1988 Atlanta Journal 500

tene 88 Winston Cup [Music] it's time to decide the championship what began at Daytona in February ends here this afternoon at Atlanta it'll either be Bill Elliott or Rusty Wallace winning the championship Rusty Wallace has the pole for today's race on the other hand Bill Elliott has to start all the way back in 29th what kind of a race will bill have to run that bill Bob he has to run very conservative here today he has no choice but to do that Rusty Wallace has no choice but to run flat-out from start to finish he's got to win the race leave as many laps as he possibly can Gary what do the crows think I mean here is Wallace who is on the pole did Elliott detune the car to the point where he may be out of the championship well that's the big question you know after the Phoenix race two weeks ago the guys had to decide how to prepare for this race and obviously they went conservative and the car qualified way back we just hope it's strong enough for him I'm sure Elliott hopes it's strong enough for him to move up Larry nuber and dick Berggren are also with us here is dr. Jerry punch in the pit area well gentlemen is truly ironic in a man was one the most polls this year started upfront mourn anyone else in Winston Cup racing finds himself mired back in 29th starting spot now he has one mission today Bill Elliott and that's the win the Winston Cup championship to do that he must finish 18th or better in a 42 car starting field he said well I shouldn't be hard to do he's had 16 top-ten finishes in a row well last time they were here in the spring he finished 19 hit the wall in turn two and if he duplicate that finish today he will not be the Winston Cup champion Rusty Wallace his face feeling let's go to dick Berggren dick Jerry Rusty Wallace strategy is simply this run of hard run as hard as he can all day long he's got the fastest car in the deal this is Whitney the car that you seen win previously on ESPN they tested with this car the crew is up Wallace is up they're light they're aggressive they think they can win larry nuber dick the first couple laps are gonna tell us a lot Rusty Wallace told me just moments before he was introduced that I have to win everything today and that begins with the first lap in my opinion right now by chance to win the points means I have to leave the first lap then we turn to Elliott watch him very closely those first few laps you're gonna get a real strong indication just how he will run this race how he handles the first three or four racing laps all right Larry Rusty Wallace the pole sitter Dale Earnhardt will start outside of row number one then Brett Bodine in mike alexander in the second row as we look back through the lineup Richard Petty starts in 20th position he's actually the third fastest qualifier but he was a second day qualifier Davey Allison back in 23rd AJ Point in 24th Cale Yarborough in his final Winston Cup race starts from 26th position then of course Bill Elliott back in 29th so the field now is in the banking between turns three and four still being led by the pace car however the green flag should come out this time around 328 laps 500 miles of racing on this one and a half mile race track the championship is at stake we are about to begin the decision process which has really turned out here despite the fact we had a hard rain earlier today the green is out and here we go watch bill DeLeon from the back of the pack has seen what he does is he's opening clam [Music] a lot of cars around [Music] Dale Earnhardt is in the lead but rusty wants to lead this first lap because if he can do that he can pick up five bonus points that's very important to him and his quest for the championship he is going to leave lap number one [Music] without a motor yes I'm honest too stronk it looked the same way to me of course Dale and Rusty Wallace are very good friends that had just appeared to be that Dale said okay rusty you can read the map it is like Alexander who is woloson Earnhardt Jeff bodean runs back in fourth position and Ricky Rudd his fifth as they come down for the second time [Applause] [Music] fräulein at over 179 miles an hour one concern that they have today is powers Bob they of course ran a couple of days in practice here but the rain washed it all away here's a great battle for fourth position that's ricky rudd geoff bodine on the inside sterling marlin and brett bodine is also right there behind is Terry Labonte a member Ricky Rudd has in car number five and Bill Elliott in car number nine is still back in 29th position the Bodine brothers running side by side down the backstretch it's an M on the high side and tired of the five and went to the inside red got shuffled back a little bit on that first lap when turn hard appeared to snow a little bit so restless to get in front of him don't think he had to slow down who missed the res wallet MasterCard side-by-side racing there but we never from the white Morris [Music] so two abreast racing here in the early going as we zoom in now and see that Terry Labonte in the number 11 that jr. Johnson prepared Chevrolet and surly Terri's final race in a Chevrolet jr. Johnson moving next year to the board and look at mike alexander tried to take the lead away from Rusty Wallace they could make contact at the exit of turn number four and mike alexander goes into the lead [Music] when Alexander of course wanting to show what his car will do here and it's very fast you can see him pulling away from rusty after he bumped him just a little bit as they made contact coming off the turn poor but Alexander and we have a car that has hit the wall up in corner number one it is Dale Jarrett in car number one so this is going to bring out our first caution period of the day the race to the flag is on but it's going to be Mike Alexander that wins that race easily over Wallace and Earnhardt well it was really something you know for all these drivers like you said Ned the track has been repaved as we look at they'll Jarrett's car against the wall the track has just been repaved and it was getting broken and during all the practice leading up to this race then the rain last night in this point he just washed the rubber off the drivers really had to try and and guess if it setups this morning let's take a look at the pass that Mike Alexander made on Rusty Wallace to go into the lead and watch the contact between the two well he comes up on him very quickly and hits him with the right front of his car and it gets Wallace out of shape a little bit and that's all Mike elexander needed was to move to the inside and take the lead so Mike Alexander in the number 12 car driven earlier this year by Bobby Allison is in the lead and there is Dale a rather a Bill Elliott who has not moved up much from the opening play back before of our live coverage from Atlanta right after this if with seven laps completed in our first caution out Mike Alexander is the leader Rusty Wallace second Dale Earnhardt is third then Sterling Marlin and Ricky Rudd Wallace has led laps so he has picked up those five bonus points we are cautioned because of a spin as you look at the six through 10 standings has been and a contact with the wall in turn number two involving Dale Jarrett also spinning in that incident was the number 34 car that's driven by Rodney combs our live coverage of the Atlanta Journal 500 from Atlanta International Raceway is being brought to you by Pontiac we build excitement so the caution is out now and we give ourself a little bit of a breather after an exciting start to this race some contact between Mike Alexander and Rusty Wallace rather surprising move by a Mike as he exerted himself and went into the lead and then the spin up between turns one and two Dale Jarrett's car is still against the wall in turn number two Davey Allison has been into the pits at least one time and here he comes again so obviously there's something wrong with that car Larry Newberry reports the Bob is a cylinder they haven't figured out exactly why they have lost the cylinder but they're only running on seven Davey came in a couple will make that one lap ago here here he is on a second consecutive yellow flag lap he shuts it off they Oh underneath the hood Robert Yates of course dived in the most deeply and now there's a lot of smoke coming from at the carved likely his overheating they're going inside the car toward the ignition box area trying to find exactly what could be causing this problem that has caused them to use a cylinder here in the early laps of this race while Robert Yates has purchased that number 28 Thunderbird from Kentucky coal horse racing magnate Harry Rainier for the 1989 season and Texaco has decided to continue sponsor with that car through 1991 apparently they have found the problem just a wire off in the Internet car and Davey Allison goes back on the racetrack in hopes of making up the loss position back with more from Atlanta after this [Music] they still under caution because of a incident up between turns one and two Dale Jarrett in the fall and Ronnie Kalen spinning there inside cale yarborough car now we have to in car cameras for this afternoon's race and kale is leisure lease going around the racetrack as he is in his very last Winston tough race after a very very illustrious career he's in 26th position right now and this is the sand song for the Cale Yarborough racing effort our hearties race cam providing the pictures also we have rick wilson with an in-car camera today the kodak race cam and we will be providing four pictures from the pictures for us throughout the afternoon also you can see that he's right behind Darrell Waltrip and Rick Wilson is shown right now in 11th position Darrell Waltrip in the 17 car is in ten their first car out of the race here this afternoon is the number 97 of being driven about Tommy Ellis he was black flagged for jumping the flag and was brought into the pits but the transmission jammed on him so now he's he's out of the race we have a report that Dale Jarrett we would tire and that's what got him into the wall well I believe that they were thinking about going green in one more lap but now Harold kinder the official starter for the NASCAR Winston Cup division says it will not be next lap when we go back to green here's dick Berggren well I'm keeping my eye on Mike Alexander because before this race he said they had found some additional speed in that automobile now he did not qualify right at the front of the pack but he had a good qualifying effort he said all week long they were trouble with his skip and just before this race they found the skip and they're running on all eight now Alexander may win he has never won here before Jerry punch well Goodyear has a brand new tire here and the reason they have a new tire as Mike Alexander's team came here with that race car on the mud the after Charlotte last month I did the tire testing for Goodyear they were very comfortable on top of which they brought their best race car many of the fans watching today have seen this car before this is the car that Bobby Allison won the Daytona 500 with to open the season here in 1988 they feel very comfortable with the car their tires set up and they want to win it here today Bill Elliott is in 28th position he has moved up one from his starting position but has not been moving up very steadily on the field we mentioned that Mike Alexander is running all eight and now Davey Allison is also back running on all eight cylinders as simply a spark plug wire came off that Ford driven by Davey Allison that's why he was in the pits for a couple of times but he's running okay now and is at the back of the pack Bob wood noticed there not many of the cars have made pit stops especially the frontrunners we understand that NASCAR will throw that mandatory caution that we mentioned earlier once they have run 20 to 25 green flag left they're doing this because of all the rain check out the tires to be sure that everything is okay to be different a single now for one more [Music] so we have completed now 11 laps we'll go back to racing on lap number 12 this is a 328 lap race 500 miles on this one in a half mile race track there is or at least we visited their shops and Dawsonville on Tuesday at this past week for Speed week there was a pretty much closed door situation they just decided that they were going to concentrate and not allow any visitors but the performance that bill turned in in qualifying was not very impressive as he was the twenty second qualifier after the first round then a lot of them improved their positions in second round and there is the Rusty Wallace team on the other hand who visited them on Tuesday they were very open their garage doors were open and all welcomed they feel very confident the preparations that they have made for it well they know that they just have to go out there and run as hard as they possibly can and let the chips fall where they may for example try to win the race way way back well this is the last race of the season everybody's bringing out their best you know you don't hold anything back now this is you got to bring everything you got even if you're 15th in points you want a good showing everybody wants to go out with a bang and have some momentum going into next season so we're gonna see some big-time racing all the way through the field all right the pace car is in and we're about to go green HB Bailey as these car to the inside he's already been lapped the green comes out and look at Dale Earnhardt squeezed between HB Bailey and Rusty Wallace with Dale Earnhardt now challenging Mike Alexander down the backstretch for the lead it looks like he's going to go into the lead rather easily and here comes Rusty Wallace also maybe five cars here make it six cars are nose to tail now it's Mike Alexander moving high on the racetrack once again in the fourth turn as Dale Earnhardt is going to apparently leave this lap number [Music] [Music] Michalek back here the breadfruit cards pulling away a little bit rusty wants to stay up as near the front as he possibly can because he knows that there [Music] the rookie breath looks like he has a problem no he's going again now he him it looks like Rusty Wallace and and Ricky Rudd bar three arrests racing at describe bar while the inside at car 14 [Music] number three to the outside now it's a Marlin and Earnhardt race through the first and second corner Sterling Marlin is looking strong here the opening laps he started this race in eighth position but they are battling he is battling Dale Earnhardt tooth and Dale down the backstretch also in Rusty Wallace battles back some contact again between Sterling Marlin and Dale Earnhardt you saw this smoke coming off of the car could this be because of the new pavement running [Music] there's product at heart everybody one Alexander at number 12 sterling modeled in 44 and Taylor card at number three are battling for the lead down the backstretch while Rusty Wallace watches all of this back at four spot now Dale Earnhardt shoots to the inside going into turn number three and temporarily takes over the lead once again from Marlin Bob we're seeing something happened here that we haven't seen in a long time it is because of the new pavement the breath you're such a major factor here those boys [Music] we're seeing dropping and we're seeing a lot of side-by-side racing there's no groove established here yet at Atlanta there's no good spot to run especially since the ran he could run back three-wide we've seen a lot of good rubber really rain down lay down not much and there is now even less because of the heavy rain that we had early this morning it is Geoff Bodine in car number five there's Ricky Rudd in darrell waltrip all of these drivers position out there 500-mile race ken schrader in part number 25 the red car there and also Lake speed 83 as we continue to pan back and look at the action in the middle of the pack well we saw Ricky Rudd trying to pass Jeff go down all the while ago on the inside of the racetrack he could never make that pass but he passed them on the outside this time I think that we're going to see the groove move up very quickly here today first second and third right here Taylor hard leads them down Sterling Marlin running second at his bike Alexander third fourth position for long three cars and Darrell Waltrip Bill Elliott meanwhile continues to move up but it is a very slow process Benny Parsons they're running right ahead of Phil Elliott as Benny is also in his final Winston Cup race ever Bill Elliott is 27th on the grid right now or 27th in the serial scoring having moved up only two positions in the first 18 laps [Music] a couple of other cars would like to see drivers like Benny Parsons in front of he knows that he's going to take care of himself up there and stay out of trouble as much as possible that's the kind of people that he wants to follow so just imagine what Bill Holly would do in this pack right as they've been running for the front he would be a lot more nervous I think up in this group than he is back there where he can afford to have a little space around him yeah there's a lot of beating a bang going on at frontier rusty Wallace's course has already been above twice picture as it is out there in the race and he appears right now to just be hanging back a little bit not letting the first we get too far ahead but not really excited about racing with these guys here in the first 25 laps second Sterling Marlin third dip Rusty Wallace and Geoff Bodine and here comes Mike Alexander to the inside of the racetrack once again to try to take over the top spot Earnhardt though is going to hold him off in the higher groove Daley the second-place battle they're going in the but instead they fall back into single file formation now Marlin shoots to the inside is my cap off and Mike Alexander gets high on the track and here comes Jeff bodean in the yellow and light number 15 rather number five to go into third and three abreast reason the backstretch 51 looking straighter down on the inside here Darrell Waltrip on til exam you're going back for something I don't if he has a tire going down or what's happening with that car has lost its handle all of a sudden Mike Alexander is dropping back as we go inside Rick Wilson's car as he follows Alan Kulwicki he's right behind this group of cars that are going for position now Sterling Marlin challenges once again Dale Earnhardt at the middle of the backstretch warned to leave turn hard on the outside and Sterling Marlin on the inside it is Geoff Bodine also watching what's going - here comes Jeff bodean and his strong move to the inside of the track he moves into second it's Marlin that out has the lead as they come down this for this right once again I'm gonna see the burglar got very quickly [Music] just like a burst of power that Jeff got on the most go group there everybody looked like they were trying to put an age their way up and then also Jeff will dive right down on the bottom right fire and hard top qualifying speed Rusty Wallace 179 point four nine nine with 176 point six so they increased the speed about two and a half miles an hour apparently because of the new paving we have a car in the pit area that's Morgan Shepherd as we watch the action on the track it is Sterling Marlin now here comes Jeff Lodi to try to take over the top bottom it does take over the lead voluntarily find alexander meanwhile is coming in forest option that you speculate he may have a tire going down you'll see what the crew does as they go to work on the car Bob I would guess that maybe the tire has separated they were concerned about that let's go to Larry new bring the baby right now and that all the work is being done on the right side and I'm saying I haven't seen any now I see that line in the ground books right the yellow flag comes out on the track we'll take a look at the fire career appears to be in pretty good shape one that came off on the right track Mike Alexander just pitted one lap too early because NASCAR has thrown the a mandatory caution flag to check tire wear but Mike came in just one lap too soon and he has gone a lap down to the field very unfortunate situation it looked when they pulled off the right rear tire looked like it was a little low on air pressure it may have been a real slow leak on Mike Alexander's right rear but it cost him a lap so the field is slowed now and we will see most everyone coming in now will Bill Elliott stay out this time hoping that everybody else will come in and he can get the five bonus points for the way that it will we watch and say here we see all the frontrunners coming into this that means about 24 25 cars are gonna have to get in front of him let's go to dick Berggren it is while we watch him I'll rush the wall is just one of those it's coming in for a pit stop they're going to at least think on right-side tires now they're gonna make a four-tire change that's reasonable about everybody here should take on four tires this is an opportune time to do it everybody is using scoffs in other words tires that have already been broken in to try to prevent blisters they're less likely to blister crush demolish that with the right side tires chain is the left side tires are going on I see no blisters anywhere so far that's good too rusty God very much finale in defending his kids of the Florida [Music] both of the other fields of boring by right-side tires in the [Music] Kru now putting her I see noblesse [Music] car come roughly by Iliad off the Jack DEA's down the way both Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott and nearly everyone else have come in for a check of the tires as we are at lap number 26 here in the Atlanta Journal 500 the car that did not fit and is in the lead at the moment is the number 71 car of Dave Marcus we'll resume our live coverage in a moment from Atlanta International Raceway will match up well in the Atlanta Journal 500 we have completed 27 laps and we are cautioned because of a mandatory period that NASCAR has thrown to check the tires and you can see some of the checking going on down in the Richard Childress Dale Earnhardt pit let's go to dick Berggren well the reason they were concerned about tires Bob is that yesterday there was an ARCA race on this very same Speedway that used these very same tires and several of the cars were clustered tires to make matters worse it rained overnight that washed all the rubber off the racetrack which makes it still more abrasive never concerned maybe there would be a blistering problem today however blistering relates to a number of things one of which is how well people can set the chassis up I just took a walk up and down pit road these are the best guys in the world and I didn't see a blister tire here anywhere it looks like we're gonna be in good shape with tires of this afternoon let's hope that remains that way is but warmer here I think that it has been the couple of days since the Sun came out after our morning rain the humidity has also stayed up and it's a very warm afternoon so that too may play a part in the tire wear on this new pavement here at Atlanta we're getting set to go green once again the signal has been given next time around we'll be getting green Bob was speculated as to whether Bill Elliott might stay out there and lead a lap he did not he came in with the rest of the leader he didn't want to give up a new track position product gang has many positions on the racetrack that you possibly could and hopefully that it can label have a little bit later well dick Berggren mentioned the ARCA race that we had yesterday here in Atlanta there was a very terrifying crash during that event the car involved was a Don marmar and we have some video of that crash now Lee Raymond in a red car number one will get high on the racetrack lose control and bump the outside wall then his car will slide down the banking and he will collect on marmar whose car hits the end of the pit wall at terrifying impact there as marmar scratch over turns twice dr. Jerry punch was right there on the scene Jerry well we have enough tape this morning and think thankfully dr. Edward basin the chief of trauma surgery at Georgia Baptist Medical Center said that marmar was serious but stable he was in surgery for extremity fractures until 3:30 this morning he has a lower spinal cord fracture lumbar sacral spine low back fracture actually and of course they he has multiple contusions and a frontal lobe contusion that concussion but otherwise logically intact [Music] Green comes out back to racing and Dale Earnhardt is in the lead of the Atlanta Journal 500 with Jeff would I and bill a theft position he just has not moved up very much on the field since it dropped the green flag but it's very very early in the contest they come down the straightaway once again my count well visit [Music] there's a panel he has made an unscheduled pit stop just before the lap before the caution came out so he'll be trying to get up there and pass those front two cars to get back in the lead [Music] Sterling Marlin the number 17 Darrell Waltrip Harlan has been very confident here all week he has run very fast in practice had a good qualifying run as well he field he's got a good job you man Wilson sent our camp abundant pictures for us as he sets the car into turn number one right ahead of him is the 0x4 driven by Alan Kulwicki the most recent winner in the Winston Cup circuit practice of the fairly not too much uphill or downhill straightaways here Rick Wilson isn't he [Music] they're going into turn 1 now he's coming off with the second turnout of the backstretch and here's Rusty Wallace continuing to move up that's Mike Alexander who is still trying to get his lap back racing alongside the second-place car in the serial scoring that's Geoff Bodine Alexander positions himself between Dale Earnhardt the leader and Geoff Bodine in second spot in here is Rusty Wallace who is in third position but you know my god the keeper kind of space around it [Music] this packet be Rusty Wallace trying to win championship or field Eliot look at how close the traffic is right here it it is really these guys are right on the edge of control and it turns and they're Fuster that close Ricky Rudd at the number 26 car appears to be dropping back a little bit the number 11 car of Terry Labonte is right beside him as Rick Wilson has successfully [Music] perhaps his language not quite play the day that he would like for it to be not gambling quite as good as it was earlier when we saw him I prepared the prat there we see care of the body now right paper intensity Macbeth here comes Davey Allison you remember he was in the pits early in the race because of a loose spark plug wire they got it fixed in that car is that real song obviously he's racing out with 25 ken schrader their behind [Music] to be held by Dale Earnhardt the GM Goodwrench Chevrolet car number three the number 12 car of Mike Alexander is a lap car trying to get his lap back back with more right after this welcome back to Atlanta International Raceway in the Atlanta Journal 500 the deciding race of the Winston Cup core 1988 will it be Rusty Wallace who is running in fourth right now or will it be Bill Elliott who is back in about twenty six position Benny Parsons is in the pit area it looks like it could be a terminal situation although Finney remains in the cockpit 525 Winston Cup starts but this is his final one next year Benny Parsons joins ESPN as a regular member of our Winston Cup broadcast crew and while we take to see him leave his job as a race driver we welcome him to the broadcast team for 1989 Mike Alexander had his lap back a few laps ago while we were in break but then lost it again now [Music] and he does Mike Alexander fits back on the lead lap he's loosen almost spins right ahead of Dale Earnhardt and they touches the exit turn number two Alexander went into Kohinoor just a little bit too hard after getting by broke loose here's Geoff Bodine he's gonna mix up and look at rescue Wallace boy he's throwing caution to the wind just come over here they're mixing up with Rusty Wallace masta let it all hang out it's do or die this afternoon he was very much to win but he can only do that well Elliot has a bad day so Rusty Wallace is keeping himself upfront as much as possible and trying to get into position to win this race Benny Parsons is back in the race as we watch the action on the track and Earnhardt tries again to put Mike Alexander a lap down dick Berggren reports from the pit road well the problem with Benny Parsons car bob was just a battery cable and they fixed that battery cable and he's gone he should be able to run as fast as he was running before this unfortunately he's now true that Stan Benny Parsons returns to action as the action up front involves the number 12 car of mind Alexander the 27 of Rusty Wallace and their Sterling Marlin once again in 44 let's go to dr. Jerry punch who has an update on we saw him dropping back a few laps ago Jerry we're with Larry McReynolds a crew chief and Larry your driver is jumping back a little bit what's the problem well we don't know if we got a tire going down or what we've just told him to back his place down hope for this early in the race we'll give us a call I've told him to be his own judge as it gets too bad get on in here we'll change it but then we just tried to get in the back his place down this par 4 people left looking for a yellow flag I think that when you look ahead to the 1989 season guys this has to be one of the teams that you've got to think is going to be really strong with blue LaRosa joining them as engine builder for 19 and they've also made some other staff changes I think this is going to be a team to be reckoned with and 19 I don't think there's any question that to see the season here because things have been going so well they've been running so good recent prices boy I've never seen the field shuffle around so much as we've seen here look at the earth Dale Earnhardt looks like he has the comfortable lead few minutes ago somebody else was up front here's Davey Allison he's been moving up steadily he's getting very close to the front here it has been moving up Gary he remember had made pit stops on the first caution there was at the rear of the field and now he is up there in the top five or six position the field position he might be the best at all I believe you're right Davey Allison is moving that Havilland Ford toward the front Bobby his father was here this weekend we had a chance to talk with him earlier and Marshall for today's race so Bobby Allison working very well very enthused about his sons racing career Davi of course in Winston Cup and yesterday son Clifford participated in the ARCA race but dropped out early with a mechanical problem there is the lead once again held by Dale Earnhardt Carolina he started this race from outside of row number one he was eliminated of course from the possibility of winning another Winston Cup at Phoenix so is it easier knowing that you don't have to worry about the points battle that's true Wingo and trying to win the race looks like when we end up around third earn points but there's been a halfway decent year Ned but you know it's not been that championship year I wouldn't do try to win this race and watch the rest and Bill race for the championship just wish we were there so Dale earnheardt once very much to register another victory in the 1988 Winston Cup season one very interesting thing he has not won a pole position for this year for the first time in a long time Davey Allison just continues to move up through the field he's already up to third place now and trying to take over second from Rusty Wallace boy he is really moving Allison and Rusty Wallace are side-by-side exiting turn number four they come down the front stretch Wallace with a slight advantage going perhaps it is Davey Allison who has a slight advantage and it looks as if he is going to go in to second spot so that spark plug wire Gary not anything that really causes a terminal problem well no not early like it was they were put the spark plug wire back on but the question is what made it come off you know was it a bad foots on the plug wire the food is what holds the wire onto the spark plug when it gets hot does it does it expand and come off or is it is there actually a split in it you know I bet Robert Yates specially later in the race with David Wright be asking himself those same questions I hope it stays on there now but Darrell Waltrip trying to move up a moment ago there on the car number 44 which is being driven by Sterling Marlin his car got a little bit high he had to back off of there a lot of good racing up front here rescue Wallace running in third place so that third fourth fifth sixth and seventh that we're seeing on the screen there right now just some great racing here in the first 49 make that fifty laps of the 328 lap Atlanta Journal Island the race that will determine the championship and we'll be back with four of our live coverage after this we know some guys I get it though I bet the leaders yeah we are back in Atlanta and some real drama beans light out here first of all let's tell you the yellow flag is out we don't see an accident on the track or anything like that it could be a debris caution Rusty Wallace came in for a pit stop apparently a tire went down on the tire car let's go to Jerry punch for an explanation well just a couple laps ago rusty radio unit so they got a bad vibration in the car Barry talking to Barry Dotson the crew chief I'm coming in they went scampering around and they changed the right-side tire and they're still checking back here in Gretchen's we think we had an equalized right front tire first you thought it was flat and now I believe it just equalize the inner liner equalize pressure with the outside of my front tire and began the belt to vibrate violently now Rusty Wallace apparently will not be going back in stay out of trying to get that back get back in the lead left but you do not lose a lap look and everyone else makes it way down from Jerry he will be coming back in because he's been Black Flag by NASCAR why I don't know but he will be back in club what happened to caution came out as they came down through there rusty was not quite in front of Davey Allison even though he passed David went on around I think he is a lap down let's go to dick Berggren these are independent of the curse for those [Music] well we've seen rescue Wallace down before though we've seen about two laps come back and win three races in a row so who knows here's Bill Elliott just riding there that's what he has to do with travelling surfing there's a lot of confusion but what really happened Rusty Wallace made a pit stop and he pulled out right behind Taylor he went right to the big when rusty thought he made put it back behind the pace car rusty still a lap down let's go to Terry fine they are not happy campers about it down here in the kodiak pissed as rusty makes his way back on pit road buried onsen then of course Rayman beetle the Karlan are here watching the work on the cars they take the left side cars roll them back up to me my car puts a lot Barry Dodson is looking underneath the car he will handle a jack [Music] caution bikes but unfortunately he still will lap down he's made up laps before though as Ned said and he has that job in front of him and again being stopped there at the end of pit road by the NASCAR official so he will not gain a lap and now they release him too we'll get set to go green glad you could join us on this Sunday afternoon live from Atlanta in the Ivan Winston Cup season Rusty Wallace will have to get a lap back he lost it we're going to show you a replay and we're gonna freeze that the line to show how close it was the rusty getting that lap back well Davey Allison was leading the race he's the car number 28 on the inside as they were coming up on Jimmy Horton at number 80 and you can see that Rusty Wallace is just a couple of feet behind Davey Allison as they cross the start/finish line they were getting the caution rot flag right then so that's the reason that he was a lap down let's go to Jerry punch who's in there pills Gerald Elliott is the engine builder for the Kodiak team and buried on the curtsy been busy discussing the situation with the NASCAR officials at Harold from your eyes what happened what do they tell you happen out there well they picked us up as the leader but we had just pitted because when the equalizer right front tire Jerry and Davey Allison was a leader and we clearly beat him back to the stripe by about triple car lengths and they picked us up as Lee which was the wrong car there you're trying to unscramble it look at the film and I think when they do they'll see that we're indeed is in the lead lap well that's what Harold Elliott in the Kodiak crew feel they had that replay camera mounted inside the scoring stand at the start/finish line and Timmy ARP the NASCAR official has been radioed he is looking at the replay so they have a video replay of exactly what the fans thought alone ESPN and they will decipher exactly where rusty goes well I've been in that position so many times you seem very Dotson in the crew in the pit area there beyond the start/finish line from their viewpoint it I'm sure it looked exactly like they were way ahead of Davey Allison but when you're right on the line like our cameraman was you can see it and it has all all has to do with that angles we're under our third caution period of the afternoon with 58 laps completed out of 328 in this 500-mile air we'll be right back speed world today from Atlanta International Raceway located about 20 miles south of Atlanta Georgia for the final race of a 1988 Winston Cup campaign it'll either be rusty wallace or bill elliott winning the championship this afternoon and we'll have all the action for you here on ESPN we're about to go back to green now Rusty Wallace is the car are there on the inside as they come down he is a lap down but we'll try desperately to get that lap back as a leader off the race is the 17 car driven by Darrell Waltrip here comes the green competition looks like that Darryl has a pretty good shuffle Washington that carpet has caught at the moment and it looks like what cars going to be black fly thank his Phil Parsons in car number 55 apparently he accelerated a little too quickly before the green flag [Music] the number-7 Cara ballot Philippi is second now here is Rusty Wallace moving to the inside of Darrell Waltrip and rusting does give his lap back might make that dirty [Applause] and he might just get it right here right now and that car it looked like blew an engine right in front of Bill Elliott the bill was able to go on around I believe that spray of tea in car number 67 that apparent event a ninja go but we don't have a yellow yet though we'll see maybe there was no all put down on the racetrack Wallace is certainly hoping for the yellows he comes back to the stripe as they battle for the lead Alan Kulwicki down on the inside of Darrell Waltrip no yellow flag however as Harold kender does not reach for thee Green situation the number 12 car of Mike Alexander also tries to get back on the lead lap we go inside with Wilson's protocols will be [Music] Parsons did come into the pants for a stop-and-go Kenneth day for celebrating a little too quick but he's back out of state empathy but Alan Kulwicki is a leader of this race he's the third car in line there Wallace at the front of the line has his lap back Mike Alexander's second place has his lap back car number seven and the 17 car of Darrell Waltrip runs second now here comes the Dale Earnhardt up to challenge for that spot and sterling Marvin is also right there at 44 [Applause] appropriately so the last race to the season they're just letting it all hang out now sterling marlin works inside of darrell waltrip coming out of quarter number four battling for that second spot now and thoughts of making it a three-wide race going single file formation now moves to the inside that darrell waltrip and goes to third ernie irvan their car number two also in the thick of the battle however he is not on the lead lap [Music] laughs ago we had a close call for Bill Elliott as apparently an engine let go on the 67 car 64 rather ratty [Applause] [Music] and I'm sure he had a few anxious moments right there witnessed all that smoke coming from the car directly in front so the number 64 tiger sauce Hardy Chevrolet of Brad Teague experiencing some problems but Bill Elliott lived through it listen car as he moves along side the 11 machine of Terry Labonte and they go down the backstretch Wilson running very good here this afternoon [Music] come back you can see of jockeying for position darrell waltrip up in front of them see the car skittering as they go into the corners looks like it's in a drift right on the edge you control all of this whole pack right here if you watch them as they go through the turn they're all just barely hanging on right out in this back I can see over for Bill Elliott some writers back where he's running in or certainly been fighting for those front positions there's a body trying to move on number 83 carb Lake speed has slowed suddenly here on the straightaway and look at the Budweiser cars we're in kind of gets generation look at this three of rest racing here the 26 car of Ricky Rudd appears to be back at full song and I think he just had a mismatch set of cars of that car good stop he was able to get a better set on it Petie in the central court also in the screen there this is 9th 10th 11th 12th and 13th as the battle goes on there's Michael Waltrip in the number 35 machine the big right now in 12th position you guys think Billy Elliot was really anticipating that heart racing and early in the race and the front of the pack you know we've all talked about how danger it is for Phil le to start in 29th position look at this pack up front all these guys have been sold 25th 28th [Music] anticipated that intentionally started back there well I'm not sure that if the intention they did it Gary but outfit that he's sort of glam now that he did start back there because it is safer back there I believe than where six cars that are already out of the race every car that falls out is working to build Elliott's advantage which always speaks Oh a little bit he went into the garage area just now go into the garage area you'll make seven cars that are out of the race so that's working to Bill Elliott two things one thing we ever met to win the championship but remember this is a sliding scale situation that's given the fact that Rusty Wallace is winning the race while finishing up front if rusty has a bad day then bill can finish way down right and it could be more than 18 positions if you get farther down because as you say the points are based on the sliding scale getting down to three points per position after you get down to that running behind the 31 car of Jim Sauter it just really can't feel that Bill Elliott is enjoying himself sure he's thinking that he was going to win the championship but I know that he like to mix it up and be up there in the front of the field Larry Nupur has more on Bill Elliott Bob I agree with you I don't think they had to set up they want I don't think they're comfortable at all I asked Ernie about five laps ago hey are you guys showing them everything he just looked at me for a second he smiled he says that's for you guys to find out those around and talk to some other crew members [Music] tell you what I've been watching bill with Benny Parsons and AJ place and seemingly he cannot catch them now yeah he could be waiting but you know what I don't think he has the power underneath it right now well the Rusty Wallace should have more problems Larry that would be the time that we really would know whether or car that he's showing us that personally and he's showing us right now and again we remind you that Rusty Wallace did lose a lap when he came in for an unscheduled pit stop however he is still back on is still on the lead lap as he got it back now here's Rick Wilson in car number four the two of Ernie Irvan the 25 of Ken Schrader in the 26 of Ricky Rudd as they battled for position and that number two car Ernie Irvan is one of the contenders for the champion spark plug Sears rookie year [Music] you'll erase so that is being settled here today as well [Music] on that they win on the racetrack therefore never voted on after the race that will if thoughts to either or both of those drivers and that's what will really become at the Wicca camp there you can see the point standings Bouchard with 193 didn't make the show Ernie Irvan with 188 Fred Knopf singer and Jimmy Horton also in contention for the rookie standings but it looks like the Ken Bouchard and Ernie Irvan will have the final vote on the panel now it is number seven Alan Kulwicki that leads this race with Sterling Marlin in car number 44 running second and Dale Earnhardt in number three running in third position let's go to the pit area for this conversation with Lake speed well Lake did you lose the motor in the car so you know that wins Kmart does coke battery olds was running to the front we had a little problem I was running up front there the throttle was sticking wide open and I was hurt but we came in at that cost unit got it fixed we're coming right back to the front again I think where the head of a good day today this team is looking for a new sponsor for 1989 grunting team and they were running well unfortunately they will not win this one likes be the winner of a televised race on ESPN at Darlington earlier this year has retired his car for the 1988 season well we've had a change of position it is Sterling Marlin in car number 44 that now leads and he's being challenged by Dale Earnhardt at number 3 is Alan Kulwicki who was the leader has brought back to third and while they race up there for that position Rusty Wallace has pulled over three seconds out in front of them course he still needs a caution but he has pulled away and looked at this back to Bill Elliott is running in so he's running quite as conservative as he wants a little bit earlier he's getting in there beginning to hitch it up a little bit yeah but you'll notice that he is at the back there and not really now at least he thought about moving to the inside of the 31 car but decided against it but there are a string of cars ahead of him now he goes to the inside of Jim slaughter and that could be the first car he's fast although well you know if the old story especially what I've seen since I've been in the booth with you guys this year is that accidents are always somebody at the front done something if the driver says I saw it I let off the gas and WHAM I got hit from behind bill Elliott's aware of that I think that he's being very careful who he lets ride behind him you know he's back up to this you'll see another gamble tanner so car lengths between him and the car directly behind him if he can pull the way if he can't pull away he'll end up following somebody but he doesn't want a lot of traffic right behind him one thing you guys want to do is try to run fast enough to stay in the lead and he is in the lead laughs at the moment he is shown now in 23rd position since he passed the 31 car of Jim Sauter that moves him to third spot but there is the leader of the number 44 car of Sterling Marlin we have the top five at the moment and also can show you where Bill Elliott is running right now [Applause] Larry Newberg dick Bertrand and dr. Jerry punch back at Atlanta International Raceway for the Atlanta Journal 500 final event of Winston Cup season for 1988 the leader the number 44 car of Sterling Marlin second his second is Dale Earnhardt and now we go back to this third-place battle and it involves number 7 Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison at car number 28 and Allison still has that car running very well after his early problems yeah he went in they get a little extra adjusting or something on the car pretty good now you can see how far they are behind the front right the cars now a moment ago we mentioned that resting Wallace was any of the leaders that has been closed down considerably rusty is not running quite as fancy in fact Mike Alexandra has passed him so the leaders are only about a second and a half behind Rusty Wallace now putting him a lap down Rusty Wallace okay you can see him in the middle of your screen and not too far back there you can see the leader number forty-four of rescue office and you can see the quail car back out X and ruff confront arrested Wallace let's go to the piece of carry punks who is with poochy over 30 economy well man Barry Dotson here was talking rusty few minutes ago and Barry you guys didn't seem to be that concerned when he lost a lap in fact you were smiling a little bit what was the conversation like between you and rusty the baby did just biggest back Rustica left and now buddy we're ready to go he's not worried about it the last three times they've won had come from two laps back in Charlotte and Rockingham so they said hey we'll get a lap down then we got a run in the throwdown so we're not concerned at all well Rusty Wallace is on the lead lap and he is positioned just ahead and Paulson is coming out Richard Petty's into the wall over on turn two down the backstretch there it is and he has hit the wall rather hard on the right side of that car extensive damage Richard Petty of the STP Pontiac car 43 crashes on lap number 85 it brings out the caution and rusty will now be able to encircle the entire track he and Mike Alexander's well a tough break for this man who's had a lot of tough breaks this year Richard Petty seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion 1988 as a finish year he's going to finish out of the top 20 of the bunch standings for the first time and the Lord only knows how many years it's been a long long time since he has finished out of the top 20 in the points standings and as you say Bob he is hitting the whole walls hard because it has knocked that right front way boy diagonal huh that car is narrowed up especially on the right front I know Richard I see him moving just a little bit around in the car he definitely got his bell rung on out he came into the race 22nd in the point standings his best finish of the year was a third at Richmond the second race of the year Jerry punch has this report from pit road in the marli pit westerly Marlon the current leader brings the Piedmont airlines old louisville down pit road a one-gene right side fire to clean the windshield a Keller the crew in the swansong from people on airlines Dale Earnhardt is also in a will get left side Barnard in from Arlen getting four tires for both these cars till on Dale Earnhardt now watching the good race Jeff Flake proof Bartlett's car down off the Jack he was away and Earnhardt's car down on the way to a good pin work for both her heart screws and Sterling Marlin Richard Peddie appears to be okay he's climbing out of the car under his own power shakin obviously from what appears to be a very hard impact with the wall in turn number two Bill Elliott is also in for a pit stop they're changing rubber on the left side of that car there is Rusty Wallace who is just about to complete his pit stop Jerry wha punches right there they are hustling in to Rusty Wallace pits very Johnson in the crew trying to get fired right side cards and now left tire to keep an eye hold the lug nuts go on he is down and away great pit stop here for that true Rusty Wallace moves back out onto the race track during this caution period of the day for Rusty Wallace he just got his lap back and he pitted on the same lap with the leaders that mean he really should've most times when you get you left I can go an extra lap to get caught up to the pace car Rusty Wallace and his crew said heck no we're running this thing flat out we're not worried about it we're gonna have a good pit stop and I did beat the pace car the yellow flag was also a good news for the number 28 car of Davey Allison he had a flat right front tire but his fix now and he's back on the track back Atlanta you're watching Cale Yarborough under the caution as he confers with his crude pictures from the Hardee's race Pam Cale Yarborough in his final race we hurts me with his horse speed week a week from this coming Tuesday night we have Cale Benny Parsons and Buddy Baker in a special show that we did at the Lovejoy plantation last Friday night that we know you are going to enjoy talking about some of the good times on Cale buddy and Benny's careers [Music] they certainly had three great careers Richard Peddie has crashed over eternal that's the reason for our caution period and it was very serious crash it did involve a the right side impact but Richard got out of the car okay and of course that very bad crash yesterday during the ARCA race couple of rule changes related to safety for 1988 more in this track packed with dr. Jerry punch log showing you some of the newer innovations that take place inside the cockpit of Oyster Cup car now most of the time they've been creature comforts like the thick padding heat shields on the floorboard and the fans that blow air on the driver's legs and feet so let's show you two more safety features today now these are optional this year but will become mandatory according to NASCAR in 1989 they are these long leg extenders here beside the seat after Bobby Allison's accident this year in the Obama attacks in the last year which both of them had shattered lower legs these seat extremities these extensions will help protect the extremities for next year and a very important bar this bar here is called a fight bar after AJ for who ran it for many many years realizing how safe this bar was this bar here is a tribute for possibly saving rusty Wallace's life but Rusty's car was barrel-rolling in Bristol Tennessee it was hitting up here and also hitting back here this bar that connects the upper part of the roll Cape kept this front part of the windshield from caving in on Rusty's helmet during those violent rolls this bar will become mandatory in NASCAR in 1989 NASCAR continuing to update the insides of the car to keep them safe to run air would look at the inside of Rick Wilson's car the Kodak Costabile as we are under our fourth caution period of the afternoon at Atlanta was 89 laps completed we'll be back with more of our live coverage are still under caution from the Richard Petty crash over in turn number two that car is off the racetrack and Harold kinder had given the field of one more lap signal but now displays the yellow once again but indicates this time that we will be going back to racing the next time around 91 laps have been completed here in Atlanta and Larry nuber has been watching this most recent round of pit stops and can report to us from Penn Central Larry well as you can see all the leaders come in on lap number 86 and Sterling Marlin getting in and out and very good fashion the big loser seemingly on the front of pit stops was Davey Allison who came in running second comes out in fifth position Dale Earnhardt pretty much holding forth on his own you see the comparison of our two-point contenders Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace Elliott jumping up into 17th position Bill Elliott puts himself into that 18th position that magic number that he needed to finish to win a points championship so the Elliott crew doing very excellent work down in the pits now I've just come down from the Alan Kulwicki pit area and I've talked to kuchi Paul Andrews and they've got some problems down there for the second time today as we look at Bill Elliott who's motoring now in 17th position for the second time today Alan Kulwicki has come in with a tire problem at first they thought the first tire might have been damaged by debris turned out to be a blister tire and during this yellow flag he came in with another left rear tire remember everybody is saying that this track is tight so that's not so unsurprising that the left rear tire went but Ellen had the crew described to him the appearance of the tire and he said Gus wasn't really a blistered tire in the traditional sense here is the tire that had an air bubble when it was made in the bowl and it actually came apart leaving a strip about six inches long we're going back to green flag now we had and the most important thing is that Jim's daughter who was leading the race right now becomes the 44th different driver to lead this season but it looks as if he's going to be passed here by the number 44 car of Sterling Marlin number 2 machine of Ernie Irvan is also a lap down in fact he is two laps down so here comes Sterling Marlin he now goes into the lead taking it from Jim Sauter in the pink number 31 car the 17 car of Waltrip his second of the man in the move is the number 28 car driven by Davey Allison who has been very strong all afternoon since his loose sparkplug wires running milk but it doesn't take you too long to get back up to the front but here's another man that likes to run apprentice bail Earnhardt in the car number three on the outside of baby Ellen [Music] they're promised splint the car number [Music] number 36 of HP baby Burkhardt moving up into boy heavy traffic look at that all of them coming off the turn all of them right on the ragged edge and [Music] trying to get out of the way but they can do a lot [Music] Rick Wilson in the Kodak hose will is running in 11th position he is right behind the Citgo 4 driven by Kyle Petty in 10 as they too worked the slower traffic to investigate their decision to the car garbage [Applause] [Music] 13 lead changes among 11 drivers in the first 95 laps of this race the leaders have been Wallace Alexander Earnhardt Marlon Geoff Bodine Marcus Davey Allison Jimmy means under caution also Darrell Waltrip Alan Kulwicki and Jim Sauter the lead held right now by the 44 car of Sterling Marlin is what back inside Eliot the racetrack Racing anyone you notice he's on the lower the inside route the slower group running down there with Benny Parsons who is four laps down to the field Bill Elliott is not a race driver today he is more or less going for the championship and here is a battle among the leaders Sterling Marlin still leads but here comes the black number three of Dale Earnhardt Darrell Waltrip is also right there as is Davey Allison their nose-to-tail down the straightaway into turn number one Cara Walter lookin for thirds four seconds but he falls back into single file formation down Davi Alison takes a look at third spot of places bring down the backstretch Alison of course trout at the four different card number 44 of sterling bottom who has also shown me a lot is Kranthi of today leads Dale Earnhardt burn out hard hard in the black number three the grandstand audience is on its feet I don't think it's been seen that we've had has just been tremendous the 44 of Sterling Marlin is the leader the three of Dale Earnhardt is second the 28 or is it the 17 the 17 of Darrell Waltrip is [Music] is a great battle for that third position allison is on the inside and darrell waltrip on the outside allison picks up the spot and look now we're going to have a battle for the lead as here comes Taylor hard to challenge early Marlon they go into turn number one and through stay alert art has early isn't handsome too close raped and looked it back here the 27 car Rusty Wallace the 9 car affiliate on the outside now we have a three oppressed race for the lead Allison on the inside will he get the lead going into three yes indeed Davey Allison moves into the lead with Earnhardt second and Sterling Marlin third now we see Rusty Wallace to the 27 car it's hairy Gannon 33 and Bill Elliott and number nine along with the 75 car a feel bonded as the two who are going for the Winston Cup championship are running together now on their race track I believe the alias running faster he's running for a crest he's picking a look at the number of cars that are out of this race which has cut the numbers down on it and so ladies running a little bit harder in the first 100 laps of this race Bill Elliott has not led a single lap rusty has led on four laps neither is in a position to pick up the bonus for leading the most laps at this point Davey Allison sure looks like you [Music] but every time he's caught his way right back to the lead and Dale Earnhardt's doesn't give up that leads to easily so I think Danielle's looks awful strong at this point Davey Allison a two-time winner this year at Michigan and back again we go into the pack there you can see Wallace in 27 and Bill Elliott tonight now they're right together on the racetrack she's definitely running harder than or the rest of all as you can rest assured leaving anything in that body a key sprout getting everything out of it if he has a million drivers that are around bill they definitely don't want to have anything to do with that's enough two points battle so they're going to give them some extra room dick bait is a competition director NASCAR Winston Cup racing has told them in the last three or four drivers maybe gentlemen you know what the situation is there two drivers if you wreck one up you better back up and get the other one if the race were to end right now the Winston Cup champion we've got a long way to go only 103 out of 328 laps have been completed in this race at the moment both Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott are in the mid pack trying to move up toward the front we believe the bill later is going to be a backer [Music] this race before it's over I think at the last hundred miles or so in this race [Music] that's just a wild prediction about parts Oh contact there between the number 5 car of Jeff bodean into 12 of Mike Alexander Alexander is the funny now Rusty Wallace boost to the inside of the five car of Jeff bodean and takes over another position and there is Bill Elliott right behind Jeff bodean racing all over the track as we are live at Atlanta International Raceway for the Atlanta Journal 500 where the lead is now held by the number 28 Hamlin or driven by Davey Allison back with more of our live coverage right after this Raceway because of a blown motor on the number 36 car driven by HB Bailey you'll remember not too many laps ago in fact just a couple of laps ago he was leading a pack that contained Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott but he was pretty much running by himself when a big puff of smoke came from that car down in turn one and as they got the caution flag you can see as he went into turn one a lot of smoke coming from the car but he did get it down on the inside of the racetrack as quickly as he could all the drivers were told of the drivers meeting if you blow an engine try to get it down the inside as quick as possible this man Dale Earnhardt and Phil Parsons the car never fit without a little bit that came around again is the caution flag they came into the pits but that's going to put them out in front of everybody else because I'm sure they will see the other leaders come in this time around we understand that David Ellison might be having an overheating problem we'll keep an eye on that as he comes down pit road along with Darrell Waltrip right behind him for the rest of the field Sterling Marlin is right there also coming maybe Allison leading him down in the number 28 car darrell waltrip behind the let's go to dick Berggren well Dana Ellison is in the pits right now and they're going after the grill work with get away to cool the car off the windshield is also madly - he's got a big crack in the windshield he's picked up something it's very heavy Rusty Wallace also went through his pit stop Allison they're doing a lot of work at the grill work now Jerry bunches with Rusty Wallace jury the right-side tire changers eruptive on the scar the blowback screws coming around the left side just a moment of lengthy piss off from the right front they have a problem Jimmy make car apparently had an air jack drop on the right front tire and now they finally will get around the left side it will comfortable [Music] there was no such problem doesn't look like it is finally getting out of the pits but he didn't lose bamboo ground and refilled it they just down here was a perfect stop under yellow that we're never doing on Davey Allison's car it really didn't look like the radiator greens grill green screen on the grill that they were cutting loose it was a screen over the oil cooler they were looked like they might have an oil temperature problem not a water temperature of course if the oil temperature goes up that naturally shows up on your your temperature if your water temperature gauge as well oh yes sir look who our leader is ladies and gentlemen it's AJ Foyt in car number 14 super Tex they call him okay that man has raced in every kind of Motorsports in the world his same slack and he's won in just about everything that he has raced it let's go to the pits Davey Allison Smith there and check the situation with him his car along with his car owner his motor builder his crew chief is everything I guess now Robert Yates Robert what exactly is wrong you were cutting away the area in front of the oil cooler is an oil temperature or water temperature we got a problem with well that's we had to water tipped a little bit warmer and we wanted with just that earlier we just did old temperature down to where we want it now and it's running about 10 degrees higher we'd like to see you adjusted it with the tin snips correct how about the spark plug why are you concerned about the spark plug wire is that going to stay on Robert well I hope so it's a little side burn if it can keep turn it to the left arm maybe it's in difficult for us to hold it on but if you know slightest joke Mike dart back off excuses it's a new diameter size plug first time we've run them and the boot helps retain it on and that's a little bit too loose they've got their fingers crossed here they're fast but they've definitely got problems Jerry punches in Rusty Wallace pits Jerry all we saw delay that pit stop when Rusty Wallace was changing the right side tires Jimmy made car we thought had an air wrench problem he'd laid the air race down to reach in the spring area spring bucket the right front and take this rubber insert out that they put it in during the last stop the last caution flag stop this rubber insert goes beneath the spring between the spring coils and actually makes me free a little bit stiffer in the right front hoping to keep the car up off the racetrack in the corners it didn't work the car wasn't handling that well they pulled it back out some of the tricks of the trade they used for quick chassis adjustments here during caution flag pit stops boy all kinds of we're going on a pit road early in the race you know that rubber thing really does a big part in to change the handling of the car when they take it out of the right front coil spring it makes the car looser and that's the way rusty likes it to be so Rusty Wallace and the others are back out on the racetrack you know this particular racetrack has hosted the IndyCar races over the years but as we look back to 1966 in a NASCAR race here we see an IndyCar driver that wanted here's our Winston Cup replay sway in 1988 we've completed 111 out of 328 laps and AJ Foyt leads XJ Point from Houston Texas is trying to hold the lead but he's gonna lose it's out the backstretch Dale Earnhardt passes super Texan goes into the lead AJ Foyt led there for a few laps but now loses it too update you on the situation regarding the championship there is rust in Wallace he is back in 25th position his car number is 27 Bill Elliott on the other hand is in 12th spot right now Bill Elliott would be the Winston Cup champion for 19 the point meanwhile continues to lose position so he is about to lose another position it would appear with the 26 car of Ricky Rudd engine and got out of the pits very quickly [Music] he wants to breaking right at the Quaker State doing what wants to get up there to get a shot at the urn and talking to AJ earlier this weekend he's selling majority interest in many of his a concentrate on racing even at his age he wants to be a winner once again in Indy cars and in Winston Cup competition looking good right at the moment holding down second spot but Ricky Rudd is there challenging him in the number 26 Quaker State Buick now here's the number 17 car driven by involved in a group of cars battling for position included in them would be Sterling Marlin the 55 the Phil Parsons is also right there of course our in-car camera which is carried by Rick Wilson [Applause] look at him shuffle down the back way you know they're all struggling jockeying for position then they get to the next time somebody comes on the inside this is close places these guys are gonna hurt [Music] when you think about super speedways on the Winston Cup trail you automatically think of course of Talladega of Daytona not this is the third fastest racetrack that the Winston Cup cars compete and of course it's even faster this year because of the new paper there is Erin Walton number 17 but you know we've been watching their wall to see right there to turn he seemed to lose a little bit the 55 car [Music] gaining on tomorrow again here and get in the turn they close right up behind him again so there'll Walter Itza work on his chassis a little bit but I don't think it needs to do anything to that engine this is Darrell Waltrip thirty-third Atlantis guard he won here in 1977 - he has won twice this year in Winston Cup competition wedding at Charlotte in the 600-mile er and at Martinsville another good example darrell waltrip right on mark barner bunker going when they come off the turning back and he came right back again on the straightaway so darrell waltrip really has the horsepower today Bill Elliott meanwhile is at the tail end of this pack of cars that are running in single file formation quite a string of them we suggest put on it the yellow fight card number there's Billy [Music] Gillian showing a little more strength as we at the beginning we thought well doesn't even have a car fast enough but now he state he's never been more than an apple that behind the leaders and he's showing a little more strength all along he is in 13th position Bill Elliott is in 13th the race for second spot meanwhile is heating up make that third position here is Davey Allison at car number 28 on the inside of AJ it is Davey Allison who goes into third the leader is Dale Earnhardt second is Ricky Rudd third is the 28 car of Davey Allison and then fourth is AJ point but once again Davey Allison battles back but that's got to be the most frankly scene out of AJ poyo he's right behind Davey Allison here and kind of holding his own he led under dream you know everybody's got to be somewhat of an age a point fan to see him lead the race under green areas on the screen just you know I'm sure that they say Jade feel good to be writing this good here for second as Davey Allison works on Ricky Rudd in turn number two Allison goes to the inside of the handle and for the Quaker State viewing of Ricky Rudd is on the outside going in determining the position here this cars working well down on the low side of the racetrack it does take pleasure of Ricky Rudd just the driving by inside all right so Davey Allison now goes to second but back to third let's check with Larry nuber with Dan Elliott [Applause] [Music] Ernie was too busy there's no rudeness going on down here at milk panic it gives the lot of concentration the most relaxed guy Danny you guys are expected by chance I think it's my choice bill just wanted to run a safe race and run comfortable stay out of trouble and race right now rusty driller side-by-side in the race [Music] just to worry about ourselves trying not to do anything that would hurt us right [Music] then at this point your pick you're in this position after 400 miles would you go for the winds they were deep and we just it's too early to tell well here's finished in the top ten Nabeel though as could do to keep from standing up the accelerator and racing with rusty just a little bit rusty has made the pass up him he had to be tough on it but he also realized that he has to still be patient as Dan says for a long time but I still believe that they got some car there that they haven't used here today early in the race he was running almost a second to left slower that they aren't hard right now he's on the run a few tenths of a second slower than later outside the rick wilson car through the back last we see Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott very close to each other on the high banking of Atlanta National Raceway play apart coming out of turn number two a real problem for these drivers his son will be right in their eyes Rusty Wallace just motoring by Rick wills the outside of the racetrack coming out of corner for and so Rusty Wallace picks up another position and to try to win the they did 127 laps on the Atlanta turtle 500 there are the top five and we'll be right back introducing with 130 laps completed its Davey Allison who has the suit control of the race once again with Dale Earnhardt second Ricky Rudd is third Sterling Marlin for darrell waltrip is running fifth and maybe Allison moved going around they alert heart and eat once began it has been one of the fastest and best cars on the track so far Irina has been motoring around here look hot Wendell hi he just turned that went under made the past and drove away very very strong in that little bit slow about getting out of history they've got the defense low but they've doing a little extra work on their family come back every time [Music] pull away from Dale learn our really strong you know we talked about his car with the spark plug wires loosen and robber gates and he's worried that they could happen it could happen again - they're trying a new type of spark plug he's also had problems with overheating but he just goes right back to the front each time so I know they've got their fingers crossed but he sure doesn't have anything he's not short anything in the turns that's for sure twice a winner this year in Winston Cup competition Davey Allison looks for win three here this afternoon Michigan on the high banks and in Richmond Richmond International Raceway course Dale Earnhardt now second place and third is Ricky Rudd fourth is the car number 44 is starting Marlin in fifth place is AJ Fork still hang well now Darrell Waltrip has passed AJ and move into the fifth position AJ's run six placemark Park is running seventh and in eighth place is carrying the body Rusty Wallace has moved up tonight climbing a lap here for Davey Allison to see exactly how quickly that car is running it's 32 seconds flat miles an hour 171 miles an hour big darkness and the topic qualifying speed of course was 179 so although the speed is good for Davey Allison and isn't nearly what it was when we had the qualifying on Friday and Saturday now here's Darrell Waltrip in car number 17 and Sterling Marlin in car number 44 as they go for fourth position the number 26 car of Ricky Rudd is in third and then comes Waltrip and Sterling Marlin so third fourth and fifth and single file light and agreed that strongly the role darrell waltrip scar kids I think she had a little push in the car when they first started we saw moments ago that the car was going very high in the turns in fact it went a little high at that time but he's able to deal with it a little bit more now's the chance he's working a little bit better areas on the straightaway Shirley bought it on way down my producer Darrell Waltrip is currently 99 last time Darryl finished out of the top five was in 1976 when he finished in eighth boy what you get in recent uprising you have to earn you don't get anything nobody today's environment you have to race flat out and just like for the championship for 5th place in points with tens place in points you deserve whatever you can get out of this Winston Cup Series this day in time and you know we're mentioning force we're concentrating on the battle there are several drivers who can gain two points positions here this afternoon ken schrader Jeff bodean and Darrell Waltrip are all very close in points and so we're actually in a battle here for the best among the Rick Hendrick well you know here's darrell waltrip we've been watching him and watching it goes higher in the turns and the other two cars ricky rudd in the 26 are in front of open 244 far behind him have a crash in turn number one Benny Parsons has crashed here in Atlanta in his final Winston Cup race you can see the right rear tire is flat on the car now perhaps that is the reason [Music] anyway the right rear tire is flat as we see smoke coming from well Benny moving around in the car got his window net down he's getting ready to get out so it looks like he's okay well that's too bad that he has to go out this way however he had lost some lamps earlier when he had a problem with the car they got it repaired and went back out and it was about four laps down but wanting to run to the end of this race but unfortunately his last was not going to be a good work for you so the caution comes out on lap number 140 and it's our sixth caution period of the afternoon everybody headed for the pits now no big surprise as Davey Allison [Music] therefore tire chains follow dick Berggren is in the Davey Allison Pentek Danny is in each Bernhardt is fitting just to Questlove ahead of it so it's gonna be a drag race to see you can get out the back Robert Gates the crew chief is Mariner badly crackitus Dave Ekins Bernhardt now is finish the right-side tire chains working on the left little bit ahead of him however in this effort the left side tires going on Davey Allison's car right now gates is the last one to be done he's nut butter heart beats him out one that Richard killed it through is from [Music] Rusty Wallace played Rick at pissed off as well the unocal world picture championship four years in a row an amazing Pitt effort there by the Richard Childress crew led by Kirk Shelby Dean and the others they are indeed the best in changing the tires and getting fuel in a Winston Cup car but just when you think that you know a few years ago 25 seconds was really good for four tires it's not like we've seen here just now now they're 22 in 21 seconds I mean with the same amount of people over the wall the same type of equipment it's just doing it so many times they just gain a little bit here a fraction of a second they're being together all these years Richard Childress and the Dale Earnhardt crew have really pioneered that effort let's go to Jerry punch for this comment well you mentioned the World Championship m4 another good rich crew at Rockingham a couple weeks ago that was twenty two point eight seconds to set a world record just a minute ago and you can see it on the racetrack rusty Wallace's crew Barry Dotson and Jimmie make our twenty point nine seconds for tires and they pulled out and what it did is put him out in front of Dale Earnhardt an excellent effort by the Kodiak crew we were talking about the port standings about me Dennis Rader's in fifth place Jeff Conine is in sixth place Darrell Waltrip is in seventh place now they could that could shuffle here this afternoon if this race if we talked to those drivers is there a favorite from Rick and Rick buckle now you can tell us either you know we're not going to tell anybody within the Hendrick organization as to which one of you guys that supposed to finish the heist well Ned I'm een long as you weren't gonna tell anybody you know I could tell you but you know Rick did kind of get me off the side and tell me that his other drivers have been with him for a while and he thinks they're kind of laying down on a job so he did want us to finish ahead of them just to kind of spark them back up we're not gonna tell anybody so it's a bending thinks that around Hendrick Motorsports about who've Rick would like to see finished eyes well hey I'm the last original of the man is with Rick Hendrick you know Harry Hyde has left the organization now so Rick Harry and I at that first car together and so I'm really the last one left and I'm sure well I'm positive Rick Hendrick Papa Joe Henry all the Henry clan would like to see that Levi Jarrett and Jeff board I'd come out on top now you can tell us you know we're not going to tell anybody has has he been anything said around behind the scenes that he would rather one car finish the run driver finish ahead of the others well confidentially he told me that he would like to see me finish as high up as I could and he thought it'd really be nice that's what he told me confidentially well I happen to know all of those players involved in this point chase and I can tell you one thing rick hendrick is a heck of a guy to work for all of those drivers were commenting about him but when it gets time to race he lets them race he doesn't really try and orchestrate any finishes or anything like that he just says you guys race each other flat-out well Benny Parsons who was in his last Winston Cup race has crashed but here's the guy who was also in his last Winston Cup race and he is still in competition or watching Cale Yarborough as he motors around the racetrack under caution and there is Rick Wilson who is taking a bit of a relaxation here as we are under our sixth caution period of the afternoon back with more after this [Music] we are back at the Atlanta Journal 500 and we're watching Cale Yarborough and now we're going to try to talk to him on the radio Cale how's the race going so far as far as you're concerned well race is going pretty good chance of problems the car run to it for about 20 laps it seems to go away so we missed a little bit on it but so far everything looks pretty good Cale the new pavement has it created any problems as that slick is it okay Cale we realize this is your last race and there are millions of people watching us this afternoon we want to congratulate you on your career and give you opportunity to say anything you would like about this back of this career that you've had [Music] but I'm gonna enjoy theater coral the two rubbing Neil Jarrett's gonna run that party's project next year dumpling fall to bed but his been through all right here we'll let you get back to work and good luck the rest of the way and as he indicated he remains in this floor that's a car oh there is the for this year and Dale Jarrett is his full-time driver for 1989 we remain under caution because of the Benny Parsons crash up in turn of number two so we're going to take another break and resume our live coverage in a moment has been interrupted by six caution periods and we also might mention that all cars started this race on Goodyear tires nobody chose the Hoosiers for the beginning of the Atlanta Journal five of the top ten now as we continue to run into caution however they will be going green next time around it's Darrell Waltrip leading in car 17 Rusty Wallace is second at number 27 third is number three Dale Earnhardt 44 sterling modernist Foreman baby Allyson is theft in car number 28 madam horse after the pit stops that have just been concluded well baby Allison went in running first and came out running fifth and you can see six through ten as ricky rudd leads the second five in a pit stop summary will show us that Davey Allison lost four positions he went in first came out fifth Dale Earnhardt lost one position Ricky Rudd lost three and Rusty Wallace has gained during that caution period and his pit stops he came in in sixth position and came out second and we also update you on the Bill Elliott situation he came in in 15th position and comes out in eighth so both of our Winston Cup contenders did gain during those pit stops well that's one thing that's got them where they are today badly for the Winston Cup championship is the fact that they've tested it work all year long Gary Nelson and is still the very very okay very important rusty Wallace's crew bill Elliott's crew Dale Earnhardt's crew when you talk about the top three in points and the tops near the top three the pits too they just time at the time without those unbelievable four tire pit stop so we get set for the restart now two abreast formation as they come down and again is Darrell Waltrip and car number 17 that will lead them to the flag and Rusty Wallace is second now remember rusty has already made up his lap [Music] but was quick to get it back [Music] if he's going to win the Winston Cup he's going to have to finish very near the top if not winning this and Bill Elliott is going to have to suffer some kind of a problem that puts him 18 or is challenging for the lead darrell waltrip and rusty just flows by darrell waltrip and takes commanded this race once again [Music] and that allows the others called the inside Earnhardt now moves up in the second place and of course rusty watches subtraction boy you know when trustee took the lead this is a partisan crowd there's no question about that because of the fact that Bill's hometown is very near Atlanta but there a lot of chairs Darrell Walker Bentley as CV Allison once again shows his strength and moves to third Darrell Waltrip is caught on the high side of the racetrack that's Ricky Rudd in the 26 car in poppy a rather Mike Alexander in number 12 also right there [Music] Alexandra before you just gotta think though that this Davey Allison Carr number 28 may be the hottest one that we have seen all day really at least most of the time [Music] been able to go to the front every time Mike Alexander taking the position away from darrell waltrip here comes the 26 car of Ricky Rudd's a battle alongside their a Waltrip no he falls in behind as they go down [Music] Walker's car just simply won't stay down low on the racetrack [Music] [Applause] there's going to qualify you know this track is just freshly repaid but there still are some bumps in it you can watch the cars when they're running close together [Music] and it looks like when you see girls are rocking a little right there when these stars hit these little pups especially derald it looks like it upsets his more and he kind of slides in skitters up the bank just a little bit let's go down to the pit area where dick Berggren is with Benny Parsons [Music] you know I'm okay yeah okay but I kept going to win this race and but you know if I the won the race now that I think about it after just what happened buddy would not have won too with you know if I want to come back now it makes this job your job a lot is please let me help you make your day Benny Parsons is on he'll be with us next year doing the ESPN broadcast he's fine today he falls in a career and a very fine career it was also for many car look at this o3 Express tracing look at Brett Bodine come from nowhere and past early Marlon and Darrell Waltrip and Mark Martin is also right there in that very dark blue number six car that's mark Marty Ernie Irvan is also running very strong there in the white number two and look at the irelia just watching what happens in front of him good close racing by Ricky Rudd and Darrell wall German Ville a lot of trust among yeah when they're in their racing that close together and some of the banking route that we've seen here today he's got to have some service moments there and it does have a lot of trust in but now we're beginning to see support shows the bustle here Davey Allison has shown a lot of us along there was a streak the race is there where the fort's were winning to hold at every race showings Branson Park Park as well look at the steady progression that Bill Elliott has made since the drama degree started 20 into 40 laps by the end of 80 laps he was 23rd then he moved up to 15th and now he is 10 so you can see in the early part of the race he was very cautious gaining only four positions in the person what he laughed now finds himself in the top 10 the lead is held by Rusty Wallace now here's his progress throughout the race of course he was the pole sitter began from inside row number one at the end of 40 laps he had dropped back to third and then look the end of 80 laps because he came in for that unscheduled stop and lost a lap he was in 30th he got the lap back however and at the end of 140 laps he was in sixth right now at the end of 155 he is the leader again this year darrell waltrip just went around Ricky Rudd Ricky Rudd wants the position back start rissalah behind once again is watching all of this and head of men darrell waltrip is in 17th make that 8th position and ricky rudd is in ninth back with more of our live coverage after these messages tensional raceway in the Atlanta Journal 500 the Sam song for the Winston Cup season a 1988 will the champion beat this man Rusty Wallace who is leading the race at this point or Bill Elliott who is back in 10th to the race end right now bill Winston Cup champion but he has been playing it very conservative in the half of this race staying out of trouble but yet staying up there in contention but we have a big prize coming up here the next few laps at the halfway point of this race which is 164 or the robber who is leading that lap Rusty Wallace bad dude Dale Earnhardt the bootlegger naughty a little wall assistant a $10,000 creature well you can bet that Rusty Wallace in dealer are very good friends off the racetrack but when it comes to $10,000 you got to think that Dale is going to make a run at rusty and try to sacrifice out of the race here today and maybe they'll is thinking he doesn't want to that would hurt Rusty's chances of winning the championship so he'll lay back we don't know but we're gonna don't know here in two more laps because that completes lap number 162 in two more will reach the halfway point and the bonus money and our guarantee if they learn hard to get up there did it with championship with Rusty Wallace we'll go right out the window as far as he's concerned that out of his mind at $10,000 would be the foremost thing in his mind it was right interesting against the drivers meeting this morning they were caused by dick Beatty and he said don't want you fellas to forget that well that brought a big ladder the super close fellows would write the boy out that let's go to Jerry punch of the field very Dodson was not going to say much to Rusty Wallace I don't like to talk to their driver too much during green flag conditions however just this time by and left 163 they called him as an okay big boy $10,000 there's a lot of things the crew if I could buy with that 10 - and his separation we hit four turn three yeah he's going to win it I don't think there's any doubt about that there's the separation between rusty and Dale and here comes rusty off of quarter number four now and the halfway point has been reached in this 500-mile race and Rusty Wallace is the leader and the winner of $10,000 very toxic you would have a bigger smile in about an hour and a half when the race is over of rusting winds but I'll take the ten grand yep that's not a bad bonus for believing that he's basically after being a bat down earlier at the race now you see this file though Rusty Wallace his face and we did just get that picture up that whole book that rusty usually has a smile on his face very few rusty Wallace's seasoned here in the last few races has just been tremendous of course he lost the point's lead at Bristol too most recent races he won three in a row and Charlotte at North Wilkesboro and at Rockingham then in the most recent race he finished fifth at Phoenix and before Charlotte he was third at Martinsville third at Dover he's been very very hot in competition he also has five second-place finishes in 1988 but Bill Elliott on the other hand has also been very consistent winning on some tracks that you didn't normally think of a Bill Elliott racetrack and that's the reason why Bill is in the lead of the Winston Cup points Rusty's sure would like know to get his first Winston Cup championship they say he got away bill did in 85 well Venus has run a championship type of the year there's no doubt about that as he races with jebediah we see Rusty Wallace running up front and Bob we talk when Tina Carson saw there a moment ago when to say he didn't have a very illustrious career he's one of only eight teen drivers who has won the Winston Cup championship now this year we will have a 1950 winner because Rusty Wallace Courville Ilya have won the championship but that's a relatively small number of drivers when you consider this year of Western Caprice a very elite group championship and Karen of course among them let's go to pit central and our Napa mid race recap with Larry Newberg Bob as you can see the leader of courses we just documented as Rusty Wallace here at the halfway point he started in the pool and a little bit of a problem with tires were set him back he led 21 to 164 laps up to the halfway point a lot of those at the beginning of the race and we trusted them at the last 10 or 15 green flag laps [Music] all the one of course under a bright yellow which saves time when you put with these very competitive division there have been a total of six caution flags for 33 laps we've had 13 different leaders 23 lead changes among these 13 leaders of the 42 cars that started 33 remaining in the race and 27 cars are on the lead lap as dairy coke is the latest to join the DNS that did not finishers at this race you can see the pure later car coming to a post down the backstretch here at Atlanta cars out of race the number 97 AC car about Tommy Ellis Dale Jarrett in House Ellington's number one Morgan Shepherd in the number 57 rayma car Brad Teague and then Jimmy means Lake speed a winner earlier this season Richard Petty who crashed out HP Bailey and then Benny Parsons and you can add dairy coke that list we believe because he appears to me [Music] I think the intimate building is there so we're gonna some fees see some pit stops made and here is Rusty Wallace will be making another stop and Jerry punch will call this stop Rusty Wallace brings the Kodiak Pontiac to a halt of this crew goes to work again from that twenty point nine second stop that I can duplicate that one more time Earnhardt is also on pit road I'd fire to Dale Earnhardt is a Goodrich Chevrolet likewise right-side tires are already on the road they're back around the left side of the Kodiak Pontiac Timmy bake our John Dawson baby Alphonso [Music] I'm gonna be very careful getting out behind Craig sack [Music] good pit stops by all three of those drivers and force rescue all ischemia first leading the race he was the first one Eliot who's also now guesstimate so 170 laps have been completed and the cars have made their pit stops and now the track crew moves on to the front straightaway to put down some speedy dry and try to get the oil up off the racetrack that was laid down by the blown engine of Derry cold pack animal [Music] National Raceway ESPN Speed World for the finale of the 1988 Winston Cup season the Atlanta Journal 500 the championship will be decided among Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott Rusty Wallace is the leader of the race we'll talk to him here on the radio rusty this Bob Jenkins you copy rusty this Bob Jenkins your copy rusty you have done everything that you can do you come back from a lap down you're leading the race but boy the champion stiff is still a long way off [Music] rusty just there in the first few laps of the race there was some paint traded out there the racing has been really serious out here not only among you guys that are going for the championship but everybody seems to be really fighting it out out there all right rusty we'll let you get back to work best of luck the rest of the way to go out there you they've done some hard racing out there today evolved amazingly after 172 laps of competition there are still 27 cars in the lead left that might be a record here at the Atlanta International Raceway we see that kind of situation at Talladega but here we have mentioned from the outset of the race that this track was completely repaved it has been done since the spring race that they held here Larry nuber has more in this week's ESPN nascar quick fact always will the points are a big story this weekend but this might be the most major the resurfacing of Atlanta for just the second time in a 28 year history the entire track has been resurfaced and the drivers say it's not at all what they would have expected from a new racetrack surface first of all over in turn number one no longer a distinct groove and they're really searching over there and here on turn number three potential controversy obviously when the track was paved it was done in lanes and the drivers say that from one lane to the other little reel was left and they feel this when they changed lanes at high speed and they're not pleased at that down here in the bottom it's rougher than you might expect from a brand-new surface and the drivers say this is where we'd like to run and we don't know if we're gonna be comfortable running down here or not there's one other factor this weekend the weather rain is predicted no racetrack is more vulnerable to bad weather than a brand-new one and should that happen over Friday Saturday or maybe even on Sunday no one will know exactly what to expect on Sunday and we could be completely starting from scratch and of course we didn't have that heavy rain earlier today here at Atlanta well you know that new surface the bumps the abrasiveness of the new surface you know just wearing down besides all these variables all play a factor in the who's going to win the race and who's gonna win the championship that's why all the people come and everybody watches NASCAR there is some sweetie dry on the front the cars racing speed once again here comes rusty down the backstretch as the leader [Music] Dale Earnhardt is right there behind him however Davey Allison not too far back in third position and Bill Elliott is involved in a group of cars that are moving through the third and fourth turns [Music] Mark Martin in car number six on the restart Elliott was in the seventh position since then Sterling Marlin has passed him so that moves it back to the eighth position now Mark Martin tries to make a move but again he is well within the window that he needs to win the Winston Cup championship now Mark Martin does move the Stroh like Ford on the inside of Bill Elliott and it looks like that Mark Martin is going to move into that date position meanwhile we have bailed the 28 car allison is they're very close now in a contest for second and here is Jeff bodean with an unscheduled pit stop dick Berggren will call this launch a right side right side tire change for Jeff bodean and the tire that Kagan homages rolled in front of the car when the alert people it's gone for two right side tires and here's as if one otherwise their equalizer they thought it was going to have a problem Geoff Bodine was just outside the top ten with that extra pit stop is that far from getting left unless he gets up to speed very quickly wholly ever heard down his turnover for Rick Wilson spins into the pit area he spun into pit road so he will just come on down and make the pit stop that means that there will be no caution the right front tire flat on a Rick Wilson card you see him stopping into his pit that's probably why he's fun he's trying to get into the pits as quick as he could Jeff Bodine coming back into the pits now it must have been a left-side crawler for Jeff so rotted active right here after the rear tire change all four tires well this topic came back interchanging the right side or just retyping the lugs on the right side really is what they did very cost of histo here are the four in contention for the lead it's Rusty Wallace in 27 Dale Earnhardt and three Davey Allison and 28 and Mike Alexander in car number 12 and Mike Alexander once again shows that he has a racecar on this Sunday afternoon [Music] the race as a result of having baby bun scheduled pit stops during green flag run both of them have got their laps back in here Rusty Wallace of course speech they learn hard second third place is Davey Allison in fourth is Alexander well the Hendrick point system shirt got shuffled right there in the last who has the jet boat I'm being the leader of the end routine having a problem in Darrell still hanging in there at the lead lap so there's a lot of internal races going on besides the championship and besides the Rookie of the Year thing they're great well Jeff but I was running into advice when he came in for the person good stop you now is a lap down so that means Rick Wilson of course when I left town my car still enthalpy planner all right Rick Wilson has moved back out on to the racetrack after a spin and we have it from this in-car camera okay he was beginning to come into the pits evident the car had gone down on his car as you can see a lot of things that he didn't want to see but around coming into the pits he got a good view of the infield a you know he really didn't spin all the way around as we watch Davey Allison and and Mike out gender and they'll learn heart race he never read Rick Wilson never really spun all the way right between the walls to get in again well he's back at the pitch right now for a change of let's not tires on the codec they also rigged improper to go while we were watching the Rick Wilson situation this is how Davey Allison went into second it occurred in turn number two Davey Allison moved the Hamilton Fork chart over 28 to the inside of Dale Earnhardt and took away that second spot now folks that is evidence of a car that is Raven Hammond he can turn that car squarely in the middle of the corner come down to hit the accelerator and drove rattled the inside Taylor that is really Davey Allison strength when he gets on the gas in the middle of the corner and he can keep his car pulls up right here right when he gets on the gas his car just stays straight and low near that white line on the bottom and he just drives away coming off the turn he really has a good what they call coming out of the hole acceleration let's check the top five for you now with Rusty Wallace leading it is Davey Allison who runs second followed by Mike Alexander then Dale Earnhardt and Brett Bodine were 182 laps into this race in all the big stories of the year in Winston Cup competition has been the tire war situation as we end the season Goodyear has 19 victories and Hoosiers have won nine times this year on the Winston Cup trail let's get a report on the tire situation for this race as we go to dick Berggren well Bob Goodyear has a virtual lock on the front of this field they've got virtually every car out here is running on their tires but the hot tire is a huge tire one that's a little bit worn in that they practice with now the brand new tires are tires like this they qalam sticker tires they haven't had any laps a lot of the races oh we got a crash on the Speedway well we don't see a crash okay was Phil Parsons but he has come in for a stop and there will be no caution on the racetrack so Phil Parsons makes it into the pit area and they go to work changing the left-side tires on that skull crown Oldsmobile [Applause] having very good run here today he was one to put about well that's unusual go over that they go around to the right-side tires first they went to left side tires let's see what happened with him he made a very late decision trying to get the boy move almost got it but that pit wall they saw a very serious accident yesterday let's go to Jerry punch it and they are still having trouble now they finally get the right-side tire chain to change the left side first and then they will rather change the right side tires on the skull of crown classic got a tough break and a lot of valuable laughter Phil Parker to dick Berggren dick we're talking about use tires versus new tires Gerry did a lot of the races the new tires the sticker tires have been them faster as was an example with Phoenix two weeks ago here however because we have a new racetrack with a new abrasive surface used tires tires that have been broken in and run a few left they're the best tires to be able to run on the car well most of the teams don't really have quite enough used tires Dale Earnhardt's team is an example they say they don't have enough huge tires to go all the way through this race unless they start recycling them leo Mel says that there's only been 25 green flag laps in a one lap and he doesn't want to see people putting sticker tires on so how big is your tire inventory here we go again tires may well control the race Larry well that get to know you know when you think about it in the garage area on Saturday afternoon you don't know is there going to be a new tire race of stuff tire race what happens when you scuff a tire in that means you've run it on the racetrack before Harden's up a little bit it gets just a little heat into it and gets a little bit harder that one that would be new right out of the tire truck so as we watch with the nine car on the racetrack all these teams stuff in as many tires and they what if scuff tires didn't work in a race what if the surface changed enough where you needed new tires then you got to go back and read free live all your wheels with new tires we mount all new tires and that's hard to do during the race so all these teams kind of get that in it hopefully there's not too many causes where they can make it to the finish with what they've got there Mark Martin in the number sixth row light Ford's having problems he's lost a couple of positions here in the last lap but Bill Elliott was able to pass in now Terry Labonte has done so on a whole group of cars or about well he was running a tenth position or has fallen back now even further as Alan Kulwicki goes past it it looks like we might've lost to celebrate it looks like he's down on horsepower he could be that he has a tire problem but we'll see if you guys coming to defense because it is powerful he does very quickly you know we all burn at the heart one of those drivers who you know is going to win a race someday he came close to 1988 where the second-place finish button remain one of of this one well the lead is held by the number 27 car of Rusty Wallace and the second place car is the number 28 off Davey Allison and Allison it would appear as closing in on Rusty Wallace as the 71 car of Dave Marcus is right ahead of rusty he'll dispose of him undoubtedly here yes Davey is definitely closing in on Rusty Wallace Thanks as we've said several times this afternoon for the case they're new fans here of Georgia has come for back in the pack several times to run to the front he has had one the strongest cars here this afternoon even though resti Wallace has bent the leader once he got his lap back so with Wallace leading and Davey Allison in second position we are nearing the 200 lap mark at the Atlanta Journal 500 [Applause] well it's just about three o'clock Eastern Time and for those of you just joining us we welcome you to the Atlanta Journal 500 the final Winston Cup race of the year Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott settling the Winston Cup championship here today Rusty Wallace is the leader of the race and and that the top ten as a matter of fact he is an eighth position so if the race worked in right now bill would have the Winston Cup championship now that's Rusty Wallace there in car number 27 behind him is Geoff Bodine but he is a lap car and then the second place is Davey Allison just about two maps down now let's go down to dr. Jerry punch who has a story on the tire situation of Rusty Wallace we talked a few minutes ago about rusty winning $10,000 the halfway point when he asked Carla Raymond beetle where'd that where's the money goes to take a look at these tires over here you can figure out where it went well let's say you take a look here we talked about being prepared and scuffed and new tires he has seven sets of scuff tires here seven set the tires at seven hundred dollars a set also they have seven sets of brand new tires here in the pits with a couple extra sets that's about ten or eleven thousand dollars worth of rubber sitting right here behind the pit wall that doesn't include what's on the car a lot of investment here they're prepared and hopefully to win the championship that's what pit road Valeri knew well Jerry starting where you are standing and walking down toward the first her and I passed Darrell Waltrip Ricky Rudd Alan Kulwicki Bill Elliott and I'll tell you rusty Wallace's crew right now is the only team that has been successful and cars that have dropped out so far I saw a lot of sitting in the Rusty Wallace bit I have seen no other barrel tires in any other pits and as mentioned earlier by Gary Nelson what I'm seeing mostly are scuff tires and very little stickers monitor is different Martin spent Larry and he's got an ignition problem but of course the teams all listened to each other on the radio so they know what's going on he's lost a cylinder they're gonna just leave him out almost as soon as he radioed in I've lost a cylinder bill Elliott's crew is up they were looking to buy some scuff tires we'll start selling tires there are 21 cars that are still on the lead lap and tires there behind the Rusty Wallace pit how does that differ than when you were driving in competition [Music] we're running a very very hard compound and you should have all three the rent the tires the fender they would run so you want if you start tires on the car and so the tire situation that we see today was reversed from point was backing well let's do a field summary for you here and show you some of the cars that are out there longer in competition we start of course with the leader who is Rusty Wallace in car number 27 behind him is the number 88 car driven by Craig sex now this is the fact of car that's the one that Craig started in the race because he was involved in a late practice crash yesterday afternoon that eliminated him from starting his original primary car there to see Davey Allison moving past both brake sex and Rick Wilson he is in second position now here is Jeff Bodine in car number five and again we've mentioned that he has been passed for the second time so Jeff Bodine is two laps down to the field and running right behind Jeff Bodine is the car number 12:05 collects Andrew who is currently being shown in the third position super run here today for Michael offender subject or Bobby Allison and behind like Alexander is the card number 55 bill Parsons but Phil is also a lap down as a result of an unscheduled pit stop and then right behind him in fact Phil Parsons is two laps down right behind him is Larry Pearson at the Chattanooga cue card number 16 he is one left 20 second position the final car that is not on the lead lap then we come back and pick up on the 4th place competitor at stale Earnhardt and we have a crash down in turn number 4 as a car has made heavy contact with the wall that's Harrigan in carnival 33 and like Richard Petty he has narrowed that car considerably obviously hard impact on the right side of the car and the word is that harry blew a tire that caused the car to go into the fourth turn wall now we're going to see some more wholesale pit stops here on lap 207 209 I should say those drivers that we saw Rusty Wallace just a moment ago I believe Jeff got at least one lap back Kerry get by the way was running in tenth position when that occurred up there in the four you can see the safety personnel already on the scene and he's another driver that was driving his last race for this race for the held me up for sale area will course will go with Leo Jackson next year still be sponsor basco but it will be another team all right we're watching Rusty Wallace behind the pace car down the backstretch anticipating that he and the others will come in for a pit stop you can see Rick Wilson there in car number four has dropped to the apron of the racetrack while Rusty Wallace and Davey Allison stay behind the pace car here it comes out of the fourth turn banking and indeed Rusty Wallace and Davey Allison and most everyone else is going to duck into the pits for another scheduled series of stops Jim did not get one of his labs back it was awfully close let's go to Jerry punch who is in rusty Wallace's beer wait expect to see a four-tire change at the end by the Kodiak crew likewise a good Ridge through and the Hamilton through a baby Allison's on pit road changing for tire right side fire going on rusty Walton jackal rifle Rusty Wallace about three maybe Allison getting work for the hammock room left side by Toni price and Robert Gates of Hamelin the checker quit stuff babies down off the jack he is making it way down there Rusted number one head off Davey Allison and they learn hard as they reform on the racetrack but the fellow who's going to be ahead of all of them is Mike Novick Zander who when he saw the caution was coming out he came into the pits so he made his pit stop the left before so he's going to be the fellow that's going to be out in the beat if you can see him on the racetrack there now in front of Rusty Wallace very hips up pit work and by the spotter Gary Nelson that's again the spotter comes into play he saw that they could come into the pits and still get back out stay at the lead lap if so split-second decisions that the crew really has to be in sync the spotter has to be right on the ball see the cost you come out the driver has to have enough time to duck into the pits and hope the crew is fast enough where the pace car won't catch him at the high-risk deal but it sure pays off and you it'll give you a lead like it did for Mike Alexander and also coming in that quickly was Brett Bodine although he didn't get back out in front of Rusty Wallace let's go to Larry Cooper who has a copy and old bill Elliott's pit stop or net-net things did not go smooth down here when Bill Elliott came in routinely the car went up right side first of course like always the car fell off the jack now there is a rule of course about a restricted number of men over the wall and I'll tell you there was a sea of red that surged over the pit wall and lifted the right side of that car up and got it back on the jack now because we're under the yellow flag conditions he did not lose too much track time but I didn't count five or six I don't know I wasn't keeping track but it was a most unusual pit stop they went around to the left side and things from norm over there and Bill is back out on the racetrack big huddle down though they're in the Bill Elliott pit that's for sure as they discuss the situation and perhaps planned a strategy for the rest of the wastes as they try to keep Bill Elliott in the point's lead that will then therefore give him the Winston Cup championship or 1988 back in a moment second and Bill Elliott is 18th and here comes Elliott in for another pit stop this is the second during this caution period Wallace's says stopping in his assigned area and let's go to Larry Newberg they do not go to any of the tires on any four corners I believe they're working on the windchill yeah they're putting a piece of cake top of the windshield it has been mentioned before in this broadcast earlier that the Sun is getting low and as the drivers come off of turn number three in particular the Sun will blow right through that windshield and blind the driver so they are putting a piece of black tape all about four or five inches wide I know they're gonna double up make that about eight inches wide across the top to protect the Sun coming in a blinding bill Larry that's a good move on their part to do that they did check to be sure that there was no fenders close to the tires they had made the miscue at the pit there a moment ago or far back in the field so they've decided that that's a good time to come in and do that work here we see Harry dance car coming down off of the wall really cranks down on the right side we saw the anthem spring carry him to the track hospitals he got out of the abdomen said walked into the track hospital so he looked a little shaken up but fortunately he seems to be okay he did live I'll say into the hospital but Harry of course sir was leaping before that because he has a fractured leg from a previous accident tennis coverage presented us from showing you the open of the checker 500 Winston Cup race two weeks ago at Phoenix where we were about to see a shootout now for those of you who did get a chance to see this open of our show on replay some of you has asked to see it again it is definitely worth watching this is the way we were coming on the air for the chequered 500 setting up the shootout between Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott [Music] [Music] are you looking for me [Music] that was the open to the checker 500 at Phoenix two weeks ago hats off to producer Neal Goldberg and to those two guys who took time out of their busy schedule they had a lot of thoughts in their mind as they were both going for the championship at that race also but they also had a lot of fun in doing that little open for Bob they were not exactly Wyatt Earp some of those draws back to make it in Hollywood they did a great job there mm hey it's good to see Apple eats the stature that they are that has fun or something like that and in a championship run and we're loose enough to go out there and do that kind of thing I'll pay you only say that it went sticker price that was great you know it is really a pressure cooker Winston Cup point chase is it just puts all the drivers all the crew member especially when you're really right down to the wire in that pressure cooker but here Phil Elliott and Rusty Wallace really had a good time with that I wish did it come on during the beginning of the Phoenix race two weeks ago but it fits pretty good here today could the drama still that's right the shootout is still continuing well we're 213 in laps into this race now and International Raceway it is Mike Alexander lead [Music] at all for the Winston Cup Rusty Wallace is currently second Bill Elliott is currently 19th if the race were to end right now this is the way the point-spread would be Elliott with 44 64 and rusty with 44:59 this race is not over yet and neither is the battle for the Winston Cup stay with us for the rest of the event and join us later tonight at eight o'clock now you can see Harold kinder who is about to wave the green flag and get this race back going again boy look at his daddy tonight start a new style with the wave where's the filament you know when the cars come down here 35 or 40 of them it creates a tremendous amount of wind and it just sucks your bill the cap rush so you're handsome okay I don't I don't you'd only need look at Bobby Allison's crash at Talladega last year to know how dangerous that job is hey the pace car comes off the track so we're about ready to go racing once again 216 laps and mike alexander will lead them down for a restart that's Rick Borkar to the inside who is a lap down there are [Music] seven cards [Music] [Music] handled the schoolboy [Music] look at Dale Earnhardt in the black car number three move from the outside through to the inside groove as he tries to pick up positions he's running beside baby Alison three depressed that was Ken Schrader's there in the red number 25 that was also involved in that tumble for position and Bernard they're a Waltrip and now the number five car of Jeff bodean is just ahead Bodine is two laps down to the field the number 17 car of Darrell Waltrip and ins wanna gate side by side and Barnard is there ahead of him now watch baby on the high side of the racetrack go around Dale Earnhardt put up there we're here again and brick Cara Davey Allison right around the outside this time earlier we've seen him passing everybody on the inside but Jeff bodean looked like it was holding up the inside so Davi just said that's all right I'll go on the outside right on five three cars in one turn [Music] we have a good battle going on and up front as you can see friggin Wilson Mike Alexander and Rusty Wallace now are side by side in turn one rustling is going to grab the lead once again so Rusty Wallace goes back in contention but here is Davey Allison in third moving to second on the inside of Mike Alexander and Brett Bodine is showing amazing strength in car 15 you're all Morris borrowed this morning and he said I think we're going to have our best friend of the Year days show up a lot of space right now the Koreans on the inside of retro diner three-wide so they get down to mr. bill Parsons two laps down but is running right there with Brett Bodine and here is Dale Earnhardt Jeff Bodine running side-by-side Darrell Waltrip and Terry Labonte in number 11 here's our turkey still hasn't been able to move around bye-bye there's now welcome to the rim [Music] see the effective bumps have on the car since some cars are able to just go over the bumps and it doesn't even faze them some of the other cars seem to bounce up on an attraction to hit the bump kind of rock right away in the cars that are really working now Dale Earnhardt is on the inside of Brett Bodine and Darrell Walt while peril the inside Racing here and he's going to get in ernhardt gets a little loose in the high groove I was about to say the barrel hasn't been able to keep his car down on the inside the racetrack I was wondering what was gonna happen when you went in there if it went [Music] look at this group of cars Terry Labonte in number 11 Bodine fifty-five of Phil Parsons and Ken Schrader in number 25 radda close race in here [Music] still contenders to win this race while we watch this action will give you the cars that are not on the lead lap the number 98 of Randolph singer is one lap down Larry Pearson is a lap down two laps down Phil Parsons all the 88 of break Saxon the two of Ernie Irvan and three laps down is a number four car driven by Rick Wilson plus Rusty Wallace is the leader monitor running in second place car number 28 of baby Allison Earnhardt is running for that Darrell Waltrip if not looking at the scoreboard I'm hoping the Nair showing the same thing that we're showing here Brett Bodine at the car number 15 Terry Labonte and car number 11 and in his freighter garden upper little bomb and the average speed of the race at this point is 125 point one nine one miles an hour writing in the tenth position with tank position is sterling Marling Hilla car number eight Ricky red is still in the lead lap in the members position in the 26 car Alan Kulwicki who won in Phoenix is running 12th 13th is Kyle Petty mayor Yarber is 14th and Stilton Waltrip is running 1617 steel body failed alien 8d embarked Park Misun home and believe laughing boys running on seven cylinders running in position battle for the position here [Music] run today for the but more team in that car number 15 brett bodine best finish of the year was third at charlotte he has had several dropouts during the year because of mechanical problems this has to be one of his best rides of the entire season but bobby slowed a little bit there the inside of the racetrack just as we're talking about how great oh boy eloquent almost [Music] Alan Kulwicki fresh off a win at the Phoenix International Raceway just two weeks ago has not been among the faster cars on the track that we have seen so far in this race but on the other hand has been competitive in the top ten just about all afternoon long right now he's positioned himself ahead of Brett Bodine there's the 21 of Kyle Petty and the 26 of Ricky Rudd also that car driven by Pradhan [Music] or the leader of the race and you can see that Rusty Wallace has put a little bit of daylight between himself and the second-place car driven by Mike Alexander Davey Allison continues to run third at Atlanta International Raceway we'll be right back [Music] while Rusty Wallace leads the Atlanta Journal 500 this battle is for third position it's involving the number three car driven by Taylor [Music] his car staying lower than it had been earlier in a race they've been improving on it I'm sure they've been making chassis adjustments a baby stager adjustments to the car he's running stronger and stronger as the day goes on of course Dale Earnhardt in a black number three car he's been strong all day long well we have had some cars dropped out of the race here in the last few laps including AJ boy Jimmy Horton Perry and of course because of the crash Greg sacks will behind the wall and we were talking about how great he was doing things went away from him let's go an interview with him to the [Music] the bread she went straight from third here to the garage area what happened well it looks like something wrong [Music] to drive the wheels off just a little down on power all day but this thing would really go through the corners and you know we could get some long runs we would start making time back on the leaders and you know we made a good Pitt choice and pitted their laughs early and got us up the 3rd I thought maybe we could go up there leave the thing and evidently a piston or something's gone and she started to get a bad mess and I'm smelling oil in the car now I hate it for the people Crisco I wanted to get him a win before we parted company here at the end of the year but Crisco baller friend Thunderbird was running well and we just gonna have to work on our motor program a little bit over the winter to get back in compendious competitive state and they also wanted to win it for car owner Butler who told me this morning it's been so long since he's been through a year without a win he can't even remember how long it's been a tough break for Brett Bodine as he unwraps himself and climbs out of motorgraph [Music] competition at this point in the race leader is Rusty Wallace you know an interesting thing that Brett Bodine said whatever it was just talking to him is that he spelled oil well now if my motors blowing on a front straightaway of Brad lapsing no yellows come out and so far but he said he smelled oil from inside the driver's compartment what that means is something inside the engine is getting is getting ready to go away usually a bearing in a sense oil fumes and smell up through the breathers of Anjan and into the driver's compartment so the driver uses all of his sensors when he's driving the racecar to know what's going on not just his feel of his hands and and how it drives through the turns but also a sense of smell in his hearing so that 98 car that apparently lost an engine here on the main straightaway got itself off the groove and into the apron of the train racetrack and so there will be no caution period we hundred 37 laps to go we now have less than 100 to go in the battle for the Winston Cup it is still Rusty Wallace leading this race and Bill Elliott still hanging back in the top 20 well he has moved up a little further than if the race should end right now he's running at about the 13th or 14th position 13th is being shown so the port spread would be a little wider than what we saw just after the green flag and bill would be a Winston the race works again right now but Rusty Wallace is doing everything he can to preserve that championship he knows he has got to win the race and Bill has to finish 18th or worse and rusty is in the lead of the event right now they're the top five with 237 laps completed backed ingestible planta we're rusty wallace continues to set the pace in this 500-mile race at atlanta and the battle one involves a number three car of Dale Earnhardt and the number 17 car of Darrell Waltrip and this is for third place holding down second at the moment is Mike Alexander these two cars have been battling they've even been side by side looks like Darrell Walker wants a magnet side-by-side again time today Marcus was there so Earnhardt shut down into the corner in front of them again but it has been a heck of a race you know laughs after left Darrell comes back and tries Dale Earnhardt you know he was making a pass going into the turn let's see if if Darrell's Hammonds still well Darrell's trying to hold low don't it spikes up that there goes Kayla right back under him it really slides up on the track he almost got into the gray stuff up there in the second corner but got it back in the groove but Waltrip was unsuccessful in taking that third position from Dale oh he says that works so hard to get that position to the wet that corner just a little bit too hard and lost all that horsepower of that number 17 car it's really showing up he just drives by Dale look it pulls up the lumps out of them again on the front straightaway and while those two have been battling what who has also joined in that's Terry Labonte in the Budweiser Chevrolet car number 11 and now Terry Labonte is battling for the fourth position let's go to Larry Hoover who hasn't happened strategy from this point bah the top crews are telling me right now that they should be stopping around lap 272 275 now the left to keep in mind here to 68 68 should be able to go flag after lap to 80 to 90 or sometime in the 300 everybody will obviously stop but we've had some long green flag segments here and the crews are now thinking that hey you know what comes under green will be our final so keep in mind left to 68 you've gotta get that far to be assured of going the distance and right now we are at lap number 245 and this race for position is still not else has joined in that's Davey Allison in car number 28 thought it looked like there was some smoke coming from that car he might have a tire rubbing and it's a pretty thick pad is he ready now to go remember a little bit but dick Berggren for more on that story well let's give Ned Jarrett an A for having the correct answer on that one the smoke is from a right rear tire rubbing Ned but they've got other problems as well and one of the major problems that they are fighting this afternoon they're having to be very careful with the air I fear that they're going to cave it in they'd love to be able to change that thing particularly now as the Sun is going down and visibility becomes an increasing problem but they don't want to take the time to change the windshield Davey Allison may be able to win this race one good thing that's happened for this team very early on temperature rising they cut a hole in the grill and it's okay now the oil temperature is down Jerry punches Earnhardt is on his way it's not a scheduled pit stop here he is sliding to a stop as Kershaw Burdine to the rest of the crew go to work back to dick Berggren it's a right-side tire chain [Music] be just right so looking at the left as well 11.4 second to the problem a right front Lester and he goes a lap down Dale Earnhardt because of a blister tire goes a lap down run out of tires you know they that's the only reason I can think of why bananas so Dale Earnhardt has some making up to do now going a lap down others will have the baton stops it got a little while ago before of course they would have to come in and so Dale earnheardt drops out of this great battle for third position right now in his Waltrip and Davey Allison and Terry Labonte let's go to dr. Jerry punch with Jeff Hammond a crew chief and Jeff your car looks awfully strong in the straightaways but it drifts up high in the corners their problem with the car right now is here it looks like we've got a little bit of problem as far as the staggers concerns we've been trying to get that work out all day long give adjusted wage and working with the tires a day and if that's about as good as you've had it yet we've got another set here overall we've really good fine-tuning on we think we'll get him on the car oh gosh about now I gotta go yep it's Alan Kulwicki who has bumped the wall coming out of corner number four not a hard hit the car continues but he did keep it in on the right front corner [Music] because the the body is running and rubbing against the tire so this will bring out our ninth caution period of the day I think he interacts with our problem his car the cause defecate in the wall as Rusty Wallace comes across the start/finish line he was about to put a lamp on Sterling Marlin so this will be a welcome caution for Sterling Marlin he was having some problems he was running very strong earlier in the race and here we see Alan Kulwicki getting into the wall off the turn for apparent to the right front tire went down on the car that got him into the wall not nearly as hard as we saw Richard Petty and Harry Gant get into all earlier now Dale Earnhardt had lost a lap he caused that pit stop he did not get it back because of this caution so it's out on lap number 250 because of Alan Cole wikiz journey into the fourth turn wall but it looks as if Alan will simply come in and have the tires change and they'll pull out that bodywork and Alan can continue in competition Rusty Wallace is coming in and dr. Jerry punch is there to call this pit stop well again rusty coke guitar is very gingerly pulls it away from pit wall so they have room to work on the left side they will put right side tires on the car the crow get it working right side tires normally Kosovich so putting that field in the car they learn that rubbing tire pump they had a while ago trying to fall on the way Walsman cars down away after a four-tire change and I think Bill Elliott has finally stayed out on the racetrack of his little man just my speculation he still out of the track he's coming into the pits right now [Music] now please stand out there again he's going to be sure that he meets about because the caution car has got there so Bill Elliott is staying out of the restaurant we go the cost of car is cardboard is a picked up Darrell Waltrip I don't know we'll have to check and see a little bit later from initial scoring at Billy Elliot did indeed lead left Mike Alexander dived into fifths early again as he did one time and earlier this afternoon and was able to get back out very quickly as he saw the caution coming out so I'm trying to figure out what Billy Elliot is up to he's really doing he's slowing down letting people pass him under the caution period I wonder if there's been some confusion again with the pace car well we our information is as they are ready to change that windshield in the Davey Allison car that the 12 car of Alexander the 17 car of Waltrip the 11 car of Terry Labonte the 25 car of Schrader have made early pit stops and may have well we saw rescue Wallace coming around very quickly he stayed out of the racetrack and that might be the case that we'll see that strategy might not have worked for them this time as it did earlier so we watched Davey Allison to be as he is now caught up to the lead pack he will be coming in however for a change of that windshield now that we are under a caution they have time to do it well that's a smart thing to do you know they've been complaining about the windshield the visibility getting worse as the shadows get longer and longer it's a caution period he's you know there's a lot of confusion with the pace car Davey's got the best opportunity right now to change his windshield let's go to Larry Newberry and bill Elliott's pit well Gary we've got a serious problem down here in terms of tire now I don't think that's going to hurt his chances for the race but you never know when Phil came in Gary [Music] tire was destroyed it it was destroyed in a caiman in shreds and the left part left front to the side of the car was dragging on the ground they jacked the car up and gave it a cursory glance of course changed the tire put Phil back on his way but I would anticipate he'll come back in particularly if this yellow light continues so the reason why bill slow so suddenly on that racetrack was a destroyed little time all right we watched out Davey Allison come in for his pit stop and a change of windshields and Dick Berggren is there in the baby Allison Pittman to tell us what is going on ordinarily if you were gonna have your windshield change and probably need a calendar to fine we're gonna time this one with a stopwatch and see how well these fellas do gyarah how difficult is it to change one of these things under this kind of pressure these guys have a good chance to win this race oh they can do this fast enough but you can see that they just loosened three tabs across the top of the roof and they turned them up now they're turning out back down and tighten it up with that speed handle three little tabs is all that holds the windshield in there you see the man in the middle with a little t-handle tightening the last little allen screw and there put a little tape around the windshields done you know in the passenger car if you took it to the glass shop and said I needed a windshield they'd probably charge about 200 bucks so to keep the car all day so tabi Allyson just got a $200 windshield replacement Jonnie did it pretty quickly - Gary twenty-seven point three three seconds less than half a minute to change a whole windshield try that your local glass shop and see how you make out and dick the new windshield that they put in had already been prepared with that stripping there at the top for the Sun problem that occurs at this time of day yeah it has and several of the competitors are getting concerned about it people are changing goggles wondering exactly what to do as the Sun Goes Down particularly late here in the year it becomes more difficult to see and there are a number of places on this racetrack where it's especially difficult Jerry punch what's going on with bill Elliott's tires well this is what's left of bill Elliott's left front tire you heard Larry Hoover say a minute ago this is this tire was in shreds and he sort of put it mildly take a look at what's left of the tire this is the cord and part of the inner liner here Elliott has been back on pit road they raised the hood a minute ago to see how much damage this shredded tire may have done for the undercarriage and chassis parts inside the left front of the car so Elliott's problems continued the car has fallen off the jack he now has had a spreaded left front tire as he came back down pit road we are continuing here at Atlanta race Atlanta Journal 500 and Vallely is still pursues and Winston Cup championship [Music] let's sort out the situation now as to whether or not Bill Elliott did or did not lead a lap and I don't think he did because the card and Darrell Waltrip is directly behind the pace car at the moment now we're still not exactly sure if he's meeting the race because he made an early stop he and Mike elexander and I think tearing the body and a couple of other cars made early pit stops Kyle Petty a punk though as soon as the caution came out they came down pit road with Rusty Wallace stayed out there and went around a pretty good clip and Bill Elliott saw what rest he was doing so he stayed out on the race track to keep from going a lap down even though he had that tire problem but he stayed out there and did stayed in the lead lap that's probably why the tire looks so bad when he finally did get into the pits you know he's trying to go as fast as he can to not to lose ground so though his crew will have time to change that tire but then he doesn't want to go so fast at the tire completely shreds and tears you know I've seen him tear the whole fender and hood off of a car to try and go too fast so Bill Elliott really did a pretty good thing right there to stay in the lead lap plus not tear up his car too bad with that flat tire he must have run over some debris right when the caution came out slap 256 we're gonna have to have another around the pit stops aren't we before this is over boy it's close Bob you know we've talked about it Larry said 268 was the magic number well you know the mileage isn't the same for everybody some guys get better mileage than others and so you know there's a chance you could stretch it to the finish but you know what we've seen today all day long there hasn't been a green flag pit stop around a green flag pit stops other than a flat tire or some kind of problem so you know in the pit you almost say well can it really go green to the finish now or will there be another caution or or more than one more caution for the next two weeks ESPN Speed Week will be on the end bill Elliott's in the pits Larry nuber is there above the attention is going to that left front that both Jerry and I ever two in the last seven or eight minutes of this yellow flag they're doing some particular cleaning work on the front windshield bill obviously has been complaining about the glare as they come off of that turn number three it's getting extra attention while this is all going on at least two people including Ernie ahlian are down on their backs on the ground they're looking at the left front right air there's a lot of cosmetic damage there's actually a hole on the top of the fender and there's around the wheel well so cosmetic damage whether a structural don't know all right Eliot goes back out onto the racetrack now there's the pace car and NASCAR has started out this scoring problem they have allowed Darryl Waltrip Mike Alexander Terry Labonte and Ken Schrader to come all the way back around and to stay on the lead lap had a simpler situation at Charlotte North Carolina last month and it took a little while to get it figured out but they did that cars go around after the pace car had picked up the wrong car all right we are still under caution and when we return we'll be ready for more racing at the Atlanta Journal by [Music] here the top 10 now the 259 laps completed Rusty Wallace is the leader Ricky Rudd is second third is Michael Waltrip fourth Bobby Hillin jr. and Neil Bonnett and seventy five is in fifth the second five led by Jim Sauter in carnival 31 the cale yarborough and 29 Davey Allison in charge 28 Sterling Marlin is 24 and Bill Elliott is in 10th in car number nine in 11th position is Darrell Waltrip 12th is Bobby hit a rather Mike Alexander 13th is Terry Labonte 14th is Ken Schrader and those 14 cars are on the lead lap we're about to go racing once again if the championship were to beat with the race we're to end right now the championship would go to Bill Elliott although Rusty Wallace is a leader now the number three car that will come down leading the string of cars is Dale Earnhardt he technically is on the lead lap but not the leader of the race look at this they spread out four wide as they had returned [Music] the green flag dropped and Earnhardt trying to stay out in front we watch for brick Wilson's no doubt that those mobile bill passes directly in front of the yellow car the line describe a third boy look at that Sun the flare to the windchill original so skidded from the sand all day all the drivers have to look into that a split second or maybe one or two seconds where you just literally can't see anything while you're looking right into that Sun Cale Yarborough is pardis car and he's got Davey Allison right ahead of him they'll had one of the best runs for his team actually they'll Jerry to run in second place at Dover earlier this year for a wild finish date the Riverside became the state now we might even have a good thing and there is how it looks from the vantage point of the spectators that's Mike Alexander and number beside Cale Yarborough [Music] here in a body was sent around so they had to go to the lyric appeal a star had picked up inadvertently in the wrong car they were sent around and that's why they're as far back as our so the early pit stops they made really worked for their disadvantage of never concurred well a little bit later we're going to be announcing the Goodyear Eagle driver of the racing year for giving $1000 to the Winston Cup racing wife there are many to consider when the final votes are cast in that particular honor driver of the race inside [Music] grayskin providing the pictures and this is how cale yarborough looks as he goes around the high banks here still time to kill while he he pries with second is really was detectable becasue the target to the next time you're seeing history being made here is Cale Yarborough last race one of the most illustrious careers the stock car racing does ever know that he also ran a few empty car races effecti residences yeah he did but you can see him really paying attention to it smear Mike Alexander there and several other cars coming right up behind you there all what kales going to do as he goes into traffic around Darrell Waltrip our numbers and then behind him we have cars that are battling for position Waltrip is in fifth position at the moment well he was in Leavitt went to green flag [Music] you there in the 75 car German wine [Music] next time closest thing [Music] [Applause] backing off the accelerator the RPMs going down through the corners and then standing on it once again as he comes out of the corner now here are the stove allah brother cars battling side-by-side that's the number 12 of mike alexander and the 8 of pommy villain juniors speculation is and we have a car that has spun into the pits again that should suffer we have seen [Music] rick wilson also into the pits earlier in the race and now Jim Sauter he's pitted up there toward that in so perhaps it was not as Ben now look at this it is Rusty Wallace in car number 27 who has lapped dale earnhardt in number three looks like Dale is just going to say okay go ahead I don't think the nz2 choice he dressed his car has been working so well all afternoon and Earnhardt is [Music] we have a car there's nothing it's going to bring out a caution there is blank Waltrip in car number 30 that is having a fine run and there is Rusty Wallace in car number 27 prepares for driving his last race or that you'll be moving in with our Gary Wilson fixture that's my new driver there Kyle Petty looks like it's got a piston of something wrong inside the engine you can see when he left off the clutch [Music] the garage for the rest of the day no yellow flag however Kyle Petty is headed for pit road and it could be the end of the afternoon for the son of Richard Petty who crashed earlier in the afternoon and is out of the race so the laps continue to click off were at 269 now with Rusty Wallace to leading the Atlanta Journal 5 to dick Berggren back at Atlanta International Raceway where Rusty Wallace continues to lead this 500-mile race the plat finale of the 1988 Winston Cup season a fine performance today [Music] michael waltrip he is in second position let's go to the pit area Larry Hoover not only a fine performance by the drivers the crew is done an excellent job and there's a lot of excitement down here this is Chuck Ryder the owner of this team one of the newer games of the Winston Cup trail this may be the most excited I've seen you guys all year coconut oh we are in and the team has worked so hard so as Michael they all deserve it I just hope we have a good day here at Pocono you guys finished second what's he saying does he have a chance to check that rusty Nolen Drive see very strong he did plan hopefully we'll be around here at the end a very important day for you team witness it was certainly bacon the exciting year in 1989 just the greatest thing that happened okay that's what's going on down here almost done in the first turn of the pit area and Jerry punch is also standing by very closely Jerry well Chuck Ryder holds at Michael Waltrip under compliment a team we make an announcement this week we said if you want to even [Music] and they apparently I'm home maybe hiring one of those cotan Pontiac engine builders in NASCAR and that is Kenny Wilson who's been building engines for Richard Petty the last three or four years I understand Kenny wolf and will be their primary engine builder from Michael Walter to look for good things then operation next year about Michael Waltrip is being challenged here or will be in the next lap or so by Davey Allison who has charged back now and is closing in on the second place Michael Waltrip baby Allison charge back towards the front he has had an overheating problem apparently that's going away had a spark plug wire off early in the race at a tire rubbing a right front fender a little while ago he's got a clear vision right now with that new windshield although he had to start what 23rd or 24th in line on the restart he's slowly moving his way now he's just about to take over second place and not faking a bid at the moment will be done at the other end of the racetrack Michael Waltrip in the number 30 yellow country time lemonade sponsored car and it is Davey Allison in the number 28 Hamilton Ford and now Davey slingshots around during going down the backstretch and he hasn't taken the position yet there he does Davey Allison moves to second well he's been so strong going into the turns and coming off the turns that there's no big surprise that he was able just to drive under five Walter there and go on take the position away Barney has quite a catching up to do dogs and Rusty Wallace and has a pretty substantial lead and now we go back and check on the number 26 car he is in fourth position that of course is Ricky run the number five car there of Jeff Bodine is not on the lead lap right has had a good run here this afternoon to think slowed her up and down that in fourth position right now very challenging position is Jeff but I who is a couple laps down tries to move [Music] this forest position second lead on the second place car of Davey Allison Nathan see Jeff bodean passing now Ricky Rudd in that number 26 car Jeff bodean is in 16th position two laps down number six of our car can be pushed behind the wall apparent he's going to be out of it he lost a cylinder earlier at the race of how apparently is going to be Phil Elliott has not led a lap yet however rusty has now clinched the five-point bonus for leading the most laps plus of course he picked up the five bonus for actually leading a lap and so he has picked up 10 points on Phil Elliot so far in this race but again if the race were to end right now Elliot would have the Winston Cup title in hand they are not separated by enough positions that would give rusty the Winston Cup although he does leave this race and we are 47 laps away from the end of this race and Atlanta Georgia and we'll be back after this [Applause] back at Atlanta International Raceway and the Atlanta Journal 500 where Rusty Wallace has the race in in there you can see some of the first time winners in the 1988 NASCAR season Lake speed bill Parsons Ken Schrader and Alan Kulwicki and those four break the record and set the modern-day radio and record for first-time winners and the season it has been a tremendous along those lines before we get rushed at the end of our program there are a few people that we would like to thank here at ESPN for their cooperation as we have covered the Winston Cup races this year needless to say the entire France family list les Richter and dick Beatty who pretty much run things on a race to race basis in NASCAR have been very cooperative with us all during the season Morris and Jeannie Metcalf and scoring Carol Kent at the starter and all others associated with Winston Cup competition thank you gentlemen and ladies very much here's Ricky Rudd in car 26 in Darrell Waltrip in number 17 [Music] Walther physical trick long ago with Davey Allison baby just went on away now the number 17 has pulled up on his back bumper Davey Allison has just moved up Dale Earnhardt the Rusty Wallace still has a good lead but this is the battle for the number five position Ricky Rudd and Beryl wolf you know Michael Waltrip up ahead of his brother Darrell there is that third place would really well they're dope no Davey Allison went outside but Davey's gone on by everybody you know all day here's michael waltrip on the screen running a salad third place nobody's gaining out of it and he's really had not gained on anybody at this point and look at this steady progression that Michael Waltrip has made from a 28th starting position to 13th when he first then back to eighth and now all the way up to third position his best finish of the year by the way was a second at the Pocono 500 so although he hasn't won a race his best finish has been the runner-up position we go back and look at this tussle for the Ricky Rajan and Darrell Walter Darrell still seems to have a little bit of a problem his car as low at the racetrack as he would like to yes Gary Nelson has pointed out several times plenty of horsepower back off a little bit early and they lose a little bit that distance against on the straightaway if two more cars were to drop out of the race then Bill Elliott could drop out and still win the Winston Cup that's how close he is right now to clinching the whole thing boy they can't be breathing and his whole crew and all of his fans still have to hold their breath just a little bit longer you know that's a great thing about Winston Cup racing is it's you just don't know you just got to wait till it's over and then you finally figure it out a long day for Rusty Wallace to fill out while ricky rudd already a winner this year in Winston Cup competition he was the victor at Atlanta and there and the victory circled twice this year at Charlotte and at Martinsville early in the race look like one of the strongest cars on the racetrack and he looks like he's lost a little bit and then we look at there a wall drift right behind him he looked a lot worse earlier in the race that he does now so there wall chips right here the 26 car has lost a little bit and that almost brought on the dead and even running performance right here for fifth place lead held by Rusty Wallace he's running all by himself on the racetrack not being challenged at all he has a rather substantial substantial lead on the second place of Davey Allison trying to salvage the Winston Cup for 1988 back at home [Applause] you'll either be won by a Pontiac driver or a four driver and if it's Rusty Wallace in a Pontiac it'll be the first time since 1962 when Joe Weatherly won the Winston Cup in a Pontiac now as far as the court is concerned last for two when the Winston Cup was David Pearson back in 1969 actually the board cars have not won very many ways to cut championships over the years I think that I was the first driver and I don't say that in a bus commander 1965 and running a Ford and winning the championship that year so we're let's look at head - 1989 we'll be back with our coverage and dr. Jerry punch can perhaps fill us in on what some things we should be looking for when we all that turbulence now as far as ship was concerned there was a lot of speculation till a few weeks ago they will be back next year with the Golden Colorado beer company Coors will be a sponsor as will motor track now there is serious regulation there will be a third associate sponsor in fact they haven't made any commitments yet but we are told we should look possibly for under all to go on the Elliott proof no more penny lines for failed Ernie and and Elliott also next year some crew chief changes Harry hider is no longer with the Folgers team Harry told me about an hour ago and he shook hands as police tavola last night and tomorrow morning Harry hat will go to work as the new team manager [Music] who left the buddy baker the operation next year as will duck right to left if any parcel Dunlevy team of those crew chiefs are lookin a lot of changes coming in to bear 489 gentlemen I'm not going to ask you where you got the underalls cherry battle shaping up here between the number 25 car and the number 11 of Terry Labonte and Labonte is one of those who will be switching makes at the end of this year from the Chevrolet to the junior Johnson Ford at for 1989 this is seventh and eighth right here tip Sykes copepod Terran upon ease car it's hard to say yeah oh yeah it may be just about all over for terry labonte a big puff of smoke coming from that car any speculation Gary it's usually not good but a motor or something like that starts happening it's hard to tell it's coming from under the front so it's probably an oil leak or something even more serious in the engine area Terri's last ride in the Chevrolet jimmie johnson team switching the port's next year and i understand the fort deal is for five years with junior Johnson look at us let's off the gas that makes you think that it's an oil leak that baby to the front of the oil pan a cracked oil pan when he lets off the gas to oil runs to the front and thinks out and causes tough look at their Walter and Ricky Rudd still racing for position Darrell Waltrip it seems has been in a fight for position all day long now he's in one with Ricky Rudd for fifth spot Waltrip is in the tide sponsored Chevrolet number 17 and of course Ricky Rudd in the Quaker State Buick now there's not only the Winston Cup championship at stake here today but something more they were about to get together there but there's something that's very important for the manufacturers which is the manufacturers [Music] cars in a very close battle between Ford and Chevrolet going into this race today I think that the racing hit but the way that it is right now it would be very very close they're going into the race Chevrolet was hit five points over 462 157 Pontiac hundred fifty one was in there very close as well now Ford wins race top Chevrolet arms third place matter-of-fact responds by finishing behind a Pontiac dear friends mobile there be a time so you know there's a lot of calculations in that with Stan yeah we kept on keep talking about the fact that either a Pontiac report is going to win the Winston Cup but Chevrolet is definitely in the thick of things as far as the manufacturers championship is concerned the Pontiac of Rusty Wallace sponsored by Kodiak is there's Tim roar as he watches his driver terry labonte at Atlanta International Raceway there are 24 laps remaining in this 328 left race and if the race were to end right now Phil Elliott would win the Winston Cup with a total of 4488 points to Rusty's 64 but one thing that we will be looking for here in the final 24 laps Ned is another round of pit stop yes most of the drivers will have to make too pissed on Bill Elliott via come here to top off the fuel hospital pride is Frenchie but we could look for Rusty Wallace according to our computers gather from information that we we received from the teams in the pits that breasty Wallace will have to come in somewhere around lap 312 areas that was coming in right now earlier than we're predicting every so he's getting close on fuel he certainly didn't want to run out so let's follow this pit stop of Rusty Wallace Jerry punch I did not [Music] I feel going in at home a little a good business laughter that's very important because he should come out with that good pit stop it remains in the lead lap baby Alison Val has taken over the lead anomaly for number 28 I'm very surprised they changed tires I would have thought just a splash of gas although with about 21 laps left to go I guess they feel like the newer tires on the car will give him that extra speed you know they could have probably got about six or seven seconds worth of fuel in the car and had enough fuel to go to the end but they stayed for the 11 seconds to get the two tires hopefully they'll make up that five-second difference we're predicting that Davey Allison will come in to the left around 314 or so but we see some activity down in his fits now so they buy since Rusty Wallace is already baby stuff they might have been a little bit earlier we were predicting that Ricky Rudd would come in on the path lab 3-bike team Darrell Waltrip traditionally gets better gas mileage than anybody on the racetrack he could go about safety safety too else which might let him go the rest of the way he currently is [Music] after this pitstop now let's go to the pits for some comment from dick burger and own baby Allison stuff well they're getting ready to do that and it looks like it's going to be just a splash of fuel in a couple of rounds of fight and that'll be it but there's a lot of consultation going on here they do not have a computer in the pits they're using the old-fashioned method a pencil and a piece of paper to calculate this thing they're trying to decide the best way to accomplish it well as we have mentioned perhaps our calculations would be correct under normal circumstances early in the race these guys just don't want to take a chance of running out of fuel here in the closing stages and so it could be before lap 314 which we predict for Davey Allison well math is bad whether it's done with a computer a calculator or with the old pencil and paper as we see Michael Waltrip slowing down out of gas yeah apparently out of gas or some kind of problem but Ricky Rudd coming into the bibs Davey Allison screwed a VP and the leader now he has the choice two tires or just a little bit of gas I think everybody should think about just a little bit of gas from here to the pin now here is Michael Waltrip who is coasting in apparently out of gas we can't determine right now whether the engine is not running or not but in any case he's very slow coming in and Larry nuber will report on this stock Bob the engine was dead silent when he came in here they got some fuel in it he got it fired Michael just barely came to a stop they actually refilled this thing spot I was coasting you got it started small running and now Michael Speedway finally was really close call for him people know they did an excellent job of reviewing that thing he almost lost it it slapped 312 and here comes David Allison for his final pit stop of the race moving down off the banking onto the flat part of the racetrack as the crew gets set to go to work on that car we'll see if he changes tires are just fuel here's dick workman it's gonna be just tires right now what a fast pit stop even stolen 3.5 seconds and that was it well let's say Rusty Wallace is coming down towards turn one right now is Davey Allison is going back out off the racetrack Rusty Wallace will move around Eve on the outside as Allison gets his speed up rusty has just passed terry labonte who had moved into the top five so there's still a couple of cars get to make pit stops who are out in front of them including the car number 12 on Baca sander who is leading and Darrell Waltrip who has moved up into second Michael examiner's him the pinch right now let's see what he does Teddy Bergeron Rusty's the only guidance like just a quick splash against not as fast as Davey at all he'll in bill Elliott's coming into the fifth we speculated that he could go all the way but as we see my god Andrew Elliot's on his way an agenda and Darryl Waltrip in car 17 assumes command of the race Ville Elliott as Gary mentioned is in for a stop his final of the afternoon is going to be at splash and go there also they check the tires Jerry punch Jude Elliott's car just rolling the gas 14 more laps to go in the Atlanta Journal 500 it's still a question mark as to who's going to win the Winston Cup there is rusty who just passed Bell Elliot the number 17 car is the leader but not anymore as darrell waltrip brings the tide Chevrolet down off the banking and heads for his pet so Darrell Waltrip will get a splash of fuel before ending this race Larry nuber will call this in the pit row looking right at Darrell's eyes --as Darryl comes into the pits they're trying to get the splash in go technique executed five point four seconds it's the [Music] right down there boy how do you time to push ships now Soleri I use the time off from the phantom wheel stop turn into a started serene I don't think Darrell's wheels ever stop 13 doing the lead is now held by Ken Schrader in mind and holder Chevrolet but there is Rusty Wallace right there on his rear air spoiler so if rusty moves around his freighter that of course puts him at the lead rusty has moved into second place now he was the first of the cars to the bank the pissed off the only one to take on fuel Bobby Hillin juniors in the fence and here comes Rusty Wallace just driving battle the inside of driving barato around he's trying to take back over the week but they thought once I believe that was good sports you can see the dead baby Street there and morning baby came out of the fifth he was in the same frame with Rusty Wallace Oh rusty is pulling away from Davey Allison with those in tires even though Davey's crew adjusted the wedge a little bit it wasn't enough to make up for the new tires of rusty hammer well you can't reward a driver anymore for what he has done this afternoon Rusty Wallace he has done what he had to do he has led the most laps and appears to be on the way to victory but it appears as if the Winston Cup is still going to go to Bill Elliott you'll know after these messages then eight laps ago in this afternoon of racing here at Atlanta International Raceway where Rusty Wallace in the Kodiak Pontiac is leading the race the second-place car is Ken Schrader Davey Allison is third Mike Alexander is fourth and Darrell Waltrip is in fifth position the only one of those cars that has not many [Music] we understand that is the plan right now there are eight cars in the lead lap Cale Yarborough's rushing tonight was just left a moment ago by rescue Wallace and now Bobby Hillin jr. at the car number eight is about to be less obvious running camp a position Ricky Rudd is six Michael Waltrip a seventh and Bobby hill and there was an eighth position he has just been lapped and so now seven cars are on the lead lap and in our opinion the goodyear eagle driver of the race is recipe for so good here we sending a check for $1,000 in his name to the Winston Cup racing wives Association it is from a very good driver to a very good cause rusty as we indicated has done what he needed to do here today he needed to get out front he needed to hopefully win the race he is doing so right now as to whether or not he is going to win the Winston Cup that remains to be seen but it quite frankly doesn't look good his only chance was to try to was to win the race and leave the boat slams he's done [Music] in position to do that but he has done everything that he could possibly do and so if you don't wet [Music] so that does if the RPG making up the driver five laps to go to take the win on today Bill Elliott Bill Elliott here's Phil Ken Schrader out of gas with four four and a half laps to go for that gamble didn't pay off the and look like a good gamble from all of our families here so straighter is coming into the pits for some fuel that will carry him to the finish you can see locks up the brakes and slides to a stop as the crew puts the necessary fuel in the car traitor having a float I'm getting out now the car catches and he begins to move away [Music] as far as the Winston Cup points go Phil Elliott got four laps if his car will keep running there's nobody in front of him there's one part here of behind Rusty Wallace has a little bit of traffic but both these cars continue to run Rusty Wallace I'd have to take my hat off for effort the determination he's shown all year and Bill Elliott the same thing to be able to pull off everything he's done so far this year we saw just a moment ago with right in front of Rusty Wallace is the car number 30 of Michael Waltrip there you see the yellow car number 30 he was running in second third place for a long time and third before he ran out of gas made his pit stop down he's almost a lap down it's unfortunate he finds himself in seventh position [Applause] [Music] the white flag will come out next time around and Rusty Wallace will be on his final circuit at this one and a half mile Atlanta national raceway down the backstretch she will go beside and then around as Barry Dotson and the crew continues to watch their driver Rusty Wallace on the other also as waiting to see what happens to their fiber bill is not going to win the Atlanta Journal 500 but he apparently is going to win the Winston Cup for 1988 bill right now is in 11th position and remember he needed to finish 18th or better to win the race we can rather win the Cup regardless of what Rusty Wallace did and it is going to come down to that situation Rusty Wallace from Fenton Missouri is about to win the Atlanta Journal 500 here he comes off of [Music] the final one of the year [Music] battle victory but here is the war victory that's won by Bill elegant and listened to the partisan crowd [Music] we're just down the road from Dawsonville Georgia Bill's hometown and turnout of people here this afternoon cheer him on to the Winston Cup and they did so successfully [Music] with the glasses on there shake hands very happy fella wraps up that championship that he is soft soul all worked so hard for last year's champion Dale Earnhardt just handed the crown to Bill Elliott they waved to him as they passed him going into the pit area now Rusty Wallace is moving into Victory Lane and it's got to be a bittersweet victory for him sure he's going to be happy that he has won the race but on the other hand and as we see rusty move into Victory Lane Cale Yarborough is taking an extra lap around this racetrack with his and I in the air saluting his fans were applauding him on his last Winston Cup race ever so Rusty Wallace moves into Victory Lane you can see that he is somewhat disappointed because he has lost the championship but on the other hand he drove a very very fine race this afternoon the championship carry is Bill Elliott comes in and other crews move out on pit road to congratulate him as he comes down we'll be going to Victory Lane after this [Music] [Applause] the winner of the Winston Cup emerges from his car Jerry punches right there and his first words old man I'm tired Phil congratulations I shouldn't call you bill your new name is chimp congratulations well I thought you'd want it took the lie slap all day long to know when the thing is I run hard and rust he did what he had to do an idea what I had to do and I dodged bullets all day long and here we are how it needs the left front tire the car coming off the jack what else could happen to you they you had to be thinking we're always brim ones coming from well it was just enough to kind of slow you down but not enough to take it all the way and you know that's all it counts we did what we had to do and you know the crew and all the guys back at the shop mailing coolers motor trial Ford and all the people involved you know it's been a fantastic year you know we didn't win a race but we won the championship that's all the counts bill they said they'd been two years since the national title had been won and brought home to Georgia not in football basketball or baseball and now the Winston Cup goes home to Dawsonville well you know the thing of it is it's for the guys at the shop it's for the all people it supported me around allisonville and it's for the people for the state of Georgia that's really back now you know that's that's who it's for well Harry Melling and Peter Coors are here to celebrate with Bill Elliott the new Winston Cup champion let's go up to Rusty Wallace with dick Berggren well Rusty Wallace here you are in victory lane yet again after another lap down you won the battle but you lost the war how do you feel is this a happy occasion for you or not it's a happy occasion yeah you know cuz we won the race and Barry and I and the whole team talked about it going in the only thing I could do is throw everything I had at him you know just kick him dead and uh and I uh you know I beat him all day long I said in a poll I led the race I led the most laps I won the race I lapped him I did everything I possibly can and he just he just rode around and he just and just had enough time to win it no I like to congratulate Bill Elliott and the whole team it's a happy occasion for me but yet it's a little bit of a letdown and the team understands our feelings but when you try so hard and come up only 24 points sharp shy sure - it's a letdown but I'm very happy for Kodiak Pontiac motor division Mobil 1 AC spark plugs in the hole all the sponsors have stuck with me through this year six wins more seconds more top fives more top tens more money one we murder them but we just come up short in the weeks leading up to this race you and Elliott did a lot of things together almost seemed as if you might become friends have you we're friends were real we're a lot friends and now it's my turn next year I can tell you that I think that I drove hard enough this year and beat on the whole field long enough that I should have won this thing it's just that uh my little incident Richmond got me down and some things like that but that's racing I'm gonna forget about it I'm just gonna work my butt off for this team next year and try to bring home this championship have a nice time in Hawaii his time will come back to you Bob Jenkins but and so the shootout that we talked about before the Phoenix race is completed and it is won by Bill Elliott although rusty wins a race today in our winner's circle interview has been brought to you by Goodyear Eagle tires Goodyear because there really is a difference well we're gonna wrap up our final Winston Cup telecast for 1988 when we come back to Atlanta then members of the Coors Melling motor craft crew now take their victory lap here as bill has won the Winston Cup for 1988 as far as the top five finishers in our race here this afternoon it was Rusty Wallace Davey Allison Mike Alexander Ricky Rudd and Darrell Waltrip well it's been a tremendous season Bob and I'm glad to have been a part of it here on ESPN look forward to 1959 because with the competition we have now and Winston Cup racing I don't think any race fan wants to miss any part of it well it sure was good to see bill Elliott's million-dollar smile and his face lit up his eyes lit up again you know it since 1985 he's really put a lot of pressure on himself to try and get that championship that he came so close to getting in 1985 and really he's been a different person in my opinion as far as his file and as the brightness of his eyes but he sure looks good now the final point standings shows that Rusty Wallace loses the Winston Cup to Bill Elliott by a total of 24 points it's been our pleasure to be a part of the 1988 Winston Cup season and here is how we remember it [Music] Oh [Music] Oh look inside [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] there's not anything say I've thought about this all my life you know what are you gonna do [Music] this is the biggest day of my life and they're all responsible [Music] [Applause] [Music] three-lap there something I have thought about for a long time and I wanted to do something special and never be another first win and I just wanted them give them something to remember [Music] first these guys in German second I want to dedicate this race to my dad and all working people I come out to support [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] there are so many support people that work on these telecasts to think but you know who you are and we thank you very much especially to produce our neil goldberg and director mike wells are also thanks to go to Hardee's and co doc for their support in our in our cameras certainly thanks have to go to Ned Jarrett and Gary Nelson who have worked beside me in the booth and our regular pit announcers dr. Jerry punch Larry Hoover and dick Berggren but more than all we congratulate and thank you the fans for supporting us in the 88 season we'll be back in 1989 for now Bob Jenkins so long everyone [Music]

Channel: SMIFF TV

Views: 20,750

Rating: 4.8035712 out of 5

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Id: S_OrjMq4vHw

Length: 200min 40sec (12040 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 30 2017