NASCAR's Top Row Seat - Darlington
Dateline: 03/20/2000
NASCAR's Darlington Raceway has long been known as "The Track Too Tough To Tame." This weekend "The Lady In Black," as the track is also known, was claiming victims at an impressive rate.
As the cars rode off into turns one and two on the second lap of the race Steve Park slid up the track, touched Sterling Marlin who was in the high lane and caused a large pile up. When asked about the wreck that ended his day prematurely a frustrated Joe Nemechek said "These guys are being idiots out there today." (NASCAR Online)
Then just one lap of green flag racing later Rusty Wallace got into the back of Kenny Irwin and caused another multi-car mess. Jerry Nadeau's assessment of the incident was that "Everybody was just impatient." (NASCAR Online)
NASCAR Winston Cup Points Update
Bobby Labonte made a mistake that cost him any cushion he had in the points. He is clinging to a slim nine point lead over second place Mark Martin. Bobby was running third when he overshot the entrance to pit road, locked up the tires trying to get it slowed down, and scuffed a hole in his right front tire. Limping around to the pits with a flat tire caused significant damage to his car and caused him to lose a lap. Bobby went on to finish thirteenth.
The lead in the Rookie Of The Year race changed hands this weekend as Dale Earnhardt Jr. got loose coming off of turn four and smacked the inside wall hard. Dale was done for the day and finished a distant 40th. On the other hand Matt Kenseth, his main rival in the rookie race, had a strong day and finished a very impressive sixth.
As a result, Matt now leads the rookie points standings over Dale Jr. fifty-four to forty-nine.
Next Week in NASCAR
Next on the schedule is Bristol Motor Speedway. My favorite place on the planet hosts the BGN and Winston Cup racers on the high-banked half-mile in northeastern Tennessee. Check back next week for scanner bytes and the race recap from the first turn.
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