwin, Kyle Petty, John Andretti - augured well for Petty Enterprises, Rusty Wallace, Mike Skinner, Bobby Labonte, Ricky Rudd, Jeff Burton, Rick Mast - new sponsor - see above, and Mark Martin, roundin' out the top twelve. The Dales?? Jarrett was 21st, and Earnhardt started 37th on a provisional. Ol DW's team is comin' together - he qualified 24th, 9 spots ahead of team mate Jimmy Spencer.
Not makin' the field were Dave Marcis, Buckshot Jones, and Hut Stricklin, in Junie Donlevy's #90 car.
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| under a golden sunset... |
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| tire troubles start... |
To add insult to injury, a couple laps later, the first caution came out, as Pressley and Bodine got together, putting Robert into the wall. All the leaders pitted, allowing Skinner to get one lap back.
The green flew again on lap 47, with Ward Burton out front - musta been a Hell of a stop - he wasn't even on my radar - two tires? Ward couldn't hold 'em off, even though he had the low groove, over the next eight laps, Martin, Jeff Burton, Gordon, Bobby Labonte, and Rusty Wallace all drove around him on the outside. On lap 55, Jeff Burton pushed by Martin to take the lead. Top ten running order was Jeff Burton, Martin, Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Ward Burton, Rusty Wallace, Steve Park - a real good run developing, Andretti, Jarrett - slowly movin' up, and Kyle Petty
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The green flew again on lap 62, with no one among the leaders having pitted. Ernie had been able to stay on the lead lap. Jeff Burton led Martin Gordon and Bobby Labonte across the line. Lap 68 saw Martin pass Burton for the lead, and a spirited side-by-side duel was being fought by Park and Wallace for fifth. Steve Park was into one of his best runs of 1999. It took about five laps, but Park prevailed, taking over fifth. Thus, on Lap 76, Top twelve were Martin, Jeff Burton, Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Park, Wallace, Andretti, Jarrett -strong move to the front, Rudd, Petty, Ward Burton, and Kenny Irwin.
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| with the big boys...... |
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| shows battle fatigue... |
Meantime, Burton got back around Martin for the lead. By Lap 103, top ten were Burton, Martin, Labonte, Park, Wallace, Jarrett, Andretti, Petty, Rudd and Nemechek(??)
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Now things seemed to get a mite confusin'... Seems the ESPN lap counter was on the fritz, we had a lot of action over the next twenty or so laps, but no leaderboard showed. Terry Labonte was in and out with blistered tires; Jarrett had grabbed fourth; Irwin, who'd had the TEXACO Taurus slow dramatically, lost nine laps while they changed the carburator(!! - actually, pretty impressive!). Trickle came back out, but was still showerin' sparks and got blackflagged, Rudd had to come in for tires...
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All the leaders came in for fresh tires, and when the green flew again on Lap 129 (ESPN counter seemed back on line...) it was Burton leadin' Labonte, Martin, Jarrett, Wallace, Andretti, Ward Burton, Skinner - who'd been able to get back on the lead lap - and was chargin', then Petty and Hamilton rounded out the top ten.
Gordon, who was still a lap down, looked competitive again, as he tried to unlap himself from Burton at the head of the pack around lap 140-141.. but he was back in 29th, as there were 28 cars on the lead lap.
We now ran about 25 laps, only to come back from a commercial break to both Andretti and Rudd with smoke and sparks billowing from the right front corner, two more tires, two more excursions into the wall. Didn't look as if they were related, both just blew at nearly the same time. This took two more good runners out of top ten contention...
Again all the leaders came in, as did Jeff Gordon. In what was turnin' out to be a really long night for Jeff, Geoffrey Bodine zigged just as Gordon was going past him under caution to get up to his inside point as leader of those a lap down. Significant contact, cut down another tire, cost him his inside position, and any chance of unlapping himself...
The green flew on lap 180, with Bobby Labonte out front of Martin, Burton, Jarrett, Skinner(!) and Hamilton. We then learned that Goodyear techies had advised all teams to take a couple pounds of air out of the right front to "help dissipate heat thru the footprint". wow... what about the sidewalls?
We ran about twenty laps until Lap 208 or so, when Kenny Irwin had his Taurus dump all that good TEXACO oil on the track, as the engine let go... This brought out caution number five. Again all the leaders came in. We learned about this time that Gordon, likely courtesy Bodine, had a severe toe-out problem, that would keep him among the mobile wounded for the rest of the race.
Thr green flew on Lap 220, with top ten runners bein' Jeff Burton, Skinner, Martin, Labonte, Jarrett, Ward Burton, Hamilton, Earnhardt(??), Nemechek, and Petty.
Little change thru Lap 235, Martin took second from Skinner, Hamilton and Earnhardt got around Ward Burton; there were 24 cars on the lead lap; Gordon was back to 30th position, goin' nowhere...
We came back from a commercial break around, say, lap 240 or so, with Jeff Burton slowin' - another tire problem. He came into the pits for four fresh ones, then things REALLY unravelled for the race leader, as we had another caution, just after he left pit lane.
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| keep the Points lead... |
And we had Mike Skinner out front! During the pit stops under yellow, his team had pulled off yet another sub-sixteen-second stop, propelling Skinner to the front. When the green flew on lap 247, he led Labonte, Hamilton, Jarrett, Earnhardt, and Ward Burton over the s/f line. Mike was for real, fifteen laps later he was still a second or more out front. Chasin' him were still the afore-mentined five, then in seventh thru fifteenth were Martin, Rusty Wallace, Nemechek, Petty, Marlin, Spencer, Lepage, Bickle - another good run, and Mayfield. Bickle was payin' the price - he'd lost his power steering earlier - not fun...
By Lap 274, Skinner had a 2.25-second lead, and was cruisin' - were we gonna finally have a NEW FACE in the WINNERS' CIRCLE?? Spencer had pitted, again with a "vibration", for new tires...
Lap 285 had Skinner still out front, there were 22 cars on the lead lap, Jeff Burton was long gone, and Gordon was five laps down, in 31st.
Bobby Labonte musta been set up for long runs. By lap 300, he'd reeled Skinner back in, and they were in an excellent side-by-side duel for the lead. This went on for 14 laps - finally, Bobby got around Mike on Lap 314.
Order on lap 321 was Labonte, Skinner, Martin, Jarrett, Earnhardt, Hamilton, Wallace, Nemechek, Ward Burton and Petty makin' up the top ten.
Once again, we came back from a break to a caution, the seventh, caused by Benson losin a right front, and narrowly avoiding wall contact. All the leader came in, and when the green flew on Lap 332, Labonte was in front, with Martin, Jarrett, and Skinner on his tail.
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The green flew on lap 345, with Labonte still out front., chased by Martin, Jarrett, Hamilton, Wallace, Earnhardt, and Nemechek. Thirteen cars were on the lead lap. Lap 348 saw Martin get by Labonte for the lead, followed a few laps later by Jarrett. Earnhardt began to lose the handle on the GOODWRENCH car and slide back.
Running order among those on the lead lap on Lap 354 was Martin, Jarrett, Labonte, Hamilton, Wallace, Nemechek, Petty, Earnhardt, Ward Burton, Bickle(!), Lepage, Elliott, and Musgrave. Schrader and Marlin, down a lap, rounded out the top fifteen.
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And so it ended, with Jarrett takin' the win over Martin, his first in 1999. Labonte was third, Hamitlon fourth, followed on the lead lap by Wallace, Nemechek, Petty, Earnhardt, Ward Burton, Bickle, Musgrave and Elliott - twelve cars on the lead lap. Skinner ended up 30th, on the same lap as Gordon in 31st, twelve laps down. Points leader comin' in, Jeff Burton, finished a disasterous 37th.
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So, now we go into the Charlotte "end-of-May Madness". Next week, The Winston Select - a non-points, run-for-the-money event, that always lights up the North Carolina sky. Not to mention lots of special paint schemes, leadin' to lotsa new diecasts for the fans, new models to be built... more money in the vendors' pockets... Ain't America Wonderful - I know I'm a sucker for it all! I can hardly wait... Then there's the 600 in two weeks, and we're back at it agin...
See y'all there... From My
Couch!!
"Mr. NASCAR" |