Die Hard 500

Mark set the pace seven times for 99 laps, making him the race's top lap-leader, but when the checkered flag fell he found himself with a sixth-place finish.

"The 12 car was awfully anxious to win another race." Mark said of Jeremy Mayfield, who bumped him with 5 laps remaining.

"It's been a long time for them and he was real, real anxious. He may have made a move a little too quick and wound up costing me some finishing positions. He was awfully fast and he needed to go and it didn't work for us either, so we'll take it and go on."

Mark began to assert himself early leading 51 of the races first 60 laps, while a variety of drivers got shuffled in and out of the lead draft. The first round of pits stops began on lap 53, and it was them that Mark and Roush Racing teammate Jeff Burton looked like they had outsmarted the field.

Mark and Burton managed to go all the way to lap 63 before pitting, meaning that if the race stayed green the entire distance, they'd each have to pit only one more time, while the rest of the field would have to pit twice.

Alas, 'twas not to be. Caution period number two came from laps 132-135 for debris on the track in turn four. This allowed the other leaders to make their final pit stops under caution, preventing a Roush runaway.

When the green flag flew on lap 136, the top 10 included Mark, Burton, Kenny Irwin, Mike Skinner, Gordon, Mayfield, Michael Waltrip, Marlin, Ward Burton and Spencer.

And then it happened.

Coming through the frontstretch trioval on lap 139, Scott Pruett's Ford got sideways - possibly with the help of a slight push from Mayfield - and dove down the track into Robby Gordon, who in turn collected Waltrip and started a massive, chain-reaction wreck, the kind you almost always see in a restrictor-plate race.

Among the 17 or so cars damaged - most of them heavily - were those of Winston Cup points leader, Bobby Labonte and teammate Tony Stewart.

When the trackl went green on lap 152, Mark was in front of Gordon, Skinner, eff and Ward Burton. From there on it was pretty much a free-for-all - an extremely clean free-for-all, but a free-for-all nontheless.

Gordon muscled his way up to third with six laps to go. On lap 184, he and Mayfield attacked for the lead. Mayfield went high, Gordon went low and took over the point for good.


As he has done in the past to win the Daytona 500, Gordon makes a daring bid for the lead, ducking to the apron to pass Mark (6) and Jeremy Mayfield (12) on lap 184. He led the final five laps to win by about two car lengths over Skinner.