Fast Track Racing - Page 3© Thomas M. Sampson
Page 3
Aug 21, 2000
Pepsi 400............ The Fast Track
The race on one of the fastest tracks that the Cup cars run on, was won by Rusty Wallace. It was the 52nd win of Rusty's career, and his third win this season. Following him across the finish line were Ricky Rudd, Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett, and Johnny Benson.
Excitement came early in the race when Tony Stewart spun out and collected Jeff Gordon in the process. Stewart claimed it was his fault, he said he was racing too hard and just lost it in the corner. His car seemed to jerk to the right at the front end, then the rear end came around sending him backwards toward the wall. Jeff Gordon just happened to be there, so he hit Gordon instead of the wall, which sent him careening back down to the bottom of the track. The wreck took Stewart out of the race, and eventually took Gordon out as well. Gordon wasn't upset with Stewart when he was interviewed, stating that it was just one of those racing deals. I had to admire Gordon's composure.
The historic event for the Earnhardts, with a father racing against his two sons for the first time in Cup history, didn't last long. The fast track, or Goodyear's sorry "new generation" tires was the un-doing of Kerry Earnhardt on lap 6 when he spun out whacking the wall, bringing out the first of 9 cautions. The Michigan track is known to be unkind to rookies, and this race wasn't any exception. The majority of the cautions were due to handling problems or blown tires. Some have the idea that the sorry tires caused the adverse handling problems, just like they have at most of the intermediate to larger tracks this season.
Next Week......... Bristol
Bristol Motor Speedway will be the setting for race No. 23. The "goracing.com 500" will be a night race, beginning at 7:30 PM EST, and will be televised by ESPN. I certainly hope ESPN does a better job broadcasting the Bristol race than they did at Michigan. In my opinion, the coverage was lousy, and I was disappointed that they didn't take the time to broadcast the Victory Lane interview with the winning driver. They apparently figured that the X Games were more important. I wonder how much money they make off of the X Games, compared to NASCAR?
At any rate, last years winner of Bristol's August race was Dale Earnhardt. He was followed across the finish line by Jimmy Spencer, Ricky Rudd, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart.
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