Ricky Rudd got himself into the 2000 (gasp...) Bud Shootout, winning the pole. Lined up beside him was Jeff Burton, then Gordon, Mayfield, Martin, Rusty Wallace, Skinner, Brett Bodine, Bobby Labonte, Andretti, Jarrett, and Schrader, rounding out the fastest dozen. Terry was 13th, Dale Earnhardt lined up back in 18th, and rookie Stewart, back in the real world, was 20th.
The only other rookie to make the cut, Sadler, lined up 26th. Ol' DW has now used up 25 percent of his Past Champ thingies, lining up in last place. This cost Derricke Cope a start, as the last 1998-based provisional went to Mast, in Cale's #98 Taurus.
Some subtle livery changes again this race - Schrader had another hue shift in his colour scheme; the traditional green, that was blue last week, was maroon for the Rock. Junie's #90 ran the old red-nose/white stripe/blue body from 15 years ago, with Pep Boys on the side, in a one-race deal, with Morgan Shepherd wheelin'. Apparently, Big Daddy's BBQ sponsorship is a dead deal - no cash came thru, so no more flames on Junie's car. Craven still had HOLLYWOOD on his ride, but the car lacked the striking colours of Daytona, appearing to be basic black under the signage. Musgrave had another camouflage paint job on the 75 Remington car, with some weirdness about Wild Turkey hunting on the hood...
Several teams did not get to flaunt their plumage, not being able to make the cut. The afore-mentioned Cope was joined by Standridge - who had tried to get Roty contender Dan Pardus' 50 car into the field, Bickle, and Buckshot Jones - who has yet to turn a wheel in anger in his rookie run. The other Roty aspirant, Harmon, apparently left Junie's car, along with Big Daddy.
All that aside, the green flew with Rudd out front for about three laps, before he got buried by Burton, Gordon , Mayfield and Martin. Ten laps in, top twelve order was Burton, Mayfield, Gordon, Martin, Rudd, Wallace, Andretti, Schrader, Skinner, Hamilton, Brett Bodine, and Lepage. Two laps later, DE had already moved up to 12th, and the first four had a little breakaway going.
Lap 20 saw Gordon take second from Mayfield, then on lap 41, Gordon put the Dupontmobile on the point.
Lap 50 had the leaders already well into lapped traffic, and Pressley became a factor, as his efforts to keep from goin' down a lap made him a constant pick, as Gordon, Burton and Mayfield took turns at the point, over next 10 -15 laps.
Meantime, Darrell had worked his way up to 31st, and Rudd had to pit for tires and chassis adjustments to stem his slide to the back.
Running order among leaders on lap 70 was Gordon, Burton, Mayfield, Martin, Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Hamilton, Wallace, Schrader and Jarrett as top ten. Lap 75 saw the start of first round of pitstops, under green flag conditions.
Gordon and Mayfield were among the first in, then Mayfield, Martin, and the rest followed. Gordon's team ripped a 17" stop, only to be topped by Martin's 16.9! At the other end of the scale, Rusty got held for 15 seconds, when an errant tire got away...
After all the stops had cycled thru, around lap 90, Gordon had the lead, with Burton next, followed by Bobby Labonte, Mayfield, Martin, Earnhardt, Wallace, Jarrett, Skinner, Terry Labonte, Petty, Mast, Park, Schrader, Lepage, Ward Burton, and Craven as top seventeen (seventeen??) runners. Marlin began to fall off the pace, with electrical problems, or a miss.
The long, caution-free run continued for another 50 laps, with the top five or six dicin', then spreadin' out, then reclosin', based on the vagaries of lapped traffic. The long green run resulted in a lot of good cars gettin' put down a lap. Lap 145 or so, Earnhardt went down, and pitted.
On lap 155, the second round of stops began, under green flag conditions again! When was the last time a race ran long enuff for TWO GF stops in a row?? Around lap 160, the stops had cycled thru, and we had Gordon in front, with Martin all over him, followed by Burton, Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Benson (!?), Craven (?!), Hamilton, Earnhardt and Jarrett as the leading ten. (I assume Johnny and Ricky had not yet stopped...)
Around lap 180, during a commercial break, Martin and Burton got around Gordon, and in a couple laps, Jeff was half a straight back, indicating how the field had strung out in the caution-free run. By lap 190, all but eleven cars had been lapped, and eleventh-place Rusty Wallace was in danger of goin' down a lap.
Rusty must have good connections Up Above, as on lap 208, the first caution flew, caused by Irvan spinning, followed by Musgrave, who lost control trying to avoid nailin' Ernie in the door. Ted was thru, Ernie was able to carry on.
All leadlappers pitted, followed a lap later by the rest of the field. This first caution lasted about 13 laps, as NASCAR sent out the jet blowers to clean tire debris out of the groove. Oh yeah, in case it didn't come up, The Rock has a notoriously abrasive surface a la Darlington and tire management is essential.
The green dropped on lap 220, or so... we were in commercials..., and Burton soon had a ten carlength lead on the field. Chasin' him was Gordon, Martin, Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Mayfield, Skinner, Terry Labonte, Hamilton, and Geoffrey Bodine - havin' an excellent run in tenth!
Again we had a longish green run, with the above order largely holding. Around lap 255, Gordon took first, but little else changed, as the leaders spread out again.
The second caution came out around lap 277, as Nadeau looped the Cartoon Car into the infield, not touchin' anythin' and not really losin' all that much position. However, Earnhard put it into the wall, slowin' down, and busted the tierod, ending his run. He said in the PII, it just got away from him and slapped the wall...
Everyone pitted, and when the green flew on lap 285, Jeff was still out front, with Martin on his tail, then Burton, Bobby Labonte, Jarrett and Mayfield as top six.
These worthies spent the next twenty laps swappin' spots, generally with Martin or Burton or Gordo out front.
Around lap 310, we came back from commercials - to young Mr Gordon behind the wall!! Seems an indestructible Randy Dorton motor destructed! Very rare in the Hendrick organization! Now this would make the Points Chase interestin'!
Lap 325 had Jeff Burton out front, followed by Bobby Labonte, Martin, Jarrett, Skinner, Terry Labonte, Hamilton, Mayfield, Wallace, and Bodine.
We then had a couple debris cautions, as parts were shed around the track, one on lap 333, and one on lap 356. These had little impact on the lead positions, in fact, the die was largely cast for the final fifty laps.
Caution number five flew on lap 366, when Sadler shortened the CITGO car's snout, goin' hard into the wall. Tough year again for rookies!! It was unclear to me who pitted, but order was slightly jumbled on the restart on lap 376. Martin led Jarrett, Burton, Bobby Labonte, Mayfield, Skinner, Wallace, Bodine, Hamilton and Terry Labonte over the line. These were the only cars on the lead lap.
Two laps later, caution six flew, as Irvan again spun, this time grindin' the little M&M's guys on the back real good!
This time, only the back four on the lead lap came in; Wallace, Bodine, Hamilton, and Terry Labonte.
Since the green flew on lap 385, with less than ten to go, the field lined up single file, givin' the leaders a clear run to the finish, unencumbered by lapped traffic. Martin and Jarrett jumped out front, and Bobby got by Burton for third. Positions six thru ten were a Real Dogfight, with Skinner and Mayfield tryin' to hold off the freshly-tired foursome noted above.
And that was how the race ended, with Martin over the line fairly comfortably, Jarrett a couple lengths back, and then Bobby Labonte, Burton, Mayfield, Skinner, Terry Labonte, Bodine, Hamilton and Wallace all on the lead lap.
Not nearly as dramatic as last week, but a good race, putting a new twist on the season - particularly with Gordon 39th, and Earnhardt 41st!
Schrader got a nice 11th place, and Stewart may already have a stranglehold on the RotY with a twelfth place finish. DW got hisself a 26th place finish.
So Skinner now leads the Points Chase, followed by Wallace, Schrader, Bobby Labonte, Mayfield, Jarrett, Mike Waltrip, Benson, Martin and Dallenbach. Gordon's misfortune put him back to 13th.
Now we get a little rest, not movin' on to the Glitz and Glam of Vegas for two weeks. Quite a change from The Rock!
"Mr. NASCAR" |