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“All day we led,” Earnhardt Jr. said Sunday after averaging 159.022 mph and leading 133 of 188 laps. “I don’t think anyone could beat my car -- even though I think the No. 48 (Bud Pole winner Jimmie Johnson) had the best car -- but when they gang up on you and you’re by yourself (you don’t know).”
“His car was just faster than us (and) I thought it was my turn to win, too,” Waltrip said. “I was able to get up to his bumper but it was too little, too late.”
Kurt Busch’s No. 97 Rubbermaid Ford, Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet and Sterling Marlin’s No. 40 Coors Light Dodge rounded out the top five.
“We were just having fun -- this is awesome,” said Busch, who had the added pressure of racing for injured team owner Jack Roush. “We were the best in class, but there was just nothing we had for the DEI cars today -- they’ve got it going on.”
Dale Jarrett, Johnson, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Burton and Kyle Petty completed the rest of the top ten.
After the race Marlin, who finished sixth, queried the NASCAR officials on what he interpreted as a yellow-line violation by Kenny Wallace with two laps to go.
After reviewing the tape, NASCAR determined Wallace had in fact gained a position by going under the yellow line and penalized him, dropping him from fifth to 21st, the last car on the lead lap.
Wallace accepted the penalty without protest.
“They were looking for help from me,” said Wallace, who had driven only one Winston Cup race since leaving the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet that he was driving for Steve Park, in March. “You had to take every move you could make. That’s dangerous, but when you want a win that bad you do it.”
Marlin unofficially maintained his lead in the Winston Cup standings by 109 over DeWalt Ford driver Matt Kenseth. Wallace, Busch and Earnhardt Jr. -- who moved up four spots with his win -- round out the top five.
“It’s a lot of hard work on the restrictor plate tracks that leads to this,” Earnhardt Jr. said of his success, which includes three wins, a second place and an eighth in the last six plate races at Daytona and Talladega. “We’ve done it and it’s paying off.
“It’s just a great win for us. We’re going to try for that championship and if we keep up like this we’ll get it.”
Two cautions in the last 24 laps, including the second that forced a red flag for 15:29 with six laps remaining, set up the finish to the ninth NASCAR Winston Cup race of the season.
Earnhardt Jr. leaped into the lead by three car lengths on the next to last restart with 14 laps left, but by the end of lap 175, Jarrett and Waltrip had pulled up on Earnhardt Jr.’s bumper.
The complexion of the race changed again when Mark Martin’s crippled No. 6 Pfizer/Viagra Ford, which had been blackflagged by NASCAR for not meeting the minimum speed, pulled off the track in Turn 3.
As the caution flew with eight laps left, Tony Stewart’s similarly damaged No. 20 Home Depot Pontiac leaked oil onto the race track, forcing a cleanup that induced NASCAR to display the red flag as the field circulated on lap 183. NASCAR permanently parked Stewart during the caution, as well.
While the field sat on the backstretch under caution, an oil leak was detected under Jeremy Mayfield’s No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Intrepid. He was instructed when the race resumed to return to the garage area on the track’s apron, with a cleanup truck following him to put absorbent on the fluid he left behind.
In terms of the depth of the field that could be involved in the finish, the number of competitive cars was cut roughly in half by a 24-car wreck entering the backstretch with less than 25 laps remaining.
The accident appeared to begin when Mike Wallace’s No. 33 Preen Chevrolet and Stewart’s car made contact, forcing Stewart’s Pontiac into the outside wall. Elliott Sadler had the most serious impact when his No. 21 Motorcraft Ford arrowed across the infield grass into the inside retaining wall.
“I commend NASCAR on what they do with our safety devices,” Sadler said. “My HANS device did great -- I’ll just be sore tomorrow.”
Earnhardt Jr. and Jarrett led about 14 cars that were in front of the melee and Jarrett was ahead by inches when the field got back to the start/finish line with 24 laps remaining. When the race restarted, Earnhardt Jr. was in front of Jarrett and Johnson.
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