Jeff Burton wins South Carolina 200
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
September 2, 2001
11:19 AM EDT (1519 GMT)
DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Jeff Burton defeated Elton Sawyer by about three car-lengths Saturday to win a wild NASCAR Busch Series South Carolina 200 at Darlington Raceway.
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The win was Burton's first in the Busch Series this season.
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Burton dominated the day in his No. 9 Roush Racing Ford, leading twice for 75 of the 147 laps. His victory took second place to the news that fellow NASCAR Winston Cup regular Steve Park would remain hospitalized overnight at Carolinas Hospital System in nearby Florence, S.C.
Park suffered a moderate concussion and a "possible fracture or dislocation of the left sterno-clavicular joint" in a violent accident under caution at about lap 20.
His car was T-boned on the driver's side at more than 100 mph by Raybestos Rookie candidate Larry Foyt when Park's car broke loose directly in front of Foyt's. Park was being kept for observation and was "alert and talking."
Foyt was limping heavily after hitting his right knee on his car's steering column, but he was otherwise uninjured.
“It feels awfully good after the way we’ve struggled this year in our Winston Cup and Busch programs,” Burton said. “It’s awful good to come out and dominate like this. I’m not the easiest guy to work with, especially when things aren’t going my way.”
Sawyer got his lap back in his No. 98 Ford on the day’s fourth and final caution and was fourth after a round of pit stops under the final yellow. Mike McLaughlin’s No. 18 Pontiac, Bud Pole winner Ryan Newman’s No. 02 Ford and Bobby Hamilton Jr.’s No. 26 Chevrolet rounded out the top five.
“As soon as the caution came out we knew we had to pit,” Burton said. “We changed a lot before the race and we did most of the right things, obviously. We made one air pressure change (in the race) and that’s it.”
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Eltn Sawyer notched his 15th top-10 finish of the year.
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“When we had the rain delay we had a left rear flat and had to pit,” Sawyer said. “The thing was really loose. My hat’s off to Jeff Burton -- he let us get our lap back. Maybe a couple more laps (I might have been able to catch him), but we knew coming here it was a 147-lap race and we had to get it done in that time. We didn’t quite get it done.”
On the final lap Randy Tolsma and Shane Hall spun in Turn 2. After the checkered flag, top finishing Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate Scott Wimmer ran his No. 23 Pontiac into rookie point leader Greg Biffle’s No. 60 Ford.
Jason Keller, Matt Kenseth, Jimmy Spencer, Jeff Green and Tony Raines finished sixth-10th. Busch Series point leader Kevin Harvick finished 14th, the first car one lap down. Keller, who came into the race 345 points behind Harvick, picked up a minimal number of points.
Newman’s race took a big hit before it really got underway. He led the first 15 laps before the first caution, when a red flag was then thrown for rain. As he rolled onto pit road, the left rear wheel fell off his Penske Racing Taurus.
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Ryan Newman
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As Mike Skinner took the lead under the restart after a delay of about 20 minutes, Newman got his wheel replaced and bodywork repaired and rejoined the race in 36th, the last car on the lead lap
“It didn’t look too good when we had that rain delay but it was a good day for us to come home in the top-five,” Newman said. “The car felt really good -- we recovered it about 100 percent except for the quarter panel. Once you get behind it’s hard to come back to the front.”
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