Lugnuts: Brickyard 400
By Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive
August 6, 2001
1:47 PM EDT (1747 GMT)
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- With the sun shining down on the historical 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway and comedian Jay Leno driving the pace car, Jimmy Spencer and Bill Elliott led the 43 cars to start the eighth Brickyard 400 in front of an estimated crowd of 300,000 people.
When the race started at 2:30 p.m. (ET), the temperature was 87 degrees with 37 percent humidity. However, the track was a bit hotter registering a foot-hopping 140 degrees
MORE WOES FOR HOUSTON
Andy Houston didn’t help himself out with his sponsorship woes by spinning out of the race on lap 2. His spinning No. 96 Ford also collected the No. 17 Ford of Matt Kenseth and another Roush Racing driver No. 6 Ford of Mark Martin.
“Obviously, the car just jumped around on me,” Houston said. “I don’t know if I had any help from behind. It’s heartbreaking.”
Houston has been in negotiations with his sponsor, McDonald’s, regarding continuation of their working relationship. The Cal Well’s-owned team sat out the last two races during negotiations.
A good 12th-place qualifying effort may have helped his cause out, finishing last didn’t.
RUDD HAS RARE MECHANICAL PROBLEMS
Ricky Rudd was forced to chase his car instead of championship points on Sunday. After a belt came off the water pump early, the No. 28 Ford limped into the pits with water spewing from the back.
“It threw the fan belt off for some reason, it’s kind of a crazy thing to happen,” he said dejectedly. “The first thing I knew I lost all my power steering. I happened to look down at the water temp gauges and it was off the scale at the same time.
Rudd returned to the track, 53 laps down, after the crew repaired the car.
“This is probably one of the hardest hits you can take coming to Indy and probably be one of the first cars out of the race,” he said while his guys thrashed at the car. “But, they’re hopefully going to get us back in there and get a few points. Certainly our day is over.”
ATWOOD: PENTHOUSE TO OUTHOUSE
Casey Atwood became the youngest NASCAR driver to start the Brickyard 400. Just 20 days shy of his 21st birthday, the driver of the No. 19 Dodge started in a season’s best of third.
He was running in the top five for awhile before running into the back of Dale Jarrett. As a result, he busted his radiator and registered a DNF finishing 41st.
“We had a great car,” Atwood said. “Some people took two tires on a pit stop and I was making way back through them. It looked like the No. 02 (Ryan Newman) car got up in the wall. I was right on the back of the No. 88 (Jarrett). He checked up and I ran into him and busted my radiator.”
POLE WINNERS BENEFIT AT INDY
Since the inaugural race in 1994, the Bud Pole Award winner has led the first laps of the race. Spencer kept the streak alive as he led the first 16 laps before being passed by Bill Elliott.
PENSKE: JACK OF ALL TRADES
Roger Penske is an 11-time winning car owner of the Indy 500 owner. He’s also a NASCAR team owner, a speedway owner and a rental truck company owner, along with many other businesses. He has even been known to be a spotter.
That’s what he did for Ryan Newman’s car on Sunday, guiding his young upstart around the tricky oval.
NASCAR MILESTONE AT INDY
Sunday’s Brickyard 400 was NASCAR's 900th Winston Cup Series event since the Modern Era of it began in 1972. That was also the year R.J. Reynolds came on board and the name of NASCAR’s premier division became known as Winston Cup.
BLANEY HAS BATTERY AND BASHING PROBLEMS
Dave Blaney started 24th and fell toward the back with battery problems early in the race. Adding insult to injury was his slamming into the back of Elliott Sadler on a restart.
The front end was heavily damaged, forcing the No. 93 Dodge out of the race.
“It was all stacked up on the restart and we took off,” Blaney said. “Everybody stopped and I ran right into the back of the No. 21. I hit him hard and it tore our car up pretty bad.
“The battery was just going dead the whole time. We had a short in the car yesterday and the battery went dead. The thing just wouldn’t run.”
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