They fell one by one. Contender after contender experienced some form of trouble that took away their chance at a victory in the 38th running of the Daytona 500. In a surprising development, there was a tremendous of activity at the front of the field as the main players diced for the lead. The "follow the leader" that many perdicted never materialized. The main players mixed it up for the full 200 laps.
Gordon, Irvan, Marlin, Terry Labonte, one after another.
First was Jeff Gordon. He was dualling with Jeremy Mayfield in the early goings and made contact with the wall exiting turn four on lap 11. He dove across the apron causing Steve Grissom, Rick Mast and Joe Nemechek to suffer some degree of damage.
Gordon said, "It was real tight racing out there. I got to the outside of Mayfield going into three. I was up against the wall as far as I could go to make sure we didn't touch. Somehow we did. We had a pretty good car. That's part of the tis new deal we've got with lack of horsepower. It tightens the competition up tremendously. We're all professionals, so we know how to drive these cars."
Gordon brought the Dupont Monte Carlo back out after a lengthy repair period to try and gain valuable Winston Cup points, but after a couple of laps decided to park it and call it a day.
The second contender forced out of the 500 was Ernie Irvan. He made contact with the wall as well resulting in enough damage to send him behind the wall for repairs.
The next to encounter trouble was two-time defending Daytona 500 champion Sterling Marlin. Marlin was consistently in the top-10 and was leading the 500 at the time, after taking the point from Terry Labonte wgo dominated the 500. Marlin lost his engine. Marlin was attempting to make history as the first to win three consectutive 500s.
As mentioned Terry Labonte dominated the first 100 laps. His Kellog's Monte Carlo was very strong. As was the car of his teammate Kenny Schrader. Schrader had the Budweiser Monte Carlo in the lead on three occasions sharing the honors with Labonte. Labonte made it look easy.
Labonte fell off the pace just before the haly-way point of the "Great American Race". Labonte lost an engine as well - resulting in another contender to fall by the wayside.
Surprise contenders in the first half of the 500 were John Andretti and Michael Waltrip in his first ride in the Woods Brothers Citgo Thunderbird. Both had stints at the front and stayed with the lead pack throughout the first half and confidently held their own with the leaders.
Bill Elliott and Mark Martin were also patiently staying with the lead pack. Quietly going about their business. Another Ford that was staying position was the second part of the Robert Yates tandem - Dael Jarrett.
The first green flag pit stops resulted in another contender his chance at his first victory and the 500. John Andretti, the leader at the time had to make a second stop to tighten the lug nuts on his back rear tire. The extra stop cost him a lap and put in him the 29th position.
The general consensus among Ford teams was that Chevrolets would dominate and that they were at a real disadvantage. But after 130 laps it was Ford teams doing the dominating - with Bill Elliott having his best run in a 500 in many years.
One name not mentioned to this point is that od seven-time Winston Cup champion and Daytona 500 pole sitter - Dale Earnhardt. Never falling out the top-10 or the lead draft - he too went about his business, ocassionally making a run to the front - but appearing to be very content to hold his position and uncharacteristically save his equipment for a late race run at one the race that has alluded him in 17 previous attempts.
The GM Goodwrench Monte Carlo has shown all race that it has what it will take to contend for the win, but when forced - Earnhardt has backed off and let the action proceed with him.
The lead pack had a close call when John Andretti lost the air off his spoiler end when he came in close proximity to Robert Pressley exiting turn four. Andretti took two hard hits to the outside wall before coming to a rest on the backstretch apron.
Another contender - Michael Waltrip - suffered significant damage to the front right nose of the Citho Thunderbird when Andretti's was out of control.
The remaining players at lap 135 of 200. Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett, Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin and Kenny Schrader.
Things are startimg to heat up. To this point the record has been brokem for the numver of drivers who have led the 500. The old record of 14 different drivers has been shattered.
The battle for s stretch was among 10 cars. Earnhardt, Jarrett, Elliott, Schrader, Martin, Rusty Wallace, Michael Waltrip is still in the hunt even with with the damage to his front end. Wally Dallenbach with the Hayes Modem sponsorship is in the hunt. Ricky Craven has led laps in this stretch as a result of pitting for ful only. Earnardt and Dallenbach took on only two and the balance of the field took all four.
The strategy in the closing 30 laps is to het teamed up with a car of the same manufacturer. None of the leaders have a "teammate" to rely on. The racing alternated from single file to three-by-three racing.
With 25 laps to go their are twenty cars on the lead lap.
With 20 laps to go the running order was Jarrett, Earnhardt, Schrader, Michael Waltrip, and Martin in a five car break-away.
The makings of a climatic finish is all in order.
With 10 laps to go the running order was unchanged as the teams start their late race strategies. The question is who will work with who?
The positioning is underway. Martin dives under Waltrip to take four. The Dales are still 1-2 in line. 6 to go. Other than Martin - no one is showing their cards yet. No signs yet..
Earnhardt starts to explor new lines. Jarrett is matching him move for move.
2 to go!
1 to go!
Earnhardt starts swerving on the back stretch aggresively. Jarrett matches every move. Earnhardt just can't do it. Jarrett is in command as they exit turn four.
Dale Jarrett wins his second Daytona 500.
Dale Earnhardt finishes second for the fourth time. With his earnings today, he has topped the 26 million dollar mark in Winston Cup earnings.
Dale Jarrett had a profitable weeks work. His combined earnings for the Busch Clash, Gatorade Twin-125 and Daytona 500 amount to $464,922.
Jarrett's first Daytona victory in 1993 was also over Dale Earnhardt and his combined margin of victory is only 0.28 seconds.
