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Recap of The DIEHARD 500, TALLADEGA (Unofficial)
GREEN, GREEN, GREEN, GO, GO, GO!!!!

CAUTION #1 Lap #1 
Poor DE Jr. has a flat on the start (right front) consideral damge to his car ...
RESTART Lap #4 - Jr is still on pit raod for repairs then went behind the wall.

LAP 54 Starts GREEN FLAG Pits, Jerry Nadeau, Bobby Labonte and many others come in.....
-- Robby Gordon lost a lug nut and lost time in the pits....
-- Dave Blaney ended up in the grass near pit road ....

Lap 67 - Kenny Irwin got a lil' close to Dale Earnhardt, Earnhardt lost the draft and feel back 8 positions.

Lap 89 - Chad Little falls off the pace ... Left Front Tire went down and a mess to work on in the pit...lost 2 laps .....

Leader at half way is Jimmy Spencer .....

Does this field look like a moving parking lot to you? 3 and 4 wide EVERY Where! 

Lap 108 - Bobby Hamilton ran out of gas... This begins the second round of GREEN FLAG Pits. Hamilton lost a lot of track position (2 laps) because he ran out of gas near the start finish line and had to SLOWLY coast around the track

-- Steve Park stopped 2 x's on pit road? The entire field is coming in to pit... and have to maneuver around The stopped #1 car, some drove back around the track ... Then Park backed up to his pit..... he missed the pit and was going to go back out to go around but he ran out of gas.

-- Bill Elliot's tire was KICKED out onto pit road by an photographer??????? NO penalty. ((If that is true I hope that photographer loses MORE than their credentials...)

-- Rusty Wallace is Re-Pitting ... he drove down pit lane and Kept going ... he is smoking.
He came back in and took the #2 Miller Lite car behind the wall....done for the day with a broken piston ...

-- Jimmy Spencer ran out of gas but coasted into his pit ...

-- Dale Jarrett also ran out of gas but he ran out near turn 3, lost a lot of track position.
Jarrett also was penalized for speeding off pit road.

-- Bill Elliott had a stop and go, because the catch can man ran after the tire, but he left the catch can in the car. :(

Some drivers can make it on only one more pit ... if we go caution free ...

CAUTION #2 Lap #132 Kenny Wallace scrapped the wall ... Debris on the track

-- Sterling Marlin over shot his pit then stalled.

-- Mike Skinner, Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Irwin got fuel only ....Many got only 2 tires ....

-- Mark Martin and Jeff Burton did not pit....They pitted late in the last Green flag pit

-- Bobby Labonte's Front Tire change took tape off the car and then another crew member took more off Not knowing, now there is TO MUCH tape off the car and he will slow down considerably.

RESTART Lap #136

CAUTION #3  Lap #139 What many of you wait for .....HERE IS THE BIG WRECK ... 19 cars .....
Robby Gordon and Scott Pruett got together and (hope I get them all) Michael Waltrip, Sterling Marlin, Bobby Labonte, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Dick Trickle, Ricky Rudd, Dave Marcis, Ted Musgrave, Stacy Compton :(, Tony Stewart, Kenny Schrader, Jerry Nadeau, Bill Elliott, Steve Park, Mike Bliss, Robert Pressley, Ricky Craven and Ed Berrier ... Were ALL caught up in this ,,, Thank God No one was hurt...

RESTART Lap #147

CAUTION #4  Lap #150 Ricky Rudd spins by himself

-- 58.90 seconds is the minimum lap time .... If Bobby Labonte can't maintain that speed he will be "parked" by NASCAR. Hes pitted several times is and is still in 19th position, last car on the lead lap.

RESTART Lap #154 

OMG Dave Blaney skid in the grass (again) hit the wall in the pits.... Everyone in the pits is OKAY, Robert Yates fell and hit his head but he is all right. Defiantly Scary
<<>>
Happy Birthday Girlfriend! THIS ONE IS FOR YOU RU!!!!!!! And all Gordon Fans! Welcome back Rainbow Warriors! 50th win for Jeff Gordon! He is backkkkkk! Excellent race, ALOT Of sportsmanship shown here today!
In Tears, Crew Chief Robby Loomis dedicated this race to Lee Petty and his parents :) 
Started 36th (lowest Ever) and won!!

9th different winner for as many races this season
Misc. Race Stats
Time of race: 3 hours, 6 minutes, 11 seconds. 
Margin of victory: 0.189 seconds. 
Average speed: 161.157 mph. 
Lead Changes: 27 among 10 drivers. 
Cautions: 4 for 17 laps. 

Lap Leaders: Jeremy Mayfield (1-3), Dale Jarrett (4-7), Mark Martin (8-28), Jimmy Spencer (29-29), Mark Martin (30-55), Dale Earnhardt (56-56), Mark Martin (57-60), Jeff Burton (61-61), Matt Kenseth (62-63), Sterling Marlin (64-84), Jimmy Spencer (85-88), Dale Earnhardt (89-92), Jimmy Spencer (93-94), Jeff Burton (95-102), Jeff Gordon (103-103), Rusty Wallace (104-104), Jeff Gordon (105-112), Jimmy Spencer (113-119), Jeff Burton (120-124), Mark Martin (125-125), Jeff Gordon (126-130), Jeremy Mayfield (131-131), Mark Martin (132-154), Jeff Gordon (155-155), Mark Martin (156-158), Jeff Gordon (159-162), Mark Martin (163-182), Jeff Gordon (183-188). 

Race Results And Stats from The DIEHARD 500, TALLADEGA (Unofficial) From The Racin' Network ----->>>>

Gordon Ends Victory Drought With DieHard 500 Title

TALLADEGA, AL (April 16, 2000)

FINALLY! Jeff Gordon wins. When Gordon took the late-race lead in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series DieHard 500 at Talladega Suuperspeedway to capture the long-awaited checkered flag, he wasn’t about to give it up.

With second-place finisher Mike Skinner on his tail, and Talladega “king” Dale Earnhardt not far behind, Gordon was determined to hold on and gain his first victory of the 2000 season and 50th in his 232-race NASCAR Winston Cup Series career.
(Full Story on Racin.net)

Bobby Labonte Takes First True Value IROC Win At Talladega

TALLADEGA, AL (April 15, 2000)
NASCAR Winston Cup Series veteran Bobby Labonte, driving the violet True Value IROC Pontiac Firebird, won his first True Value IROC race by .073 seconds in the second round of the 24th True Value IROC series at Talladega Superspeedway. 

Offering an impressive challenge and finishing 2nd was NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver Mark Martin who started in 9th position. According to Martin on his finish, "I could not get beside Bobby (Labonte) in time and ran into the back of him instead of beside him." Third place went to first round True Value IROC Daytona champion, Dale Earnhardt who started in 12th position.
Full Story * Results  * Point Standings

The True Value IROC Series
TALLADEGA IROC XXIV m- Race Results
Pos     Str     Car     Driver                  Series
---     ---     ---     ------                  ------
1       6       7       Bobby Labonte           NASCAR/Winston Cup
2       9       4       Mark Martin             NASCAR/Winston Cup
3       12      1       Dale Earnhardt          NASCAR/Winston Cup
4       10      3       Jeff Burton             NASCAR/Winston Cup
5       3       10      Jeff Gordon             NASCAR/Winston Cup
6       11      2       Tony Stewart            NASCAR/Winston Cup
7       4       9       Greg Ray                Northern Light Indy Racing League
8       5       8       Dale Jarrett            NASCAR/Winston Cup
9       7       6       Rusty Wallace           NASCAR/Winston Cup
10      2       11      Eddie Cheever Jr.       Northern Light Indy 
11      8       5       D Earnhardt Jr.      NASCAR/Busch Grand National
12      1       12      Mark Dismore            Northern Light Indy 

BGN Top 10 in Points (Unofficial)
1 Jeff Green 1,273
2 Todd Bodine 1,249
3 Randy LaJoie 1,208
4 Matt Kenseth 1,190
5 Ron Hornaday 1,135
6 David Green 1,102
7 Kevin Grubb 1,050 
8 Elton Sawyer 974
9 Kevin Harvick 965
10 Jason Keller 965 

Nemechek Takes Second Touchstone Energy 300 Title B. Labonte Captures First IROC Win
Starting from the 35th position, Joe Nemechek won the Touchstone Energy 300 NASCAR Busch Series Race from deeper in the field than any other champion in the event's nine-year history. Mark Martin held the previous record when he won from 23rd in 1997.

Nemechek led 32 laps of the 113-lap race, including the final seven as he held off Buckshot Jones to win the event by a .224 second margin. With the victory, Nemechek became the first two-time winner of the Touchstone Energy 300. Jeff Purvis, Bobby Hamilton Jr. and Jeff Green rounded out the top five.

Runnin' Wide Open 
A weekly Column by Jack Stanton, Racing Connection, WWAC TV 53, 
Atlantic City, NJ
Mark Martin(sville), Stock Car Challenge Winners!

"Right now this feels like the biggest win of my career, it feels good to win, we needed to win," declared Mark Martin after pulling off the best late-race strategy of the year Sunday in Martinsville. 

Pole-sitter Rusty Wallace had clearly dominated the day in Martinsville, but the decision by Martin to opt for track position late in the race paid huge dividends for Martin and his race team.

Stock Car Challenge Champs Week 1:
Drivers, the Stock Car Challenge is Free to enter, and the Stock Car Challenge Race Party promises to be a Great Time!