QUALIFYING: Jeff Gordon won the Bud Pole with a speed of 195.067mph. The first 2 positions are based on qualifying time while the rest of the field by their performance in the Gatorade 125s and provisionals. Rusty Wallace started 10th because of his 4th place finish in the 2nd Gatorade 125 race. Top Ten Qualifiers: 1st-Jeff Gordon, 2nd-Tony Stewart, 3rd-Bobby Labonte, 4th-Dale Earnhardt, 5th-Jeff Burton, 6th-Jeremy Mayfield, 7th-Ken Schrader, 8th-Dale Jarrett, 9th-Mark Martin, 10th-Rusty Wallace. Notables in field: 13th-Michael Waltrip, 19th-Terry Labonte, 28th-Ricky Craven. Starting Grid
RACE: The race went 94 laps before the first caution flag waved when a car stalled on the track. After some close early racing, the field stretched out and broke up into drafting groups, with the front-runners pulling away. Rusty Wallace, who led 102 laps, took the top spot for the first time on lap 58 and was able to stay at or near the front until Gordon's late pass. Earnhardt started fourth and challenged for the lead in the early going. But, by the first pit stops, he had fallen back with an ill-handling car. A slow pit stop cost him more ground and he found himself nearly a half lap behind at the halfway point. To make matters worse, he was losing engine power because of an electrical problem. Fortunately, the Winston Cup cars have a backup electrical system. Once the cuations began flying, he was able to get close to the leaders again and moved into second on lap 166, trailing Wallace. But Earnhardt never led. Gordon won his second Daytona 500 in a thrilling, late-race shootout with Dale Earnhardt. Jeff Gordon passed Earnhardt with one of his breathtaking moves 13 laps from the finish and took the lead with another two laps later. Gordon, who also won the Daytona 500 in 1997, took the lead with a daring move on lap 190. Gordon ducked under leader Rusty Wallace heading toward the first turn and squeezed past the slow-moving lapped car of Ricky Rudd, drawing a gasp from the standing crowd of 185,000. Wallace probably lost his chance of winning the race for the first time when his team chose to keep him on the track while most of the other leaders pitted for fresh tires during the final caution period. That yellow flag came out 27 laps from the end after Bobby Hamilton crashed. Earnhardt eased off the accelerator driving off turn two and took a run at Gordon on the back straightaway. But the seven-time series champion just couldn't catch him. Gordon led only 17 laps, but that included the final 11. His margin of victory in the battle of Chevrolets was 0.128 of a second. Kenny Irwin finished third, followed by Earnhardt teammate Mike Skinner and Michael Waltrip. Wallace wound up eighth. Top Ten Finishers: 1st-Jeff Gordon, 2nd-Dale Earnhardt, 3rd-Kenny Irwin, 4th-Mike Skinner, 5th-Michael Waltrip, 6th-Ken Schrader, 7th-Kyle Petty, 8th-Rusty Wallace, 9th-Chad Little, 10th-Rick Mast. Notables in the field: 20th-Jeremy Mayfield, 25th-Bobby Labonte, 26th-Ricky Craven, 31st-Mark Martin, 35th-Jeff Burton, 37th-Dale Jarrett, 38th-Terry Labonte. Race Results
99 - Jeff Burton
Started: 35th
Highest: 2nd Laps Led: 0
Finished: 4th Lowest: 35th
RACE RECAP:
After 200 Laps
Leaders: 7
Lead Changes: 14
4 Cautions for 20 Laps
Cars Out of Race: 15
Average Speed: 161.551mph
Winner: Jeff Gordon
Margin of Victory: 0.128sec
Time of Race: 3:05:42
NEWS
This page was created on February 19, 1999. It was last updated on February 22, 1998.
