*Las Vegas, NV*
Dale Jarrett gave Yates it's first pole of the year and Johnny Benson continued to show he could do it with the right equipment and put his #10 on the outside front row. It was Dale that got the jump at the green flag and easily pulled out front while Jerry Nadeau stayed low and moved past Benson too. Before we could get a gauge on who was going to be strong early the first of six yellows flew at lap 3 when Jeff Burton gave the rest of the field a little more head start before he makes his run to the 2001 championship as I predicted. He just plain lost it, looped it and banged the wall to ruin his chances of a good run today.
A quick clean up saw the race restart at lap 6 and just a lap later Ricky Craven began to smoke. NASCAR gave him the black flag on his next trip by and the following lap Brett Bodine got some of the liquids that Craven was dropping. He slapped the wall hard and almost simultaneously Jeremy Mayfield slipped while under teammate, Rusty Wallace. Both cars broke loose and slapped the wall while Bill Elliott got some side damage as he skimmed Mayfield's spinning car. Once again the field bunched up and a restart at lap 14 saw Jarrett still in front followed by Todd Bodine, Jerry Nadeau, Benson and Tony Stewart.
Off the track, Mayfield and Wallace worked on their cars with Mayfield getting right back out on the track. Unfortunately it looked like they hadn't got the fender off the tire and a blown tire sent debris all over the track. Yellow number three was out at lap 26 but only after Todd had shown his muscles and wrested the lead. Pits by all saw Tony Stewart get the fastest service and return to the track out front. The rest of the top 5 were Jarrett, Bodine, Sterling Marlin and Bobby Labonte. The green flew at lap 30 and Bodine once again moved forward, taking the lead at lap 34 and holding it until lap 59 when Jarrett's seemed to grow stronger on the long run.
The first green flag pit stop round began about lap 85 and cycled through by about lap 95 when Benson showed up at the point. Immediately after everyone had pitted the 4th yellow of the day flew at lap 95 when John Andretti went high around Joe Nemechek. As he took the air off Joe the #33 broke loose and slid up into Andretti. Both cars spun and received considerable damage. While the majority of the field stopped for the second time in 10 laps Mark Martin remained out with Ron Hornaday, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Kurt Busch and Benson to take over the top 5 spots.
The green flag saw Martin get a good jump while the rest of the pack jostled with lapped cars. Mark ran off and held the point for the next 60 laps of green flag racing before the second round of green flag pit stops began at lap 150. And once again as soon as green flag stops had cycled, before scoring had the pack sorted, the yellow flew for the 5th caution of the day at lap 161. This time it was Hut Stricklin just losing it and smacking the wall to slow the field and end his chances for a decent finish. As the field took the green flag at lap 166 Martin was still in front but just two laps later Sterling went by and set sail. Benson followed him by Martin but before Sterling could get too far away the yellow flew again at lap 176 when Mike Wallace took a bump in the rear from Buckshot Jones. He backed it into the wall and suffered his second wrecked car in two weeks.
After pit stops it was Jerry Nadeau out front with a two tire stop followed by Marlin, Jeff Gordon, Jarrett and Bill Elliott. It took Sterling a little while but he went by Nadeau for the lead at lap 202 and stayed there until his tires were wearing out near the end of a 60 lap green flag run. Jeff Gordon had been the gaining on the #40 and as he went by Marlin pitted a couple laps later for his last run of the day. Gordon came in a lap or two later and when the dust had cleared and the battle on pit road was over it was Jeff Gordon's crew who got the stop of the day. Dale Jarrett's crew got 2nd while Sterling's crew finished a distant 3rd. As the race ran down the last 25 laps it was all Gordon and a return to his late race win history with a well earned win for the Robbie Loomis led team too. Kudos go to Dale Jarrett (2nd) who was strong late but not enough to run down Jeff, Sterling Marlin (3rd) making my heart beat with joy taking his 3rd straight top 10 and the lead in the points race, Johnny Benson (4th) who is getting rehearsed for that Dover win I predicted, Todd Bodine (5th) making you wonder why DW never got top 10 in that car, Mark Martin (6th) who looked strong out front there for a while, Steve Park continuing his great 2001 season start, Kevin Harvick (8th) doing a tough job and doing it well, Ron Hornaday in a rare top 10 for the #14 and Jimmy Spencer who didn't show anything but still got a top 10. But the Big Yahoo goes to Jeff Gordon who got a great stop and the right changes late, by his crew and easily won his first of 2001. Great job to the whole DuPont team.
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