In the Dura-Lube/Kmart 300, 35 year-old
Joe Nemechek pulled off an upset, defeating rookie Tony Stewart for
his first-ever Winston Cup win. With Nemechek's victory coming just a
week after Stewart's inaugural trip to the winner's circle,
it marks the first time NASCAR's premier series has posted back-to-back
first-time winners since 1970. That year, Pete Hamilton, driving a
Petty Enterprises Plymouth Superbird, won the Daytona 500 while
James Hylton, in his own Ford, was victorious in the Richmond 500
at the old Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway.
|
The 300-lap race was actually a three-segment
event with the first belonging to pole-winner Rusty Wallace and
Tony Stewart, the second to Winston Cup points leader Dale Jarrett,
and the third to Nemechek. Jarrett's reign began during the seventh
caution period when the Robert Yates Racing team was the only one on
the lead lap that elected not to pit. Jarrett assumed the lead on
lap 177 when Terry Labonte pitted his Chevrolet, and held it for the
next 50 laps, stretching it to as much as 3.90 seconds. But a mistake
on his pit stop while taking on only right side tires, stopping outside
his pit box, NASCAR officials levied a one-lap penalty.
|
Jarrett's 18th-place finish as a result
of the penalty, coupled with Mark's 17th-place showing, allowed the
third-place Bobby Labonte to remove Mark from second and reduce
Jarrett's lead from 270 points to 254 with 8 races remaining. Nemechek,
who had led only 10 laps this season entering the New Hampshire event,
set the pace twice for 72 laps. The Florida native averaged 100.673 mph
in the race, which was slowed by 11 caution flags for 55 laps.
There were 12 lead changes among nine drivers.
|
