Elliott breaks seven-year victory drought
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
November 12, 2001
3:16 PM EST (2016 GMT)
HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Rookie Casey Atwood was victimized by veteran teammate Bill Elliott, who won the NASCAR Winston Cup Pennzoil Freedom 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
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Bill Elliott: 41st Winston Cup victory
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Elliott drove under Atwood's Dodge in Turns 3 and 4 with less than five laps remaining when his young teammate got loose coming to four laps to go. It was Dodge's fourth win this season and Elliott's first since he won his 40th career victory on Sept. 4, 1994 at Darlington, S.C.
Atwood, whose job with team owner Ray Evernham has come under question the past several weeks, took advantage of quick pit work under the day's next to last caution to put himself in position to win. When the race's sixth yellow flag fell with 18 laps remaining, Atwood remained on the track, as did most of the leaders.
The final green flag flew with 14 laps to go and Elliott -- who started on the Bud Pole next to his teammate -- immediately zeroed in on Atwood, 21.
"When the green came back out I thought I would be able to make a pass on him," said Elliott, who averaged 117.449 mph. "Then I said, 'I'm not gonna force it.' He was loose but he was able to protect the bottom. We were about two-tenths a lap better but still we had to catch him and pass him (but) when it's your day it's your day.
"I moved around on the race track and was able to find a groove that worked. He drove in there (Turn 3) pretty hard and got really loose and was I was able to pass him. These flat tracks have more of a tendency to do that.
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Bill Elliott became the third driver in 2001 to win from the pole.
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"If you can get up to a guy a couple of feet in back of him you can get him loose. I was gonna try that and then try him on the high side if it didn't work. He tried to pinch it down and when he did he got it so loose he had to chase it up the race track."
Michael Waltrip charged his Chevrolet past Atwood on the last lap to finish second, 1.420 seconds behind Elliott. Atwood, Jeff Burton in a Ford and Sterling Marlin in another Dodge rounded out the top-five.
"You can't beat downforce and handling and thanks to the guys at DEI, I have that," Waltrip said. "We kept getting our brains beat by people taking two tires on pit road. We finally decided to take two ourselves and our car was just awesome at the end."
"We took two tires on that next to last caution and we were fine," Atwood said. "We didn't need that last caution because we had a four-second lead. I was just way too loose at the end (and) Bill had the better car than me. If it wasn't gonna be Bill it was gonna be the 15 (Waltrip) and I'm just glad it was (Bill)."
Winston Cup point leader Jeff Gordon was caught a lap down by the fifth caution when he short-pitted with 59 laps to go.
He failed to clinch his fourth Winston Cup championship when he finished 28th, seven spots behind his closest pursuer, Ricky Rudd in 21st. However, Gordon only has to start the last two races to claim the title no matter what Rudd does, as he is unofficially 305 points ahead.
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Casey Atwood: Top rookie
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Rookie of the Year point leader Kevin Harvick; defending Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte, who clinched his title here a year ago; Jeff Green; rookie Jason Leffler; and Terry Labonte finished sixth-10th.
Two-time defending race winner Tony Stewart led the most laps in the race, 72. But he did not use the full pit access lane entering the pits under the last caution when his Pontiac team took four tires and he was penalized to the end of the longest line for the restart. He made it from 25th to 19th.
Stewart left the track without comment and crew chief Greg Zipadelli mostly complained about an aerodynamic disadvantage to the Dodges that claimed half the top-10 spots.
"It's quite obvious that Dodges can put two tires on and have that much more grip and just drive away with the show," Zipadelli said. "Then, we got a set of tires from Goodyear that were made back six months ago, I guess, and that hurt us at the end. I guess it just wasn't our day."
Gordon and Stewart proved in the early going that they had cars that were at least the equal of Elliott's. Gordon started 11th and before 35 laps were in the books was fifth. In the same period Stewart climbed from 22nd to 10th.
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Jeff Burton: Fifth top-10 in last six races
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"Tony Stewart probably had the best car," Elliott said of the driver who thrilled the crowd when he ran more than two laps side-by-side with Harvick battling for the lead with about 70 laps to go. "What won us the race lost him the race -- he got back so far he couldn't ever make it up. Track position is everything and the problem is four or five cars can break away because they can use the lap down cars to break up the mix."
Of the six cautions in the race, only one was for a crash, Stacy Compton's in Turn 1. But the day's most serious incident occurred on pit road under the second caution when the cars of Atwood and Ward Burton collided, knocking Burton's car into Rudd's stationary Ford.
Rudd's front tire changer Bobby Burrell, 30, of Ronceverte, W. Va., by the end of the race was awake and listed in serious condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital/Ryder Trauma Center in downtown Miami. Burrell suffered head injuries in the accident and was airlifted directly to the hospital.
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Tony Stewart: Led most laps
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Jackman John Bryan, 31, of Memphis, Tenn., was transported by ambulance to Baptist Hospital in nearby Kendall. He was treated for a sprained knee and was diagnosed with a mild concussion.
Rudd visited him at the hospital, where officials hoped to release him later Sunday evening. Front tire carrier Kevin Hall, 31, of Gloucester, Va., was treated for contusions and released from the infield care center.
In the end, there was enough excitement present that Elliott was never questioned about his role in the last serious accident on pit road, in November 1990 when Elliott's rear tire changer Michael Rich was killed when he was struck on pit road by Rudd's Chevrolet.
"It ain't I, it's we," Elliott said of his team. "We've been on the bottom a lot of times this year and we kept struggling back. The last four or five weeks have been pretty bad so to sit on the pole and win is pretty fantastic.
"It's like Rusty (Wallace) said -- you get to the point you think you would never win another race. You've got to just keep believing in yourself."
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