Another weekend of unsettled weather was in store, meaning overnite rains on Saturday had "greened up" the track, like Atlanta last week, and rain threatened to, and ultimately did, play a factor in the outcome.
Big news in the run-up to this one was that Bobby Labonte, sittin' second in Points after last week, busted a shoulder blade in a nasty wreck while practising for the Saturday BGN race. (We already have the BGN regulars upset when the WC guys come in and hog the show... this flipside, when a WC guy jeopordizes his Points standings by gettin' hurt in a Busch race, may make owners/sponsors take a fresh look at this from another angle.. self-interest in the long run... My thoughts? Get 'em outa there! Eric Lindros NEVER comes back to Oshawa to play for the Generals! Neither did Orr in his time...)
Anyhoo, The fastest twelve qualifiers were Gordon, Benson, Martin, Skinner, Andretti, Mast(!), Lepage, Elliott, Jeff Burton, Stewart, Mayfield and Nemechek. Stewart just continues to impress!
Jarrett was 21st, Rusty 26th, Earnhardt 30th, and Bobby Labonte 34th, with Kenseth standing by to take over. DW put the 66 car 39th in the field on an owners provisional, that I assume he earned with his Past Champion's Provisional starts... Bickle, Marcis and Cope were sidelined this week. Ed Berrier put Junie's 90 car in the fray in 43rd place - Bryan transferred their sponsorship to this car for the weekend, as Cope was a DNQ. Mast still had no sponsor on Cale's 98 car...
The green flew, again under grey skies, and Gordon grabbed the lead, with Martin gettin' under Benson for second. At the end of the first lap, Gordon led Martin, Benson and Skinner.
The first caution came quickly, on lap 2, due to a mess involving primarily Schrader, Earnhardt and Nadeau. Replay showed that Mast had gotten together with Lepage a couple seconds prior, looked like Mast lost a tire, slowed, and when Kenny checked up in avoidance, Park nudged him just enough to get him into the wall, then sideways in front of the field. all but Dale and Jerry seemed to squeak thru... All three, plus Mast, ended up on pitroad for sheetmetal work, losing laps in the process.
Bobby L. did not take the opportunity for a relief driver - surprising, the guy must be tough as nails! It was reported he could barely lift his arm...
The green flew again on lap 7, with Gordon leading Martin, Benson, Skinner, Andretti, Lepage - apparently no worse for the Mast incident, and Elliott over the line. By lap 14, the lead ten were well strung out, with Lepage having moved up to fourth, as Skinner began to slip with a tight racecar. Benson also began to get gobbled up by the pack, dropping several places.
By lap 34, running order still had Gordon out front, but Mayfield was gaining, and chasing them were Martin, Jeff Burton, Stewart, Andretti, Hamilton, Benson, Jarrett - good move forward, and Lepage. Skinner had fallen on hard times, out of the top ten.
Around lap 36, while we were in commercials, Mayfield blew by Gordon. I suspect Jeff let this happen as he was in "tire-conserve" mode...
A couple laps later, we had the second caution, as high winds and rain gusts blew in. Under this caution, everyone took the opportunity to pit for tires and fuel. Tires were main concern due to notorious abrasiveness of this surface - you can see the embedded stone in the asphalt in the TV shots!
Mayfield's lead was shortlived, as he stalled exiting the pit. This left running order after stops as Gordon, Martin, Jeff Burton, Mayfield, Stewart, Andretti, Jarrett, Ward Burton - excellent stop, Elliott, Hamilton, Irwin and Benson as top twelve. Skinner was back to 23rd. Just after all stops had finished (and Kenseth took over for Labonte) the race was redflagged as the rains continued.
After a 2hr 46 min delay (largely edited out of this pretaped broadcast - one of the advantages, I suppose), The race restarted, under caution, under sunny skies. An interesting development in the Interstate pit. In all the pre-redflag work to change drivers, they had not been able to put on new rubber. Now they were faced with a closed pitroad, and one to go, meaning they would lose significant track position coming in. The team petitioned NASCAR during the last caution lap, and won a one-lap extension to get a tire change, and get recaught up to the field. Good call by NASCAR, but an unusually flexible one, in my opinion. Dallenbach and Earnhardt also took advantage of the one-lap extension.
The green dropped on lap 57, under sunny skies, and Martin immediately blew by Gordon for the lead. The Dupont team had been concerned the sunny conditions would affect them on the restart, and their fears were realized, as first Martin, then Mayfield, Burton, Stewart, Andretti, Jarrett and Ward Burton all streamed by Gordon.
Lap 61 had Mayfield out front, having taken care of Jeff Burton, now in second, then Martin, Stewart, Andretti, Jarrett, Ward Burton, Gordon, Elliott, Hamilton, Irwin, and Benson rounded out the top twelve. Lap 70 had Burton reasserting himself, takin' first back from Mayfield. These two had a minibreakout going.
We came back from commercial to see Burton back in second, in a tire-saving mode... We also saw a gutsy move by Gordon that rewarded him with fifth place, as he dove low under Ward Burton and Jarrett, who'd nearly taken each other out, with Jeff hoverin' behind. He dove low, makin' a three-wide pass, while Ward and Dale were resorting themselves after a near miss.
Around lap 90. Jeff Burton retook first, and Martin conceded third and fourth, letting Stewart and Gordon thru with no resistance. It's called "livin' to fight another day", and Mark uses it well...Lap 95 saw Gordon and Stewart side-by-side, with Gordon ultimately claimin' third place, and settin' off after Burton, who'd been repassed by Mayfield. Meantime, poor Skinner had fallen to 31st.
Gordon caught Burton in lapped traffic, and took second around lap 96. Over laps 99-101, a good fight ensued, as Gordon and Stewart caught Mayfield in traffic. Gordon briefly grabbed the lead, only to get trapped behind the lapped car of Brett Bodine, and havin Mayfield get the lead back, then Stewart, in spite of aggressive crowding by Gordon, taking second. GOOD RACIN"!
By lap 108, Mayfield, Burton and Gordon had fought clear into the top three positions, having left Stewart behind in fourth in a commercial break. Gordon took second from Burton - his tire/chassis combo seemed to be comin' into its own in the long 60-lap green run.
As the skies began to darken again, with rain inevitable, and the halfway point loomed in sight (lap 147), longerterm strategies went out the window, as the leaders jockeyed for position, anticipating a shortened race. Tire conservation? That was an hour ago! Get the lead!!
Lap 110 had Mayfield, Gordon and Jeff Burton in the lead, followed by Stewart, Jarrett, Ward Burton, Martin, Hamiton, Andretti, Eliott, Irwin, Irvan, Pressley(!), Terry Labonte, and Geoffrey Bodine as top fifteen.
With 50+ laps on their tire, a round of greenflag stops began on lap 112. First in were Jeff Burton and Jarrett, followed a lap later by Bodine and Elliott, then Gordon and Stewart a couple laps later. Surprisingly, none of the runners outside tho top five tried a two tire strategy, to have the lead in the event of a rain-shortened race. I'd assumed this would be a no-brainer for anyone outside the top five or six! Guess I don't have enough respect for Darlington's abrasive paving!
By lap 123, all the leaders had cycled through, and we were pretty well back where we'd been 13 laps earlier. Well, not really, I guess... now Jeff Burton was out front, by a bunch, followed by Jarrett. The earlier stop gave Burton 2 - 3 seconds over the field, it appeared. Mayfield, Gordon, Stewart, Martin, Ward Burton, Hamilton, Elliott and Irwin rounded out the top ten. Rounding out those still on lead lap were Irvan, Bodine, Andretti, Pressley, Marlin, Park, Terry Labonte, Matt Kenseth (18 car, remember?), and Rick Mast(!) - nineteen in all. Lap 132 saw the leaders strung out through lapped traffic, racin' hard to have a cushion when the rains came. Tire conservation was definitely yesterday's news...
The halfway point, under dark, dark skies, had Burton's Exidemobile 3 seconds in front of Jarrett, who was being hounded by Mayfield. Fourth was Gordon, then Stewart, Martin, Hamilton, Ward Burton, Irvan and Irwin rounded out the top ten. Kenseth and Mast had been lapped, leavin' 17 cars on the lead lap.
Ten laps later, Gordon had passed Mayfield and Jarrett for second, Mayfield had taken third from Jarrett, and Martin had taken fifth from Stewart.
Lap 157 saw Wally's bad luck continue, as he cut a tire, and had to have the rear tread extricated from the rear suspension of the Budmobile.
Around lap 160-161, we had the long-anticipated first drops of moisture. However, before NASCAR was forced to make a decision re throwin' the yellow, our Ernie took over, spinning the M&M's Pontiac a half-straightaway in front of the leaders.
This incident collected Irwin and Craven, sending Irwin REAL HARD into the wall. (Is it my imagination, or should those two - Irvin and Irwin - not be allowed on the same track together?)
The incident also set off a chain reaction back where Jeff Burton was about to lap Nadeau. Nadeau, seein' smoke, checked up, and Burton got pinched between him and the wall, tearin' up the front end. Just for good measure, Gordon also took a hit, tryin' to avoid Nadeau, although not as serious as Burton. It did cost Jeffie a couple positions, however, as Mayfield and Jarrett got thru intact... (note: this appears to have been incorrect, and subsequent scoring Monday night, and,looking at replays, I agree, gave third to Gordon ahead of Jarrett.)
Burton rassled his Taurus, front wheels askew, over the finish line to take the caution, still in the lead. He then had one or two agonizing caution laps while NASCAR watched the monsoon grow in intensity, before finally reflagging the race on lap 164. Had he been forced to stop under the caution, he'da been done for the day...
After a few minutes, and a Jeff Burton rain dance, NASCAR, realizing they could never get the track dry in time to finish the race, called it a day, declaring Burton the winner, his seventh career victory. Mayfield took second, then Gordon, Jarrett, Martin, Stewart, Hamilton, Ward Burton, Andretti, Kenseth, Terry Labonte and Park rounded out the twelve cars on the lead lap.
In the Points Chase, Burton's win puts him in the lead, with Gordon 7 back, then Bobby Labonte, Martin, and Skinner - badly hurt by his poor handlin' car this day, round out the top five.
All in all, not up to usual Darlington standards, the weather bein' a distraction. No question, however, the spoiler rules allowed some real good racin' and bold moves that made for a good show, that woulda likely put a couple drivers on the trailer or worse under last year's rules.
Well, next week, we're out to Texas, to Bruton's little speedplex. Wonder what oddities will be in store for us this year? Apparently, further work has again improved the track's driveability.
We'll all find out next Sunday!
"Mr. NASCAR" |