Tony Stewart "smoked" them all on pole day as the cool weather led to some fast speeds. It was Tony's first pole this season with usual pole contender Rusty Wallace a close second. Five different drivers bettered the old track record during their qualifying runs. Only forty-five cars tried to make the show with Carl Long and Geoffrey Bodine going home early.
Team Penske flexed their muscles right from the start as pole sitter Tony Stewart faded quickly from contention. Engine trouble would be the theme for the day with ten different drivers leaving early due to motors letting go. Mark Martin only lasted 25 laps with his first last place finish in over 3 years. This early caution gave Terry Labonte the break he needed as Rich Bickle was called on to sub for the ailing Labonte who should be back up to full speed for the Brickyard 400. Rich would do quite well finishing in eleventh place. Dale Jarrett, Dale the Elder, and Bill Elliot would join the Team Penske duo pf Rusty Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield up front during the first half of the race.
As Dale the Elder lost a lap when his right front tire blew with 53 laps to go, the other Dale... Dale Jarrett would take command. That famous Yates power looked impossible to catch in the late going. A caution with just 37 laps to go would change the complexion of the race and put the outcome in the hands of the crew chiefs on pit road as well as the drivers. In the earlier race this year at Pocono Rusty Wallace had the best car but a late caution decision to grab four fresh tires shuffled him too far back. This time with Dale Jarrett on the lead, Todd Parrot decided he would take four fresh tires while fourteen cars decided that track position was more important than left side rubber. The Team Penske drivers Jeremy Mayfield and Rusty Wallace joined Jeff Burton in a ding-dong three-way battle for the lead. Jeremy finally took control and was on the verge of making it a Pocono double this year when disaster struck and his right front tire went flat on the final lap! This handed the lead to Rusty Wallace who hung on for his fifty-first career victory. Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five. Ten drivers swapped the lead twenty five times in a race slowed by seven cautions. Bobby Labonte will take his 53-point lead over Dale Jarrett to the Brickyard 400 on August 3rd.
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