In a surprise news release yesterday, Richard Childress, owner of the Earnhardt and Skinner teams, announced a crew chief switch. Larry McReynolds has been with Dale Earnhardt for a year and a half, only to produce one win, this years Daytona 500. He was the former Yates Ford crew chief for Ernie Irvan. Kevin Hamlin will now be Earnhardt's crew chief, and McReynolds will move to Skinner's team.
Childress says that a change is needed to benefit both teams. McReynolds, being a "hands on" crew chief, is what Skinner needs in his career at this time. Hamlin is more of the laid back type, and will hopefully work better with Earnhardt. Time will tell, so keep an eye on both teams!
# 5 Terry Labonte got underneath # 88 Dale Jarrett, and after some contact, went on to take the checkered flag two laps later. It was Labonte's first win this year, and the 20th win of his Winston Cup (WC) career. Terry and his new crew chief, Andy Graves, were elated to get a win in the first half of the season. He led six times for 97 laps and took $99,975 in prize money. There were seven cautions for 47 laps, and 17 lead changes among 7 drivers. The race crowd of over 103,000 set the record for attendance at a sporting event in Virginia.
Coming in behind Labonte and Jarrett were # 2 Rusty Wallace, # 33 Ken Schrader, and # 6 Mark Martin, rounding out the top five. There was some bumping and banging on the track that caused some hard feelings. Jeff Green, driving the # 46 First Union car, was tagged from behind and then in the left rear quarter, sending the car into the wall. The # 16 car, driven by Ted Musgrave, was claimed to be the guilty culprit. Green headed straight to Musgrave's pits, ignoring the press, and was talked to and cooled down by a NASCAR official, who turned him around before he could reach his destination. He stated that this was the second time Musgrave had wrecked him, and he felt that he should discuss it with him.
Another unhappy driver was # 24 Jeff Gordon. He bumped # 2 Rusty Wallace, and went around him on the outside. Wallace fought back, by then bumping Gordon in the rear bumper, and then in the left rear quarter, sending him into the wall. As Gordon hit the wall, the crowd went wild, and Wallace gained control of his car and sped away. Gordon went stomping off to the garage area, looking for some place to cool down before talking to the press. He was not a happy camper! He fell to third in the point standings, 46 points behind # 12 Jeremy Mayfield. Wallace moved to second, just 25 points behind his teammate Mayfield.
