Wallace outduels Gordon for NAPA 500 victory

By Mark Spoor, CNNSI.com
April 30, 2001
9:39 AM EDT (1339 GMT)

FONTANA, Calif. -- Rusty's back.

Rusty Wallace scored his 54th career Winston Cup victory.

Rusty Wallace led 95 laps Sunday, some of those in dominating fashion, and held off a hard-charging Jeff Gordon to win the NAPA Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway. "It was a real great day," Wallace said. "The car had super horsepower. We had a very strong car. It feels good."

Wallace qualified 19th on Friday, but said he knew early on that Sunday was another day. "About 40 laps in, I knew that we just had a great car," he said. "We made some air pressure changes and changed a couple other little things and that was it."

NAPA 500 results  Winston Cup Standings  Video: Victory Lane

Indeed. Just 45 laps in, Wallace had moved to eighth. He took the lead for the first time in lap 151 after oil in turn 3 brought out the third caution of the day, he then got a great jump after the sixth and final caution on lap 229 to seal the deal.

However, Gordon would have one last push. He closed within two car lengths before Wallace pulled away again with three laps to go.

Wallace said, despite the large lead, he was always looking out for the No. 24 car.

"Whenever you have Jeff in your rearview mirror, you're always worried," Wallace said. "I knew he could make a run. If we kept going green, I thought we would be OK.

Jeff Gordon finished second for his sixth top-10 finish of 2001.

"He made some gallant efforts, but I thought I drove a clean, smart race and that was very special."

It is Wallace's first victory since the goracing.com 500 on Aug. 25, 2000, at Bristol and his first top-10 finish since he was seventh at this year's Food City 500 -- also at Bristol.

Despite not being able to catch Wallace at the end, Gordon -- who went from a qualifying position of 17th to seventh in just seven laps -- said the day was a rousing success.

"When they dropped the green flag, I never thought we'd have rocketed like that," he said. "Unfortunately, we lost some track position and then we tried to get the car a little looser and we couldn't get it loose enough."

In the end, however, Gordon said Wallace just had too much car.

"I made it look good, anyway," he said. "It was tough to get around him."

There was another tough battle for third and fourth between Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. On what would have been his father's 50th birthday, Little E finished third, his highest finish since the Daytona 500.

Jimmy Spencer led 75 laps before finishing seventh -- his third top-10 of 2001.

"I hadn't thought about it much until I heard them mention it on the P.A.," Earnhardt Jr. said of the special date. "It's kind of cool."

Earnhardt Jr. endured a crash in practice Friday morning after blowing his right front tire. He also said the car blew a motor this week. The bad luck continued Sunday when he got a lap down.

"We had a great car, we just didn't have the luck."

Last year's defending champion, Jeremy Mayfield, finished fifth.

"I'm real happy with it," Mayfield said. I thought we were better than that yesterday, but we'll take that."

Pole-sitter Bobby Labonte found the infield grass twice, but saved the car both times and finished 22nd.

Ward Burton wasn't so lucky. He was injured late in the race after crashing into the wall at turn 3 on lap 208. He was airlifted to a local hospital for a CAT scan. He was said to be awake but incoherent.

The race featured 24 lead changes among 14 different drivers.

It's Wallace's first victory since last year's goracing.com 500 at Bristol and his first top-10 finish since he was seventh at this year's Food City 500 -- also at Bristol.

There were many times when the race looked like a fishing derby, with the leader pulling out to a multiple-second lead before the field would reel him in. The race featured 24 lead changes among 14 different drivers.