Miami 300 - 2000

There were plenty of winners in the season finale of NASCAR'S Grand National series.

Jeff Gordon won Saturday's Miami 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, holding off veteran Mark by .241 seconds and denying Mark a chance to conclude his career with a win. Mark is leaving the series to concentrate on his Winston Cup career.

Mark Martin

Jeff Green turned doughnuts on the frontstretch after his third-place finish as he set about celebrating his series championship, which he technically clinched last month at Memphis.

And rookie Kevin Harvick, who struggled to a 21st-place finish Saturday, ended the season third in the points race behind Green and Jason Keller and was awarded the series' rookie of the year honors following the race.

The day looked like it would belong to Mark, as he led 98 of the 200 laps. But on the final round of pit stops on Lap 128, Gordon's team got him out first, followed by Mark and Green. And Mark simply didn't have enough to get past before the finish.

"Those last 70 laps were some of the hardest I've ever driven in a race car. The (Grand National) cars, you have to race them hard," Gordon said.

"And then when you have a guy like Mark Mark breathing down your neck you got to drive even harder.

"I was so focused on staying ahead of Mark and get through (lapped) traffic and hold my line and save my tires, but I didn't do a very good job of that."

Gordon, who was also making his final appearance in the Grand National series, said his tenure shouldn't be compared to Martin - the series' all-time leader in wins (45).

"It's a little bit different when you only run 11 races over the last couple years. I don't think that has any significance to what Mark Martin has done in this series," Gordon said. "I think the focus should have been on Mark Martin and I know how bad he wanted to win his last race."

Mark, who had never finished higher than third in his five previous starts at the track, said his No. 60 Ford was much faster in the first half of Saturday's race.

"The car got a little too tight in the second half. Gordon was just strong, he got it done there in the end. I made a couple runs at him, but I couldn't get him," Mark said. "I want to thank the (Grand National) series for letting me play with them on Saturdays.

"We just weren't strong enough today. It was an awfully good run and he was really strong at the end. We needed a little bit of work to get him."

Mark said it felt "good" to wrap up his tenure in the series.

"This was a ridiculously busy weekend. I'm not up for all that anymore," he said. "It was a great race today. I love winning. I love running good. This is what I've done for 26 years is race and race to win. I'll have a chance to focus on my Winston Cup car."

Harvick said he wasn't pleased with his performance in Saturday's race but hopes to turn his rookie award-winning season into a championship contending one in 2001.

"I had to do something right since I haven't done anything right in the past couple weeks," Harvick said. "The guys keep working their tails off and I've made some mistakes. It motivates us to come back next year and come back and do better."


Congratulations, Jeff Gordon, for the win at the 2000 NASCAR Busch Series Miami 300 in Homestead, FL.