JEFF GORDON IN VICTORY LANE AGAIN!
Bristol, TN - Jeff Gordon ends his losing streak at last. His first win under the lights at Bristol was a relief to last year's Winston Cup Champion. He has now moved into 3rd place in the 2002 championship race.
In order to win the Sharpie 500, Jeff had to catch and pass Rusty Wallace who was also hungry for a win. Rusty has gone 49 races since he last visited Victory Lane. Rusty was leading late in the race when he got bogged down by lapped traffic. Jeff, in the #24 Dupont Chevrolet, caught up to Rusty knocking him and nearly taking off the rear bumper of the #2 Miller Lite Ford. Jeff finally succeeded in getting Rusty loose enough to move him up the track allowing Jeff to go underneath and on to win. Rusty's 2nd place finish allowed him to go up one spot to 6th in the standings.
Several other battles took place throughout the race. The most notable occurred when Dale Earnhardt, Jr's #8 Budweiser Chevrolet tapped the back of the #22 Caterpillar Dodge of Ward Burton. The hit was just enough to send Ward into the wall. Once out of the car, Ward removed the heat shields from his shoes and waited vigilantly for Jr to come back around under the caution. Ward tossed the heat shields striking the window net on Jr's car.
Another feud between Jimmie Johnson and Robby Gordon occurred on a restart when Robby in the #31 Cellular Wireless Chevrolet pushed Jimmie's #48 Lowe's Chevrolet causing a chain reaction and putting Jimmie into the inside wall. NASCAR penalized Robby by holding him for 2 laps. Jimmie finished 34th in the race and dropped 2 places to 5th in the standings.
With all the bumping and banging and trading paint, the Sharpie 500 was a pretty exciting race.
Let us know how you liked it.
Article by S. Kipple
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