FLY'N RYAN
SOARS TO VICTORY
Joliet, IL: In a town made famous by the "Blues Brothers", Ryan Newman sings hallelujah as he takes the checkered flag in the Tropicana 400.
After cutting a tire while leading with just 28 laps remaining in last year's race at Chicagoland Speedway, Ryan wanted to show that he could outdrive the field to win this race. Although Ryan had made his way to the top 10 early in the race, it wasn't until lap 215 that he was able to take the lead. With the heavily favored Kevin Harvick closing in, Ryan was unsure whether or not his #12 Alltel Dodge could make it to the end on fuel. All of the other Dodges had been plagued with poor fuel mileage all day. But it was Kevin who ran out of gas with 3 laps remaining, leaving Ryan to grab the win. This was his 3rd victory of the 2003 season.
Tony Stewart started the race on the pole and immediately jumped to a substantial lead. The #20 Home Depot Chevrolet was running great and Tony was looking forward to moving forward in the 2nd half of the season. But, after leading for 80 laps, Tony was faked out by Kevin Harvick when he appeared to make a pit stop at a caution on lap 107. Tony went onto pit road as Kevin jumped back onto the track at the last second taking the lead. On the restart, Tony was buried back in the field. As he tried to make his way back to the front, he ended up going 3 wide in the 3rd turn with Robby Gordon in the #31 Cingular Chevrolet and Elliott Sadler in the #38 M&M's Ford. Robby pushed Tony up the track causing him to lose several positions. On the next lap, Robby bumped Elliott, pushing him up the track as well. It wasn't until the final 42 laps that Tony was able to move back to the front. But, he could not catch Ryan and finished the race 2nd.
Kevin Harvick had won the 2 previous races at Chicagoland Speedway. If he won this race, he would have been the first driver to win the first 3 races at a Winston Cup track. When Kevin took the lead, it appeared he may be able to do so. As he had done last year, Kevin was trying to use pit strategy to lead him to the win. But with just 34 laps remaining, Casey Mears crash brought out the caution allowing most of the lead lap cars to get the fuel necessary to get them through the end of the race. Kevin chose not to pit during that caution and ended up running out of gas with just 3 laps left. He ended the race in 17th.
Jimmie Johnson was supposed to start the race in the 6th position, but due to an engine change, he had to move to the back of the field. However, the #48 Lowes Chevrolet was strong and using various strategies on pit road, he was able to gain track position. Jimmie took over the lead on lap 175. Unfortunately, Jimmie's pit sequence would not keep him up front. He was able to make his way back up to finish 3rd.
Jimmie did have an incident with Michael Waltrip when he raced him back to the start/finish line after a caution flag came out. Although Michael was not happy about the move to take position from him, he & Jimmie later talked about the "gentlemen's agreement". They both stated they would take advantage of the situation in the future if no rule was in place concerning racing back to the caution. Michael ended the race with the #15 NAPA Chevrolet in 5th place.
Another driver looking to have a good day at the Chicago track was Jeff Gordon. He felt the #24 DuPont Chevrolet would be competitive. Jeff began the race on the outside pole, but did not get a good start and fell back several positions. He worked on his ill handling car throughout the day and took the lead on lap 128. But once again, the pit sequence saw him relinquish the lead to Jimmie Johnson on lap 175. Jeff finished the race 4th.
There were a few crashes during the race. Larry Foyt in the #14 Harrah's Dodge went into the wall on lap 92. Dale Earnhardt Jr spun the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet on lap 209 striking the wall. Casey Mears was in 14th place when he went into the wall on lap 233 with the #41 Fujifilm Dodge. But the scariest crash occurred on lap 215 when Bobby Labonte was clipped by the #10 Valvoline Pontiac of Johnny Benson after Johnny had a run in with Casey Mears. The #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet spun around, struck the wall and erupted into flames. Bobby struggled to get out, but was able to do so unharmed. He later joked that he was OK, he just smelled like a Bar-B-Que Pit.
We were very happy to see that all of the drivers made it through the race uninjured.
Article by S. Kipple
7/13/03
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