MBNA Platinum 400

Rusty Wallace, Mark and Jeff Gordon had an awesome winning record over the last six years at Dover Downs International Speedway.

Sunday, the "Monster Mile" chewed them up and spit them out.

NASCAR Winston Cup sophomore driving sensation Tony Stewart had a healthy percentage of laps-led in two NWC starts last year when he won the NASCAR Winston Cup Raybestos Rookie of the Year title.

Sunday, he annihilated the monster by leading 242 laps and easily outrunning this year's Raybestos Rookie sensation, Matt Kenseth and 41 other competitors.

But it was the drivers who failed who told the tales in Dover's garage after a grueling 3-hour, 39-minute and 9-second test.

Mark, who by winning the last three fall MBNA Gold 400s at Mark blows up at Dover

Dover has combined with Wallace and Gordon to win eight of the last 12 Dover Cup races, looked like he had a shot after starting on the outside of the front row and leading a couple laps early. But a puff of smoke on the frontstretch on lap 267 spelled the end for his Valvoline Ford.

"The last set of tires we were running real well there, making up good time on the leaders and all," Mark said. "We had worked on our car throughout the day and I feel like that by the time the end of the race came around we were gonna hopefully be competitive -- but that's how it goes I guess."

Mark suffered his second straight engine failure and for the fourth straight race finished out of the top-10 -- a streak he has not seen since the 1989 season. He said the team was not sure what the problem was Sunday, but that team owner and engine guru Jack Roush said "it looked like it was the same problem" as at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600, which turned out to be a broken intake valve spring.

Marlin meets the wall

For the second consecutive race, an engine problem took Mark out of contention for a Winston Cup victory, but this week Mark paid a heavier price. Mark blew his engine on Lap 268 of Sunday's MBNA Platinum 400, finishing 36th and dropping from third to fifth in the series points race.

Last week at Charlotte, Mark's No. 6 developed the same problem, but was able to salvage a 12th place finish.

"We were real lucky at Charlotte," Mark said. "We had the same thing happen and we finished 12th there, we made it to the end and that was a really lucky stroke of luck. But the car only lost power for about half a lap and then came apart today."

Mark, who started fourth, had trouble at the start of Sunday's race with a loose condition with his car. His team fixed that problem and Mark was making his way back to the front when he lost his engine.

"I was real pleased with the way the car was coming back," he said. "The last set of tires there we were gaining on the leader a good bit and really started to march along there. Hopefully, toward the end of the race we might have had a chance to be competitive there, but we broke."


Congratulations, Tony Stewart, for the win at the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup MBNA Platinum 400 in Dover, Delaware.