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In a long, drawn-out, caution loaded, wreck-fest, Tony Stewart managed to finish with the least damage to his normal running speed and claim his third win of the season. Kevin Harvick, despite closing fast near the end like the ghost of the #3 pushed and shoved his way through the pack but had to settle for the runner-up spot while the mid race dominant Jeff Gordon slipped back to third. And 16 cautions was just a typical night at Bristol. |
”Now Let’s Go Racing!”
Jeff Green carried his winning ways over from BGN as he captured the pole for Richard Childress Racing in a preview to his full time ride next year. He easily raced his teammate, Mike Skinner down to the first turn and took that all-important inside groove to lead the first lap. He managed to hold the front spot with Skinner trying valiantly to get around until lap 14 when the whole field commenced wrecking.
From this point there was no racing. Just crashing. Everybody crashed at least once and everybody crashed at least once with one of the Bodines. Finally, everybody was too sore to crash anymore and Tony raced for a few laps before winning. That’s it. The whole race. Oh? Details? OK, let’s see…
I got it! Just fill in the blanks with your favorite drivers and names and you’ll have all the details:
________ Bodine tapped ________. The spinning cars collected _______, _______, ______ and _______. There was a 10-15 lap yellow followed by 2 more laps of racing.
Repeat.
No? OK, OK. I’ll do it the hard way.
Lap 14: Jason Leffler gave Buckshot Jones a little chrome horn, crossing up the Jones #44 and creating yellow #1. Four cars pitted (#8, 10, 32 and 97) Green continued leading and after 6 caution laps we managed to get in 3 laps of green before…
Lap 24: Sterling Marlin created a monster by spinning Brett Bodine after a restart traffic jam caused lot’s of brake checks. Looked like Sterling was still dreaming of Michigan as he drove over Brett. From that point on it was the field against the Bodines. Green continued to lead over Skinner and Elliott Sadler for about 40 laps of green until…
Lap 70: Buckshot Jones, still spinning from the first yellow slams the inside wall and ends his night. I’m not sure who he got help from but I’m sure there was a Bodine nearby. Pit stops by all except Craven and Benson (who stopped on the first yellow) gave Ricky the lead. A 10-lap yellow followed by another 3 laps of green gave us…
Lap 84: Brett Bodine, a lap down after hitting about 15 cars so far tags Johnny Benson, sending him for a loop and collecting Kurt Busch and John Andretti. Numerous other cars got minor bump and go damage. Ricky Rudd takes the lead when Craven pits. Racing resumes at lap 89 with Steve Park blowing by to take the lead before…
Lap 90: Mike Wallace cut down on Rudd trying to get a lap back. Rusty Wallace in 2nd bumped the braking Rudd who in turn collected Mike Wallace, Elliott Sadler, Jeff Burton, Robert Pressley, Mike Skinner, Bobby Labonte and Todd Bodine (mustn’t forget the token “Bodine”). This wreck probably would have collected a few cars in the parking lot too if they hadn’t had the crossover gates closed. Green flag at lap 96 with Park leading led to…
Lap 104: Brett Bodine closes his eyes again and runs over Skinner, sending him hard into the inside wall. Rusty had just taken the lead prior to this yellow and managed to get in 20 green flag laps before…
Lap 128: Andy Houston spins for yellow # 7 after Rick Mast gave him a little “help”. No Bodines were involved or hurt during the filming of this yellow! Rusty continued in the lead when the green came out at lap 133 but by…
Lap 137: Todd Bodine continued the ”Bodine-effect” when he cut down on Joe Nemechek. Both cars spun and yellow fever was out again. Green flag racing at lap 142 saw Rusty leading Jeff Gordon, Steve Park, Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart. Despite the wreck strewn first 140 laps the cream was rising to the top. Rusty held off Gordon but at…
Lap 148: Ricky Craven taps Geoff-Rey Bodine (yes, even big brother felt the need to succeed in the ”Bodine” Crash-a-thon) sending Geoff-Rey’s car spinning in front of Rick Mast. Green flag racing returned at lap 155 with the same top 5 as before (heck, 155 laps in and they still haven’t had chance to race yet). For the first time all night the “43 best drivers in the stockcar world” managed to string together nearly 80 laps of green flag racing with Rusty fading late on used tires to be passed by Gordon at lap 215. But by…
Lap 235: Mike Waltrip spun and I never did find out why. I don’t think there was a Bodine anywhere near him. But with all of 80 green flag laps under their belt it was time for pit stops. Kevin Lepage stayed out while the Miller crew was doing their usual best, getting Rusty out in 2nd followed by Gordon, Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Jarrett. Green flag racing at lap 239 saw Lepage lead for 3 laps before…
Lap 242: Ricky Craven (recently adopted into the Bodine family) continued his pinball ride of the night by bumping Jarrett before sending himself into the wall. Yellow # 11 is waving, Lepage is pitting and Rusty is back out front. Green at lap 249 is followed by yellow at…
Lap 261: Bill Elliott, vying for a spot in the much heralded Bodine wrecking crew cut down on Dale Earnhardt, Jr., sending himself hard into the wall and a lap down. Jeff Gordon, having just passed Rusty before this caution, now led, followed by Wallace, Stewart, Jarrett and Harvick. For the second time of the race the “best 43” managed to piece together about 90 green flag laps with Gordon showing the way and Stewart closing up as tires wore down. Finally just to prove we couldn’t get 100 laps in a row the lucky 13th yellow flew at…
Lap 353: Just as Tony Stewart makes a green flag pass for the lead Todd Bodine upholds the family tradition by spinning down the backstretch (probably wrecked himself or by another Bodine) but I never did quite catch the reason. With under 150 laps to go it was time to get in that final pit stop and it was the Dupont crew that got Gordon out in front. Stewart, Harvick, Rusty Wallace and Bobby Labonte followed him out of the pits to set the final run for the checkers. Only problem?
Lap 363: 3 laps after going green the 14th yellow flag flies when Terry ”Bodine” Labonte spins Joe Nemechek. Nothing had chance to happen so the line-up was the same and the restart at lap 367 surely meant a race to the checkers. Gordon was able to hold off Stewart on fresh tires until…
Lap 381: Brett “I’m not quite done yet” Bodine took out Johnny Benson in retaliation for a previously supposed “wrong” to bring out one more yellow flag and a corresponding black flag to get his chance to visit with a NASCAR official at the infamous “penalty box” for rough driving. And finally, with NASCAR having put a stop to one Bodine and the green flag waving at lap 388 we were surely ready to see an uninterrupted run to the finish and a chance to see some good fast short track racing! NOT!…
Lap 395: Matt Kenseth bumps Geoff-Rey Bodine, collects Robert Pressley and yellow #16 is in the wind. Same lead 5, same restart, same same…. Oh yeah
Finally, at lap 403 the green waves for the last time. Honest! At lap 415 Kenny Schrader develops a flat tire and Geoff-Rey Bodine slams the rear of Brett Bodine (fittingly) sending both to the pits but not bringing out a yellow. Gordon was able to get a good run on the rest of the top 5 due to lapped cars but by lap 20 Tony Stewart was free of the lapped cars and hunting down Gordon. As before, Stewart got stronger on longer runs as Gordon got progressively looser. At lap 432 Tony went low on a slipping Gordon and took the lead. As he drove away to an easy victory of about a 1/2 second, Harvick managed to get by Gordon to take 2nd and a last lap bump by Rudd on Rusty gave Ricky the 4th spot and a cool down lap rear slamming by Wallace. I’m sure Gary Nelson will be “speaking” to both this week. Despite every effort by at least 5 or 6 Bodines this marathon race had come to a conclusion with Tony claiming win #3 for 2001.
Kudos to Kevin Harvick (2nd) who looked an awful lot like his predecessor this weekend in both the BGN race and the fast closing final laps of the WC race, Jeff Gordon (3rd) who looked to have it if those yellows would have continued into the last 100 laps, Ricky Rudd (4th) who gained a position on and lost some respect to, Rusty Wallace (5th) who hates losing at Bristol and has a record to show it, Dale Jarrett (6th) staying as close as he can to Gordon for those points, Steve Park (7th) who showed strength at times during the race, and Bobby Labonte (8th), Sterling Marlin(9th) and Terry Labonte (10th) who grabbed top 10’s too. Attaboys go to Elliott Sadler who showed signs that the Spring win was no fluke and to Jeff Green for running strong early before his multiple problems. Wotsam-Attaboys go to the whole Bodine family for their fantastic display of driving despite all being blind. And of course, the Big Yahoo goes to Tony Stewart and the whole Gibbs/Home Depot team.
Next week it’s Darlington and the Southern 500. If I’ve forgotten anything in today’s report… well I’ll blame it on my lack of shorthand experience. I couldn’t take notes as fast as they were wrecking. Besides, I ain’t getting paid and you’re not paying for this, so who cares. Ha-ha… catch you next week.
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