*Atlanta, GA*
For the second week in a row Dale Jarrett started on the pole and this time he had Jeff Gordon sitting outside of him. He wasted no time diving low to grab the lead and pull away as the other cars started shuffling behind him. By the time the field returned to complete the first lap Jarrett was leading, followed by Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Todd Bodine and Dave Blaney. Sterling Marlin, flexing his points leading Dodge strength was close behind in 6th after passing 6 cars on the first lap from his 12th place start. But in an almost "spooky" happening, for the second week in a row the yellow flag came out on the 3rd lap, the "Dale Earnhardt Silent Tribute Lap". And 3 weeks ago we were under caution for the 3rd lap also.
This yellow was brought out when Jerry Nadeau forgot to check his rear view mirror and came down on Mike Waltrip. He didn't spin Mikey but sent himself for a loop through the infield. Robert Pressley ended up in the grass too and as Nadeau slid down in front of him he had to take evasive action, sliding to a halt on pit road. The 8th place points runner never ran well again after this and suffered a big hit in the standings. With no contact green flag racing resumed at lap 6. It was clear Kevin Harvick was the early "strong car" as only 1 lap after the green waved he drove under DJ like he was standing still. Behind him Jeff Gordon seemed to be gaining strength as the run went (or Harvick, in his exuberance was burning up tires) and by lap 19 he replaced Kevin at the point. The next 30 laps was all Gordon with Harvick, Sterling, DJ, Todd Bodine and Matt Kenseth staying within shouting distance.
The first round of green flag stops began at about lap 50 and the cycle completed with everyone having stopped by lap 62 it was Sterling Marlin and his Coors #40 team that got the fastest stop (quite a change from the sorry stops of 2000), putting Marlin out front. The rest of the top 5 were Gordon, Harvick, Kenseth and DJ. Jeff Gordon was serving notice that he was the strong car for the middle of the race as he zipped by Marlin to retake the lead only two laps later, showing his tail feathers to the field over the next 18 laps. At lap 83 a plume of smoke erupted from Steve Park's car, ending his day. As he headed for pit road and then the garage the second yellow of the day flew for an oil clean up. The field got time to make a "leisurely" stop this time so all of a sudden pit road became the place to be.
When the smoke of pit road and the kitty litter of the oily track cleared it was Gordon still out front followed by Harvick, DJ, Sterling and Kenseth. As before the caution, so was it after the caution, with Gordon the class of the field and everyone else battling for second. A long green flag run took us all the way through a tank of gas with DJ and now Dave Blaney being the main battlers for that second place money. Finally about lap 135 the second round of green flag stops began with Rusty Wallace complainng about severe understeer and being the first to stop. At lap 143, Jeff Gordon, with a 3 and 1/2 second lead over Dave Blaney and 5 seconds over DJ suddenly slowed on the back stretch as the #24 team had tried stretching their gas 1 lap too far. By the time he had coasted to the pits and the rest of the field had made their stops Gordon was a lap down to new leader Blaney. DJ and Sterling were close behind but the biggest move was Ricky Craven who had started in 43rd and was now in 4th place. Jarrett and Blaney swapped the lead a couple times before Robby Gordon got loose and slapped the wall, blowing a tire and leaving rubber all over the track as his tire shredded. At lap 159 the caution was out again and "leisurely" pit stops were in everybody's minds.
Trouble was, for a few, that stop was TOO much on their minds and after circling the track once behind the pace car, Dale Jarrett, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Matt Kenseth, Ricky Rudd, Mike Waltrip and Rusty Wallace dove down pit road. Unfortunately, NASCAR had not opened pit road due to tire debris all over so those 6 cars eventually ended up penalized and at the end of the longest line for the restart. Dave Blaney was out front with the fastest of the "legal" stops followed by Marlin, Nadeau, Harvick and Johnny Benson making his weekly appearance in the top 5. The cars who stopped early were now in spots 14-18 since the rest of the field was a lap down. Blaney managed to hold off the hard charging Nadeau until lap 205 when Todd Bodine lost it and spun down the front stretch grass. Although he made no contact and continued after righting his car NASCAR threw a "competition" yellow and caution number 3 was in the books.
Pit stops by all saw Blaney return again with the fastest stop, followed by Nadeau, Harvick, Marlin and DJ who was back from his banishment near the tail end of the field. The reason for Blaney's quick stop became evident only 6 laps after the green as he slowed, turned the lead over to Nadeau then dove down pit road with a vibration. It turned out he had a loose lugnut on that stop and had to give up his hard fought lead and a lap to the leaders. Nadeau had the lead now and held it until lap 233 when Mark Martin exploded an engine and oiled the track. As Nadeau approached the line to take the yellow his spotter announced teammate Jeff Gordon coming hard to get back his lost lap. Jerry, being a team player nearly locked up his wheels to slow enough to let Gordon get his lap.
Pit stops by all saw Jarrett out front followed by Kenseth, Nadeau, Marlin and Bobby Labonte. Meanwhile, Dave Blaney, trying to recover from the loss of a lap due to his loose lugnuts on the right rear was lining up down low to try to get his lap back. Suddenly, as if to scream "Can you say unemployment" at his rear tire man his right rear tire came completely off and the yellow got extended a few more laps as the wreckers pulled him to the garage. Green flag racing returned at lap 238 with DJ holding off the hounds for a few laps before Nadeau once more surfaced as the strong "late middle race" car. At lap 243 he was back out front and looking to run away with this one. I think his "youthful exuberance" ate up his tires and at lap 265 DJ managed to regain his lead.
Lap 273 saw caution flag number 6 fly when Matt Kenseth hand grenaded his engine and spewed oil all over his headers. The ensuing flames and swipe of the wall brought a moment of breath holding but Kenseth climbed out of his wounded and smoking car soon after it came to rest. Despite the cries of "The HANS device makes it impossible to climb out of the car fast" Kenseth was out quite fast. The green flag found DJ still at the point but Nadeau slipped by easily with Harvick, DE, Jr. and Marlin close behind them. They didn't get to run very long under green though as Mike Skinner lost it and looped at lap 291. Once again the field dove down pit road and in a questionable decision DJ and Marlin stayed out, deciding to run to the end on used tires.
The green flew at lap 296 and Nadeau on his new tires took all of one lap to retake the lead after returning first with fresh tires. Just 3 laps later Marlin's engine succumbed to the strain's of Atlanta and the day ended early for the current point's leader. Another yellow for oil clean up saw the green return again at lap 304 with Nadeau still leading followed by Jarrett, Harvick, Earnhardt, Jr. and Gordon. On the restart the cars immediately strung out and since Sterling was now out of the hunt it looked to me to be a boring ending coming up.
By lap 315, ten from the end, I found out how mistaken I was as Harvick began to make his move on DJ. It seemed DJ had been waiting for closer to the end before burning up his tires but now was having to hold off Harvick. Meanwhile, Junior was charging even harder and now was getting in the mix. Three wide racing through the turns at 170 had this fan sitting on the edge of his seat. DJ, looking to protect his rear had to make his move and drove past Nadeau at lap 318. The cars stayed three wide almost for laps at a time with Harvick and Junior pressuring too. Harvick finally powered low to sweep past DJ as Junior went high. The #8 Bud car slowed almost immediately and as a tire began to go down so did Junior's chances, forcing him to pit and drop from a top 10 finish. Gordon and Nadeau slid past DJ when he was caught high and as the last few laps wound down I found myself beginning to get teary eyed.
Could Kevin Harvick win in De's old car just 3 races after taking the reins of the #3? This was really starting to get too weird. One race after DE's death, Junior is taken out of a race he probably shouldn't have been at after his loss and a caution is under way at the "silent lap 3". DEI driver Park takes the 2nd race in a row for DEI. The following two weeks a caution comes out on that silent 3rd lap. And now, relatively unknown Kevin Harvick, at his 3rd race is leading a race that DE had won the year before in a photo finish. Jeff Gordon was coming hard and I started thinking, "Would Gordon pass him if he could?" "Would he let him have that win for DE?" We will never know exactly what was going through those driver's minds at that exact moment but as the #29 Goodwrench car headed for the checkers and the #24 DuPont car was sliding low for the win.... well, how else could this race end? A photo finish found Kevin Harvick about 3 inches and .009 seconds ahead of Gordon as they crossed the line for the checkered flag.
Kudos to Jeff Gordon (2nd) who had the car to beat after falling a lap down and making it up, Jerry Nadeau (3rd) who also stood a great chance after sliding through the grass early and still running strong all day, Dale Jarrett (4th) who looked to be a winner early, Terry Labonte (5th) who just all of a sudden was there like the "Iceman" of old, Ricky Rudd (6th) continuing a great second season with Yates, Johnny Benson (7th) who is going to win real soon (Dover's not too far off), Kenny Schrader (8th) having another good run in 2001, Mike Skinner (9th) who spent too much time slipping and sliding or would have been top 5 material, and Kurt Busch (10th) who grabbed his first top 10. But the Big Yahoo has got to go to Kevin Harvick, Richard Childress, the whole RCR operation and of course to Dale Earnhardt. All those things coincidence? Makes you wonder.
Next week we're off to Darlington. I can't wait. I predict the first win for Dodge since 1977 and the first win for Sterling at Darlington since 1994. Sorry for the lack of articles this week. I was just swamped with work and side jobs so I just didn't have time. Look for lots this week! Until next time:
Keep The Shiny Side
Up!