Ricky Rudd Inherits Dover Victory
Winning Streak Continues
DOVER, DE: The NASCAR Winston Cup series made a lot of noise in the Capital City of the nation's first state this afternoon. Ricky Rudd waited until the race was over for his noise making. The popular driver from Chesapeake, VA was near the top five all day but did not lead until 29 laps from the end. He held off a late charge from Mark Martin during he last 5 laps to take the victory. Rudd has at least one victory per year for the last fifteen seasons.
Ricky Rudd
The skies had been threatening all day. With three laps left in the race, sprinkles dotted the windshields of the rumbling racing machines. The race went the scheduled 500 mile distance, keeping Rudd's winning streak alive. That winning streak would have been put on hold if the rains came 30 laps earlier.
It was a race that no one could lead for very long in the last 50 laps. Dale Jarrett, in the familiar number 88 Ford Quality car was dominate through the middle and later parts of the race. Jeff Gordon, driving the Delaware based Dupont car was a close second with 49 laps to go. There was trouble ahead. Jarrett slowed for a spinning John Andretti. Gordon didn't. He slammed the back of Jarrett's car and took himself out of the race in the process. The Dupont car is always fast but it can't run without water. Gordon punctured his radiator in the mishap. He pulled to the garage area in disgust.
Jarrett's car was not effected by the hit from behind. When the green flag fell, Jarrett left the pack as he had done so many times before in the race. His Yates motor went up in smoke a few laps later. Teammate Ernie Irvan was there to take the lead. Irvan had dominated the early part of the race but was forced back as far as thirteenth place when he made a double pit stop on one of the earlier caution periods. Irvan hung with the leaders and was back in front on lap 471 of the scheduled 500.
The Yates Team couldn't buy a break. Chad Little was losing grease from the rear end of his John Deere car. Irvan was leaving the field behind when he charged into turn one, finding Little's grease. Irvan's Texaco Havoline car spun and slammed the Dover concrete. The Yates teammates (Jarrett and Irvan) had led 396 laps...now they were both out of the race. Rudd, who quietly stayed on the lead lap all day, inherited the lead.
During the final round of pit stops, Rudd and Mark Martin took on fuel only. Jeff Burton and Jeremy Mayfield were in third and fourth with new Goodyear tires. Kyle Petty, who started third in the Hot Wheels car was lined up in fifth position for the final restart.
Rudd changed his racing line several times during the last five laps, keeping the hard charging Martin in second place. Rudd said after the race, "I didn't think we could hold Mark off. We were very loose on our last set of tires."
It was the standard "great show" by some of NASCAR's finest. Close racing and chipped paint are the trademarks of the series. It was no different today. Five cars finished the race on the lead lap.
In the most dramatic incident of the day, Geoff Bodine was forced into the wall. He lost his steering and slid back down the track into the path of Dick Trickle. Trickle hit Bodine hard and got airborne. As he was in the air, Bobby Hillin hit Trickle, covering the track with debris. None of the drivers were injured in the incident.
Polesitter Bobby Labonte led the first twenty-nine circuits, but spun and hit the wall while leading.
Dale Earnhardt was forced to take a "champions provisional" to get into the race. His car did not improve as he was a lap down early (30th lap).
The NASCAR teams will travel to the Pocono mountains in Pennsylvania for a 500 miler next Sunday.
Terry Callahan — The Auto Channel
June 1, 1997
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