Dover II

Sep 21, 1998 - © Thomas M. Sampson

Winston Cup (WC)

The second visit to Dover was another Mark Martin\Jeff Gordon show. This time it was Mark who won the checkers, with Jeff bringing the car home with another second place finish, and one step closer to the WC championship. After the race started, a cloud cover moved in, and the track became quicker without the heat from the sun. It really played havoc with some of the race set-ups, but it helped others to get their cars tuned in.

The big surprise of the race was Matt Kenseth, subbing for Bill Elliott. After starting in 16th position, and having problems with a missing engine, Kenseth brought the car in for a sixth place finish. He sparred with Rusty Wallace late in the race for fifth, but the cagey veteran wouldn't let him get the fifth spot away from him.

Rookie of the year candidate Kenny Irwin hit the wall hard, and had to be transported to the hospital, bringing out a caution quite a while after his wreck, to allow the ambulance to cross the track to get to the highway. He is suspected to have been suffering from a bad concussion. We'll be waiting to hear some news on his condition.

The last week or two has been a hard one for some key WC participants. ASA driver Alan Petty, son of Kyle Petty, and grandson of Richard Petty, took off from a pit stop due to a mis-communication, and ran over his crew chief, who he didn't realize was under the car. Crew chief Cris Bradley died a couple of hours later at a nearby hospital from complications during surgery. We have all heard about Mark Martin's father passing away a couple of weeks ago. Bill Elliott's dad passed away Thursday, taking Bill away from the track at Dover, and putting Matt Kenseth in the No. 94 car. In the BGN series, Tony Eury's mother passed away, leaving a void in the Earnhardt Busch crew for Saturday's race. All of us fans offer our condolences to all of those affected by these losses. NASCAR is people, and people lose loved ones.

The copyright of the article Dover II in NASCAR is owned by Thomas M. Sampson. Permission to republish Dover II in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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