The 1997 Winston from Charlotte Motor Speedway | NASCAR Classic Full Race Replay

Last night, meanwhile, the job's not done yet, Glenn Jarrett, I see some of these crew chiefs running around in their

race

cars, oh, absolutely, and uh, Larry Mcreynolds in Dale Earhart's guard, just After finishing putting this tape on the front of the car, uh, Richard Childress, what's going on? Well, you know, after talking to Mike Skinner's team, you know how his car runs and the temperatures and everything, the more you can put these things on, the better they'll work for you and we think it'll help us a little bit. We'll go into it a little bit more each session and they waited until the last minute.

Remember Larry told us earlier that they will use that information they can get from Skinner Boy. They put it to good use right now. let's take a look at the starting grid for the

1997

winston

race

in the poll bill elliott won in 1986 is in his twelfth

winston

dale earhardt one of three men to run each event has three wins sterling marlin starts on row number two , has been second three times at winston and in his fifth event, michael waltrip won a year ago advancing from the open, bobby lobotti earned his first career win in winston cup competition here in may of '95 and dale jarrett, his four, he was the winner of the 1996 coke 600. midnight has returned rusty wallace's favorite car was here for the first time in 1989 and mr may if you have tried him he is wanted lately mark martin roll number five jeff burton The Xi Batteries Four was sixth in this event in 94.

That year's winner, Jeff Beaudine, appears in his twelfth Winston, Terry Labonte, the NASCAR Cup Series points leader Winston, his Kellogg's Chevrolet starts 11th. and another of the men who has run in all the winstons is 13, ricky rudd and the four tied, bobby hamilton. He has been in six starts this is his first winston and ward burton the mbna america pontiac was ninth year in 1995. row number eight was second in 1992 was kyle petty drive the mattel pontiac and the man who is third here in 1993 the texaco havilland ford for ernie irvin and the third member of the trio that has competed in every winston to date daryl waltrip won in 85. jimmy spencer's smoke joel's ford was ninth here a year ago and the 10th row was first in 95 jeff gordon joined by ricky craven he advances winning the winston open here in

charlotte

a short time ago meanwhile how much work have they done on ricky craven's car in the last 36 minutes that man would know it's andy graves craven's crew chief andy how much do you have The boys What they did to the car to prepare it to win the Winston, well, we took some rubber off and did a shim adjustment and a track bar, so we're going to use those first 30 laps as an experiment here. and let's see if he moves the car a little bit, let's go over to Steve Burns, who's waiting with Dale Jared's crew chief and that's Todd Parrot, Todd, your dad, friend Parrot, the crew chief at 99.

I see you've been talking. To calm your emotions at this moment, what are you talking about? Ready to win, just take care of the car in the first two 30-lap segments and go to the wall in the last 10. That's what this is all about, race winner with nine points. take everything and that's what we plan to do and it's that simple eli ten fords five chevrolets and four pontiacs those are the men who had qualified for the winston we're back in a moment welcome back with buddy baker dick bergeron glenn jarrett matt yoakam and steve burns i'm eli gold just started the engines of 20 star team racing machines the new look of the chevrolet dupont for jeff gordon as we are ready to go in the winston two hundred thousand dollars to win first and second The payouts per segment it's fifty thousand dollars for the winner, fifteen thousand dollars for second and seventy five hundred dollars for third, see how things will work here, it's the last five years, look at the first winners segment that Javelin brings you, they will update it. us on the winners of all the segments as our evening continues, that group moves forward, but remember also that the finishing order of segment number one is reversed to begin segment number two, so there are sure to be 50,000 reasons to go to the front and win it all, but when will you come back to start the next segment in the back?

There is a star who is Doyle Ford, Nascar's main starter. He will retire after 38 years with Nascar next weekend from the top of Charlotte Motor Speedway. The flashes explode and the pyrotechnics. on display as is always the case here in

charlotte

all those aerial shots brought to you by the gross blimp the best smelling blimp in the sky sponsored by gross the line of men's fragrances and deodorants yesterday at the garage dale jarrett said if you don't win it doesn't matter Where you finish tonight, no one will be able to tell you who finished second at Winston, who was last year, good point, Rusty Wallace, Wallace, but yeah, what does it matter?

It doesn't matter, this is a race for the winner, only he wins. all the attention that gets most of the money Jack Roush sitting there, he'll certainly be looking at that number six, Mark Martin, who's had a four-straight winning streak, he'll be looking at 99, look at those flashes too. come on, we have a movie sponsor here at the Winston Cup, look at everyone taking pictures of everything that goes on here, it's a night to remember my friend Baker, lots of new fans tuning in for this all-star weekend we hear you all about talk. taping the front of a race car to help it turn, etc.

Many people simply don't know the technology of the sport, what does that mean when you put a piece of duct tape tightly on the front of your race car? It's called 200 mile per hour tape and you put it on the front of the car and it creates downward force on the car, creating more pressure on the front tires, which causes the car to spin when it comes to the turn. Now let's look at Rusty Wallace. and at midnight we will be on board with Rusty here today Mark Martin is also wearing our TN cameras this afternoon or tonight, I should say old DW, he has changed to the more comfortable and conventional 1-800 Marrow 2 driver's suit that sponsors the in-car cameras. for jeff gordon and our pole sitter bill elliott amico and mcdonald's sponsor the cameras in the car there you see michael waltrip in the 21. that's the new look of the citgo car have you seen those commercials with the dalmatian and citgo says good luck, I have taken that ad campaign here at the Winston tonight.

Glenn Jarrett is on pit road and waiting and Dale Earnhardt spits listening to the conversation on the radio. Guys, we're talking about all the flashes. How beautiful it is at night. Well, that causes a No problem down here, Larry Mcreynolds usually tells Dale to leave the green flag when the green flag flies immediately, but now he has radioed and told the spotter to tell Dale when the green flag comes out immediately because Larry just can't pick it up from the crowd. the darkness and all those flashes first segment 30 laps second segment 30 laps then the final 10 lap segment as the chevy monte carlo pace car with buster ogten at the wheel walks across the field to turn number three getting ready to start, you could feel the tension As they head down the backstretch they head into turn three, not far from the green flag, now Elliott on the pole hasn't won, it's a long way for Earnhardt to change his luck and return to the lane. victory again.

The fans are with both. Bumpy Wheeler the president of Charlotte Motor Speedway strangely normally predicts the winners of this race he has picked Dale Earnhardt to win we'll see in about an hour here we go I'm glad you're with us at tnn

motor

sports the all-star race is underway for winston dale elliott leave lap number one of this 30 lap segment there you see fifth sixth and seventh on your screen dale jarrett the new look of michael waltop and the citgo machine and now dale earhardt in the lead who has this place swinging berthard the lead can't hold on to the bank and leaves eli came in so hard that Earnhardt pulled out from under Sterling Marlins trying to take second place the crowd war is deafening here at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sterling Marlin for second now Inside Earnhardt you see the rainbow color on the side of the Kodak car, the new look of that team.

Marlon never won this race. He won the open race on three separate occasions 88 89 93 and look at Dale Jarrett on the high side running down. at the top of the screen mci the official telecommunications company of

nascar

brings us those results here is bobby labani approaching traffic and everyone misses him spencer misses him that was close very close now that's why they call them the best drivers in the united states that was a great job by jimmy spencer to fall behind enough to not turn his car on its side and make it too wide in the front right away bobby labonte's rear end is going other than the roof flap i don't see any damage to the car, they tested it at Texas race track in preparation for tonight this is what happened look at Bobby there in the green car you see Mark Martin right under him there it looks like he was touched maybe not while he was it moves back there now when it gets into the grass there He has completely lost control of that car.

You see him turn back into traffic. Now watch him walk back toward the cars ahead. Very urban. I lost it too. Yes, Spencer. A lot of guys had a chance to catch him. Nobody did it. Here Bobby had already escaped from the corner, man, that must be a scary moment. I guarantee you one thing: Bobby Lubani right now is thanking himself and everyone behind him for really doing the right thing, but a lot of times you see people on short tracks. They cross the moment they see trouble in front of them. If any of these cars had crossed that front right away, it would have been impassable to pass Steve Burns.

What are they saying in Mark Martin's pit? He was right behind Bobby Lobotti, well, Eli. That came straight from the horse's mouth, Mark Martin, who is ready for his team and said, go to the 18 pits and tell Bobby Labonte's team, I'm sorry, I got in behind him and I didn't mean to do it. . great man to admit that from the beginning you see the front of that Ford Thunderbird winning at Sears Point winning at Talladega won the Bush race at Talladega Mark even won the iroc race here in Charlotte just one night ago taking advantage of a yellow flag at the end of the race he was the hottest guy in the room see jeff beaudine coming down pit lane he and bobby labonte will make stops on lap number five lap number five on the board bobby labotti at the race track let's take a look from the inside by mark martin- car camera on what happened when mark himself said he just gave bobby the push and sent him spinning.

You can see Bobby coming around the corner. Mark, oh, he just touched it. I guarantee there is no paint on any of the cars. That's how easily they touched Glenn. about the pontiac interstate batteries how much damage if any they didn't see any at all eli all they did was go in and change all four tires push the roof flaps down uh jimmy maker or the crew chief keeps talking too much bobby but I think You're okay, I'm looking at the tires, I don't see any real fl, yeah I see it on one of the air raid tires, we wore it down to the end of the cable so they had to change them, that's tremendous . vibration but I didn't see any damage to the car I think they will be fine and we mentioned just before the break that Jeff Beaudine had made a stop at the QVC Ford Steve what was his problem well the problem is the car wasn't handling well jeff bodine had a bad push they came in put a round of wedge and sent him back but uh bad push for jeff beaudine poor jeff has finished last in each of the last two races he's been struggling with engine problems at the circuit regular, chad little was last, if i'm not mistaken, he finished last in two races in a row, he did it in richmond and dover a year ago, but jeff was optimistic, we talked in the garage this weekend and he said: I know, look at our act together again, I hope so.

Yeah, they lost another one here in practice too, so they're definitely having engine problems on the Ford QVC. They are also looking for help in the sponsorship department. Jeff came out last week and said: "If he doesn't get help he's not sure how far he can go in the season yes glenn jarrett is still monitoring jimmy may carr and the boys and bobby labonte's well yes I just heard a great comment eli bobby the radio didn't tell jimmy Well guys, we wanted to get to the end of this first segment, but I didn't want to do it that way.

Meanwhile, Jeff Burton is in pit lane, now. the team is doing a chassis tune up there on the right rear and checking the tires on the right side if you're curious they count the caution laps here in the first two segments of the winston in the final 10 lap segment they don't count.the cautions where you have the 10 green flag laps in that final segment when you see the lights are off on the chevy monte carlo safety car that double restart here boy that's going to be exciting you see them it's like the start of a race every time they go down elliott earhardt jarrod marlin michael waltrip mark martin terry lobotti rusty wallace ricky rudd and ward burton that's your top ten what field what field winners everything I tell you this is really spectacular there is an old mercury that's the name that Daryl walter has hit that car of his, it's not the same one he had a daytona he had a chrome car in daytona it's not the same one waiting for doyle's green four and it's in the air we get back to work lap number nine of this first 30 lap segment of the winston boy Earnhardt got a tremendous run into turn one to take the lead and here comes Jared, under Bill.

As soon as they come out of turn two, well, Dale Earnhardt wastes no time and Jarrett will pass Elliott to the inside if he can in three. He won the first segment here last year. Dale Jarrett on that number, what a great shot. There you can see the suspension. how smooth they run here to get a good side bite into the turn. You want the car to roll enough to apply good pressure to the right side. You can see it really bouncing around the curve. There we were traveling with Bill Elliott, as he has three wides. behind them and watch them all hit bottom wow Mark Martin's car crashed and look I thought something broke just for a second that's how hard he hit that back end they immediately hit the flat part of the race track there for a second holding a pack of race cars back there I don't know if Mark Martin is holding up anyone mate I think he's on his way to the front Terry Labonte moving there he is on the inside of your screen as we watch from the back of Mark Martin machine, there's terry number five, he's going to get ahead of the room explosion and grab that room from the seventh position like eighth ernie irvin in the ninth jeff gordon in the tenth he lied, the current is really receding it's wallace's two cards , he's really backing off on this he hasn't been happy with midnight all day, he said the car just isn't doing what he wanted to do, that's fourth place up for grabs on the screen while the people of Napa give you the summary that Napa keeps America running and now up. up front here comes dale jarrett for the leader dale jarrett can go anywhere he wants on this racetrack he's right you can see the 88 car there taking a tremendous bite coming out of the turn watch him keep going by dale earhardt as they come out of the turn two wow, Earnhardt on the high side, the hard way, he's done it, Robert Gates' power didn't help matters, right?

I'm just going to say that he handles himself pretty well on the stretch, like I say, although Earnhardt makes a move on the stretch. I'd handle it fine on the straight if I had a Yates engine pushing me, they say 740 horsepower coming out of those engines, what a shot, my goodness, we're riding with Bill Elliott just looking from the bumper camera forward, all this for the leader . He makes me feel nostalgic. I'd like some of that. Wow oh. Dale Jarrett has a nice, clean car here on lap 14 of this first 30-lap segment. Jarrett is one of many drivers with a new car here tonight.

His isn't particularly experimental, but it's new now as the leadership battle was going on look what happened behind him martin marlin and michael waltrip well sterlina bought it right there you talk now about everything he's doing right there, when you see him fall back, he's catching his breath. I guarantee that just for a second you don't breathe when they start climbing towards that outside wall sideways, that was a Kodak moment. Jeff Gordon running in sixth place. Let's go to his pit for an update. Eli. We talked a lot about how. jeff gordon has the Jurassic Park paint job way down.

He is also a new chassis. It is the first of the second generation of obstacle chassis being developed at Hendrick Motorsports. They've been working on it since last August. Ken Howes, Rick Stumpf and Phil Hammer have been working on this the pivot points are different brackets all types of mounting brackets are all different they think this is the wave of the future because basically they feel like they have developed everything they can from the current chassis and they have worked on it for a long time between different projects, they nicknamed it Elsie because a lot of people thought they would be taking advantage of the work.

There you see 1-800 Marrow 2 sponsoring the dashcam and how about what the Kellogg's people announced here yesterday that they had come? We came out with a new cereal container, a branded cereal box promoting that phone number one eight hundred marrow two to get people to become bone marrow donors for those who need not just rick hendrick but people all over the world. country. Trouble now for Ernie Irvin. Problems for the texaco havilland ford oh I'm telling you she's in trouble look at her in our fight back there the crowd doesn't know where to look here comes the new main challenge and give it to Earnhardt who now occupies first place over Jared who is moving back to second place eli in fifth place as we look at the lead right here these guys are fighting jeff gordon has come from last place to fifth he's really turning on he's going to the garage he's done for the day and bobby hamilton will follow him down the pit lane as we ride with jeff gordon two go to the garage two go to the garage ernie irving's night is over and apparently bobby hamilton you're also riding with the rocket right now jeff gordon has taken fourth place now he's really moving here we are with mark martin now he's running in fifth place well if this is the first race with the next generation then they don't have much time in that car and they don't have much experience with this, this has to be something worrying for all the other teams.

Ray Everham said this car is our future. Where we are headed. Where is he in relation to the leaders? The first three are there and we will go down. Back, back and there you see Jeff Gordon turning and there goes the battle for the lead. Jarrett was watching every time they get next to each other at the front, up here, Jeff Gordon is coming up another 10 car lengths, I'm telling you he's really on the move. traveling with that camera right there i i if he makes it through this entire race it will be a miracle remember 50,000 to win this segment 15 thousand dollars to finish second and 7,500 to finish third nine laps from the end of this first segment You can talk all you want about the cars, but these are the drivers, what a tremendous job they are doing.

Concentration cannot fail even for a second when they run so close together. The attrition rate, although now with two members on the list, Ernie. irvin and bobby hamilton let's go to the eli garage even a little oil on ernie's uniform irving ernie it's obviously an engine problem but you went from 16 to 4 it looked pretty good to you there for a while we had a great car this one The goal of Texas moved on. I mean these guys give us a great car every weekend and yeah we just hate it because you know the sponsors are really good and Ford Motor Company is great and we were struggling a little bit this afternoon but we had a really good one. tonight he'll be back here next weekend for the 600. on the track, jeff gordon continues to close in on the front three group again from the brute blimp, there's the top three and now look how fast jeff is closing in on him.

You called him buddy, I'll tell you what's got that thing on to kill right now that car is going around this race track right around the bottom of the race track that white line that's where the flat part of the race track starts and banks jeff gordon has that car marked he's running for a good half lap in this segment, he doesn't care how he gets there, remember that in '95 he won all three segments of the race and led 49 of the 70 laps that night, but uh, he I'll bring Ryan to the front any way I can get him here tonight.

This has to make the car's owner, Rick Hendrick, smile. One of his cars already won the Open. Gordon running so well that Jarrett outside with that power got it. the jarrett line leads again the crowd enjoys that there jared fans led the previous laps 14, 15 and 16. eli, that will be a four car race next lap, gordon now has three car lengths in fourth place, it's the first three. cars, you see them there right behind them. Jeff Gordon is right behind him. I think he may run out of time to win, but he has surely made a tremendous challenge to the front and remember that the order of arrival of this segment will be reversed. to begin segment two, from michael waltrip to jeff gordon as we review the final cards and around delliot, it's easily done right there.

Wow, well those two guys in front of them better watch it because here it comes now, what do you adjust on this car at the break, oh, it's absolutely Eli and Ray Everham, they just told Jeff, dude, go so win this, you have the race car to do it, don't hold back, we can also come from behind in the second segment, so crushing is all. gordon knows it right now and that's all ivern wants to see see six tenths of a second the interval battle now in the seventh eighth and ninth district burton jimmy spencer daryl waltrip ricky rudd is in tenth riding with the old man dw doesn't look very old There he is making a pass on the outside and you can see that the turn is just above his red line.

He really he's got that thing working well up front. Jared and Earnhardt Dale, who took first place a few laps ago, hold off that challenge next. Eventually it will be the caution to finish the first segment, Dale Jarrett getting closer to a 50k paycheck if he can withstand Earnhardt's challenge that is apparently coming or is here, Dale goes down, oh he made a However, It looks like Jared will make it big as they come down this stage, with Jared Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon taking home top honors. There is Rusty Wallace ahead of Sterling Marlon. They're 13th and 14th, but it's 50,000 in segment one for Dale. jarrett 15,000 for dale earhardt and 7,500 for jeff gordon but now the first will be the last we return welcome back to the winston at the charlotte

motor

speedway

well the first segment is in the books dale jared is 50,000 richer for the record tho I'll remind you that this is Winston's 13th race in the previous 12, only three times has the winner of the first segment won all of the night's activities.

Davey Allison did it twice in '91 and '92. Jeff Gordon in 1995. So there's no guarantee that Dale Jarrett has the gentleman in hiding but Steve Burns you must like that first segment he was a big guy Dale Jarrett looked aw

full

y strong he's talking to your crew chief todd parrott right now hey dale glenn jarrett said last year after the first segment that he wanted to lend and you said your credit wasn't good enough, how about you made enough money this time? She doesn't need it anyway, so it's okay, this one is for Kelly, hope

full

y, we can get the rest for her too, but just a little.

The birthday gift for her right there Carl was pretty good, a little weak that's why I had to go back to the high line and hopefully we can improve it a little now that we really have a lot of work ahead of us, well it seems . he's got a strong horse let's go with glenn jarrett glenn how about that loan? Well, I don't think you understand my financial situation very well, but come on Earnhardt, sitting here taking a big drink of cold water, come on, your car looked awfully good, but you guys are making some adjustments to the car.

They think they can improve it. Well, we have to do it. We are a little tied. It hurt a little bit going in, but I felt more comfortable with it and we're too tight. So we're going to try to adjust a little bit and see if we can improve the car. We have to work hard to get back through this traffic and that's going to be the biggest thing right now that we don't want. to get the car out of shape so we're making some adjustments here I would definitely like to win that race now you know, this race car is running very well.

I have a good engine. I have a great engine in this car. The guys are working very well, so if we get it done we can get back to the front and be in some position for that 10-10 lap stint. I think we have something for him, well, it's a very rare Dale Earnhardt moment. He's got nothing for him here in charlotte, now let's go to matt yoakam, well, jeff gordon is sitting patiently in his car, jeff hasn't been a bad performance for this debut of this new car of 24, from 19th to third, yeah, That's what this race is. all about man just go all out, I'll tell you this when the car is as fast as this, there's no way I'm stopping, I'm going to go all the way and yeah, I need a few more laps.

I think I might have caught those guys we're a little tight, let's release it, we'll be even better. InThis second segment, let's go back upstairs, where Eli doesn't look like he even ripped a sweater. Are Labonte teams working? That's Terry Labonte's group. Bobby Labonte and Terry will start on the front row in the second segment, but first, why don't we take a break for Ray Evernham's technical information presented by Autozone. The best parts in auto parts. It's time for the

1997

Winston. The Winston is a unique event in Nascar Winston Cup racing because it's divided into three segments, two 30-lap segments followed by a 10-lap shootout and we'll make adjustments in between.

We know how to change the weight of the wedge on each one. tire we know about the panel rods lowering the panted rod makes the car tighter raising the panel rod makes the car looser we will also use the tire pressure lower the tire pressure or increase the tire pressure tires in just one pound can make a big difference in the spring rate of the tire we will use spring rubbers placing a piece of rubber on a spring or removing it from a spring can make the spring stiffer or softer by up to 25 , but what's really different about this year than all the previous years.

Nascar made a change to the aerodynamic rules, they made us take fenders from 76 inches wide to 74 inches wide, which takes the front down force off the cars to get that downforce back. You'll see a lot of guys putting on more and more tape. As the night goes on, the more tape you run, the more the engine temperature rises, the more the engine temperature rises, the greater your chances of increasing. How important that tape is. Jeff Gordon went from second to fifth place at Talladega when a strip of tape arrived. so following up on what we were talking about with a friend a while ago, we appreciate you being with us here on tnn motorsports, winston's second segment just six minutes away, tnn motorsports' live coverage of the all-star race by winston

nascar

is brought to you by napa auto parts in napa we keep america running and for a tap like no other, do it yourself tap the blimp root the best smelling blimp in the sky sponsored by bruta the line of fragrances and deodorants for men giving us all our aerial shots here at charlotte

speedway

there's the aircraft brood three minutes and 21 seconds until we resume let's get back to pit road eli bobby labonte and jimmy macar were having a discussion about the wild ride he took something about nerves and adrenaline bobby that was quite a trip uh that's not what I wanted to do, that's for sure, but uh, uh, that's the second time this week I've been through the grass and hey, I guess not I need a lawn mower, maybe I can cut it with my car, it seems, but we'll get it. the pontiac interstate running we just gotta go for a run okay bobby let's go with glen jarrett.

Well, right now bill elliott is talking to his crew chief, mike beam, i will see if i can interrupt him for a moment and then bill i'm already there. I'm staying closer to you in your shadow tonight, but it seems like the car was a little weak in that segment. Yes, we are a little out of place. You know it's hard to run during the day and try to guess what the track will do. night, but at McDonald's Ford, you know, like I said, I keep going back to a year ago, I mean, even finishing fourth is a big shot from where I was a year ago, well, absolutely, and if I can get my cameraman to show me just for a second here, we look at this is a partial spring rubber.

Now we hear them pulling rubber out of the springs all the time. Dale Earnhardt took one out of the right front that tends to loosen the car a little. He also brought out this piece. from the right rear that squeezes him, but what does he want the car to feel like he can handle it coming into the corner he wants the car to break free so he can turn it down the racetrack he said that's where Dale Jarrett was. defeating in that segment, well, Daryl Waltrip is waiting here, they fixed the western car, Chevy and Daryl, you toned down your suit, you lost the chrome suit, but this car looks pretty fast, yeah.

This car has eight engines, I'm telling you Claud and everyone did a great job, Greg and everyone in the engine room built everyone there and, uh, the engine ate it, but the American Chevrolet parts were a little tight. I pulled a rubber out of the right front I raised the tracking bar I pulled out a wedge round I want to go after these guys My goal was to stay with Gordon and follow him there. He slipped away from me just a little. I'll see if I can get him back here in his next 30 but he's going to be big tonight, he says the next 30 segments back will be a big experiment, they've made a lot of changes, they'll see how it goes. everything goes well for the next 30 laps thanks matt now again guys for the benefit of our new fans we have already heard two or three teams refer to the fact that they had to set up the cars during the day but obviously we are now racing At night, many people don't understand what the change in temperature does to a race track and consequently their car setup is good.

The heat on a track loses traction, the colder it gets the more traction you get in the corners and the car really slides in the evenings and at night, because the bike actually goes forward on the rear tires and pushes the nose of the car towards outside. I couldn't really understand what everyone was trying to figure out this afternoon because it was very, very hot, it's totally different now we are in very good conditions, great races, but you know, those guys have a lot of talent tuning these cars, a lot of people who were outside the stadium in that first segment is now back. there you see the xi batteries ford in their pit area there you see that big old puddle they've been watching Steve, what happened there during that stop, well they actually arrived before this stop, they arrived very quickly after Bobby Labonte brought out the yellow flag, said they were too loose, they did a tire pressure adjustment on the right side and Jeff still says they are a little loose, but they are really trying to get ready for the last 10 lap segment.

I asked a couple of friends to throw candy, he says, yeah, sure, why not, in fact, why not, we're going to run and the field starts rolling for the start of segment number two, we come back with the green flag At one point, the field receives the signal to go here. at the charlotte motor speedway as we get ready for tnn's coverage of winston segment number two, i recognize that patch of grass there, baker friend, did i see you backing up there one day? I didn't, it wasn't as fun as I just had cntn there, can you believe me when I passed by there, that was immediately getting longer and they were turning me into turn one.

Isn't it funny, Steve Burns, Dave Roberts and David Little rebuilt Rusty Wallace's favorite car at midnight. Rusty wanted him here, no. Do you know how many team members thought it was the car to go here this weekend? What are they saying? I talked to Rusty yesterday during qualifying and he said, man. When I asked those guys if we could get that car out, they said, are you crazy? He says the heat is really on me, so I asked Robin Pepperdin at half-time. You know, Rusty finished 13th. I told him, what do you do to a race car that doesn't run?

He said: Well, we made a tire pressure adjustment shim, shock absorbers. We would have changed the radiator cap, but everyone knows it's too hot to take off. Here you will have Terry Labonte first. Bobby Labonte's second. The third will be Ricky Craven. Jeff Beaudine. The fourth Sterling Marlin restarts the fifth. The sixth will be Rusty Wallace with Kyle Petty. going seventh jeff burton eighth burton district ninth ricky rudd will go tenth daryl waltrip restarts 11. 12. is jimmy spencer michael waltrip 13. mark martin 14. bill elliott 15. then jeff gordon dale earhardt and dale jarrett the race order reversed after the segment one green is in the air and it's your basic saturday night stock car race with the fastest cars behind, look at these guys and let's see if they can get by and see how quickly the Labonte brothers fixed their cars after the first segment and it's chaos in the back cars passing cars everywhere daryl walter got caught in that restart and backs up a little bit terry labonte bobby labonte jeff beaudine ricky craven and sterling marlon you're riding with daryl waltrip now there's a lot of work on that car today At one point I looked at that car in the garage, it was on jack stands, seven pairs of shoes sticking out from under it, a pair of chrome, guess who they were, Elvis nearby, yes, Elvis Waltrip.

I'm going back to this race double file. What we're doing right now, as you can see, the winner of the last, the first segment of tonight's race is stuck in traffic right now and while they're doing this, the Labonte brothers are going to get away. Steve Burns monitors Mark Martin's team. eli progress just before the break about five minutes before mark martin told jimmy fenix steve food on the guys said i have the best car on the track i have something for him i'm better than the guys in front of me so let's keep an eye on that six car while crossing traffic. 33 laps in total.

Complete three laps in this second segment. Bernard follows Jarrett down the track here, he follows whatever line he takes. Daryl's car looks up at him, but under the lights it almost blinds Eli. That car doesn't drive. He can't keep it on the low side of the track. He gave up four places. in that corner daryl waltrip is not handling himself the way he wants now they are leaving him and again you saw him go up to the bench while his brother michael walton stayed down there is ricky red now with jeff gordon ward burton and 22 and dale joward in 88 , which is 9th 10th 11th, places strong cars from the first segment racing their way through traffic, 10 has run each of these races, third place is their best result, you see, who is is preparing to leave this group, you can see. jeff gordon's 24 is about to break this group and wait for him to come to the front while we watch this we will tell you that the labonte brothers are up by a second and three tenths now terry ahead of bobby in the leader of the group with ricky craven third, but we'll stick with this battle here and now we go to the front and take you back to the battle we were talking about.

There you see the differential on the track, so Ricky Craven is there. for a moment in third place won the open transferred to this race there it's rusty at the bottom and everyone is overtaking one after another seconds ago burton and dale jarrett collided with mark martin and ward burton now fighting this is what happened seconds ago see ward Burton is right at the bottom, there, wow, I mean, they really did it, there was no damage, so Floyd Burton was as low as he could go and Jarrett was trying to get to the end of the track still with you in 12th place . battle now mark martin and ward burt if you're just joining us looking for ernie irvin finished at night engine problems you're looking for bobby hamilton the same fate ran at night with engine problems without any specific comment on those two more cars of the teams here run very unique engines, they run crankshafts, connecting rods, pistons, they adjust the timing, they adjust the carburetor to do everything they can think of to make the engine last about 100 miles, they even use spark plugs with a heat range of 57 to 59. which is a little higher than what they will be running in the 600 here next week, the higher the number the hotter the plug, which means more acceleration, more response, just pushing it to the limit a little more , some even read a higher level. water temperature here in winston good shot here outside the car bell elliot look at the 24 cars jeff gordon although he already moved up to seventh place this is the seventh one who is trying to pass by Sterling Marlin as they go through the curve he is going to take he also go ahead seventh place, well, gordon is always a story, isn't he?

He is a talent that runs over him, yes, there you see the fastest laps of a leader, terry labonte, here in segment number two, mci, the official telecommunications company of nascar, which monitors the fastest laps there was a fast one right there dale jarrett moves into 8th place around Sterling Marlin and here comes dale Earnhardt wow glenn jarrett strong move right there for dale Earnhardt yeah he's a muscle he and Jarrett rushed right when Sterling spun his car doesn't handle as well as the other two. I asked Larry Mcreynolds if Dale had said anything about how the car was handling since they made the changes.

He looked at me and said, are you kidding me? He is busy but in the meantime they are having some radio broadcast. problems for some reason track security is overriding the radio channel they asked Dale if he could change to channel two Dale said no right now guys I'm a little busy. There are 18 laps left in this segment as we make our way around the field for you back to the front. there are the brothersLavonte who finished last and second to last in the first segment. Wow, here it comes again. Fifth place went to Jeff Gordon ahead of Jeff Beaudine.

Meanwhile, up front, here goes Bobby Labonte, bro, can you spare him a draft? Hit next to him like the commercial who's the best, well let me tell you both guys are very talented right now, don't count out terry labonte in this last 10 lap segment, if Bobby wins this segment, you really can't count out no one, I mean, sounds trite. and productive, but you can't count anyone out, you know, it's remarkable, remember it wasn't that many laps ago that this guy was spinning back across the field, half the field had a chance to take him out now that he's in the lead, meanwhile jeff burton and jeff beaudine here comes dale jarrett sixth seventh and eighth place Earnhardt Earnhardt will also be in your photo right behind them there he is look at Jared's car you're talking about something running now look at that car comes down at the end and passes two cars behind immediately In turn three they opened wide at the entrance trying to get in on Jared again.

He's in seven, pretty strong for a guy who's had some engine issues here in recent weeks. What happened there when Jared went to the corner? very hard when he passed those two cars on the backstretch, he washed out a little bit, but you'll see he made the pass right behind. Odin has had a strong car in the last races six, seven, eighth and ninth on your screen, right there, I just didn't race to the end, here comes Earnhardt trying to get around the front right away, that's pretty easy for me say it, look, look at Erin Art, that car is doing well though, Bernard now in eight places, quad iron in seventh. side by side, back to turn three, he's done it now, we're in segment two, if you're just tuning in for a big ten lap stint that's still to come to settle the winston jeff burton in '99 after that great victory in texas, his first points. win in the winston cup you're going to see a lot of that kid for a long time very talented racer look at bo dyne wow he's doing a great job hanging on to that low pace and trying to make it work for him 8th and 9th although changing right there jeff burton in front and meanwhile, in front, bobby labonte starts to pull away from his brother, ricky craven is still third, but there's the interval, Terry is right below our score summary, there he is, once he broke free, Glenn Bobby It was, oh absolutely and as Dick Bergen said a while ago, he was turning back a while ago, the whole field could have taken it. but you know, he made that comment, hey, he wanted to get in the back and he wanted to do it right now anyway, although Rick Hendricks has to be a happy man, he's got guys driving his cars, they're running second, third and fourth on the track. and jeff gordon once again comes along like a freight train.

Earnhardt's wagon, meanwhile, we have a report on him. He's still a little tight from the center, so they have to do a little more tightening on Dale's wagon at the end of this segment and Ricky. Craven who is in third place is now starting to close in on the Labonte brothers, there are 50 laps on the board right now, 10 left in this winston segment, the leader in the second segment of the winston nascar all star race is the interstate. pontiac batteries bobby labonte took the lead from his brother terry right there in number five on lap number 43. there you see jeff gordon is now running in fourth place five and a half seconds behind race leader matt joachim eli before At the last break Jeff Gordon was complaining that the car was going out of the corner, so during the intermission they took out a spring tire and adjusted the car with air pressure.

Now the car is a little loose, but he gets closer to it, continues to tighten a little more. He says that by the time this segment is over you should be in great shape, make some minor adjustments with your air pressure and go for the win. There are seven laps left in this segment of the Winston. The phone number on the dashboard is the phone number you call. If you want to become a bone marrow donor, they will help you through it. one eight hundred pith two jeff beaudine in ninth marco martin in tenth about dine's having a good run tonight, it's really good to see, as he mentioned before looking for additional sponsorship help in mark martin, get up in that corner, those six cars though They still have a thing for him, I think he's very very picky about the way he drives the car until the money runs out and then all of a sudden Mark Martin is always there, look how low he can run into the corner.

The battle for second place intensifies a little more now with Curry Leboni at the five. Ricky Craven on the 25 of Hendrick Motorsports teammates corporately. Yes, the veteran at five and the young rookie challenger. that 25. What is that television commercial? Now people remember that the way they finish in this segment is the way they will start the last 10 lap segment. They will not reverse the field again. They will begin face to face in segment three. Nobody is thinking of crossing here. without even remotely thinking about oh craven has approached him they really have left everyone else in their wake now gordon and fourth and spencer and fifth almost yes, so many new cars terry lavonnie and those five chose an old one, that's the car that He ran to third place at Indianapolis last year, there's Gordon, you see he's slipped a little bit now on the timers, Eli, I think they might have made too many adjustments to Gordon's car because he's not running like he did in the first segment.

In fact, I think Dale Jarrett may be a little faster. He's one car behind Gordon right now and appears to be closing in on him. You saw six seconds, the interval from the first to Gordon, is now three and seven tenths. that man returns with his brother terry lavonny in second there it's 3 and 7 10 seconds between those two cars and the leader the big gap will be closed here in just a few laps when everyone pits and that will be by far the most important stop of the day last chance to change them last chance to make the adjustment next time they will wave the warning by bobby labonte to collect 50 thousand dollars terry labonte and ricky craven in line for fifteen and seventy five hundred dollars respectively caution is out the segment is over, bobby labonte wins it here come terry and ricky craven gordon spencer and dale jarrett then dale earhardt followed by jeff burton jeff clodine mark martin bill elliott ricky rudd and then side by side right there kyle and Sterling marlon were fighting side by side for the job 13 and 14, well we're ready folks, in 10 minutes we'll get you ready for that 10 lap shootout at Winston, we're back in the moment www.nascar.com that's the address for nascar online log in right now and you'll get all the scores, all the news as it develops here at charlotte motor speedway or tomorrow when the nascar bush series kicks off in nazareth, pennsylvania get all the information on nascar online and yes if you're wondering food lion tnn salute to motor sports you will be back in 1997 at opryland usa the dates are June 25-29 for more information just call the number you see on the screen we will give you all the details you want for food lion tnn salute to sports from engine to pit road let's go and bobby labonte was talking to jimmy mayhard just before they came in they made an adjustment to the grill they removed some tape looks like it's got a little push we'll get the microphone here Bobby, you made it look pretty easy .

What adjustments will you make now? I put a little bit of that. Alright. We just have to go to race ten. To the left, here we will be. I hope we're okay. buddy yokum ricky craven sitting third ricky you're making some adjustments to the car to work on push do you have anything to win this well with 10 laps to go i think so? I mean, it's really exciting that I'm having a great time, my first Winston and I'll tell you what the next 10 laps are going to be like, where we all start, you know, like a heat race and the only thing that matters is who crosses that line first, well, they did it. some adjustments with the air pressure and putting some tape on the front, let's go with Glenn Jarrett, well guys, car five is struggling in a tough situation, Terry is still in conference with one of the team members, He is preparing to start the car, but They took a spring rubber, this is a half spring rubber, they took it out from the right front, like I said, that loosens the car.

They also put a little more tape on the front of the race car, as a friend says, to put more downward pressure, more pressure. on the nose of the car to help turn it and they also bit the car, so he had a very very complicated situation. Now you feel like you're ready because you're excited to start it, so you have a good starting position outside the front. row so we're ready for the start of the last 10 laps of the Winston, everyone is watching from coast to coast and around the world, we'll be back with you in a moment, let's get ready to fight, everyone's ready for this segment number one .

Here this afternoon, lap number three, Mark Martin with the push to Bobby Lobotti for our only caution flag of night lap number 17, Dale Earnhardt moves to the inside of Dale Jarrett and takes the lead, but on lap number 25, Jarrett returned the honor and took the lead. led the comeback of the GM Good Ranch Wheaties team and Jarrett pocketed 50,000 at the end of round one, round number two, Ward Burton and Dale Jarrett, just the slightest touch, no problems, no caution, lap number 43, Bobby Labonte passes his brother terry labonte for the lead and never looks back as he wins segment number two and fifty thousand dollars more and now we are ready here is the grid for segment three bobby labonte and terry labonte ricky craven and jeff gordon will be next in row spencer and jared wrote three winhardt and jeff burton in row four jeff beaudine and mark martin bill elliot ricky rudd kyle penny and Sterling marlin next to row seven ward burton and michael waltrip in row number eight rusty wallace and daryl walter rowe number nine the other two starters in the garage ernie irvin and bobby hamilton with engine failure here we go, buckle up tight 10 laps to clear 200,000 to win it all it was a textbook start boy ricky craven had a great race on that corner, he's immediately behind you.

I can see right there he's making a move, but why not Bobby Labonte on the underside? Bobby took the low side, but it's going to cost him and coward the draft to the high side of him and neither of them can align again. lose four or five spots terry labonte is the leader spencer across the dirt in the infield from the low side to the high side what move is in the fourth gordon is right there comes jeff in turn two is making a move on bobby labonte terry labonte behind Gordon immediately has it left but tonight's Hendrick Motorsports teammates give it to Gordon here they head back towards the start and finish line Gordon leads number two of this final 10 lap segment there will be many orders for that car of sparks coming out of the 25 ricky craven rusty wallace to the garage rusty wallace has done it the clock has struck midnight for him he is the third retiree Earnhardt bottoming out Sparks Gordon in the lead here is Earnhardt trying to get a place more fight there but everyone is behind jeff gordon who is now sixth ricky's car seems to be moving forward a little bit on the track it's just not handling like it did in the second segment i'll tell you the card i'm looking for if bobby labonte beats terry lebron i think he can It will be a real challenge to face Jeff Gordon, but he is running out of time, they will have to chase him right now, it will be five laps to go next time with a separation of four cars depending on the triple. labani and bobby labonte jurassic park rye and gordon had a good ride tonight leading this final segment of the winston started completely at the back of the pack in the first segment ran well in that first segment finished third they call it the winston ten laps without shootout now let's see if bobby can do it here comes bobby lobani from behind immediately underneath his brother terry as they head towards turn three the problem is whether he has enough time now to try and chase gordon burton he has a substantial lead you just saw him there , there are four laps left to go behind them, but that is the operative term, they are in 11th place, those machines are so spectacular in these winstons and winston open came here for the first time in 93 crashed while leading won the open in 94 . won the winston in 95. that whole last year, yeah, that's fourth place right there.

Earnhardt in the last lap was taken by Jared and Spencer. Whoa, whoa, Spencer mixing it up with Earnhardt Spencer at the bottom. Earnhardt up front, folks, he's one. and a tenth now for jeff gordon, he's gone, whatever they tuned in that car, eli, they did it right at the end of thesecond segment because jeff gordon is running around the base of the track, it was a 200,000 fix, there you see the separation, but with almost a mile and a half left watching mark martin go down to turn three very, very fast white flag for jeff ford is a mile and a half away from a 200,000 payday he earned 7,500 for a third place in the number one segment but this is the one he wanted o rick hendrick you picked a good one in this kid that's the best medicine rick hendrick could get, jeff gordon wins 1997 winston race, bobby lobotti, second, terry lavonny, third, give it to Earnhardt, fourth, Spencer's boss, fifth. down the straight there's a big battle for 15th, 16th and 17th on the other side of the line and yeah you earned the nod right there for jeff gordon now for matt yoakam with ray evernham well ray you said it was great game, we'll bring that new car. to charlotte for the winston, but it sure was worth it tonight. congratulations, i didn't say it was a bet, but you know, congratulations, everyone did a great job, you know, i want to say hi to rick and linda and everyone back there. and I want to thank everyone for giving us the opportunity to do this, all the guys who worked hard on that car, all the guys in the research shop, it was worth it tonight.

You know, Jeff Gordon is a great racing driver and I really love him. I especially want to thank the people at Kellogg's for helping with the 1,800 bone marrow program they did over this weekend and it was very nice of them to reach a lot of people with that program. Well, Charlotte has been good for the rainbow. Warriors and it's Chevrolet's seventh win here at Winston in 13 years. We're headed to victory lane with you in no time for the second time in your career. Jeff Gordon is in victory lane for Winston. Glen Jarrett is with him right now with a bunch. of confetti Jeff is very excited, he really wanted to get out of the car, he is as excited as I have ever seen him, he takes a big gulp of Pepsi, Jeff, come here man, first of all, congratulations, great race and I want to know what . was the question you asked wayne roberts there with winston how much money show me the money how much money did I make man this is amazing I tell you what we're going to call it a t-rex mobile right here uh because uh rex done all the guys in the third department built this chassis , we will name it after him and I have to thank God, certainly on my side, it's a hectic race and to do what we did, we came from back to front twice and then to win that was incredible and I want to thank dupont automotive ends quaker state pepsi goodyear had a great tire on chevrolet of course uh finish with that monte carlo jeff you had to know you had a great race car after that first segment when you came from the back row to finish near the front like you did.

You knew you had something for them. I knew I had an amazing race car. I'm telling you that thing was wrong to the core. Uh, I drove. in the first turn that stuck like glue and I was like oh yeah, here we go man and I tried, you know, really my plan wasn't to try to win that first segment. I was just going to try to go as far as I could, but I didn't know I was going to make it to the third segment and maybe have a chance. for winning it, but one thing, rj reynolds and winston, they give us a lot of money for this championship, but they give us a lot of money to come here and have fun and put on a great show for these fans and they sure did, congratulations. to jeff and the whole team back to you eli okay glenn he is only the third multiple winner of the winston dale earhardt with three wins, the late davey allison with two and now jeff gordon with two victories in the winston al garage , bobby lobotti came home second place, let's hear from him, yeah Eli, he was a little short, Bobby, uh, your take on the last 10 lap segment, I got loose in turn two right after the green flag and that really It killed my drive because I couldn't.

I can't afford to be more flexible than that, you know, and uh, you know, when terry and jeff and terry passed, then I went through three and four so well because I had, you know, that was loaded, it's just that, you know, I gave everyone enough space that I didn't need. to not cause any accidents and, you know, just one of those agreements, it needed like 30 laps, it didn't need 10 laps, so you know, it's just the agreement that our car was more set up, more for long races or it wasn't really the car that I Isn't it?

I'm usually not good at short races, you know, so it's kind of one of those deals. You know, the Pontiac interstate worked well, we just didn't have what it took for the last 10 laps, but oh well. We're close, okay, let's check with Terry Labonte. Well, Terry Lubani came home with a strong third place finish and Terry isn't too bad for a car you guys didn't really want to bring. Well, that's probably the best finish that car has. I've had it before, but we know we want to bring our good car back to the 600 next week, so it's a good thing this one isn't good enough.

We'll be keeping an eye next week to see if this car finished third, wait until they bring the good car here. that will be something to see next weekend, it's time to get back in the middle of all that celebration for the miller light pit crew award presented to you by miller light, who invites you to sit back and enjoy the time of miller, glenn jarrett and the winner of course is ray everham ray you guys did an amazing job preparing that car jeff said he knew it on the first lap when he drove it it got stuck like that man I have something for him but you guys worked hard and prepared a lot Well a lot of people I knew this victory.

You talk about the team's victory. This is our Hendrick Motorsports R&D car. And everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. The 150 people work very hard on this car. You know, it's something new. I know this is making Rick very happy, but a lot of people worked on this race car, but it wasn't a Rainbow Warriors, so congratulations everyone. Am I listening correctly? This is a test car. Yes, this was just a test. good test and it sure is not a dinosaur congratulations ray thank you very much this was just a test if it had been a real emergency we would have abandoned the field we are back with the summary of winston and much more from charlotte right after this