UAW- Daimler Chrysler 400
The day was overcast as the field took the green at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Dale Jarrett got the jump on Johnny Benson who fell back to third on the start. On lap 2 Jeff Burton’s bid for three straight wins would come to an end as he spun the Citgo Ford around and backed into the wall in turn two. Jeff’s team would make repairs and eventually get him back out on time to complete 185 more laps and finish 39th.
The restart was on lap six and once again Dale Jarrett got out in front of Jerry Nadeau. Johnny Benson would struggle again on the start as Todd Bodine would pass him on the inside before they came back to the stripe. Two laps into the green flag run, the black flag would be shown to Ricky Craven for heavy smoke coming off the rear of his Tide sponsored machine. The smoke would eventually prove to be fatal as his engine let go after 78 laps. He would be credited with a 41st place finish. Craven had put down some oil in the turn and on the next lap, as the pack went into turns one and two, Rusty Wallace slipped in it and around he went; making hard contact with the wall. His accident would also collect teammate Jeremy Mayfield. The crash ended the day for Wallace. Mayfield while out of contention for the win, did come back out an complete another 40 plus laps after extensive repairs. They were scored as the last 2 cars in the finishing order. Meanwhile, at the other end of the track, Brett Bodine also spun in Craven’s oil and made contact with the wall. Bodine’ a team would make repairs and he would be able to see the checkered flag, albeit 79 laps down.
The second restart of the day would be on lap 14. On that start, Jarrett maintained the point but behind him, Todd Bodine got the jump on second place Jerry Nadeau. Further back in the back, three wide racing lead to a close call for rookie substitute driver Troy Cline in the M&M’s Pontiac and also lead to Ricky Rudd getting a tire rub that would cut down the left rear tire. Meanwhile, after one lap, Todd Bodine would make the first pass for the lead as we got around Jarrett. For Bodine, it was his first laps lead in 2 years in the Winston Cup series, despite regularly showing speed in the Busch series. During this stretch, Tony Stewart worked his way around Benson and Nadeau to take third before the end of lap 27. That’s when the third caution of the day came out. This was for debris from Jeremy Mayfield’s car. The car had a tire rub from the damage he sustained in accident early with Wallace. That rub cut down the left front and left debris on the back straightaway. The lead lap cars took this yellow as an opportunity to come down pit road. Racing back to the yellow, Ricky Rudd managed to get one of the two laps he lost for his earlier pit stop under green.
The Green came out again on lap 34 with Tony Stewart leading the field. Stewart obtained the lead with a lightning fast pit stop. Behind him the rest top 5 were Dale Jarrett, Todd Bodine, Sterling Marlin, and Bobby Labonte. Johnny Benson, Jerry Nadeau, Ron Hornaday Jr., Matt Kenseth, and Steve Park held positions 6-10. One lap later, Bodine cleared both Jarrett and Stewart to return to the front. Stewart continued to fade over the next few laps as Jarrett and Marlin move up to second and third respectively. After the first 50 laps, Dale Jarrett began to reel Bodine back in. After an 8 lap battle, Jarrett wrestled the lead away again.
On lap 72, Dale Jarrett lapped Ryan Newman and Mike Wallace, leaving only 32 cars on the lead lap. Between laps 76 and 82, the car on the move was the Valvoline Pontiac of Johnny Benson as he passed both Sterling Marlin and Todd Bodine. The first scheduled green flag pit stops came at lap 84 with Dave Blaney hitting the pits. The next lap would be Sterling Marlin’s turn. The following lap saw the Chevy’s of Terry Labonte, Michael Waltrip, and Steve Park make their stops. The lap after that saw Casey Atwood, Mike Skinner, and Johnny Benson hit the pits. Dale Jarrett finally relinquished the lead to pit the lap after Atwood. Bodine pitted on the same lap and the lap after them brought Mike Dillon, Jeff Gordon, Jerry Nadeau, Robert Pressley, Bobby Hamilton, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joe Nemechek. All these stops allowed Bobby Labonte to lead a lap before he too stopped for service along with Tony Stewart, and Ron Hornaday. Mark Martin stayed out an extra lap to lead a lap as well but, it backfired as he stalled the engine making for a long stop. During this cycle of stops, Stacy Compton picked up a penalty for speeding on pit road. With Martin’s stop Elliott Sadler inherited the lead and then he missed pit road on his first attempt to stop.
Once everyone completed their stops, Johnny Benson assumed the lead with Dale Jarrett second, Sterling Marlin third, Todd Bodine in fourth, and Michael Waltrip sat in fifth. This order would get mixed up again as the field came back down on pit road after the yellow flag came out on lap 97. This yellow was for a 2 car accident involving John Andretti and Joe Nemechek. Both would return to the race several laps down after repairs.
A few cars did stay out including Mark Martin, Ron Hornaday, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bill Elliott, and Kurt Busch.
Johnny Benson who again beat everyone off it road would restart 6th. The race would go back to green on lap 102. Three laps later, Earnhardt Jr. dove to inside of Hornaday and made it stick, taking second place. Two more laps and Hornaday would fall to fourth as Elliott made a pass on the high side of the track. While those car battled it out, further back Benson, who came off pit road first had climbed up to fifth with a move on Kurt Busch. Over the next 15-20 laps Martin would continue to pull away while the rest of the top ten diced it up. By the halfway point, Elliott had gotten by Earnhardt Jr. for second. Behind them, Todd Bodine was coming has he had gotten by Busch, Hornaday, and Benson; bringing him to fourth. Benson maintained 5th. Positions 6-9 were nailed down by Sterling Marlin, Hornaday, Steve Park, and Busch. Bobby Labonte barely cling to the last spot in the top 10, holding of Dale Jarrett and Jeff Gordon. Laps 144-147 were interesting as Bill Elliott managed to catch and battle Mark Martin for the lead while Jarrett supplanted Labonte in tenth.
On lap 148, Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulled down pit road signaling the start of a round of green flag pit stops. Three laps later, Kurt Busch stopped out of the 6th place. The lap after that, it was the Bill Davis Dodges of Dave Blaney and Ward Burton that stopped for service. With 113 laps to go, Jeff Gordon surrendered a top ten spot for 4 tires and fuel. Johnny Benson, who was running 3rd, and Ron Hornaday stopped the next lap. Leader Bill Elliott came in the following lap along with Bobby Labonte, Steve Park, and Robert Pressley. The following lap Todd Bodine, who inherited the lead, stopped with second place runner Dale Jarrett.
Just after most of the leaders had pitted, Hut Strickland spun and caught the turn 3 wall bringing out the caution flag on lap 162. The pace car picked up Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the leader. He surrendered the lead for 4 tires and a chassis adjustment. His decision left Mark Martin, Sterling Marlin, Johnny Benson, Bill Elliott, and Kurt Busch in the top 5. The green came back out on lap 166. With 100 to go, Sterling Marlin took the lead from Martin. Benson followed; while Busch got around Elliott to move up to 4th.
The race would stay green for only 12 laps before Mike Wallace would get into fence in turn four bringing out the 6th caution. Mike Dillon as long got caught up in the wreck ending both drivers day. The lead lap cars made pit stop under yellow and it was Jerry Nadeau that won the race of pit road with a 2 tire stop. Behind him was Sterling Marlin, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, and Bill Elliott. Elliott would drop out of within 10 laps as, Todd Bodine would would surpass both him an Jarrett to occupy the fourth spot. Elliott would slide all the way down to 9th as Johnny Benson, Mark Martin, and Kurt Busch got past him as well.
With 66 laps to go, Sterling Marlin moved to the lead. Nadeau would slip further back over the next few laps as his tires started to wear. Jeff Gordon, Todd Bodine,, Dale Jarrett, and Johnny Benson would all drop Nadeau down to 6th.
At 41 laps to go, Jeff Gordon would pass Marlin for the lead. The next lap, Bill Elliott became the first car to make a green flag stop. Two laps after that, it was Jerry Nadeau’s turn. However, Nadeau gambled and took only two tires again; while Elliott took four. Another couple of laps and Johnny Johnny Benson came in and took four tires like Elliott. Dale Jarrett, Joe Nemechek, and Ward Burton were the next ones to stop under green, doing so with 33 laps to go. Sterling Marlin and Steve Park followed suit the very next lap. Todd Bodine and Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Michael Waltrip, and Mike Dillon made their stops all within the next two laps. On Earnhardt Jr.‘s stop, he unfortunately left pit road with the catch can still attached thus earning a black flag stop and go penalty. With 29 laps to go, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, and Robert Pressley also came down after having enough time to see the ground they were losing on older tires. Gordon’s stop meant Matt Kenseth inherited the lead. The lap after that, Dale Jr. served his penalty removing him from the lead lap. Kenseth held out until 25 laps to go before coming in and taking 2 tires, leaving pit stops totally cycled through and Jeff Gordon back in the lead.
Behind Jeff Gordon, the rest of the top 10 was comprised of Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin, Johnny Benson, Mark Martin, Todd Bodine, Steve Park, Ron Hornaday Jr., Jimmy Spencer, Kurt Busch. This group would hold those positions until the end of the race with only Todd Bodine and Mark Martin switching positions with 2 laps to go.
