*Darlington, SC*
With qualifying “fogged” out on Saturday morning the field started according to owner’s points with Jeff Gordon on the pole and Dale Jarrett starting outside. Gordon wasted little time in grabbing the lead and then setting sail opening a couple second lead over DJ. Lined up behind those two were Kevin Harvick, Sterling Marlin and Johnny Benson and with Darlington’s tight racing groove there was very little change in position anywhere. Harvick did begin to back slide a little around lap 35 but by lap 44 the first caution of the day came out when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. slapped the wall and got a “major” Darlington stripe.
Junior was able to continue but NASCAR felt the time was right for a “competition flag” since the front runners were playing follow the leader and the race was beginning to get a bit boring. Pit stops for all saw Jarrett able to get the fastest stop and return to the track in the lead but an uncharacteristic loose lug nut by the UPS Rainbow Warriors forced DJ to return to the pits a second time. So when the pit stops began DJ was 2nd and the green flag found him sitting in about 36th spot. Back at the point Sterling Marlin, with the second fastest stop, was now out front, followed by Steve Park, Rusty Wallace, Gordon and Benson.
Steve Park seemed to have the fastest car after the pit stops and soon swept by Marlin to take over the lead. As he stretched out his lead Stacy Compton and his youthful exuberance smacked the wall when he got loose, bringing out the second caution flag at lap 69. This time Park returned from the pits first and when the green flag flew again at lap 75 he was leading Gordon, Marlin, Rusty and Benson. Like the first green flag run it was another case of follow the leader with the only changes in the top 5 being Benson and Jimmy Spencer getting by Rusty to take 4th and 5th. Tony Stewart struggled by Spencer to take 5th by lap 110 as I struggled to stay awake in this L-O-N-G game of follow the leader.
Finally at lap 115 Ron Hornaday livened the race up a little when he pinched Brett Bodine into the wall and spun himself across the track to make hard contact with the inside wall, ending his day. The third caution flew and pit stops finally allowed for a little change up front. Gordon got out fastest with help from his Flaming Rainbow Warriors and the green flag at lap 123 saw Park, Rusty, Marlin and Stewart giving chase to the #24. Immediately after the restart Kurt Busch slapped the wall and was forced to pit for repairs, As soon as he returned to the track he slapped the wall again and shortly after Mike Waltrip gave the wall a NAPA stripe. With cars slapping the wall all over NASCAR finally threw a yellow flag at lap 133 for oil on the track and a general cleanup.
Pit stops again saw Rusty and Stewart get together trying to exit pit road with Tony getting the worst of it as Rusty pinched him into and almost onto the pit wall. Stewart was forced to pit a second time while Rusty returned to the track in fifth behind Gordon, Park, Marlin, and DJ, who with help from the pit crew that had hurt him on the first stop helping him to grab positions on every subsequent stop. The green flag returned at lap 142 and 4 laps later Steve Park made the second of what proved to be very few “racing” passes for the lead. It looked like Park was going to be the car to beat since he seemed to be the only one that could make a pass for the lead out on the track in this L-O-O-O-N-N-N-G race. Gordon stayed close but wasn’t able to chase down Park before finally suffering overheating problems. Jeff was forced to pit early for some tape removal and a drink of water for his radiator.
This began a round of green flag stops that took the field through lap 200 to complete. Gordon was forced to make several stops to try to cool down his engine but was finally forced to call it quits at lap 228. Meanwhile, Johnny Benson had made one of the earliest stops under green and with the new tires was able to gain quite a bit of track position. By the time every car had stopped Benson found himself the leader. Giving chase behind him were Park, Marlin, Spencer and DJ. Park began to close the distance between himself and the #10 of Benson but before he had chance to catch him Buckshot Jones lost the engine in his #44 Dodge. Oil on the track brought out caution #5 at lap 222. Everyone dropped down pit road again with Johnny Benson suffering a loose lug nut, caught by NASCAR and had a 23 second pit stop to tighten it. He went in, in the lead but returned in 8th place and ruined his chance of a win (remember, it’s going to happen at Dover, you heard it here first).
First back on the track this time was the #1 of Steve Park followed by Spencer, Marlin, Jarrett and Mayfield. Like all day Park was about the only car that could pass for the lead so he was able to pull away and grab himself a two and a half second lead over Jarrett, second strongest behind Park. It looked like it was going to be run away for Park and the first repeat winner in many races. Benson was doing all he could to make up time lost on his slow pit and at lap 277 he drifted high and grabbed him self a Darlington stripe. Although he continued with very little damage NASCAR decided to throw yellow #6. Officially this was a “debris” flag but unofficially it was a “competition” yellow to bunch up the field and give us an exciting finish.
Now, excuse me while I get off on a tangent here but it was VERY apparent this was a “competition” flag. Cars were slapping the walls all day with so many Darlington stripes it was looking like a convict convention out there. NASCAR didn’t throw a yellow for any of the previous “stripes” and never should have thrown one this time. Park had this race won, Benson didn’t cause any damage or racing problems and the DEI #1 team had this race taken away from them. Now sure they had just as good a chance of beating the rest of the field out after their pit stops but he never should have been forced to. He was driving to the checkers and NASCAR out and out stole their win. DEI ought to be screaming bloody murder! Anyways….
Jarrett and his “bought” UPS Brown Rainbow Warriors pit crew won the battle on pit road, followed out by Park, Marlin, Mayfield and Spencer. With only 12 laps to go the green returned and a lap later Mike Skinner found his car getting pinched into the wall by Rusty Wallace. Skinner spun, collected Terry Labonte and the hard hit to the wall by Mike saw flames erupt from his car and a scary moment as we all waited for him to crawl from his burning wreck. Luckily he did but that accident was a direct result of the bunched up field caused by the phony yellow flag a few laps later. It looked to be a long cleanup with all the fluids spilled so NASCAR threw the red flag to allow a little racing near the end. By the time they restarted there were only 6 green flag laps remaining and not enough for Park to chase down Jarrett. DJ cruised to a win, offered up in his winner’s circle interview that the best car didn’t win and Park graciously said he just didn’t have enough to catch DJ at the end. So I give it DJ & NASCAR-1, Park-0.
Kudos go out to Steve Park (2nd) for being the uncrowned winner today and being too polite about it, Jeremy Mayfield (3rd) who made a strong charge late, Jimmy Spencer (4th) who once again proved to him self that if he can stay away from the rough stuff he can finish well, Sterling Marlin (5th) who is making this long time Sterling fan grin a whole lot so far this year, John Andretti (6th) who finally got a much needed good finish for Petty Enterprises, Johnny Benson (7th) who is giving this sort of long time Benson (since I met him after his first BGN win at Dover) fan a lot to grin about this season, Ricky Rudd (8th) ever improving in his Yates ride and ready to win, Bobby Hamilton (9th) getting a long awaited top 10, and Rusty Wallace (10th) who had a strong run all day but seemed to lose it on the tires he got at the 5th yellow flag. The little Yahoo goes to Dale Jarrett, little because he won this one only due to a bad call by NASCAR and a great pit stop by his “bought” crew. Nothing against you DJ, but Park got robbed.
Next week we’re off to Bristol and some edge of your seat short track action. Can’t wait! And since I hurt my hand at work this week and am having a heckuva time typing I’m just going to say:
Keep The Shiny Side
Up!