However, watch I did, and got to see an excellent race, with lots of action, some surprises, and a pretty close (potential) finish for a non-restrictor race!
Qualifying... each week nowadays, you wonder who's gonna be the surprise "dark horse" in the first 2 - 3 rows, someone you'd never bet on being there. This week it was Steve Park, with an excellent run to a third place, and Kenny Irwin, on the pole no less! Bobby Labonte gutted it out, and, even with shoulderblade hunks floatin' around in his back, managed an outside pole!
Top dozen starters, then, were Irwin, Bobby Labonte, Park, Terry Labonte, Ward Burton, Martin, Schrader, Gordon, Elliott, Dallenbach, Rusty Wallace, and Jarrett. Sadler was best qualifying rookie in 13th, Points leader Jeff Burton was 20th, former Points leader Skinner 23rd, and Dale Earnhardt in on a provisional in 38th. Darrell Waltrip, with his back to the wall - no provisionals of any kind left - dug down and put the Big K Taurus in the field on his time, in 32nd! (I read at Irace that he felt better about that than anything since Daytona 1989!! He also theorized that being out of provisionals was a "good thing" in that it made him push harder... let's hear the tune in a couple more races before we all cha-cha-cha along with DW... But I hope he's right!!...)
There were five more entrants than positions, and goin' back east early were Marcis, Kyle Petty - second time in 99, Stanton Barrett in Junie's 90 car, Dan Pardus and Ken Bouchard, who'd hit the wall a good lick, and had been withdrawn from the race.
Bobby Labonte had Matt Kenseth standing by to take over if he couldn't handle the shoulder pain. (Guess how much seat time Matt got...)
For the third week running, the green flag fell under sombre skies, with a chance of a shortened race, and on a "green" track that had had all the week-end's rubber washed off in an overnight rain. Throw away them settings, crewchiefs, we're back to square one!! Add to this the fact there had been no Saturday afternoon "Happy Hour", the period in which teams usually try and figger out their tire wear characteristics for the week-end, and NASCAR was wise announcing a "NASCAR Caution" to come out around lap 30 for tire inspection/changing. A wise move, and a good safety thought on behalf of the drivers - this is a 200 mph track on the front stretch!!
As we all know, TEXAS has not been noted for smooth starts, and I settled in to see the action in the first couple laps with interest! Kenny Irwin grabbed the lead into turns one and two, and comin' out of turn two, onto the backstretch, Bill Clinton was front and center... Huh??
Yep, we didn't see the first five laps, as Mr Clinton came on to let the world know NATO was gonna keep right on bombing Slobodan Inc... Not sure where it was all headed, and my fuzzy political views are not relevent, so...
We rejoined the race into lap 5 and it was obvious we'd had a clean start. Irwin was still out front, followed by Terry Labonte, Ward Burton, Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Park, Dallenbach, Martin, Schrader, Pressley - who'd moved up smartly from 16th, Sadler, and Andretti as top twelve. Jeff Burton musta pooched the start real big, as he was 'way back in 37th, havin' lost 17 positions. Everyone was in single file, and we were already seein' cars begin to space out, as is typical in non-restrictor racin', on a one-groove track. Optimists felt by halfway, it would be a 1.5-groove track...
By lap 20, not much had changed, except Bobby Labonte, busted scapula and all, had passed Gordon, and Park was dropping back a few places... Jeff Burton had sorted things out, and was makin' up lost ground.
As promised, NASCAR threw a caution on lap 32, and all the competitors hit pit road. Some teams decided to go with changing only two tires, to get track position. Among these were Schrader and Elliott, who lined up first and second after the pit stops, and Jeff Burton, who lined up in eighth place!
This strategy was a short-lived success for Bill 'n Kenny, however, for within a couple laps of the green dropping on lap 35(?), Martin and Ward Burton immediately blew by Elliott, and a couple laps later they were by Schrader, and Elliott had dropped another 2 - 3 spots. For some reason, Jeff Burton was not as bad after a two tire stop, and pretty well held his position.
On lap 37, Ward got by Mark for first, but a couple laps later, it was Martin back in the lead... feelin' each other out? Takin' turns conservin' tires?
By lap 44, the field had once again begun to string out - Park was off the pace, with gearbox trouble, and Schrader and Elliott had faded. Lap 44 running order of top ten was Martin, Ward Burton, Terry Labonte, Gordon - beginning to assert himself, Irwin, Bobby Labonte - who'd elected not to give up the wheel yet in the caution, Dallenbach, Jeff Burton, Jarrett, and Elliott. Lap 47 saw Gordon take third from team mate Terry Labonte, and on lap 58, Jeff took second from Ward.
On lap 60, Martin had a one-second lead on Gordon, who was being pursued by Ward Burton, Terry Labonte, Irwin, Bobby Labonte, Dallenbach, Jarrett, Jeff Burton, Elliott, Wallace and Stewart, makin' up the top dozen. Earnhardt was still back in 30th, and Ol' DW was soldierin' on in 32nd.
Caution number two came out on lap 69, when JEFF GORDON had the Dupontmobile head right up the track and hard into the outside wall! Looked like a cut tire, or mechanical failure had taken control out of Jeff's hands. Interesting in-car shots of an obviously distraught and shaken up Gordon, as he prepared to leave the stricken Monte.
All the leaders pitted, and when the green flew around lap 74, Martin, Irwin, Terry Labonte, Bobby Labonte and Jarrett were the leaders. The Labonte Boys ganged up on Irwin, passing him on lap 75, so by lap 77, running order was Martin, Terry Labonte, Bobby Labonte, Irwin, Jarrett, Dallenbach, Ward Burton, Elliott, Skinner, Wallace, Jeff Burton, Stewart, Mike Waltrip,Schrader, and Marlin for top fifteen.
And so it largely remained for the next 20 or so laps. except Terry did take the lead from Mark around lap 85 (during commercials) or so, and the field began to string out again. By lap 96 the Burton Boys was hooked up, and movin' forward, with Ward in sixth, and Jeff in seventh. I was wonderin' what would happen if the Burton Boys and the Labonte Boys found themselves in a nose-to-tail tussle for the top four spots... woulda been this century's version of the OK Corral... unfortunately, it didn't come about this week, but the way them boys is runnin' it's just a matter of time...
They showed some shots of the 24 car bein' assessed for re-entry into the race, and at the same time Jeff was being X-rayed in the infield care centre.
During this time, Skinner was making a good run, and by lap 120, he had moved from his 23rd starting place up to seventh, and was one of the cars to watch.
We saw the 24 car bein' trailered, as it was beyond salvage, the body , frame and suspension were all bent up too badly to fix...
We then came back from a commercial break to the sight of Skinner's Lowes' Chevy in the wall, in an incident that appeared very similar to Gordon's but an even harder impact. As with Gordon, the car headed straight into the wall, leaving a looong black streak as it bounced and scraped to a stop. Mike got out under his own steam, but collapsed and was loaded onto a stretcher. We heard later that he may have a busted shoulder, like Labonte last week.
During the caution that ensued, there was a brief interview with Gordon, who stated this was one of his hardest hits ever, and he was gonna be pretty stiff and sore for a few days, but nothing was broken. He was movin' pretty gingerly, though, as the interview ended...
The green flew again on lap 132, with Martin, Bobby Labonte (still no driver change!), Terry Labonte, Irwin, Jarrett, Ward Burton and Stewart leading them over the line. Rudd, who'd been the first lapped car, got out in front of Martin, gettin' himself back on the lead lap, then Bobby and Terry blew by Mark as well, relegating him to third.
We'd just barely finished that first green flag stop when the fourth caution came out, due to a multicar banger started when Lepage lost control, backing into the wall, then into oncoming traffic. Caught up in the melee along with Lepage were Geoffrey Bodine, Andretti, Mast, and Schrader. All cars were severely bent up and would lose much time on pit road. Kenny seemed the least damaged, but still was sporting a lot of racertape on the nose, although he did stay on the lead lap. Poor Bodine, once again a strong run was negated by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's gotta be at least 50% elimination thru accidents for Geoffrey this year!
The green flew again on lap 140, and we all crossed our fingers as Bobby and Terry led the swarm into turn one. A clean start this time, but Terry immediately took his Kelloggsmobile around brother Bobby for the lead. Third thru twelfth consisted of Martin, Irwin, Jarrett, Stewart, Ward Burton, Dallenbach, Jeff Burton, Elliott, Marlin and Rusty Wallace. There were 29 cars on the lead lap, and for the next 10 laps nothing changed, except eight cars got gobbled up by the leaders, leavin' 21 on the lead lap by lap 150.
Lap 152 saw caution flag five, brought out when the #14 car of Randy Lajoie, on its maiden voyage, began to smoke. Veteran Lajoie immediately dropped onto the apron to avoid oiling down an already tricky racecourse, and headed 'er pitward. This car is 50% owned by Ernie Irvan, and Boris Said will be its regular driver in a limited number of starts, with Federated Auto as sponsor...
All the leaders went for a pitstop again, and with the skies darkening, we had a mixture of two and four-tire stops that really jumbled the running order. Martin, Ward Burton and Jarrett were the highest-placed runners to go for two, so they led off the field at the lap 160 restart. The top eighteen runners on the restart now were Martin, Ward Burton, Jarrett, Marlin, Jeff Burton, Rich Bickle(!), Jimmy Spencer(!), Mayfield(!), Mike Waltrip (!), Benson(!), Brett Bodine(!), Bobby Labonte, Stewart, Terry Labonte, Nadeau(!), Irwin, Dallenbach, and Rusty Wallace. I leave it to you, dear reader, to sort out who besides the top three took on two tires only (I've planted a clue! as to whom I think only took on two...).
Just a few laps later, the sixth caution flag flew, as Joe Nemechek put the BellSouth Chevy into the wall in a carbon-copy of Gordon's and Skinner's incidents. Actually,he placed the blame on slower cars causin' him to check up and lose it... think I'da stuck with the tire thing...
So the green came out once again, on lap 167, and Jeff Burton showed some muscle, runnin' down and passing Marlin and Bickle in short order, ending up fourth. Over the next fifteen laps, we had Ward Burton movin' out in front of the pack, and the Labontes and Jeff Burton slowly moving up the leader board. Ernie Irvan also managed to get the M&M's Pontiac up nto the top ten.
By lap 200, the top ten were spread out with 1st to 10th being a little over ten seconds. Running order was Ward Burton, Martin, Jarrett, Terry Labonte, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton, Stewart, Bickle - good run for the "Lucky Dog" Taurus, Wallace, Irvan, Marlin and Mike Waltrip as top twelve.
We were gettin' close to needing a stop for tires, and teams were weighing the merits of an early stop, to get fresh tires for more speed, versus the possibility of being caught in the pits on a caution, and potentially losing a lap. Ultimately, race leader Ward Burton came in early, hoping to ensure he would not be handicapped by old tires. Poor Ward musta left his rabbit's foot in the trailer - no sooner had he pitted, then Mark Martin hit the wall, bringing out caution number seven on lap 217! Again, it looked like a tire problem.
Of course all the lead cars came in, and Ward was fortunate, in that he did not lose a full lap, but was lined up on the tail end of the lead lap, right behind the pace car, with race leader, after stops, Terry Labonte snappin' at his heels. The next nine in the bayin' pack trying to put Ward down a lap at the green flag consisted of Bobby Labonte in second (car runnin' too good to take time for a driver change, according to Bobby...), Stewart, Jarrett, Wallace, Marlin, Dallenbach, Jeff Burton, Mayfield, and Mike Waltrip.
The green flew on lap 221, and although Ward briefly fell behind Terry, he did get back out front, and spent many harrowing laps holdin' off the pack to stay on the lead lap in 22nd place. During this time, Dale Earnhardt slowly moved up until he was into the top ten. Finally, on lap 266, Terry Labonte put Ward down a lap.
Running order on lap 273 had 20 cars still on the lead lap, and top ten were Terry Labonte, Bobby Labonte, Wallace, Jarrett, Mayfield, Stewart, Jeff Burton, Dallenbach, Marlin and Earnhardt. Over the next few laps, another round of green flag stops began, with Jarrett one of the earliest in, another calculated "short stop". Once all the stops had cycled through, around lap 290, there were 19 cars on the lead lap, with Jarrett out front, followed by Terry Labonte, Bobby Labonte, Wallace, Mayfield, Stewart, Jeff Burton, Earnhardt, Marlin, Bickle, Little and Sadler making up the lead dozen. Robert Pressley was the lead lap tail-ender, and Jarret was desperately lookin' for a way by, while also tryin to hold off Terry. There was some real white-knuckle bobbin' and weavin' goin' on among these two consummate professionals - and Robert was within his rights to try and keep his position on the lead lap.
This was excellent racin'! Only infuriating thing was CBS' insistance on cutting to commercials about every third lap, just checkin' in long enough for us to keep updated - it was ree-dick-u-louse!! I think they were tryin' to take care of all their commercial obligations to give us a clear look at the last 20 or so laps, but... it would have lost many casual fans, I suspect...maybe pay-per-view has merits! I'm sure it won't get any better with NASCAR's fat new contract packages in a couple years, but I digress...
Things got more heated, as the trio of Pressley, Jarrett and Labonte closed on the second-last car on the lead lap, Kenny Irwin. However, he seemed to kinda slide up the track after a couple laps, around lap 307, and the trio blew by him, costing him the lead lap, and a position to Pressley. But his team mate was leading, and he was holdin' up the train... so... watcha gonna do...
Finally, on lap 312, Jarrett made a move on Pressley, nearly lost the lead to Labonte, whose Chevy was blocked by Robert's Taurus, then both got by, putting Pressley a lap down. Now the battling duo closed on Spencer and Waltrip, who were havin' their own little war for position. However, both took time out to cede a lap to Jarrett and Labonte, and it cost Jimmy a spot.
With 15 to go, Labonte was really pressuring Jarrett, and finally, after a couple hair-raisin' near-misses, Labonte took the lead on the low side from Jarrett, whose Taurus had developed a push, nearly puttin' both of them into the wall a couple times. During all this melodrama, not too much had happened behind them, other than cars going down a lap, and Benson moving forward. By lap 328, there were 11 cars on the lead lap, with Terry Labonte out front, then Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Wallace, Mayfield, Stewart, Jeff Burton, Earnhardt, Marlin, Sadler and Benson.
There was a suggestion from the announcers that with 5 or so to go, Jarrett was comin' back, but caution number nine, on lap 332, made that speculation irrelevant. Turned out the recently-lapped messrs Spencer and Pressley had decided to vent their frustration on one another, gettin' together, and into the wall. Jimmy's WINSTON Taurus was dead on the track, and it looked like Pressley used the outside walls as steering devices to pinball the JASPER car across the start-finish to take the yellow! Good move - it put him eight places up on Spencer in 15th, a lap down, vs Jimmy stuck helplessly, dropping back to 22nd.
And so the race had an anticlimactic ending, once again under a yellow, but at least all Terry's wheels were pointing the right way! Dale Jarrettt came in second, followed by Bobby, Rusty, Jeremy, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Earnhardt, Marlin, Sadler and Benson on the lead lap, then Bickle, Little, Mike Waltrip and Pressley rounded out the top fifteen.
All in all, a good race, and a definite blow to Martin and Gordon's Points Chase. CBS did not see fit to update the Points, but a visit to That's Racin's WINSTON CUP standings (This bit is being written Tuesday...) reveals that Jeff Burton has hung onto first by two points over Bobby Labonte, who inherited second from Jeff Gordon. Meanwhile, Dale Jarrett made the big jump from sixth to third. Gordon's woes put him back to fourth, and Terry Labonte's win moved him up four places to fifth.
. So now we get a two-week break, time for aches and pains to subside, maybe a few shoulder bones to knit... what woulda happened to Bobby if HE'd hit the wall a la Skinner??? Thankfully, we didn't have to find out, and let's hope he's in good shape, likewise Jeff, Mike, Joe and Mark, for the Food City 500 in two weeks, on April 11th at Bristol. (Passing thought: April 18th race from Martinsville is the "Goody's Body Pain 500" - I kid you not - these guys may want to give it a miss...)
"Mr. NASCAR" |