NASCAR: Winston 500 Report (Lap 140)
10 May 1997
TALLADEGA, AL -- Lap 96 : Rusty Wallace loses a lap on the track after that early second pit stop. Lap 96: Earnhardt, Andretti, Spencer, Skinner, Elliott, Gordon, Schrader, Irvan, Martin, Mayfield Skinner moves around Spencer for third and goes after Andretti for second. Skinner completes the pass while Spencer starts to work on Andretti for third. Musgrave and KWallace make pit stops. Gordon is now Lap 103: Elliott, Rudd, Benson, Schrader, and JBurton all come down pit road. Four tires for Elliott. Lap 104: Martin and Spencer make their stops. Four tires for Martin. Jarrett is down pit road along with Hillin. Jarrett takes two tires. Here come the leaders for their stops. Earnhardt-4 tires. Gordon takes four tires. Gordon beats Earnhardt out. Irvan takes 2 tires. Marlin, who dropped out of the lead pack earlier, has inherited the race lead. JBurton is running in second, Rudd, Schrader, MWaltrip, Spencer, Gordon, Earnhardt Marlin comes into the pits handing the lead to JBurton. Mayfield had to be pushed out of pits after experiencing gear problems. Skinner ran out of gas as he was coming in for his stop and it took the crew several seconds to get his car refired. Lap : JBurton, Rudd, Schrader, MWaltrip, Spencer, Gordon, Earnhardt There are 34 cars on the lead lap. The front six cars have broken away but are about to encounter slower traffic. Schrader dives below Rudd looking for second. Schrader can't make the pass falls back in third. JBurton bypasses the slower car of Sacks putting him a lap down. Marlin is headed down pit road and goes to the garage. He was experiencing engine troubles earlier and it appears they have gotten worse. Schrader moves up to second and now drops down and takes the lead. As they field gets to turn one Gordon sweeps by to take first. Rudd comes to second with Spencer in third. MWaltrip is fourth. Schrader continues to lose positions. Grissom is back in the race. Lap 120: Gordon, Rudd, Spencer, MWaltrip, Schrader, Earnhardt, Irvan, BLabonte, Martin, JBurton Earnhardt makes a move to the front bypassing Schrader and MWaltrip and up alongside Spencer. Spencer has Martin on his tail. Earnhardt has help from Irvan on the outside. The outside line starts inching ahead and Earnhardt takes third. Irvan slides into fourth and Spencer drops in line in fifth. Lap 125: Gordon, Rudd, Earnhardt, Irvan, Spencer The leaders catch traffic and Gordon loses the lead to Earnhardt as he gets trapped behind Craven. Earnhardt comes out the winner with Irvan moving to second, Spencer to third, Rudd back to fourth. Gordon goes waaaaaaay back outside the top ten. Irvan looks underneath Earnhardt in turn two...no dice...Spencer gives Earnhardt a push. Irvan swings low on the track and Martin takes the position from him. Martin gets the lead but here comes JBurton. JBurton takes them three wide to swipe the lead. Earnhardt in second, MWaltrip takes third. Martin is side-by-side with Spencer for fourth. Martin gets ahead of Spencer and now passes MWaltrip for third. Earnhardt challenges for the lead in turn three. The #3 car goes low and makes the pass. Lap 132: Earnhardt, JBurton, Martin, MWaltrip, Trickle, Spencer, Rudd, Irvan, Andretti, Schrader Trickle gets fourth. More shuffling at the front of the pack. Martin has gotten back up to second. Trickle moves to third and JBurton settles in in fourth. Spencer has lost the handle and falls well back. Lap 137: Earnhardt, Martin, Trickle, JBurton, Irvan, MWaltrip There are 25 cars on the lead lap with 15 cars in the lead draft. Irvan looks high and takes fourth from JBurton. MWaltrip and Andretti go by JBurton. Meanwhile TLabonte has quietly found his way into the lead pack. Martin looks to the outside of Earnhardt and Martin takes the leads coming through turns three and four. Earnhardt's back to sixth. Lap 140: Martin, Irvan, Andretti, MWaltrip, Gordon, Earnhardt, Spenncer, JBurton, TLabonte, Trickle Mike Snow -- The Auto Channel
