Last Lap: One fantastic finish at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- With five laps remaining in Sunday's Carolina Dodge Dealers 400, I unwillingly peeled myself away from the television, scooped up my pen and pad and bolted to the Winston Cup garage. My sole focus was the DuPont transporter, where Jeff Gordon was sure to emerge momentarily from his car frustrated following a race he'd just given away.

But as I strolled hurriedly down a long corridor parallel to the frontstretch, I could tell the battle between Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch had pegged the intensity meter. My focus waned.

To my left, nary a soul was seated. To my right, crews had postponed the packing up process and positioned themselves atop transporters from one end of the garage to the other, one thousand eyes glued to the mammoth monitor stationed in the infield.

It was shaping up to be an epic finish, a once-a-decade duel between a brash young hot shoe and a seasoned Mr. Nice Guy. As they swung out of Turn 4, slam-locked together like a pair of rams in a territorial tiff, battle-tested crewmen were reduced to acting like 5 year olds at their first event.

They were jumping up and down, arms flailing and lungs bellowing in elation. It was electric. It was old school. It was absolutely wonderful. It was the best finish in Darlington history.

But how does it stack up with the greatest finishes of all time? Does it rival Bobby Labonte-Dale Earnhardt at Atlanta in 2000, or Jeff Gordon-Kevin Harvick at the same track on year later? What about the classic Petty-Pearson duels or the Earnhardt-Ervin Talladega tussle in '93?

Was it that good? Stupid question, huh?

BF1977: When you're watching a race and you really don't care whether Busch or Craven wins and you're screaming and cheering because of the intensity of racing, it doesn't get any better than that. That is by far one of the greatest finishes I have ever seen. It puts the Harvick-Gordon Atlanta battle to shame!

Easy, BF Goodrich. Let's not get carried away, here. Make no mistake, in my opinion Sunday's finish was as dramatic as any in history, and yes, my heart was humming at 175 beats per minute two hours after its conclusion. But it didn't move me to tears.

Considering the questionable circumstances and bewilderment surrounding NASCAR in the wake of Dale Earnhardt's death, Harvick's blink of an eye victory over Gordon at Atlanta may be the most important in NASCAR history.

It showed that the entire community could persevere through the most unfathomable of tragedies. I'll never forget the impact that day had on me. Grown men sobbed. Tears flowed uncontrollably from Hampton, Ga., to Spokane, Wash., and for the first time in three weeks it felt comfortable to smile.

Eagle Tallon shares my sentiments:

TALLON6: Deep down we all root for the underdog to make the last lap pass for the win in dramatic fashion. It's representative of the American Dream, to come from the back to be the man of the week.

When it comes down to three to go, two to go, and you're up on your feet screaming whether you have any interest in either of the drivers, that's racing at it's finest.

However, I resent a few who have said things along the lines of 'this finish puts Harvick-Gordon at Atlanta in '01 to shame!' That race, and that finish, had much more significance to all of NASCAR, to all of the fans and families of the drivers, and to the drivers themselves. Harvick had the world at his back that race.

And likely some otherworldly folk, too, Eagle.

That said, the Craven-Busch duel was nearly as refreshing. Judging by the damage to the cars, most all of us expected a heated post-race exchange. But drivers emerged from the melee with ear-to-ear grins on their faces. We're obviously not the only ones who were thrilled to the point of giddiness.

Mikee: Four words: Stab it and steer. Anybody that didn't like that finish, regardless of who you're a fan of, just don't get racing.

Tell that to Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon, Mikee. They spent all of 10 seconds discussing it Tuesday on Pardon the Interruption -- and didn't try to hide their distaste for the sport.

Bootnose22: That was the best finish by far. Only thing is now we are going to have to see that TNN drama commercial and that hi-light 100,000 times.

Come on, Bootie! It's TNT, man. TNN? Half of today's fans haven't even heard of Eli Gold.

24fast: I have been watching NASCAR races since I was a little girl, (which is no longer the case) and that was one of the most exciting finishes that I can remember. I am neither a Busch nor Craven fan, but I found myself in the middle of the floor jumping up and down and yelling GO CRAVEN!!! Almost needed a cigarette afterwards!!!!!

And Winston wants out?

BIGDEIFAN: Sure, that finish was good. Everyone's exited because it was close and they were bumping-rubbing off each other. How come in the Earnhardt-Labonte, Harvick-Gordon finishes they weren't rubbing that hard? Because they're not as dirty as Busch.

I know Earnhardt had his shares, but come on. I told my wife with 2 to go that if Craven catches him. Then Busch would try to wreck him. Sure enough. Am I the only one that sees how dirty of a driver Busch is?

Then he gives some bull (expletive) line about the steering wheel getting yanked out of his hands. I'm glad Craven won. Unfortunately I have to watch some stuck-up twig of a person ever week pretend he's the greatest out there.

This cat might want to check his Corn Flakes. It appears as if someone has peed in them. Plus he's wrong. No doubt Busch is as aggressive as anyone out there, but he's calculated.

The move he made to take the lead Sunday was so daring it even startled former Darlington president Jim Hunter, who said he'd seen similar tactics attempted several times in the past, but never successfully.

Busch is no bull in a china shop. He was simply racing for the win on a track that allows such aggression (see Jeff Gordon-Jeff Burton, 1997). Busch didn't try to wreck Craven. That's ludicrous.

Speaking of ludicrous, that's how many fans now feel about the prospect of Darlington losing a race date.

20FanStub: Finally a race worth watching!! Who is the idiot who wants to do away with Darlington? Clearly it is one of the most interesting to watch raceways. Atlanta is ultra-boring. Las Vegas is venue that has no imagination. Daytona and Talledega are pretty predictable (and I'm not talking about DEI dominance either).

Let's do away with the D-shaped ovals and build some tracks that will test EVERY part of a NASCAR team - from tires, to balance, to handling, to awesome pit stops, to the driver. They talk about this being a team sport, and the team that won this weekend has no teammate. Darlington appears to be a true team track.

I, too, didn't really care who won (since Tony was barely hanging on to the lead lap), but found myself sitting in shock as Ricky and Kurt bounced and banged for the finish. I would like to see more of this type racing.

We all do, Stubby.

Somehow, days like Sunday seem to balance out the humdrum nine-second discrepancies between first and second at Vegas and Chicago.