The following is the fourth and final part in a series highlighting Atlanta Motor Speedway's storied history as the track prepares for its 100th Sprint Cup race.

HAMPTON, Ga. -- There are few events in sports that excite fans more than seeing two drivers coming off Turn 4 at Atlanta Motor Speedway charging wheel-to-wheel toward a flagman leaning out over the track, holding a coiled checkered flag as a 500-mile marathon boils down to a quarter-mile drag race.

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Coming into 2001 we were as prepared to win the championship as we ever had been ...

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RICHARD CHILDRESS

Atlanta has seen its share of those dramatic moments in the 99 Cup races the track has hosted. Since NASCAR adopted electronic scoring in 1993, two of the seven closest finishes, all of them .01 seconds or less, have come at Atlanta, which will host its 100th Cup race Sunday.

It's no surprise that one of those close finishes involved Dale Earnhardt, the all-time wins leader at AMS. It came in the spring race of 2000. Earnhardt's Richard Childress Racing teammate Mike Skinner led the most laps that day, 191 circuits, but fell out of the running with a blown engine.

As the laps wound down, Earnhardt led, but Bobby Labonte, now the active win leader at AMS with six victories, was charging hard at the end. As the duo approached the checkered flag, Labonte drove his Joe Gibbs-owned Pontiac to the inside of Earnhardt's familiar black No. 3 Chevrolet, but Earnhardt held on to win by inches -- .01 seconds according to the official clock.

It would be Earnhardt's ninth and final win at AMS and the next-to-last of his 76 Cup victories, the final one coming at Talladega later in 2000.

When the Cup circuit arrived at Atlanta the following March, the sport was reeling from the loss of Earnhardt in a crash at Daytona. His black Chevys had been painted white, re-numbered to 29, and a raw rookie, Kevin Harvick, had been given the intimidating chore of driving the cars.

With just a few laps remaining in his first Cup race at Atlanta, Harvick found himself in the same position as Earnhardt the year before -- holding on to the lead while a challenger, this time Jeff Gordon, closed on his bumper. Once again, the leader held on, this time by a margin of just .006 seconds. (Continued)