2001 UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway | NASCAR Classic Race Replay

this is the land of over the top and we're set to go racing for 400 miles 43 starters 4 million dollar bursts including postseason awards 60 to 65 laps the fifth window let's have a look at the starting lineup today dale jarrett has his second las vegas pole looking to improve on a best finish of seventh here johnny benson ran six last week giving dale a little stuff there from the front row matt burton's run for three in a row dj is the only driver to have four straight top ten starts in las vegas but he has only one top ten finish to show for it for a change in post race scenery he'll need a change of luck bro two jerry nader has his third top 10 start of the season and michael waltrip the daytona 500 winner genies alasko quite a lot of confidence from the 15 crew the feeling is michael walcher could have had the pull but they had to hold back because they didn't have the owner's points to fall back on there'll be no holding back today michael told me he has a very fast car but he'll be keeping one eye on the track and the other on the sky weather a concern for everyone today let's go to row three tony stewart third in la or second in last year's race and todd beaudine yesterday's bush series winner then bobby labonte was fifth in the last two las vegas races he anchors row four along with sterling marlin who has two top tens in two races this year the highest qualified rookie is the hometown boy inside row five that is kurt busch and rusty wallace who finished third here in the las vegas inaugural elliot sadler had a strong run last week 11th and ron hornaday jr has raced here in the bush and truck series ward burton ran second to his brother jeff here in 99 jeremy mayfield has one top five here row eight mark martin won the inaugural bill elliott fourth last year steve burns mike as you said mark martin won the very first race here in 98. last year was he was third but today he starts 15th he's never started this dip deep in the field they've tried three different chassis set up since they've been here they've gone back to square one to see if they can get mark back in victory lane row nine blaney and atwood two of the four fastest in happy hour yesterday jimmy spencer kevin harvick the rookie rockingham winner steve park with matt kenseth the pole suiter yesterday joe nemechek and jeff gordon ricky rudd and stacy compton in his first las vegas start then at row 14 robert presley and jeff burton two-time winner here dick bergeron 33-year-old virginia jeff burton's pass vegas strategies have paid off big in three starts here he's got two wins and a second place over a million dollars in prize money enough to make the tax ban weep with joy but today the odds are against him he starts way back in 28 spot but the guy's got a feel for this racetrack let's see if he can dice his way to the front mike got a long way to come but all afternoon to get there yeah and then i watched him run the bus race yesterday he didn't normally he's dominant in that series as well as in the winston cup and uh so i think they got work cut out for me they don't seem to be having to dialed in this week like they should have matter of fact they haven't had it dialed in any other races we've been to so far this year him a mark either one here the provisional starters fill out the field 43 cars strong well got to remember a lot of guys that has run good here in the past we've got that different tire here this year little harder tire everybody's been searching for the setup a few of them have found it a few i'm still searching yesterday a thrilling bush series race as greg biffle battled todd bodine throughout on what quickly became a two groove racetrack we may get more of the same today we hope so all right they dropped three big coins in they're reaching up to get ready to pull the handle on 800 horsepower getting ready to say ka-ching here we go green flag we're racing well either dale got a great jump or uh benson wasn't ready one another because dale shot right out in front of it johnny benson started like he still had his money in his pocket while uh jared pushed his chips right to the front of the table can't wait for the bars to come up [Music] four car breakout up front with todd bodine moving up to that fourth spot [Music] oh trouble trouble one car up and into the fence against jeff burton in turn two snake eyes jeff burton snake eyes on lap two they'll come to the caution to begin lap three which for us will be all year a silent lap [Music] [Music] under caution we'll pick up with jeff burton who has come to the pit lane heavy damage to the left rear of his ford yeah it's going to take away any chance he's got to win and they may be able to get the car beat out here prepared to get to get back out but no he's going straight to the garage let's see what happened to him just up in that outside groove and the car wobbles a little bit and around she goes i mean the car was just extremely loose larry probably had a couple of spring rubbers laid up in that right rear and that's not good on the start nobody near him but just come around with him you know could be the low air pressure these guys run real low air pressure to start of a race because it builds so much that could have been what bit him here in early part yeah you can watch the car and it just there's a nobody jason leffler no one just barely getting by yeah he did he didn't make any contact so uh car just comes around and that's heavy damage and they took us straight to the garage he didn't even stop in the pit let me show you what happens he goes down in the corner and uh i'll show you what lucy is obviously you saw what it is you come down in the corner you come through the corner you get you're chasing the car up the track like he was doing and all of a sudden that back end snaps around now here's what happens to your hands left left left whoa back to the right and that's that little wobble you see if you watch him on the replay you'll see his car bobble just a little bit and that's the hand motion that you get and then this is the result you get right here backs that thing right up in the wall and that's a hard lick look at it another angle here boy everybody's lucky to get by and he went high and got out of everybody's way and he held it up there so caution us out quickly here in las vegas we'll be right back you're watching nascar on fox [Music] so just wave the green after a quick three-lap caution period and once again dale jarrett tries to step away from this field this time he's got nadu with him in a battle for third johnny benson being challenged by todd bodine in the 66. yeah beaudine is wasting no time i mean he jumped right up there he passed a couple of cars in the first lap and he's got his sights set on lead they got that car like he had that one yesterday larry that thing is awesome well i talked to him this morning they took a lot of the pieces and parts information from that car yesterday especially in the shop package and they put it on this car this morning got a car smoking back here the 32 car ricky craven a lot of smoke from the back of his car as he rolls off into turn one we stay under green and he'll be posted on the black flag board meanwhile jeff burton's car is being worked on in the garage here's matt and frank started in company working on the 99 as jeff burt looks underneath the hood trying to figure out what happened to his car jeff what happened that's a good question i don't know i got in the corner and got in pretty easy and when i got just before the center of the corner it it started coming around and i wasn't on the gas yet or anything and it started and i never could get it to stop um i don't i do not have a clue what happens two weeks in a row that i've gotten i turned around and i don't ever turn around so i don't know i don't know what the deal is um i'm driving a car there's only one person driving the car i don't know what to do when you're driving slow in a big pack and you just spin out i mean i don't i don't understand that well the good news is okay but last week at rockingham he slapped the wall and again trouble today seventh place battle a good one but now ron horn today backing up yeah and in the wall one car spinning at turn two slam in the wall rusty wallace another of the favorites i think there must be oil in the turn over there well ricky craven here comes craving a round to the caution again still out on the racetrack and that two and twenty teammates yeah jeremy mayfield and rusty wallace and they're torn up big time now first brett bodine spun and hit the wall that brought out the caution and then in turn two wallace and mayfield spun up into the wall yeah i think there's oil on the racetrack there's no question about it and what what a day for rusty wallace he come in here even though it's early as our points leader yeah jeremy mayfield the 12 car through the garage this morning everybody said watch the 12 car he will be the man to beat well let me tell you if there's cravings still going around just smoking like crazy you got to be losing a lot of oil out of that car i think you'd probably see a trail coming out but but let me tell you something about jeremy we saw him last year had the fastest car on a number of occasions and he always seemed to find trouble and he's found some more today all right this reminds me of that day in talladega when neil bonnett walked back to the garage after the the latest of several big wrecks and i said well neil you've raced with those fellas who do you think's got a shot to win today and he says the pace cars got a good chance at it there's russell there's rusty there you see him getting all right here spinning hit the outside while there's jeremy he got clipped by dale earnhardt jr an eight card he gets into the outside wall yeah jeremy had started 14th and already he'd come up to eighth place now there's brett bodine at turn four he was the first car into turn into the wall his car just went straight you got to believe he hit oil as well i think either hit oil or as he had already had a tire problem because that car never even acted like it wanted to turn pit road is open most of the leaders elect to stay on the racetrack car's heavily damaged you can see the left rear tires all bowed in and cars torn up big time bill elliott comes to pit road yeah he's got wheel marks all down the right side of his car man i think i made a mistake i think bill elliot's the one in the nine car that got into jeremy not junior right we have completed more or less ten laps here at las vegas you're watching nascar on fox riding around under caution with the race leader our ups cam on board dale jarrett's robert yates ford you saw the pace car pull in we're getting set to go back to green man single file restart you can't pass to the to the left till you cross the start finish line how about that todd go down and jump you've only run about two green laps and he's already drove from sixth to second in the 66 car yeah he kind of snookered uh and they do when they come back to the line but i tell you he's going to the front in a hurry look at this he's coming up off that corner looks like that car did yesterday got a lot of acceleration got that robert yates power and todd bodine who has not led a winston cup race since in two and a half years september 98 at richmond here he goes under dale jarrett [Music] and trouble for ricky rudd he's got a flat left rear tire flat left or tight 28 card he'll get the pit road we got a new leader though todd go down and the 66 car took him about four green laps to get to the front and he's running that high group daryl just like he did yesterday just like he did yesterday believe ricky red's going to get probably get that tire cut down somehow this is going off into turn three no it was already going down and uh boyd bottlenecked everybody up look at this gaggle the cars here man oh my goodness these guys are racing like it's the last lap come on guys get single foul let's go rusty wallace behind the wall genie is with him rusty wallace i know you're not supposed to be in the garage right now but if you have a moment for us you just keep saying i can't believe it i can't believe it what happened well i went down into turn one on the outside cars running great and jeremy uh we got blocked up on a couple cars earlier and i got jeremy in a 14 car on my rear end so i was trying to drive away from i went down to turn one and jeremy got underneath me just lost it and uh that's what happens a lot of times you get real tight with a car you lose air to your rear spoiler and i guess he just lost and got up into me and um that's it we're tore up really bad right now we're trying to get it back out that's what's gonna ask you more important can you get back out there we're gonna try they're working like like crazy on it right now tough start for the points leader his penske ford teammate is back on track jeremy mayfield yeah what happened to jeremy was he got down under rusty just like he said and he in the back end problems with that little wobble that we saw in the 99 car burton there but this time rusty was out there and he clipped as rusty as he kind of tried to gain control of it rookie casey atwood in the 19 the fastest car in yesterday's final practice battling winston cup champ bobby lavonnie's 18 and elliot sadler's number 21 for bobby labonte was one of the cars in 18 i talked to this morning and they was we talked about adjustments in the opening darrell i didn't know you could put so many spring rubbers in a rifler spring again spring rubbers you put in there it stiffens ready that spring really makes a car turn they thought with the overcast conditions the cars would be tighter wouldn't want to turn let's update the lead change for you show you how todd modine got to the front daryl the drivers used to say running the bush race saturday doesn't help me a lot for sunday but now that the cars are so similar saturday or sunday what might todd vaudine have learned that's allowed him to do this well he just took the lead right there as you can see just blew right back uh deal jerry i believe two things for todd particularly a lot of confidence on the winning yesterday but shocks i believe that they're similar now because they got the same close to the same horsepower and tires i believe that the guy that's got the most slaps on these tires right now is a guy that's figuring things out quicker than anybody else taco nine opening up seven tenths of a second on dale jarrett jerry nader tony stewart and back here at 11th place michael waltrip in the 15 trying to hold off sadler you're watching from mark martin and the pfizer viagra cam on board the jack roush number six that's blaney just ahead in the 93 dave blaney who had a great run at rockingham last week excuse me this week monday six days ago yeah short week only feels like last week daryl short week everybody had to hustle like crazy get out here matter of fact we heard them talk about changing mark martin's car over to the car he's racing today once they got out here and let me tell you about that car that's a brand new car the six car and it's what they call a roush burton car it's an in-house built chassis at roush racing and a guy that had a lot of input on it was jeff burton he's starting to really get involved in the building plus the safety of these race cars yeah he's really into the seat technology that's an area that he's really been working in with some doctors and engineers and that's what it takes to get all those problems we got solved is everybody getting involved and getting people involved and coming up with solutions now you see the 12 car right out there in front of todd go down that's jeremy mayfield he is still on the lead lap but he's losing ground fast to the leader what he needs right now you see the left front is just a smoking so he's going to have to get the pit road but he's on the lead lap what he needs right now more than anybody in the next half a lap is a caution ricky rudd is two laps back in the 28th in front of leader todd bodine that's too bad for ricky has a good card he's running well but you know having to come in and make that unscheduled stop 18th place here's bodine's teammate jimmy spencer as you watch from the butt cam on board dale earnhardt jr who has come from 32nd to 20th jeremy's really smoking off a turnover i think he may have cut that tire down kevin harvick 29 the rookie for richard childress in the midst of that there's the tire left front tires cut down that's a smokey saw that's when you say it's not rubbing no more you know why there's no more air that's right spencer had a run on the low side of jeff gordon's chevy and here comes harvick down low on spencer in the 29 car right there right awful below the white line on the front straight away this is one of the few tracks where you can do that and still talk about it the next lap yeah actually you can pass pretty easily down there it's real flat and the transition from the apron up onto the track doesn't upset the car earnhardt jr and number eight around the outside of kevin harvick it's so great to see this at las vegas this is something we have never had in three years we've got two even almost three racing groups these guys can race side by side through the course yeah we saw that yesterday in the bush series they were moving that groove up up up and before this stays over with they'll be up closer to the wall yet there's part of jeremy mayfield's tire sitting to the inside of the back stretch well larry said he wanted a caution he just about got one he made it himself there's two distinct grooves being run together down in the 66 running the second group dale jarrett an 88 car running the bottom and a lot of that where you run has a lot to do with what gear selection you made if you've got a real low gear in the car you might want to keep it tight around the bottom if you got a higher gear you might want to free it up and run it around the top and get that momentum off the corner right now pretty much the clock says these guys are running the same lap time around here running two different crews and they're about 1.8 seconds ahead of jerry nadu tony stewart and then it's a gap back to johnny benson sterling marlon and ron hornaday back at sixth yep stewart's coming he's got nadew and makes the pass for third place and you mentioned it in opening a year ago if it hadn't been for the rain that man was probably going to win the race had he had not had the rain come or had a problem well you know what doctor who has probably got his package in there today caution is out and it's for that debris on the back straightaway so this will be the third caution of the day and it comes out at lap 26. this will be a break for ricky rudd he will get one of his laps made up and what he'll be able to do he's been the only car been lapped down we go back racing he'll probably come in and get four tires he'll be able to start at the front of the pack next to todd beaudine but we may see the rest of the leaders on pit road since we've run 27 left oh yeah i think everybody will come on pit road it you know todd godin had trouble with in the pitch yesterday i believe and this is no disrespect to that team but unless they did a lot of practice and over the winter this could be his achilles heel as the day goes on they got to pick it up in the pit today boys come on larry boy there you see uh jeremy mayfield doing the vegematic impression on that uh what was a what 400 goodyear tire and i'm seeing a lot of other debris come off the car besides tire i saw some aluminum come off so that's probably the biggest reason aluminum is sitting out there dick bergeron well we're surprised to hear that ward burton is loose loose loose because yesterday everybody was talking about their cars being tight they're going to try to fix that on the pit stop to matt a lot of teams of built in adjustability dale jared has won todd parrott just asked dale how is your car after only 16 or so of green flag laps he said the car is just a tick loose steve burns well matt tony stewart's going to come down to greg zip but dally's crew i just talked to the crew they said we're not sure about the chassis adjustments but we're definitely going to put on four tires even though it's early and you know everybody's complaining about being loose that's not unusual larry because what happens if you talk about push push push car won't turn then when you get ready for the race you make them too loose to start the race you jump the fence you go too many adjustments too many here's our triple split you'll see the pit stop times in the box here's steve and tony stewart's in greg simpidelli's crew working to the right side so far no chassis adjustments to the number 20 car left side tires going on for tony stewart let's go to that joker a chassis adjustment on the 88 car of the pole center dale jarrett the 20 car is already out up their road dale jarrod now away he will beat the 88 car dick berger tommy baldwin is the rear tire changer you rarely see a crew chief go over the wall anymore but ball was the man and they are having a long struggle in the right rear taking that spring rubber out to try to adjust the car to get rid of the push ball would put it way behind because it was his job to do it takes extra time knocking small just the way of the world tough break for burton he takes off at the fairytale end of the pack but tony stewart's team was dealt a pat hand drew no cards 14.4 second pit stop puts him up front we're under caution at las vegas this is nascar on fox retired the damage too severe he joins brett bodine and jeff burke his cars in the garage area after just 30 laps and he was one of only two cars that he had both top ten finishes in the first two races here's brett beaudine genie are they gonna get brett back in well i'll tell you what i'll ask brett exactly that larry mcdonald wants to know if you're getting back in here yeah we're gonna make a back out uh hopefully we got all the bad luck out of the way for the boat eins today uh todd's got a great car out there and uh i'd like to see him win both of this weekend uh we just got in the oil you know unfortunately nascar didn't get a yellow out fast enough and looked like rusty wallace and myself were the two victims sit you wait working on that right front suspension very heavily steve this is the left rear tire that came off of ricky rudd's race car there's a cut right here and i want to show you exactly how much damage it did this is the outer liner this is the inner liner they caught a tire within a tire it's cut all the way through this outer liner but the inner liner kept him from being down on the rim and maybe into the wall right yep he's one lap down he'll be the only car on the inside of tony stewart on this restart here he can't jump tony but he can maintain speed with him and try to make that other lap back up i believe he's good enough to do it uh he looks like he was running along pretty well [Applause] hear him come up through the gearbox we're back to green [Music] stewart and jarrett take off they have ricky rudd as a buffer before time will lie in the third place car and here's ron hornaday number 14 that green pontiac of aj point challenging johnny benson yeah i was watching him before that caution came out and he's got a really good car today he's really makes up a lot of time too look at the 66 right there on the outside we haven't even completed a lap since we went back to the restaurant do you think he didn't learn something from yesterday that's where he looked yesterday let me tell you about hornaday ron they call him rocket restart ron hornaday on the west coast and in the truck series he and the late richie evans the best restarters i've ever seen here's beaudine up alongside dale jarrett he goes on into second place and he's flying matt a little air pressure adjustment his car was just a tick tight on the 66 car he's going for the lead he said his car was very good but they're just trying to make small adjustments because they have found on this new tire a small adjustment means a big adjustment this weekend this fella's in another zip code i'm telling you he's doing the same thing he did yesterday folks he may not have seen the telecast yesterday he drove around him on the outside he drove around on the inside doing it again today and i don't care where we're at when you drive by tony stewart and dale jared on the outside you're good that's right i know it scared dale jared i saw him wiggle a little bit when he looked over and saw todd going back now here's jared trying to mount a run on stewart for second place sterling marlin in the 40 car there he's done moved up to fourth place as well in the silver car [Music] i got racy going on everywhere dale jr and ryan newman they're all fighting along here with robert presley two forwards a pontiac a dodge and a chevy in the top five this is a battle for 19th right there 19th position see ryan newman in o2 car the rookie on about only a second winston cup start he is the third penske car we talked about the only one don't have problems boy bill really jumped up there on the outside he got a good run got a good bite you can pick that throttle up early in the corner you can do that to a guy that's trying to keep it low you could buy them on the outside meanwhile dale jarrett moves for second around tony stewart and here's sterling marlin also passing stuart's pontiac now it's not unusual to see that happen to tony i've seen tony struggle for 10 15 laps after a restart but the longer that car runs the better it gets and i think you'd attribute that to doctor who and doctor who is who he's the shark man okay i like that i love that name when tony said that the other day i said yes that is exactly who he is well we have little kids and i was thinking all the who's in hoopfield that was up terry labonte's car last year all right todd bodine has jumped out to a 1.3 second lead dale jarrett now has passed tony stewart and is trying to track him down but the man who's coming hard and fast is sterling marlon in the number 40 dodge back here it's marlin on the right side of your screen he's got to get past ricky rudd's lapped car to have a chance to challenge but that's pretty much been the fastest of the dodge fleet these second two races yeah he's had he's had great start to his season the cars run well and handled really well for him and everybody thinks he's a guy that can win this race today bobby labonte that green number 18 just went past the number 20. how about the yellow car here steve park the one car he started 21st last week's winner at rockingham he has already moved up into the top 10 in the ninth position challenging the 10 car johnny benson well i talked to him in the pre-race show and he said he was happier with his car than he was unhappy with it but they had a little work to do they made some changes this morning looked like they were right now here's hornaday underneath stewart's pontiac and that will change fifth place stewart trying to battle back on the high side there's quite a crowd right behind them there's nadew benson and park okay ron hornaday's got a good car today guys he's as far as really getting into the corner watch how he opens up on tony stewart getting down into three there right around the bottom on the white line accelerating up off that corner and you got the one back here that looks like he's getting through the turns really well too and they're all going to work their way underneath tony stewart [Music] more on steve parks number one here's steve burns daryl you mentioned last week that more than 50 teams were out here testing but surprisingly the number one team did not come out here crew chief paul andrews told me this morning he did not want to burn up a test because he felt like the track would change from january until now well that's the advantage of having multi-card teams i know michael came and tested and they can share information and they feel like the cars are similar enough that whatever worked for them for michael but probably worked pretty good for steve in what they're talking about burning a test nascar only allows a team to test seven times over the course of year unless you're a rookie of the year candidate then you can test 12 times you have to give the rookies a few extra tests because they've never been to some of these tracks before so they give them a little opportunity to catch up benson and park battles side by side now johnny benson's number 10 pontiac departs number one chevy yeah as good as park's car looked and he's coming back on the outside there benson drove under him going into three turn three's a little tougher than turn one one you kind of arc it down in there you got a little it's a little more forgiving turn three you've gotta drive it to the end of that straight away and then cut it right to the bottom it's a lot tighter getting into three than it is into turn one riding with the home depot cam on tony stewart's pontiac watching the battle ahead for eighth place [Music] what i don't like about this right here from johnny benson steve parks crew chief guys i know it looks good you're running side by side you're racing but it's early and that leader is getting smaller and smaller up there and there he is todd bodine with a 1.3 second bulge on dale jarrett eight tenths of a second further back sterling marlin then bobby labonte and ron hornaday has fought his way up into the top five [Music] 42 laps complete at las vegas and todd bodine yesterday's bush series winner is trying to double down here in las vegas [Music] ron hornaday green 14 johnny benson picking up fifth spot from hornaday there is a race going on fellas down yeah we'll explain it to you a little later i see now while they just do a pre-race show the hometown hero is kurt busch las vegas native and uh he's trying to hold off jeff gordon for 13th place [Music] just an update they must have found what was leaking on ricky craven's 32 car he has uh there he's back out on the racetrack but he's a bunch of laps down just trying to make laps and finish the race today i know he's disappointed because had such a great run last week and uh i really thought he had a good car for today that's unfortunate to get get in trouble like that early on 15th place battle dale earnhardt jr chevrolet inside bill's car bill's been moving up you know pretty well he's run the high line and seen him get around several cars running up on the outside he's he's making some progress toward the front and here is benson he's on a roll hot shooter he's got bobby lubati and that's for fourth and for the lead dale jarrett goes after todd bodine yeah i don't know a todd's car looks like it's got the picked up a little push he didn't make any changes on his pit stop the car might be tightening it up track's getting a little rubber down on it from from the race that uh so far and i think the deal's a little better than he is right now this is the telemetry off dale jarrett's 88 car right here you see going down the front stretch right here see the little green jelly up there indicates where he's at on the racetrack off into turn one daryl a little bit of break right there probably a whole probably a whole lot of break right there you saw it it turned probably about 88 8 900 rpms it's coming off turn two he's off the break going down the back stretch rpm's climbing you'll see it turns less rpms going into turn three that it did turn one about 83 8400 going into turn three a lot shorter straight away on the back stretch yeah and plus he uh he gets a little draft off of uh todd going down the front straight away here and that really picks up the rpm as well and that's kind of that gear thing you play with both the joe gibbs cars backing up a little bit here's bobby lavonny surrendering fifth to the number 14 of hornaday [Music] his teammate tony stewart is back in ninth the thing about the 18 car bobby labonte i wouldn't worry about him just yet uh he's just kind of biting his time about michael waltrip in the 15 car there started in fourth backslid a little bit after the pit stops he goes by bobby labonte and i guarantee you he ain't biden his time he's got the bit in his mouth he's going baby jerry nedu now coming up to challenge the body and this will be for seventh place up front jarrod just keeps gnawing away at the low side on todd bodine yeah you get bogged down coming out of that turn over so a little slow coming out of there but uh he really gets a run on him off at turn four here coming down the front i'd say they probably got a little different gear selection probably a 370 and a maybe a 380. todd's got the 380. jared's got the 370. he's coming down the front here and you'll see uh he's getting a little draft off the todd so you see quite a bit of rpm about 8 800 getting in there has to use a lot of break to keep it on the bottom gary comes up off turn two can't quite get under todd off the two has to drop back in behind him try to get under him going into three here he's going to take two different lines dale's going to go to the bottom todd's going to stay up around the top should be a drag race off turn four [Music] now jared on the bottom and bodine has a full car length on him and the spotter's telling dale jerry just keep doing what you're doing you'll get him you'll get him you just keep inching up under him like that pretty soon you'll get by about 180 miles an hour going off into the corner running side by side with each other on a mile and a half flat cornered racetrack yeah i mean we sit up here and we just folks at home don't have any idea how fast these race cars are 180 mile an hour the mile and a half racetrack is flying baby and when those cars go into turn three that camera up on the roof is not quite half a mile away from so it's such a long shot here as they come by you'll get a little better sense of just how quick they are and how quick sterling marlin is coming into the picture yeah he's really gained he's cutting into that lead i think that the two leaders right now todd and dale are up there racing each other and that's allowing sterling marlin to close up in a hurry but i like this you got one down low you got one up high and uh that makes for some good racing that's what fills these seats and here goes jarrett gotta get him this time four he's got him this looks like biffle and bodine in yesterday's race without the contact i'm thinking that todd probably at this point said all right i'm gonna let dale go he's making me run way harder than i want to right now and i'm gonna follow him a while and see what he's got fellain the brown suit came to the door tuesday with a package and said he didn't want to race his truck i explained it to him dick bergeron ron horton started in 12th spot he's motored his way to the sixth position and he has called his crew and he has called his spotter and he has asked for help the help he wants what's the best line he wants to know where the fast guys are running high lower in the middle looks like there's vast guys in all those places mike hornaday in sixth now his last lap a 33-98 that's only about a tenth of a second off of what dale jarrett ran on his last lap steve well tony stewart as we said a moment ago when they pitted they took on four tires but they didn't make any adjustments to the chassis he has radioed his crew and he said i am loose but they are set up for the long runs they'll be good better longer if it stays green let's go to matt joachim due to the early caution flag laps a number of teams were not able to get a good read on their fuel mileage larry carter told me they feel the 66 car can go about 60 laps playing a safe i spoke with doug yates this morning he felt like the 88 car could go around 68 laps the 28 which is a lap down could go 70. jeremy mayfield coming back out on the speedway all right folks it as a driver the start finish line is our reference point so whenever we're talking to our spotter about track position where is everybody we always refer to the leader he's at the line now that way we can feel we don't know about two or three seconds the driver doesn't he only knows about where he is on the racetrack so as you go along the spotter will tell you the leaders at the line now and that tells you where you are relative position to the leader and you can usually tell if you're gaining or losing some because of that now here comes dale he's coming down to the line and the spotter would say that 88's the line now and then wherever you are around the racetrack will you on the back straightaway or wherever you are they would tell you here comes michael and he probably knows where the leader was we're looking at him darrell because these last four laps he has been the fastest car on the speedway running two to three tenths quicker than the race leader so michael walter pops up onto the leaderboard and he's on the move 63 laps into the uaw daimler chrysler 400 in las vegas [Music] ryan newman the purdue engineering major who's going to run the abc tour this year some arca races some bush races and some cup races now the five drivers eligible for the million dollar no bull bonus and the five fans paired with them joe gordon are jeff gordon in 16th nemechek 17th the best of that bunch it's not looking good for the fan that might win a million dollars a day kenny wallace 36 he's already went on lap vegas has not been good to him in three races he's never finished better than 39th wow you know some tracks are like golf courses some golf courses don't accommodate the way you play some tracks don't accommodate the way you drive no golf course accommodates me you the hacker maybe maybe oh what's this all about well this is mike wallace trying to stay on the lead lap and number seven okay one thing they'll do that'll slow down dale jarrod and allow some of these other guys to close up a little bit like michael he's back in there coming pretty fast it's only two cars lapping under 34 seconds daryl and that is johnny benson and michael waltrip there's michael and [Music] there's our fox tracks giving you his instantaneous speed around the speedway he's going around the kenny wallace there and see how fast he's going up the back there it's 180 into turn three now that's the slowest part of the track i mean actually getting into in the end of that turn compared to what you're going to see watch what that thing does going down into turn one now [Music] see he's already over 182 three 484 miles an hour there he is after benson [Music] this is cool accelerate up onto the straightaway fences 180 into three just like michael was there's i think that's why michael's faster he went through the middle of the corner a lot faster miles per hour than johnny vincent carter picked the throttle appointment let's see what benson does well pulled off him but let me tell you something 184 miles an hour down into turn one and then you wonder why when something happens to one of these cars they go into the wall and you say god didn't look that bad you tried it 180 miles an hour it used to be there were only two tracks in nascar where you could run that speed daytona and talladega everywhere we go now we run 175 mile 980 mile an hour down the straightaway and we're going to a place next week you want to see some speed wait till next week atlanta will be over 200 trap speed going into the corners for more on johnny benson here's matt johnny benson started second dropped a fourth but he is reeling in the 40 car of sterling marlon he radioed in the crew chief james it's his car is getting a little loose but let's not make any adjustments they were a little surprised by their great qualifying effort they felt like this car and testing would race better than the second car they had out here during the test which was faster on short runs they also had an unknown because of the bush race going after happy hour a new process this year so they were a little unknown about some things steve burns well matt michael waltrip on their last pit stop they also decided not to make any adjustments to the number 15 car after about 20 laps the car started getting better once the tire pressures came back up they expect a pit by about lap 87 in about 13 laps well the problem with the car that's good on the long run as you can see here i mean michael's car is starting to come in but he's 13 laps away from a pit stop so it takes too long for him to get going by the time he gets going the leader is way up ahead of him and so he's always going to be behind he's got to do something to pick a speed up on the early part of his run now dale jared is now running 34 flat 34 seconds flat and you see there's uh what's that song nothing in my rear view i don't know that one okay i know i know i got a hot rod ford and a two dollar bill and i know a place just over the hill [Music] it's hot look at the tail how they stuff all that stuff in that hotel down there as well that's a little bitty room down there long gap back now to todd vaude in three seconds it's a further 1.3 seconds back to sterling marlin but johnny benson is gaining on marlon as dale jarrett leads him here in las vegas 76 laps are complete this is nascar on fox so pit road is open and the leaders are all right back in yeah even though they were in just momentarily uh just a few laps ago they're back in there again to get those right sides just get some fresh right sides and johnny benson leads the back back off pit road once again let's show you what happened to put us under caution as they work to remove john andretti's car from the turn two wall i see in nemechek they go into the first turn there they get real close oh you just look at nemechek it's just pulling the back into his car around and it just keeps pulling and pulling it they run out of racetrack into the wall they go that's a classic example of taking the air off the guy's spoiler i mean that outside car is just pulling that inside car with it pulling it around there's nothing the guy on the inside can do and what a shame for andretti he started 38th in the petty dodge and was running 18th well that's a big hit for both cars they just get into turn one and that's a 185 mile an hour internet corner folks and that crawling outside he's got a hole to that one that air on that uh car from the outside it's got to hold the one on the inside it just keeps pulling it it won't it can't there's nothing he can do he can't gas it he can't break it he can't do anything how much of an effect was curt bush right behind nemo well that's just adds you know it just adds that much more to it not only has he got the car on the outside pulling it around he's got the car behind him taking air away so he's in that kind of zone where there's nothing he can do [Music] dick bergeron could update us on pit stops well dale jarrett came in took four tires he said the car was just to kick loose going into the corner so they adjusted a bar in the back end that they call the track bar do you see birds dick michael walter came in he just took right side tires he's been complaining the car is a little bit loose his crew chief just said hey get those tires worked in good get ready to go let's go to matt yoko johnny benson was very happy with his car they only took on two tires that's why he was one of the top cars off his road this caution was a big break for the 66 car todd bodine his car turned tight on that last set of tires genies alaska well there's two things the a crew likes they like the green flags because they say their car is running really well through the long runs while others have to slow down the other a quick pit stop fourteen five six when they just came in junior was gonna come back through and take two more tires but um he missed the entrance to hit road so he's gonna stay back out there guys all right here you go here's what we talk about all the time this is why the crew chiefs that's why you miss pit road crew chief's saying hustle hustle hustle to the end of pit road and then when you leave pit road they're saying hustle hustle hustle get back up to speed these are ins and outs this is what how long it took dale jarrett from the time he entered the pit road until he got back to the start finish line and you can see jared marlon they were so much quicker than uh than todd beaudown and michael i mean that made up a bunch of time on the racetrack everybody back on track after pit stops as we worked the fourth caution flag of the day here in las vegas [Music] cars trying to get a lap back on the inside including elliott saturn this is a dog fight to get out in front of the race leader well it really is and you know what for the first time this year and i know it's only a third race but mark martin is going to lead a lap up under green so that's a big turnaround for that team of what we see in the first couple of races and look who's up to second ron hornaday the two-time champion of nascar's truck series doing a mighty fine job today so far so good for him stacy compton in the 92 car now he's not the third place car he's trying to get to the front a lap down get to the front hopefully make this lap up got a fast race car right now though yeah it sure looks like it he's coming up on the outside of hornaday and hornaday's not put he's putting them down pretty good too so uh that's a good move for stacey two young guns right behind them the aid of dale earnhardt jr in the 97 rookie kirk bush got all the kids at the front right now might turn into a kid's playground before the day is over with here comes one of the old masters up on the outside number nine bill elliott they're at fifth place and johnny benson in sixth you know mike i don't know if you told the story about the nine and the 92 uh how the numbers came about but uh why don't you tell the fans about that because i think it's very interesting elliot started his career with number nine sold his family race team his and his dads and his brothers race team to uh harry melling michigan industrialist and then when elliott went off to drive elsewhere that number nine stayed with the mellings harry milling passed away last year bill elliot came to drive for ray everham at dodge and they asked to use the number nine and made a deal with mark melling harry's son where the mellings would also switch to dodge and receive some factory support and they changed their number to team nine two as in nine also so it's nine back with bill elliott and 92 for the mellings with stacy comey so he's 9-2 right or nine also also wouldn't fit on the door it didn't look good [Music] all right we see the six car mark martin first place eight carved elearn hart jr bill elliott and nine car what happened on that last caution these guys elected since they only had a few laps on their tires to stay out for track position again we had only run four or five green flag laps since they pitted on the green these guys said hey i want some track position i want to see what my car can do up front mark martin was 33rd at daytona finished 20th at rockingham and now he is out front battle for third place bill elliott ron hornaday one down low one up high and uh phil should have the advantage off the corner elliott takes the spot and sets chase after earnhardt jr boy i'm glad to see dale jr up there running good uh this is a good therapy for him after uh what's happened to him the last couple of weeks you're riding with dale earnhardt jr there closes up on the lap car stacy compton often holding his own man i mean it's uh you can get get a break here let's see after a caution you'll see some different cars at the front almost every time guys go in they make adjustments they may get one of those spring rubbers out or they'll make an air pressure change or a wedge change and all of a sudden a guy that wasn't very good he's a rocket and he's up in the front and going like mark is you know a fan may ask well the 92 car he's so far behind the six car to make his lap up why is he racing del oro junior just on the last caution we had about three race cars that made their lap up because they beat that leader back to the start finish line but compton slid up the track just a bit here comes earnhardt that open the door right there and they'll drive down under him and he should have position going into turn one how about the ten car johnny benson he was one of the cars that did pit and he's back to fifth position right now on dale earnhardt jr who's genie [Music] well guys as you were saying it is great to see junior running so well and quite honestly it's great to see him get past the first lap a lot of uh encouragement here in the crew and obviously an emotional day as teresa earnhardt made her way to the track and had a press conference earlier this morning asking for race fan support it was a dose of reality really before the race for junior if for even one instant his mind wandered from the tragedy he was thinking about it again but he says he is in full support of teresa this morning i asked tony yuri jr who is not only the front tire changer on this car but also a good friend of earnhardt jr how's the young man doing and yuri said that he is doing incredibly well given the circumstances that he's thoroughly focused on the race car communicating extremely well and holding up given these very very difficult circumstances under which he races today you know this city has a great awareness of nascar racing and appreciation for dale earnhardt last night at the ruiz holyfield fight they had a moment of silence in honor of earnhardt rang the ringside bell ten times and today the flying falcons from the 422nd test and evaluation squadron here at nellis who flew the missing man formation and that's something that's only very very rarely done in honor of a civilian we remember dale earnhardt mark martin leads this race now by 1.8 seconds that's a great tribute and i'll tell you if junior gets up here and gets after mark and takes the lead this place will come alive but these people jump out of these grand stands his two teammates have won this year as earnhardt jr chases mark martin bill elliott third ron hornaday and johnny benson the top five this is nascar on fox 10th place battle bobby labonte trying to take it away from 24 jeff gordon yeah i think labonte i still believe he's got a pretty fast car i think he's just taking care of his car right now and what happened right there jeff gordon overdrove that corner he tried to beat bob in the body getting in the corner look at the price he paid coming off the board yeah he didn't he didn't want to give up that spot but he overdrove it right behind them 88 pull center dale jarrett and the 29 rookie kevin harvick this is the richard childress team but they have put the number three of dale earnhardt on a moratorium for one year and i noted today even the nascar credentials for that team have been changed to 29 that's the number they'll use for harvick in that white chevrolet they've changed the uniforms the car covers right now there's nothing that's symbolic of the three black car when you see that car right there that six car when you see it around the inside of the race track with that left wheel down on that white line that is traditional mike uh mark martin right there and uh when he looks that good when his car is handling that well he is somebody you're gonna have to deal with that thing is right on the bottom right where he likes oh there's a pass benson and jordan going at it again they've been in close contact all race johnny benson in the 10 car he caught ron horner day in the 14 really quick but darrell he got to him and it's like he couldn't get by him and i think what we're having we hear it a lot and race tracks with speeds at 180 miles an hour is the arrow push what happens when you get up behind the car it takes the downforce off the front end of it and the car won't turn todd bodine meanwhile has caught bill elliott in that race for third look at how slope the noses are these cars folks as the air flows over that nose the car needs that air pushing down on the front when you get behind the car you lose it all you get lift actually which is a nightmare for a driver and then like we saw a little bit ago with nemechek and john andretti if you get oh gosh i mean you ought to see that right here there it is there it is i've about jumped out of my seat oh ryan presley on the high side with mike skinner in the middle one of the noble five cars and michael waltrip and now that brings ward burton into play and the problem was it was three wide but two off was on april oh they were all over the place [Music] well let's let you enjoy some uh nearly 800 horsepower on each of these cars and let the pictures tell the story take your surround sound at home and just give that knob a big crank it up [Music] [Music] huh [Music] um [Music] this battle won't quit ward burton there 22 michael walter 15 and robert presley 77 they're all fighting for 18th position they're your biggest gainers in this race dale earnhardt jr from 32nd at the start to second place behind this man number six mark martin march car continues it looks really good and dale jr does too and shelly it's right there just in hot pursuit of dale jr so got some good cars running at the front right now guys they got their cars adjusted around kind of like they want them things are looking pretty good for some of these guys you know we talked this morning about looking for a percentage a statistical average that would help evaluate the performance of these nascar drivers baseball you have a batting average football you have a pass completion advantage uh basketball you have a field goal percentage um maybe percentage of top fives or percentage of top tens of per starts is something that would be kind of helpful or useful winning percentage that doesn't really tell the story especially of of one season yeah because we run so many races uh in our point system is based on an average you know the guy that has the most consistent finishes so uh yeah it's hard just to determine off of wins alone but let me tell you one thing off that graphic we saw earlier these guys never get a chance to rest they are always in the pit in the pit they gotta hustle on the racetrack they gotta hustle and what steve got going on down there but what'd you find out hey we're hustling we're doing a little fuel mileage thing down here daryl if you've ever wondered how the teams figure it they know that a gallon of gas weighs just a hair over six pounds they know depending on the weather exactly how much more over six pounds this is a gas can that's full down in steve parks pits 83 83.7 this holds 11 gallons of gas that's how much it weighs with the can they'll put two cans in at a gas stop then what they do is they go over to a scale which is right next to the pit box it says do not stand so don't ask me to get on it but they'll weigh how much fuel is in the can that's how they know how much they actually got in and then they can start figuring out how many laps they can run now in addition to all the teams running the same tires they all run the same fuel it's provided by 76. it's a leaded racing gasoline it's a 110 octane don't try this at home it comes from pumps right here that's that has tanks in the ground and you can go there and it's got a reading on it just like you do at the service station they'll tell you how many gallons the reason they weigh it i'm the crew chief i need to know now how much our fuel mileage is right start figuring right away toward the end of this race right you can't just measure the volume of gas left because some might have come out the overflow you have to pour everything even in the little catch can back in the fuel can before you weigh it mark martin has a 2.4 second lead here at las vegas bill elliott dale earnhardt jr todd bowdaw 129 laps [Music] rusty wallace and his teammate jeremy mayfield got tangled up at lap nine lap 26 tire debris brought out the caution at lap 96 joe nemechek who's just returned to the racetrack got tangled up with john andretti so four cautions thus far seven different leaders dale jarrett has led the most laps 42 but mark martin in three laps from now will eclipse that got mark martin in the sixth car he's almost two seconds uh bill elliot's chopping a little bit off there as they split down the back straight away in the nine card and you see dale earnhardt jr over two and a half seconds in the eight car behind mark martin the leader that's first second and third right there actually i think bill is closing the gap a little bit uh larry as we move along here he and dale jr have been able to maintain pretty good distance between them but i believe they're closing down on mark a little bit you know daryl i've watched this race unfold and it has a typical las vegas look here i mean mark martin i won't say he was struggling but the only way he got a lead earlier by staying out now he's maintained the lead and he's running at the bottom of the racetrack i'm seeing todd bowman he just drove by everybody on the outside earlier now he's not he's not struggling i mean he's sitting there running in fourth position jeff hammond you're out there what do you think is going on i think what's going on right now larry is a it's getting a lot cooler out there so racetrack has definitely changed the driver since the start of the race the other thing is talking with jimmy finnick earlier this morning they weren't happy with their race car yesterday afternoon but they looked at the weather they made a little bit of a guess put some rubbers in the right rear make a couple of minor adjustments and they said they would start the race a little bit looser anticipating a racetrack coming and right now marks in his zone he's got that number six car jack roush is working right down the bottom like he used to do just talked to todd parrott about his car dale jarrod his driver led so many laps and now he is running in 11th spot harris said there's really no problem with the car they're not concerned at all and you are right about mark martin in a zone he just radioed to his crew and said those simple words he says so often we've got a good race car look out for that number six matt from about 30 minutes before race time until now the temperatures dropped about 9 degrees down here on pit road i spoke with james ants the temperature is not really affecting their car although they are hearing a number of cars are complaining about turning to the tight side i talked to larry carter crew chief on the 66. he says his car is tight progressively getting tighter hoping to make some changes on their next stop to genie well the a car is one of the cars complaining about the tightness he said the car car's been consistent all day but yes matt as you said the temperature has dropped and it is becoming a bit of a problem nothing too terrible they're talking junior through it because it'll be a while before he can stop again [Music] seconds back of elliott who is now within a second of race leader mark martin yeah if i'm uh mark martin he might like his car but i tell you somebody likes their car better and that's awesome bail he's got that ram charger coming to the front this is cheryl crosson leaving las vegas how about mark martin leading las vegas he has led every one of the winston cup races here he won in 98 he led 82 laps in 99 he finished 10th but led 17 laps last year he finished third and led 33 laps and today mark martin's led 40 for him i thought she's going to talk about the sheryl crowe song all i want to do is have some fun but i see i'm not the only one i think bill elliot is having some fun right now he is running down mark martin yeah in about five laps he has chopped over a second off but now remember let's set the stage here you got mark martin in the sixth car bill elliott and the nine these guys did not pit the last time and they're about 10 to 12 laps away from penstocks dick berger what are you hearing down there well they haven't they have not said anything at all yet about pit stops down here in the six bit i'm sure that they're just going to hang on and wait and see if they get a caution flag you're right it's a five-lap differential between that six car and the rest of the field but he's got that that five or six laps it's not that big a deal it's not a lot and man he's been out in clean air ever since he dropped the green flag the only thing that makes it a big deal daryl hit for fuel reason he'll have to pit before those other guys and the thing they don't want to happen when they're on pit road and other guys are still out there as a caution come out larry i told you let me have some tv time we i've been on tv all year i got to get my new sponsors from tv time man johnny benson battling todd bodine this is for fourth place benson trying to take it away he's on the low side ricky rudd there in the 28 car behind these guys still a lap down from having that flat tire earlier in the race there's some cars back in here that are really running well we haven't mentioned them very often but the 97 car in the top 10 and the 29 car guys he just keeps easing up to the field harvick doing a good job today there's benson on the inside moves past jeff burton who spun and popped the wall on lap two 143 laps complete here at las vegas mark martin leading bill elliott we'll be right back with more nascar on fox [Music] on to the lead and there's there's a bunch of changes well i'd like to be down there in ray everham's pit right now because you know i mean we talked about dodge at daytona and they had a great outing obviously but uh bill elliott right here leading this race and uh this is a different kind of race than what we saw at daytona obviously but this is a big deal for the dodge guys also a lapa ghost sterling marlins dodge past todd bodine for fifth so uh you know long runs they've got the eight car coming on pit lane i think it's dale jr it is so green flag pit stops begin at lap 148. jeannie yeah guys the eighth car forced a pit earlier than expected he's noticed a vibration now they think it is a tire problem so he's going to get four new ones a slight adjustment to that left rear they're going to take a little air out give him a little fuel this one larry about 10 laps early well you know i just but if he's got a vibration again he was one of the cars that stayed out while ago so this is not a bad move you don't want to stay out there and what we they all wanted to do is get to what we call the window which was lap 140 that means everybody if they come in after lap 140 they can go to the end of the race on one more pit stop so bernhardt jr has done that and comes back on track phil elliott your leader mark martin and jeff gordon moves past steve park as bobby labonte did two laps ago now this will change 10th place stacey compton buckshot jones pit dick bergeron is in the leaders pit i'm with jimmy fennig and jimmy how will you pit and what will you do to the car when mark martin gets here uh we're gonna pick probably about six laps and uh we're gonna take some wedge out we ended up being a little too tight on that run okay have a good stop let's go to steve burns dick with paul andrews crew chief for steve park paul what is steve saying and how can you get the car better what will you adjust well we're a little tight up off and we'll tighten a little we're going to do a little air pressure adjustment uh we'll just see what happens you know a little off here still but i think we still get a good top 10 on this thing let's go to matt yoakum johnny benson's crew chief james ins told johnny about three laps ago we would like to pit anytime from left 155 on he's now talking to jb on the radio james what changes if any will you make well right now this little uh battling pontiac is pretty good we're planning on bolting on four good years cleaning the windshield going back out there right now he is in the third spot this is his best run here las vegas since he spun back in 1998 trying to enter pit road when he finished fourth the 16th place car curt bush is on pit road rookie up from out of the nascar truck series and just doing a whale of a job uh today i mean he's been the top 10 and he's quietly just stayed there didn't really have any trouble at all [Music] most of these guys pitting right now are guys that didn't pit on that last cautions they're all having to come in a little bit early boy let's get i tell you when they come down off of the pit lane up there it gets mighty crowded those spotters have got to be on their toes now dave blaney was the last car on the lead lap brings his bill davis dodge in just like before on the green flag stops his teammate ward burton in the 22 cars on pit road 2. chassis change adjustment rather yeah folks we're going to watch them as the ticker's running just see how quickly they can do those right sides stalled the car stalled a little bit ward burton his teammate coming in that was almost a miscue and if nothing else it it took ward burton's train of thrones from getting into his pits held him up and under green flag conditions running around here 33 seconds every second count well is that graphic we showed a little bit ago the ins and outs how long it takes you to get back to the start finish line is going to be uh way down on ward's car but daryl as you come out of the pits in one of these wins to cup cars as highly restrained as you are in there isn't there a tremendous blind spot to the right side yeah there is and uh you know you got to depend on the crew and the the crew chief he's watching for you the spotters watching for you you got a lot of people watching out for you you got a list of what they're telling you jeff gordon is in steve is that boy casey atwood header and on the 24 dw they're going to take one round out of the right rear that's the adjustment of the 24. four tires todd gant on the front tires shane church on the rear tire chris anderson is the jack man jeff craven putting in the gasoline they've made the chassis adjustment of the 24 now going to the left side tires left side tire is on good stuff for jeff gordon johnny benson slides into his pit stall this will be a four tire stop they are tearing away the tariff on the windshield the windshield a little oily as they've come around to the left side of the car to dave berger mark martin and they have already taken the wedge out you heard jimmy penny talking about to try to get the chassis the way he likes it right sides are all bill elliott comes in kenny wallace sterling marlon bobby lavonny steve park in the pit lane so is kevin harvick and michael waltrip there's elliott's car bill elliott on the way down pit road heath cherry's going to carry the front tires the guy that's going to put them on is andy thurman he is a driving school instructor ray everham high on the box orchestrating this pit stop so far so good new team new car new motorcycle crew pretty much new crew some of these guys are left over rebellion he stalls elliot stalled the car that car's gonna be second a little less than 15 second pit stop bobby labonte completes his stop robin presley is in steve park getting service steve and steve park ran out of gas as he was making his entrance to pitt road they're having a hard time getting it re-fired take the windshield off but he cannot get that car required he ran out of gas and what the guy's doing right there he's squirting fuel down in a tube that goes straight to the carburetor trying to get that thing some fuel to where he'll get frank man 88 guys already around the left side of the dale jared machine his car was a little bit loose brad parent told me they were working on air pressure they found something in their numbers he should be better over this next run the 20 car also going down pit road as comes the 66 car into his pit saw three two one his car had become progressively tight over that last one they are going to adjust with air pressure they talked about a chassis adjustment yes the wedge wrench in the back window significant changes both sides as the crew guys come around the left side of the 66 car a four tired stop for todd beaudine he did win the bush race here yesterday a slow stop and now finally not a happy bunch right there with a 20-second stop for todd who had assumed the lead during this cycle of green flag pit stops now here's our leader right now since we've cycled through and what he's rewarded from is hitting a little bit early had that vibration got those four fresh tires now he's got the lead genie well larry you are exactly correct and it is one of these four tires here i guess we'll have to wait and find out that was causing the vibration he's been out what six eight laps air pressure has come back up and that vibration is gone so it is good news for junior and it's reflecting on the track he has a 1.1 second lead on mark martin sterling marlon now third johnny benson fourth bill elliott fifth and you know we've seen the lead swap backs and forth between two or three guys here and most of that is due to what they do to the cars in the pits and the pit stops themselves haven't seen a lot of passing on the track but they've been a lot of racing in the pits is it more often this year just that we're taking more notice of it but the drivers who come in first short fit for well we got a car in the wall turn three and four oh a hard hit as a car rolls down to the banking and that is not strictly strictly cautions out for the fifth time today and he pasted the wall earnhardt jr to bring the field around to caution and it doesn't look as if anyone will get a lap back from earnhardt we got about six cars that was almost fixed going lap down and they're going to stay on the lead lap board burton and the skinner kansas now straighter strickland coasted around right to his pit stall to make it easier to load that car on the truck i don't know i think he's probably that's a hard lick in there imagine he wanted to get down there so somebody could help him get out of that thing the cholera alabama driver for jenny dunlevy if nothing else it it's absolutely knocked the wind out of him and uh you can see him moving around in there and he's going to be all right but that's a hard lick i really don't think we'll see any cars on pit road because remember we just cycled through these green flag stops the only car that could have a little bit of a decision to make is our leader dale horner jr because he has 13 laps on his tires would you stop i would not stop we saw what track position did while ago and we know everybody has to make one more stop to get into the race no reason to stop jeff hammond if that was your number eight car would you stop now as good as it is right now if he's still a bit tight i'd come on and get me four tires because there's not that many cars on the lead lap at the same time 13 laps on tires against somebody that's only got two is pretty pretty bad just about half the field remains on the lead lap as jeff pointed out that's what i would have done he's coming you didn't ask me but i'm saying everything i know what i'd have done i was getting to you okay but he got there first he's got a few more laps on his tires and i think that's a good that's a good move on his part more now tires are you thinking like me or i'm not thinking like that's scary man i'm telling you right now back with the same page again hey don't trust him jeff he's just trying to get back on your good side i know him now jerry nader who's in so is steve about well we're anticipating a sterling marlin making a stop as well he radioed into his crew and said look can i just make it on one more stop i'm gonna win this race and they're hanging on the wall waiting for him so apparently he needed to make that one more stop we'll keep you posted they park in they decided just to do gas only paula andrew is saying we've got nothing to lose we're back off the leaders so let's go ahead and top off with gas and see if we can get back on track ward burton robert presley elliott sadler's stop so did matt kenseth terry lavonny and jimmy spencer we'll be right back with more nascar on fox mark martin out front of sterling marlin johnny benson bill elliott and kurt busch chris myers mike so far this year best finish for mark martin the 20th of that was at the rock horse roush racing has done quite well as you get a look at the hammond hollywood hotel that's the back view we are on the inside just above victory lane let's talk about the strategy and you called it moments before dale earnhardt jr went in got four tires on a pit stop that took 14 and a half seconds compared to 20 for todd voting who lost the lead on that well what you're looking at right now chris is a situation where i think that uh being having four tires a day has been critical and what i'm seeing right now what i'm really concerned with is you've got about 100 laps to go and whether or not i split the stop come in early get four tires about 50 laps to go and make a run to the end it's helped the eight car and it's also helped i think the 22 car early on get back in the lead lap so you know some pit strategy is getting ready to develop down on pit road all right and so how about looking at the remaining laps here and who is in position as they're going green here uh mark martin would be the guy right now mark some guy up front he knows how to win here in las vegas so you know if you want to watch somebody he'd be the cat to watch it's time for roush to break out we keep talking about a slump they haven't really been in a slump per se it's only the third race but for roush racing they're in a slump right they've owned this track and of course uh mark martin has never finished out of the top ten winning the inaugural race here in las vegas let's go back up to mike joy mcreynolds and daryl mark martin brings it to the green flag jack roush has two cars in the top five rookie kirk bush is fifth in his hometown race in that white car on the right of your screen boy mark got a good jump on sterling marlin they really did he the dodge boys are looking pretty good sterling and bill elliott both up there in those dodge cars and they really look like they're poised for a good look to me like one of them might win the race all three of these cars martin in the six uh marlin in the 40 johnny benson in the 10 all on the lead lap did they got they cleared the lead lap cars or the lap cars it was on the inside we've got 23 cars still on the lead left sterling marlin closes up on mark martin here in the uaw daimler chrysler 400 at las vegas 101 laps to go there are your first three cars and their speeds at present marlon is there marlon is going for the lead looked like he got mark a little bit loose over in turn four see right there he's three to four miles an hour faster because he got back to the gas sooner and turned three and four look at johnny benson moving to the inside of mark martin mark's gonna go all the way from first to third in one half the racetrack yeah he lost his momentum when he got a little loose then i had to get up out of the gas and that cost him a lot of speed and cost him his momentum and he's got shot bang and these guys behind them boys they're doing some racing back there in the pack they were three wide in the middle of the back stretch and then got things sorted out this is jeff gordon in the 24 car going for six right there underneath dale jarrett he's not really been in the picture but he's done worked his way here fighting for sixth position what a race for the rookies kurt busch in fifth and casey atwood battling in that lead pack with jason whoa look at lefleur no one look at his hands he's fighting that thing all the way off the corner like i said what a race for the rookies that's right they shall pull robert presser right now he's going to the back paul ricky right in the 28 car he's been trying to make that lap up for 100 and something laps where he had that flat earlier he has a good car but he doesn't have a great car todd bodine in eighth place touching with uh stacy compton who's a lap down and ken schroeder now schroeder is also one lap back he's in 26th spot battling ricky run for position down on the inside 18 your wins the cup champ bobby labonte comes fighting back in ninth place the 14 right with him ron hornaday in 10th matt 156 mike bobby labonte pitted for four tires they made a slight air pressure adjustment his car has been a tick loose all day they're hoping the temperature continues to drop because they feel like the race track is coming to them bobby and jimmy bakar who's creature they've been talking about different drivers and teams where they pitted and when they pit it because they're trying to figure out when they should make their final pit stop they can go about 60 laps on a tank of fuel well as the air temperature drops and we're cloudy daryl and jeff the track temperature cools off and that gives the car more grip so you're so hesitant if you're a little loose you need to adjust it you need to adjust it but i i think the racetrack will tighten me up yeah you keep thinking that but i tell you if you're loose i've never had it it always stays loose you gotta do a little something to fix that little area the right rear tire a little wedge in track bar a little adjustment some kind half a pound half a round do something to help me out maybe even a tick a spoiler just a little bit because again we've got less than 100 laps to go and you know you got another pit stop coming so you've got to kind of gear everything up about air pressure you can't get it too low because it's going to take too long for it to build back up as we talk about some other telecast sometimes you got to sacrifice a little bit so you don't lose track position and get too far behind the leader kevin harvick from the 29 with steve park a moment ago you saw tony stewart remember last year he was the fastest car at the end of the race oh park's going to slide right through the middle no he's not they go too wide again yeah that's all three a couple of children's cars there and the earnhardt car they're all racing each other pretty hard battling kenny wallace one of our noble five contenders jeannie well guys we are in vegas so dale earnhardt jr decided to gamble during that last caution he did decide to pit they were all surprised that others did not come with him and tony yuri told junior well now we're going to find out just how good this car is he really wasn't a surprise others didn't come with him because he had pitted so much earlier than everybody else the other guys only had a couple laps on their tires yeah i think he would have been a set and duck feed into a minute because he you know he hit 13 laps more in his tires than anybody else so boy dave blaney somebody ripped up his left front corner busted his nose all up i'm sure it's not hurting the aerodynamics but he's not rubbing the tire here's what happened to blaney at the top of your screen coming off the turn ryan newman's screen newman right there no two cars squeezed him up in the outside wall man good thing the nose gave could have had a heck for record lord burton back on the move there underneath michael waltrip that's back at 20th place and terry labonte fighting right with him look at robert presley in the 77 car he says open it up boys i'm coming uh that's all right that's our elvis matt bobby lebanon just radioed in guys i think the motor has let go they are scrambling they're going to try to work their way back to the garage but this is going to be a tough blow for bobby lobani last year labonte was only two drivers to finish every race dale earnhardt was the other not only did he finish every race he run all but nine laps and that's a lot of laps i don't see any smoke and uh oh got a car spinning down here car seven mike wallace in the wall turn four caution is out sixth one of the day lap 176. that was a slow spin and he really just eased it up into the outside wall he did a pretty good job of hanging onto that thing yeah but whaley comes around daryl and you see the angle of the rear spoiler or what's left of it on jim smith's four here's what happened to mike wallace might have been contact from the 44 buckshot jones i think he may have got a push not the good kind either [Music] another look at it yeah yeah he just and you never know what happened there i mean buckshot obviously got into him turned him around but uh it's so easy as we saw yesterday to be in the gas and all of a sudden the cars start to push or get a little loose you got to get out of the throttle the guy behind you doesn't anticipate that and he'll get into the back of you new record for the number of cautions here at las vegas we had five in 1999 this is the sixth one today ryan newman there in that blue and white car took evasive action in the nick of time one of the race records we don't like to set and we've run 12 laps just like dale earnhardt jr had run earlier i got to believe these guys are going to come to pit road and get them four tires because they're almost halfway through a run looks like it's going to be busy everybody's coming well when sterling came in remember he didn't he stay out on that last caution that kind of set the tone but again yeah he set the precedence monkey see monkey do you everybody need to get back on sync here this near the end of the race jenny well guys sometimes it's better to be lucky than good and today sterling marlin is both lucky the caution came out because he knew he needed one more stop he gets just shy of 60 laps on his gas and good because marlin has said repeatedly this afternoon i'm going to win this race matt that 10 card in the middle of your screen it will be a four tire change for johnny benson he said the car was just a tick type and they don't want to mess around the air pressure to dick burglary mark martin has gone in a way but sean parker has just fallen he's the rear tire changer he's on pit road he is in pain he apparently has injured his knee on this pit stop there's parker taking off the headset looks like he's more mad than hurt and here's bobby labonte on pit road with the hood up did you miss a lug nut i'm okay guys don't worry he had his microphone up there like an antenna well i was having something to eat there and i forgot i'd late raise it up well the caution was out you know i figured on the caution what the heck lebani did not lose his engine he is back underway and will rejoin this race as will mike wallace and we'll continue with nascar on the fox after this came in 17th now he's the leader sterling marlin came in first comes out second but let me tell you travis trent played last night here in town and he's got a song 10 feet tall and bulletproof that is bobby labonte because he had that engine problem her fuel starvation problem coasted into the pits and the caution came out and lobati is still on the lead lap i know this doesn't sound right but that's how you win championships guys that's right i'm telling you it just works that way for you sometimes these fellas there's mark cronkite the engine builder in deep in that conversation they've had 45 straight races that they've been running at the finish list if you run another half a pill stop and it starts doing it again head for fuel and go back out don't try to fix nothing tell jimmy i will i like being right in the huddle i like that man that strategy and they're talking about what they need to do they seem to think that it's probably doing it when the fuel burns out of the cell down about half a tank sounds like let's update mark martin's stop which has put him back in the field to eighth dick well sean parker was the young man that was injured in that sean what happened during that pit stop well just trying to make a quick stop we had a car a problem with the car stalling on pit road earlier today and it's just things seem to help push the car off after a pit stop and my hand got in there the helmet got in where yeah well in between the fender and the tire and there's some place where it shouldn't have been but uh after the stop i realized it was in the wrong place are you gonna be able to work on this car do the rest of the pit stops today sean oh yeah hopefully uh you know we'll get another good stop here and uh be up front at the end of the race they're going green good luck with it shawn i meant bobby labonte gone 45 straight races without a dnf coming into this season of course he was in the big 19 car wreck in the daytona 500. yeah in rush hour yesterday now this 25 car was in the top five as four speeds go so that's not a car's fast it could be somebody to deal with here at the end 17th coming in first coming out of the pits jerry nader leads them back to green all right we saw the graphic jerry need to come in running 17th he's leading the race why he changed two tires and everybody else changed four and that's a good strategy i believe uh i think that's going to pay off he got him out front everybody gets out front seems to be able to drive off and leave the crowd behind well if you always play follow the lead what you'll do somebody jason lefleur got and brushed the concrete wall going into turn three there got a little busy back there got a little crowded back there well i'll tell you what it's show time four's i'm certain larry they can talk about what they want to but it's time to bring bring in the racehorses mark martin on the move back up and tie both eyes side by side for eight now larry did you tell me that we don't have to stop again no everybody's got to stop one more time one more time oh my goodness we got to get to la about lap 205 that's about 62 laps go for we can do it on going to the end no way i can make it no way now one of your cars many years ago bill france asked me one time he said dw how you go so far on fuel i said sir i got more than anybody else [Music] todd beaudine just pulls the inside goes right by mark martin in the sixth car that's eighth place well we know that car's fast because he uh he was early on early in the race he led a lot of the laps so maybe they got to dial back in he's running a place he wasn't running earlier he's right around the bottom of this racetrack right now which is a little easier to do sometimes on fresh tires yeah you see how i think leaps forward that's when he puts his foot in that thing and puts 800 horsepower to the ground she leaps forward and he's able to stay in the throttle let's show you what happened on the first lap of green going into turn number three but jason leftler the old one i'm looking down the back straightaway and this doesn't look possible whoa and he knocked the fire on that wall he got into bill elliot he got into bill elliott back there from elliot's in-car camera bill's trying to squeeze through there and man there's no place to go bill leftler looked lucky to drive that one away he really was and bill's lucky that he didn't take him into the wall with him i got to believe that might have damaged bill's car just a little bit boy he can't help but thank you look at jerry nade doing the 25 car here comes jeff gordon made a big leap on that last pit stop my question did he change four tires they did change four times in 14 seconds and here's the other battle this is for seven just think about jeff gordon guys he's a no bull driver somebody's got a million dollars riding with him [Music] and it's funny how the cream always seems to rise to the top you know right at the end of the day right when you least expect it how many times over jeff gordon's career we not even pictured him in the race and all of a sudden we get down to 50 to go he's there that's old sneaky pete didn't he just slide right in there still 80 laps to go now don't give this one away just yet well i'm not saying certainly he's got to get to the lead but where did he come from here's johnny benson coming back after kirk bush for fifth place what a drive kurt busch has had today bush has been in the top five top 10 all day long and uh just done an admirable job here and i think it's some of that truck experience race trucks here quite a bit seems to be paying off for him and before both it ran real well yesterday kurt busch started in ninth position so not only did he be running well today started up near the front todd bodine harassing johnny benson the 10 car that's ford pontiac ford battling there todd's really accelerating up off the corner well again that's what he was doing earlier in the day he seemed to have lost that but he's got it back now and uh he's putting the power to the ground right now larry [Music] man i'll tell you it's a good thing benson let him go because he slid right down in front of benson almost made contact closing up on this group is mark martin who just passed bill elliot but look at johnny benson in that ten car he's five miles an hour faster through the middle of the corner of these other two cars and we come back to catching us one thing passing's another todd hasn't had any trouble doing that on this run he must got his best set of tires and he's coming to he's coming up through there pretty well there's todd and you can see he's considerably faster than the other two and you can see what it does for you too look at that gap he opened up in just that one corner he's 182 mile an hour down the back a couple mile an hour faster than these two guys behind him bush and vincent comes up off that corner got a great run he's going to be doing 185 mile an hour easy going in turn one vinson takes another run another look but that's not going to happen right there [Music] it's kind of how the race is kind of going full circle you know todd and dale jarrett and some of those guys are at the front earlier in the day kind of been back in the pack but now they're working their way back up to the front now here is dale jarrett who's up at fourth place it's like they got shuffled back and they worked on their cars and now when the counts are back up there running again but todd bodine is gaining fast on jarrett pogbo down is gaining fast on everybody jarrod led 42 laps of this race modine has led 44. [Music] mark martin's led 54 laps most of any driver [Music] well i'm starting to play him a pitch strategy larry because i'm gonna have to pit again you said i wasn't planning on it but all right the leader's at the line now here he comes he's at the land now comes dale jarrett now and out of our fox box we'll show you the fastest five drivers as they come through right now todd bodine is the fastest driver on the racetrack on this lap well you can really see it on the racetrack too he's he is cutting that gap down in a hurry he's up on the back of jared this is the way he ran when the race started right here sterling marlin told his crew i've got something for him i've got a car that could win this race and daryl i'm not i'm i was going to say i'm not convinced he's wrong but he could be right it's a better way of putting it he's closing in i'm not convincing anything yet i'm jerry nader and we watch this battle dale jarrett and todd bodine for fourth place and larry oh ricky rudd is up there again trying to been trying to get that left back the whole race i mean that's the biggest problem jerry nadeau's got right now keeping the lead and trying to keep ricky rudd from dogging him up there trying to get that lap back you look at jerry nader one thing we had mentioned he's working without his crew chief tony fur tony first got one more week to stay at home from that ruling fraction at daytona gordon gibbs is the acting crew chief had to make that call while ago for two tires tell you what ricky rudd is the hardest working man in show business today as he's back on the lead lap just barely and sterling marlon number 40 is right there to challenge for the lead i think the bigger story is that captain in the back of the picture that 24 car uh where did he come from and when he gets that close to the front this late in the race look out folks especially when there's a million dollars and he's working on a million bucks and don't think he ain't considered that here's where the noble five drivers are running gordon and skinner had spawned his way back up into the top 20. and also had got a lap down at one time and made it up when the caution come out guys i know we keep beating this uh kind of like a dead horse but i'm telling you this race is going to come down to pitch strategy and who comes in when and whether they put on two tires gas and go it's going to be really really crucial here as we get down into this races who is holding they think the pat hand and who's going to blink first i told you to be playing in the pit strategy i said come on it's time to plan come on man talk to me i'll let you know when it gets close to time but i need to know now what i got i got to start anticipating what i got to do stand on that gas all right i'm up on the wheel i got her i've given her all i got right now marlon and gordon in second and third watch ricky rudd battle to get a lap back from race leader jerry nader 70 laps to go pit stop that final stop could come in as early as 10 laps or it could come in a while we'll be right back to las vegas with more nascar on fox [Music] we're in the window for that final pit stop sterling marlon is our leader now by just 1.8 seconds over jeff gordon steve burns is in sterling's pit mike let's find out lee mccall what about your final strategy two tires versus four what will you do well uh right now it looks like uh looks like it's gonna be four but uh we'll kind of wait and see how that goes uh closer we'll get to our pit stop all right lee let's go to dick bergeron robbie lewis is jeff gordon's crew chief what are you guys gonna do on the next pit stop and how soon are you gonna make that stop well we don't know you know some of these guys probably going to split up we're probably going to go for a while and uh we're going to magically figure a way to get some tape on and still make that motor live all day all right they are having a little bit of a problem with overheating to that time period is a crucial for dale jerry you're currently fourth what's the call going to be on your final stop um probably a little bit of gas and a whole lot of tires two or four a whole lot of tires to genie a whole lot of tires is exactly what jerry nader did not do in his last pit stop and he had a lot of heads turning 25 cars saying we will probably hit with about 18 laps to go two tires right now the car's a little tight too much bite in it and he has dropped to sixth place matt hendricks chevrolet that's the problem i had with taking two when he did now he's almost got to take four uh to to be very competitive at all at the end yeah he'd have it guys could probably take two he'd have way too many left waves left side tires that's why when you get a chance to put four on you put him on under a caution he's a former winner here he won the winston west race here in march of 1999. but i got to call him a crew chief now larry what am i going to do how much longer before i pit well we're gonna come in probably in about 20 laps and if this thing don't get real ill with us i may try to slide you enough gas to go to the end and get you two tires on there okay my car's good right right side tires my car's good i'll keep you posted i think two tires away to go and listen larry don't pla don't pack this thing full of fuel give me only just every how much you need to get to the end [Music] you're not gonna need much gas get the end we're gonna get them two right side tire changers done jeff hammond we're gonna send him on his way that's the only chance you're gonna have you're gonna put on two tires you can't wait on gas you got to get two tires on there and get out of there because i guarantee you somebody is gonna get two and probably have a chance to win this thing but somebody just stick four on this thing and they're going to come at you pretty hard right there at the end here's steve park trying to split uh what's been a great rookie battle kevin harvick in 29 kurt busch a hometown hero in the number nine running they were eight the ninth the park uh now splitting the middle the car that kevin harvick's driving 29 cars he goes beneath robbie gordon there who's several laps down it's the car that dale earnhardt run it homestead november but this car was almost given to harvick and his group to use this year in the seven races he was gonna run it's a car that he did about five tests about two thousand laps at kentucky speedway last year for children's children for gm yeah that's a that's a beautiful racetrack up in kentucky and we're gonna do a bush race here all of us are later on this summer and look forward to that up front jeff gordon closing in on sterling marlin whose last win july 96 at daytona 151 races ago jeff gordon closing up on the lead at 222 laps in las vegas this is nascar on fox [Music] taking the lead as sterling marlins slithered up the racetrack just a bit yeah they're going to need tires these two cats 88 and 66 they've been going down hot and heavy here for about the last five laps jared had him passed once and todd fought back on the outside a lot like he's doing right now and uh jarrett's teammate ricky rudd is just sitting there watching this whole thing and trying to figure out if he wants to help one or the other i guess now that's for third place as you watch for the havilland on board ricky rutt's car have a little cam bill elliott has made the first of lead lap car pit stops he took four tires he's at the line right now comes the leader right now that's how much he likes being a lap down and buckshot jones has taken his petty dodge to the garage but he made he made a good stop bill made a good stop and to get out in front of the leader so if he catches a caution right now i mean he's not going to lose anything six cautions today for 25 laps we have tied the record for number of leaders and we have a new record for the number of cautions at six 18 lead changes record is 25. and where's all that where's all our heroes going michael was up there early on mark martin's been up there there's michael right there but he's way back he's not even in the top 10. mark martin lived to race for a while where's mark martin jerry nader is coming on to pit road he had slipped back to the tail of the top ten genie well guys the 25 crew chief gordon gibbs said he can't afford to lose positioning so he's planning to do two tires here we'll take a look at this jerry nader agreed he said hey i need the best pit stop ever and please clean my windshield and also take one round of bite out because this car is a bit tight and yes indeed guys two tires i just i disagree with that call right there because that boy's had those left side tires on already for 60 something laps and a left front tire here is important especially with this tire package and i heard a lot of teams saying they was wearing the left front tire more than there was any tire jeff you're exactly right right now larry one thing i've noticed already watching the lap times bill elliot is coming and he's coming fast he's picking up almost two and a half and three seconds a lap on the lead cars so by getting in early getting four tires you better look for that nine car as i said earlier he will probably inherit the lead before we enter this race but you're right jeff i mean he just in the time he came back on the racetrack i'd say there was a hundred yards between he and gordon and now there's probably 300 yards seeing bill going down the back straightaway there he's uh right at 180 miles an hour entered into turn three and you can see look at him just blow by people johnny benson is on pit road that's ward burnley bill's going by and then and board's got a good race car so that's how much faster bill is matt the call from james institute for johnny benson four tires they thought about two but they said johnny i'm gonna gamble with our win or top ten 17.5 do you want to win it he says that's why we came here so they went with four tires another little bit of insurance and changing four tires should we run a little bit and get the caution you're certainly better off for four tires ken schroeder just missed the entry to pit road here's gordon and a look at his speed on track [Music] through the trio he's still carrying the speed at the end of the straightaway right there in the center of the corner look at the difference in the center of the corner right there that that's the real difference right there between fresh tires and old tires but did you see 187 miles an hour into turn one i mean that's a couple of miles an hour faster than we've seen all day so that tells you that he's picked up the pace ricky right in the pit lane along with casey atwood and ward burton this time schroeder makes it on to fifth road along with here comes steve park i see how you crew chiefs do this now as soon as a couple cars start pitting you get you get nervous don't you reason you get nervous you look at that stopwatch a half a second faster than you are dale jarrett he's in the pits matt they were they were debating about whether to go two tires or four tires todd parris said we're gonna go a whole lot of tires they are making a chassis adjustment at a four tire stop for dale jarrod they saw that the tenth car took out four tires they are going to take on four turns as well 14 points zero seconds winner steve park is on pit road he is going to go for four tires they have seen the speed that comes from four right sides are all on but it's a bit slow on the left to steve sterling marlin in they just lowered the track bar one round he's a little loose coming off four darren wolf to the front [Music] getting his stop completed michael waldrop is also in so is tony stewart and kurt bush matt the 66 car in they are working on the left side he is down away 17.6 in fuel there's kevin harvick and the richard childress crew at work they have juniors michael took four tires he's been complaining the cars a little tight actually he said his first 20 laps he really struggled he's just trying to make up for some lost time looking for some long runs here dale earnhardt jr is in robert presley's had a good race he's been on the lead lap all day and the leaders on pit road jeff gordon comes in along with jason leffler and mark martin comes to the pit lane dick gordon's crew had discussed putting just two tires on it but they saw everybody else firing four and they too are gonna fight for oh and the number eight car just threw the uh catch can off the back end court slides to a stop at his pit boy he came in here hard chris anderson the big man on the jack so far so good on this pit stop this is the most important pit stop of the day they get it right they could win the race they blow it it's over so far so good sports two tires for mark martin he's down and away the 14 car is also in they are completing work two tires for the 14 to ron hoda he's down away mark martin is drawn to that inside straight taking two tires yes he has but i'll tell you dale jarrett's pit stop was incredible and uh so was jeff gordon so uh they had incredible stops for four tires that was a catch can out there uh from dale earnhardt junior's car and that is an infraction he has been black flag and that catch can it catches excess fuel it comes out the overflow plus it has a probe on it that opens the vent that lets the fuel flow into it matt kenseth has assumed the lead he is the 13th different leader of this race that's a new record here's earnhardt jr in for the penalty stop boy that's unfortunate he was having a good run and uh out of his own doing here [Music] and what you're talking about that probe that opens the vent occasionally that candle stick yes it will sometimes catch cam man to get caught up in doing something else and because it's hanging in there the car drive away with it still hung in there well a lot of times too the catch can man will take the first can and hold it while the second can goes in and he gets mighty busy back there dale could have left in a hurry because it is underground it's the most crucial thought we had to make as i watch a 17 car here he'll be on pit road here shortly his rear tire carrier had to go back home because brian dunaway his dad passed away yesterday so they've had to do some shuffling so certainly our prayers and thoughts go with brian dunaway and his family matt kenseth the leader elliot sacra who's on a little different pit stop sequence than the rest of these teams is the second place car then dale jarrett and jeff gordon just going past second [Music] and here's your leader and look these are the drivers who will be the leader dale jarrett had an incredible stop he would come in behind gordon went out in front of him and of course they're going to be the leaders here in a minute they got four tires that's your race sterling marlin is right there looming in the back i don't know if he's got enough pull up there to him or not to for the lead not in the race at the moment but when kenseth and sadler stop this could be a defining moment of this race on the outside off turn two he's going to beat him down in the corner bobby labonte there in 18 car jeff gordon takes the position you ride with dale jarrett around bobby labonte jeff gordon is a huge formula one fan and especially notes the driving tactic of michael schumacher and what the schumacher world champion last year in large part is he is the fastest into and out of the pits and that was not lost on jeff gordon he did a great job getting in and out and maybe the leader of when we come back to las vegas right after this [Music] elliot sadler had also made a pit stop and he only takes two tires which again 25 laps into this thing yeah you know taking four he's gonna be a lap down let's go roll the dice and see what we can come up with here as far as our finish yeah he's got the least amount of laps to run so he can get by with two tires a little easier than some of the other guys can so that's not a bad call on his part these young drivers are pretty good at spelling the big money jeff burton has hit that noble prize a couple times jeff gordon has won it three times twice in 1998 indian charlotte and then 99 at daytona man i'd like to have been in a race one time and paid a million dollars i never was in one i won daytona in 89 and i paid a 175 000 at the time let's go around the racetrack one time i've been saying i'm getting kind of bored i want to drive my car let's go down into uh let's see where are we here guys coming to start finish line here we go swing her out next to the wall drive off down into turn one at 185 mile an hour get that left front wheel right down on that white line back in the gas track's a little slick now it's pushing off off right out next that wall oh man off of turn two i'm gonna go down the back straight away i smell jeff gordon up there i see him up there driving the corner whoa i drove into real life oh man good i got down in there good i'm on that white line i'm back in the gas coming up off turn four here i come here i come whoa man i got close to that wall again drive down to the bottom right on the apron right at the start line and man almost caught him jeff when he was driving with you as crew chief did he do play-by-play every lap like that i'm gonna tell you right now mike the funny thing about it a lot of times he accused mike and i'm telling you he talked to the race car a lot more than you think wouldn't be quite that graphic that he'd be talking about baby okay baby come on come on right on there easy easy come on good good good good he talked to that car i mean he'd get in tune with it and they talk themselves right around there laugh after laugh it's sometimes quite comical that's pretty neat and i talked to the car a lot nicer than i talked to him oh yeah yeah you gotta love that car i'm glad we got that on right here no the car would not talk back my problem right now is the verbal abuse i took from daryl harvick and jimmy spencer are battling for position spencer in 26 harvard 29. harvick's doing a great job that moves him into ninth place and to get a top 10 finish here at this place guys doing a good job he's closing in on ninth place ron hornaday in the green 14. well jeff gordon is coming up on a little bit of traffic robert presley's been on the lead lap all day he's the 16th place car now dale jarrod has a car between himself and jeff gordon that's our former leader there kansas matt the problem for dale jr does not lap traffic his car normally gets better as the run goes on but brad parrott told me his car is now going to the tight side they cannot reel in the 88 unless we get one more caution which is unlike tony stewart up to 13th place and back to 14th as he battles bill elliott and let me just say about dale jarrett or anybody i know i've been in the car and they said okay it's time showtime pick it up and when you start driving the car a little harder and going down in the corner a little harder all of a sudden you realize uh oh the car is not it's not with me it's not there for me i got to slow down and kind of run the speed i was running you always want to step it up at the end if you can but sometimes it just doesn't work that way [Music] and actually i vote you can over drive the car there you know you can drive it in too hard and get to get the car all messed up larry what's all that erector set in the side window there well what that is and what he's talking about is this right here it's to put stiffener in that window you don't you want that window to be nice and stiff because if it starts sucking in and out with air blowing across it it changes the airflow down inside the car and can hurt the downforce of the car i don't care about all that it's those hoses that i'm worried about are they all opened up and hooked up that's cause they're cooling you nice cool air blowing in there on the driver jeff gordon 1.4 seconds ahead of dale jarrett sterling marlin it's chevy for dodge pontiac johnny benson and fourth we showed our no bull five fans there jeff gordon is the only one of the noble five that's left on the lead lap right now here with just a handful of laps to go there's the interval back to dale jarrett [Music] now you see the gap gordon is zero he's the race leader and you see how the gap changes in real time between he and dale jarrett on our fox tracks where it really made a change was off the corner dale jarrett we heard him say he's pushing he's tight he can't stay in the throttle off the corner jeff gordon can he accelerates down the straightaway faster see right here it closes up dale jarrett's driving in deeper right here starts to really spread out and carries all the way down that straightaway now let's convert that to miles per hour speed at the end of the straight away and through the middle of the corner i just think the cooler temperatures as well as everybody trying harder right now it's coming down to the close the speeds are up over what we saw earlier a couple mile an hour into three and about three or four mile an hour into turn one so they're driving in harder and getting around the track quicker now that was very telling darrell because jeff gordon's slowest speed in the middle of the corner 142 dale jarrett's 139. do this thing back earlier today you were talking about the only cars under 34 seconds look what you're running now they're running 33 and a half seconds 33.5 so that's how much they stepped up the pace here when the money when the big money's on the line that last lap 18 drivers ran laps under 34 seconds that last lap let's show you speeds at the line as of one lap ago and who is quickest excuse me as of right now that's who is quickest on the lap just completed johnny benson class of the field right this instant and a mile an hour's a lot he's he's got a clean racetrack the biggest problem he's got though is five and a half seconds behind with eight laps to go no way to make that up no he's gonna he may catch sterling marlon who's running third but he's not going to catch the leaders just not enough cards left in the deck for benson how about dale jarrett though one and a half seconds behind jeff gordon jeff gordon's gonna have to hit some pretty heavy lap traffic and he's got some in front of it but right now that spotters all over the top of this grandstands making deals let my driver get by [Music] yeah it's tense right now even though even though jeff gordon's car is running well and he's making good time around the racetrack buddy when he gets down these closing laps you don't want to make any mistakes that's when you don't want to beat yourself [Music] let's see what they got to say six laps to go bob jeffrey is the spotter for dale jarrett [Music] and he just told him the o2 knew that he was coming so though two moved up out of dale's way 13th place battle elliott stewart and the rookie battle hornady and harvick for eighth place [Music] hornaday's had a great run today he's another one that's hung around the top 10 all day long and now him and harvick are going at it for top finishing rookies today i believe harvick may come out on top of that battle kevin harvick was a top finishing rookie at rockingham as well a week ago in his first start in this car elliott and stewart continue their battle stewart uses the old one of lefleur as a pick completes the pass bills bill's gonna cut that over one little slack this time run him up in the wall last time that was for 13th place two drivers who once in this race were contending for the lead jeff gordon trying to hit the big casino here in las vegas and bank a million dollars plus a million for rodney mims who will suddenly have a lot of new friends down in clatton alabama and how many sports do you know of how many sports can you think of where you can win a million dollars on one sunday afternoon as a there's a fan down there in the pits give me a break these guys they race for a million dollars every week yeah some of us have to work a whole season lots of seasons you know you look at the 24 car this team has just got stronger and stronger and stronger robbie lewis went over there last year as the crew chief they struggled but you watched them in the last year they kept coming they kept coming and it looks like right here they're just about three laps ago to go for their first win of the season and show that hey we're here we mean business gordon's last win was at richmond in september 12 races ago maybe it's the flames daryl i think the flames are working today boys his car is red hot and the rest of them ain't digging squat here now that's ron thiel former bush north series driver who is jeff gordon's race day spotter boy there's nothing any better there's no greater sound and say you're pulling away ten to go five to go three to go counting them down no pressure from behind man you want to hear all of that remember gordon started back in 24th position yes he did we didn't talk much about him early in the race matter of fact most of the guys we talked about earlier in the race have kind of faded but uh he's come on bobby labonte bit of smoke as he comes around he will complete this race jeff gordon's got one and three quarter second lead dave leaning to 93 in front of him he just needs to ride there they keeping him posted what's going on behind him yeah he's got a lot of he's got a lot of lap cars in front of him but uh dale jarrett still didn't have a chance to catch us no matter what happened jeff gordon's winning percentage is going to be about one in five it's his 260th winston cup race and here comes jeff gordon for his 53rd career winston cup win hey rodney what are you going to do with that million buddy las vegas i hit the jackpot dan it's the first chevrolet to win here three wins and three races in all one look at all the takes on that grill now larry didn't have some more they keep adding it making it better 53 wins ties gordon with rusty wallace eighth on the all-time win list it's gordon's 37th super speedway win oh rodney he's in a little bit of shock show me the money that's what he's saying he is jeff gordon's new best friend that's right show me the money [Music] what a show jeff gordon comes from deep in the pack to win at las vegas and break the winston cup bank we'll be right back with nascar on fox [Music] there was a dodge intrepid pace car leading jeff gordon you see this armored truck this should say loomis gordon and company i hope that's not a million bucks flying out of the back of that truck as he goes toward victory lane penny's from heaven right there [Music] jeff gordon's the winner chevy congratulations jeff for the number 24 monte carlo on their big win today and as he'll tell you the only thing that comes close to monte carlo's reputation on the track is its reputation on the street monte carlo more champions depend on chevy will be there that guy better take that million dollars and get out of town with it i sure don't want to leave it here and it's easy to a do in victory lane with jeff gordon and now here comes that flame painted helmet yes sir my flames are good i've always known that they were today chevy wins ford second dodge third pontiac parody they call that yeah he already had a no bowl five had it he really had it in the car with congratulate jeff and now gets unhooked there's what a million dollars looks [Applause] like somewhere in the midst of that is steve burns i think we're down here mike jeff gordon talking to jeff vegas a million dollars congratulations how'd you win this race we're back woo man that was awesome what a day uh i don't know we just never gave up like you know i guess the car was real tight to begin i think the track maybe came to us because these guys loosened the car up just great communication we never you know we never got frustrated man i'm so excited about getting this new dupont flame pepsi car in the victory lane it's awesome well dw likes the flames the young man you won the million dollars for is about to have a heart attack i don't know about you [Music] i tell you what i want to thank winston for all that they do for our sport i mean to give a million to us drivers hey we don't need it but to give a guy like this uh you know a million bucks man are you excited thanks a lot man i bet the first half the race he didn't think i had a chance all right great way to go guys let's go to my yokum well steve dale jared almost picked up some big money setting himself up now for a run in charlotte for the no bowl five dj what happened over that last one did your car get tight yeah just been tight uh we uh we're really good at the first of the race then i got a set of tires that just really spooked me i was sideways doing everything try to keep it from wrecking every lap and uh wasn't sure if it was that set of tires or if the track was changing and so we made an adjustment got it too tight and it looked like we got more cloud cover it tightened up and i just didn't get it freed up enough they did a great job pit stops were incredible great engine uh just came up a little shy well he scores his best career finish here at las vegas and almost played a million dollar spoiler dick sterling marlin with a great year he won his 125 miler at daytona finished seventh in the daytona 508th last week third today what's next i don't know it'd be nice go to line and win i'll tell you chip gnash has put together a great race team coors light and dodge target in there with us and uh got a great bunch of guys a lot of hard work to shop and you know i'm the same guy i've been driving these cars for a while and uh you get some good stuff you can go good and uh just like thank them all they really works hard and uh they deserve it what was it like out there today sterling well it was real tight early and uh won't adjust on it and we didn't do much and the track kind of come to us and we got real good by lap 200 and checked out and gone us man we got this thing and uh just got too loose and i thought we fixed enough tore it in and i just didn't have enough to catch the 88 and 24 was still too loose but uh it's a big improvement from last year a whole lot from last year and uh just like really i'm proud of all the guys follow hard work today nice job mike thanks dick 10th time in 16 runnings of the noble five that the bonus has been won and the fifth time that gordon has banked a winston million look at that front four chevy ford dodge pontiac pretty close to parody all these guys be eligible for that winston million when we go to charlotte in may right of course chevy's won all three races some folks won't call that parody but look at kevin harvick the highest finishing rookie there in eighth place and hornaday right behind him they fought it right through the end and kurt bush in eleventh a good day for most of the rookie cross mikey back bill elliott who led early kind of faded at the end robert presley stayed on the lead lap most all day and mike skinner came up from provisional land at the start ricky rudd he had a top five car all day long he just couldn't get that lap made up he raced everybody but he was just a lap down the whole time dale earnhardt jr had that penalty on pit road with that catch can bobby labonte 29 still putting around but he finished but he didn't finish that's right robbie gordon suffered a fifth uh penalty for too fast on pit road his last stop dropped him to 30 for it buckshot jones not running at the finish john andretti and brett lodi and jeff burton did get back on track these cars were out of the race here's today's pep boys trivia we've had nine different winners in the last nine winston cup races put your thinking cap on what was the record i'll tell you when we come back [Music] jeff gordon has won the noble five and the million dollar bonus broke the bank here in las vegas we'll be right back with more nascar on fox

Channel: NASCAR

Views: 24,370

Keywords: NASCAR, motorsports, racing, stock car, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, chase elliott, fantasy sports, fantasy fastlane, glass case of emotion, ryan blaney, crash, wreck, pileup, pit road, penalty, race track, super speedway, highlight

Id: 8IzjDR3NOnM

Length: 128min 49sec (7729 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 04 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Man. If reddit was around during this race yall would fucking implode 🤣🤣🤣

[u/Mike9307]

What do you mean 20 years ago

[u/Jahgee1124]

pre-progressive banking Vegas was especially painful to watch

[u/uniquerabbitturd]

Seeing Jeff win at Vegas and other tracks he hadnt won on (Chicago/Texas) and actually watching him finally win was such a relief for me LOL like FINALLY he can check this track off!

[u/lt12765]

Old flat Vegas was just widening out pretty good. No bull 5 race too, I recall something about the eligibility being a little different due to Dale Sr's passing. Not sure if Harvick was eligible or if it went to the 6th place finisher from 2000 fall Talladega.

[u/Intimidwalls1724]

12 year old me decided Jeff was fucking back after this win after a disappointing 2000 season and 12 year old me was right

[u/dwighttheowl]

I do wish they would not make the winner of the race the cover photo on the retro videos.

I know its an old race but I don't remember most of them. I like being surprised lol

[u/SkyfallCamaro]

This was maybe one of three Vegas races where JG was the best - I'd argue that Las Vegas was one of his weakest tracks with only one win total. The only other times he came close to winning were 2008 when he wrecked on a late restart and 2010 when he had the dominant car and threw it away on a bad pit call.

[u/Montooth]

First race I ever attended right here!