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In a late race charge Bobby Hamilton pulled high to pass Tony Stewart while Kurt Busch went low. Only able to block one row of cars Tony stayed low to hold off Busch while Hamilton got a “bump draft” from team-mate Joe Nemechek to win, giving team owner, Andy Petree, his first win ever. |
Stacy Compton grabbed his first pole to lead the Talledega 500 but Sterling Marlin was sitting alongside at the start and wasted no time in passing Compton for the lead on lap 3. By lap 5 it had settled down a bit and Marlin led Bill Elliott, Mark Martin and, mainly, Tony Stewart and Jerry Nadeau through the first 35 laps of a 50 lap green flag gas run. Mike Skinner led a second line of cars high to take the lead as Sterling got shuffled and dropped to the rear of the field. Jeff Gordon, who followed Skinner to the front before taking the lead from him at lap 42.
Lap 46 saw the first of green flag stops with Kevin Lepage stopping first. Over the next 6 laps there were 6 lead changes with 6 different leaders but none of them under racing conditions. Those were all due to the leader pitting for tires and gas. When the green flag stops had completed their cycle it was Bill Elliott getting the lead. He didn’t hold it long as over the next 50 lap green flag run we got a number of lead changes under racing conditions. A lot of this was due to a “trend” that I really didn’t care for, the “faster” cars settling to the rear to avoid the “Big One”. I know as a sponsor I wouldn’t want my car sitting in the rear. And the ones that tried this tactic found it impossible to make the “Big Move” near the end due to the jammed traffic. Sure didn’t make a lot of sense to me.
Oops, back to racing… so over the second 50-lap run we had numerous lead changes among drivers Gordon, Skinner, Ron Hornaday, Jr., Ward Burton, Joe Nemechek, Todd Bodine, Kurt Busch, Hamilton and Matt Kenseth before Sterling finally returned from “sitting in the back” to lead the half-way lap at lap 94. One lap later he turned the lead over to Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Meanwhile Casey Atwood found out that NASCAR was pretty darn serious about their new rule of staying above the yellow line at the bottom of the track. He strayed across it and quickly found a black flag waving in his honor at the flag stand. A stop and go cost him a lap and let every other driver out there know that they should “stay between the lines”.
Green flag pit stops for the second time of the race began at lap 96 with Bill Elliott getting bit by the “too fast on pit road” bug, being held 15 seconds and losing a lap. A few more lead changes and when the dust had settled on pit road it was Junior who was sitting at the point. A slow pit stop for pole sitter, Compton, found a broken shock mount. Despite returning to the track sans shock he was unable to continue for long and became the first retiree of the day’s race. Todd Bodine, at lap 105 became the second “example” of the day when he was black flagged at lap 105 for going “outside the lines” and took a lap penalty. DE, Jr. held the lead for the next 25 laps or so but Marlin was once more hard charging from the rear. The #40 of Marlin drove by Junior at lap 133 and stayed out front for the next 10 or so laps.
At lap 145 Mark Martin took the top spot from Sterling and about this time the day’s last round of gas stops were beginning. The lead swapped hands between Ricky Rudd, Robert Pressley, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton and back to Marlin again. Marlin was looking strong, as he had all day, taking and retaking the lead, seemingly at will, to lead the most laps in the race.
But at lap 163 Tony Stewart came high with a freight train backing and pushing him and they easily swept by Marlin. Marlin, caught out of the draft found himself quickly kicked to 23rd spot while Tony dropped low and stayed there to protect his lead. It looked like it would be a finish like yesterday’s BGN race with Mike McLaughlin making his car about 40 feet wide to win. Stewart was going to stay at the bottom and dang if anybody was getting by. Unfortunately for Tony, somebody forgot to mention this to Bobby Hamilton in the #55 Petree car and Joe Nemechek in the #33 Petree car. In a throw back to last year’s win by Dale Earnhardt, the two team cars teamed again (last year it was Kenny Wallace in the #55). As Hamilton pulled alongside Stewart with 2 to go a bump draft from Nemechek gave Bobby that extra boost he needed to complete the pass. Bobby dropped down in front of Stewart and stayed for the duration. Finally, after way too long, Andy Petree found his way to victory lane as a car owner with the help of Bobby Hamilton.
Kudos go out to Tony Stewart (2nd) who looked like a winner until Hamilton caught him, Kurt Busch (3rd) having an outstanding run for his rookie season, Mark Martin (4th) who led late but just couldn’t hold it, Bobby Labonte (5th) who managed to salvage a top 5 out of a long day, Joe Nemechek (6th) who sacrificed track position to help get his team-mate a win, Johnny Benson (7th) getting ever closer to that first win at Dover, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (8th) who led a few before grabbing a top 10, Jeff Burton (9th) who waited until late to make his move, and Mike Wallace (10th) getting a much needed top 10. An “attaboy” to the whole field for staying calm and getting everyone home safe and a boo to those drivers who sat at the back and finished near there too. Great move! But the Big Yahoo goes to Bobby Hamilton and the whole Andy Petree Racing organization. A well deserved Big Yahoo!
Next week off to California and another one of those cookie cutter tracks. We need another short track! Also, tune in this week as I try to sort out exactly what happened to me over the last couple weeks. I’ll have lot’s of stuff transferred over from the old site and some new stuff too. Until next time:
Keep The Shiny Side
Up!