Base hits from the MBNA Cal Ripken Jr 400
By Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive
September 24, 2001
10:13 AM EDT (1413 GMT)
DOVER, Del. -- Patriotic pride, a future baseball hall of famer and race cars with special paint schemmes marked the day’s activities for the MBNA Cal Ripken, Jr 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway.
UNITED WE STAND
With Tanya Tucker singing the National Anthem, and “God Bless America,” and Lee Greenwood’s rendition of “God Bless the USA,” the crowd of 140,000 expressed patriotic pride. Dover Downs handed out American flags to each fan as they entered the track.
Baltimore Orioles third baseman Cal Ripken Jr not only had the race named in honor of his last season, but attended the drivers meeting and waved the green flag to start the race as well. For a man who has broken so many records and received numerous honors during his farewell season, it seems the NASCAR honor ranks right up there.
“There are a lot of things going on in a lot of ballparks I’m playing at for the first time,” Ripken said before the race. “This is probably the coolest thing that’s happened to me. It’s a new experience and pretty much all of it’s brand new to me.”
At the drivers meeting, he told everyone there to have a good race and a safe race.
DRIVERS AND FANS PLEDGE TOGETHER
Bobby Labonte, the defending Winston Cup champion, introduced Ripken to his fellow drivers and their respective crew chiefs at the meeting. Mike Helton, president of NASCAR, then asked Labonte to lead the gathering in the Pledge of Allegiance.
With hands over hearts, the drivers, crew chief and fans standing around, all joined in as they faced an American flag hanging from a building.
NO HMS BOUNTY FOR NHIS
While Helton was addressing the drivers meeting, he emphatically stated that NASCAR would be racing at New Hampshire International Speedway on Nov. 23. There had been talk of drivers and teams wanting to hold a mutiny and have the race canceled.
Helton put any talk of that happening to a quick end.
“We will be racing on Friday, November 23 in New Hampshire,” he said sternly. “We had to make a decision and we are sticking to it.
“We know it can be cold up there that time of year. We know it’s the day after Thanksgiving. But, the NFL, baseball and college sports teams have altered their schedule to have a complete season. NASCAR is going to do the same and you will run your entire 2001 schedule.”
PLAY BALL
Maybe Dale Earnhardt Jr. hopes baseball themes are part of every NASCAR race.
By winning Sunday’s MBNA Cal Ripken Jr. 400, he earned his second victory of the year. It was also the second time this year he has been involved with a Major League Baseball theme in a race.
The first was his emotional win at Daytona’s night race in July when he had a special paint scheme tied in with the league’s All Star Game on his No. 8 Chevrolet.
Earnhardt Jr. drives the No. 8 Chevrolet. Cal Ripken Jr. wears No. 8 on his Baltimore Oriole’s uniform. Coincidence?
GIBBS TEAMWORK
Joe Gibbs Racing played the ol’ switcheroo when Tony Stewart’s regular rear-tire changer got some debris in his eye during a pit stop. Randy Cox went to the infield care center after one of the No. 20 Pontiac’s stops.
Because Bobby Labonte, the other driver at Joe Gibbs Racing, was in an early-race accident that put him over 100 laps down, the rear-tire changer and carrier were brought in to help Stewart’s team out.
Barry Cook, tire changer, and carrier Alan Copley moved over to help Stewart to a fifth-place finish. Cox was treated and returned to the pits to finish out the race, but didn’t help with stops for the rest of the day.
Both Cook and Copley were used because they spend so much time working on their timing for stops and the team wanted to keep that chemistry.
ELLIOTT KEEPS UP
Bill Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Dodge, has been running at the end of 32 consecutive races this year. The only driver on the circuit, who has done that, he almost ended the streak early in the race.
After he and outside pole-sitter Bobby Labonte made contact on lap 21, Elliott went behind the wall to make repairs. Both returned to the race with Elliott registering a 30th-place finish and Labonte finishing 36th.
HORNADAY ENDS DAY EARLY
After starting eighth and running 126 laps in the top 10, Ron Hornaday ended his hopes for a good finish when he and Jeff Gordon got together while battling for a spot.
As Hornaday’s No. 14 Pontiac spun and collected Ward Burton, Johnny Benson and Mark Martin, Gordon continued on.
“I guess Jeff Gordon got mad at me for racing real hard,” Hornaday said from the garage area. “The lap car was holding him and me up and when we came off of Turn 2, that car was there so I backed off and let Gordon go by.
“I don’t know if the back end came off the ground, but Jeff got into us a little bit. It’s a shame; I’m going to get blamed for it because I’m a rookie. I didn’t expect that from Jeff Gordon, leading the points and everything.
“The time before when I passed him, I pulled away from him by a straightaway.”
GOOD DAY FOR HAMILTON
Bobby Hamilton’s 10th-place finish was his first top-10 in the last 15 races. After winning at Talladega earlier in the year, he was fourth in points.
Since that time, he’s slipped to 19th. For the year he has two top-fives and six top-10s.
PETTY'S WOES CONTINUE
Kyle Petty has had his share of problems this year. Petty, driver of the No. 45 Dodge, has failed to qualify for nine of 27 races; and in the ones he did make, he has registered six DNF’s.
A past winner at Dover in 1995, he started 21st and registered that sixth DNF after motor problems forced him out of the race on lap 14.
“If we can’t get an engine to last 15 laps into a race, that’s pretty frustrating,” he said, after climbing from the car.
RACE FACTS
There were 13 lead changes among seven drivers. The average speed was 101.559 mph with the race lasting three hours, 56 minutes and 19 seconds.
Earnhardt’s margin of victory over Nadeau was 1.576 seconds.
The circuit heads to Kansas Speedway for its inaugural race next weekend.
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