After rain delay, Gordon wins Winston
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
May 21, 2001
3:12 PM EDT (1912 GMT)
CONCORD, N.C. - Jeff Gordon's phenomenal success has forced some to question his mortality in the past.
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Gordon picks up his third Winston win.
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On Saturday, he was most certainly resurrected from the dead when he drove a backup Chevrolet to Victory Lane in The Winston, tying him with the late Dale Earnhardt for the most wins ever in NASCAR's all-star event.
For his efforts, Gordon took home $515,000, just missing Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s record purse of $516,410, won last season.
Oddly enough, on any other night Gordon would've been retired as soon as he started.
Just before the race got underway the first time, rainfall pelted the track.
Even so, the race started as planned at approximately 9:31 p.m. ET, but in Turn 2 of that first lap, Kevin Harvick got loose on the slippery track and his America Online Chevrolet spun around, triggering a four-car wreck that collected Gordon, Jeff Burton and Michael Waltrip.
On most every other occasion, that foursome would have been retired for the night.
However, NASCAR opted to red flag the race as a result of the rainfall before a lap had been completed.
NASCAR allowed anyone with a backup car to implement that ride and continue racing after the rain delay, albeit from the rear of the field.
"Two things: I've got to thank God, he kept me safe in that first wreck, and I've got to thank this race team," Gordon said. "This is just an awesome, awesome race team.
"To have a backup car that good, and to be able to pull it off the truck in that kind of situation and win The Winston, man that's just awesome. To use that back up car. Man, now that's quite a story.
"The Winston isn't just about a great race car, but about position, too. I was positioned perfectly."
During the first segment, Gordon started 10th and patiently worked his way through the field to finish fourth.
Jeremy Mayfield won the first 30-lap segment, which pocketed him a cool $50,000 but also sent him to 12th on the starting grid for the second 30-lap segment.
Elliott Sadler, who finished 12th in the first 30-lapper, moved to the front for the second segment after the fans voted by a 48 percent vote on NASCAR.com's exclusive "Pick the Pack" online poll that the first 12 cars in the first 30-lap segment would be inverted.
Sadler paced the field for some three laps before Johnny Benson surged to the front, then quickly built more than full-second lead over Tony Stewart and Gordon.
Benson led several laps before succumbing to the furious charge from Stewart's Pontiac, which led the final few laps to win the second 30-lap segment and $50,000.
Gordon finished second in the second segment, but lost a couple of positions on pit road on the final stop, just before the final 10-lapper. He restarted fourth, but quickly surged to the front, passing leader Ward Burton and never looking back.
"I knew right from the start of the second segment we had a car to beat," Gordon said. "I was running in Tony's tracks and he was making me tight, but right then I thought it would come down to me and him. Unfortunately he got caught up on the pit stop there."
Stewart feels as if he may have had the car to beat Saturday, and likewise could have the car to beat next weekend in the Coca-Cola 600.
"You have weeks like this, but I'll tell you what, I'm really looking forward to next week because we had a great car on long runs," Stewart said. "(Gordon) better have more than that next week."
Dale Jarrett finished second for the second consecutive year, while Stewart finished third, Bobby Labonte fourth and Jerry Nadeau fifth.
"It's nice to finish second, I'd like to congratulate Jeff and his team, but this race is not about second, it's about winning," Jarrett said. "I thought we had a good shot at him. It's a good run for us, I'd just like to win this thing."
Some folks questioned NASCAR's decision to even allow Gordon, Waltrip, Burton and Harvick to compete in the first place. Not Jarrett.
"I think things were done properly," Jarrett said. "If it was done by someone who just drove off down in there and wrecked, that's one thing. But we drove down in there and it was wet. I think it was handled right. The right thing was done. If they can come out here in a backup car and no more time that that to prepare, more power to them."
When told he'd tied Earnhardt's record for most wins in The Winston, Gordon was quite honored.
"I don't think you could tie him in anything," Gordon said. "He's above and beyond anything I could ever accomplish in a race car. We're certainly thinking of Dale, and with him having three (victories in The Winston) and us having three makes me think about him even more."
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