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Rushville Rocket Dances in the Rain

© Dennis Michelsen

Race fourteen brought the Winston Cup tour to Michigan Speedway for the K-Mart 400. Like all good Blue light Specials this race got marked down due to rain. The relatively flat two-mile speedway has feature some memorable races and some real snoozers over its long history. This year's event featured a bit of both extremes. In the end, the rain that helped ignite some fierce racing ended up robbing us of a thrilling conclusion.

Bobby Labonte grabbed the pole position in record-breaking style on Friday with a dazzling lap over 189mph. Ricky Rudd also topped the old track record grabbing the outside pole for the event. The crowd on Saturday that had been treated to terrific IROC and ARCA races looked on in horror during "Happy Hour" for the Winston Cup stars. Elliott Sadler blew a right rear tire as he headed into turn one and spun out of control. Flip after flip the car was destroyed but miraculously Elliott escaped with only a few minor injuries and would race on Sunday. Kyle Petty was first on the accident scene and turned off the ignition and then helped Sadler to safety. Crews spent much of the night repairing the gouged racing surface to get it race ready in time for the green flag to wave on Sunday afternoon.

Last years K-Mart 400 was one of the most boring races in NASCAR history as Dale Jarrett completely dominated the event. In sharp contrast, this year's race featured a lot of side by side racing right from the start with Ricky Rudd and Bobby Labonte leading the charge. The threat of rain spurred everyone on with several contenders racing hard from the back of the pack to beat the raindrops. Tony Stewart and Jeremy Mayfield showed their cars would be tough to beat, as they were able to zip to the front in the first hundred miles making the low groove work to their advantage. Jeremy was about to turn this race into a route when the rain came pouring down.

After an hour and fifty-minute rain delay the track was ready for more action. The stage was set for some incredible dash for the cash especially after Jeremy's team was penalized on pit road and sent to the end of the longest line for the restart. What had been turned into a rather ho hum race was now over flowing with great drama and suspense. Could Jeremy weave his way back through traffic? Who would make the right guess on the set-up with just eighty-six miles to race? Meanwhile, some usual contenders where struggling through some dismal days. Jeff Gordon lost a lap when the Rainbow Warriors failed to get all the lugs tight forcing a second green flag pit stop earlier in the race. Mark Martin's team missed the set-up again and Mark struggled to another poor finish, his fifth disappointing run in a row.