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| With three laps to go, Mark has to avoid a sliding Jack Sprague. That slight hesitation allowed Jeff Burton to take the lead and the win as the race finished under caution. |
The Sam's Town 300 at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway was shaping up to be just another
Mark Martin runaway victory, like so many others in his
career. With a fairly comfortable cushion over
Roush Racing teammate Jeff Burton, all Mark had to do
was make it to the checkered flag. That, as it would turn
out, was easier said than done. Jack Sprague spun off Turn 4 on lap 197, forcing Mark to check
up. Burton ducked underneath Mark to take the lead and the
win. The victory was the 11th of Burton's NASCAR Busch Series
Grand National Division career, and first since February 1999 at
Rockingham. "They were running side by side right in front of Mark, and they
were holding him up," Burton said. "There was nowhere for him to
go, so I was hoping they would keep doing that. I didn't see any
contact or anything. I don't know what happened.
"I just saw one car start to lose it just a little bit, and I turned
left real hard. Mark was up high and all he could do was slow
down. He was so high he couldn't just turn left -- he had to turn
left and slow down. I never had to slow down."
Mark, as could be expected, wasn't pleased with the turn of
events.
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"We had a great run and
good pit strategy, but we didn't make it
to the finish line first," Mark said. "You win some, you lose some.
It's kind of hard to get beat there right at the end. That's never
easy to take, but the team did a great job with the car today. I
guess that's the way it goes."
Despite his disappointment, Mark couldn't resist taking a
good-natured shot at his teammate and friend.
"I'm sure Jeff Burton had it planned that way," Mark said.
Joe Nemechek finished third, followed by Todd Bodine and Matt
Kenseth in the top-5. Jeff Green, Jeff Purvis, Ron Hornaday, Randy
LaJoie and Hut Stricklin rounded out the top-10.
It took Burton 2 hours, 13 minutes and 13 seconds to complete
the race at an average speed of 135.118 mph. There three
cautions for 17 laps, and nine lead changes among five drivers.
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