---

NASCAR WCUP: MBNA Gold 400 Race Weekend Wrap-up

27 September 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Winner: Mark Martin
Team: Valvoline/Cummins Ford

* Mark Martin won the MBNA Gold 400 scoring his second NASCAR Winston Cup victory in 1999. It was his 31st career NASCAR Winston Cup victory and third win in his 27 races at Dover Downs International Speedway.

* Martin remained 18th on the all-time NASCAR Winston Cup winners list.

* All three of Martins victories at Dover have occurred in the last three MBNA Gold 400s.

* Martin has finished seventh or better, including three victories, in the last seven races at Dover. This was Martins 17th top-10 finish in 27 races at Dover.

* Martin became the sixth repeat race winner in 1999. Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton lead all drivers, each with five victories in 1999. Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte each have four wins and Dale Earnhardt has two.

* Martin led six times for 161 of the 400 laps raced, the most of all drivers. This is the first time that he has led the most laps in a race this season.

* There have been 12 different race winners in the 20 races at Dover in the 1990s. Mark Martin Jeff Gordon and Rusty Wallace (three each) along with Harry Gant and Ricky Rudd (two each) have repeated as winners at Dover in the 1990s.

* Ford continues to lead the manufacturers points race with 12 victories and 188 points. Chevrolet has nine victories and 167 points while Pontiac has six victories and 158 points.

NOTEBOOK ITEMS...

* The NASCAR Winston Cup Leader bonus is worth $80,000 for the Napa AutoCare 500 at Martinsville.

* Tony Stewart (second) scored his 18th top-10 finish this season. He tied his career-best superspeedway finish of second set just one race ago at New Hampshire. Stewart was the highest finishing rookie for the 26th time this season. Stewart finished fourth and second in his two NASCAR Winston Cup races at Dover. This was his 19th consecutive top-15 finish in 1999 extending a streak that began with his fifth-place finish at Talladega in April.

* Dale Jarrett (third) scored his 22nd top-10 finish in 1999 and is 257 points ahead of second-place Mark Martin in the NASCAR Winston Cup point standings.

* Matt Kenseth (fourth) scored his career-first top-five finish in his fourth career NASCAR Winston Cup race. It was his second top-10 finish at Dover. Kenseth ran in relief for Bill Elliott last fall and finished sixth.

* Bobby Labonte (fifth) posted 19th top-10 finish in 1999. Labonte has finished ninth or better, including one victory, in nine of the last 10 races at Dover.

* Chad Little (seventh) scored his fourth top-10 finish in 1999. It was his first top-10 finish in 12 races at Dover. His previous best at Dover was a 15th-place finish in this race in 1988.

* Kenny Irwin (10th) scored his third straight top-10 finish in 1999.

* Rick Mast (34th) remains the only driver to compete in all 27 races in 1999 that has not posted a DNF.

* Bill Elliott and Ricky Rudd lead all drivers each with four victories at Dover.

* With his lead in todays race, Jeff Gordon has lead 1,571 laps of the 4,500 laps raced in the last 10 races at Dover (35 percent). Gordon is the only driver to lead at least one lap in the last 10 races at Dover.

* Jeff Burton (sixth) has scored three consecutive top-10 finishes in the spring race at Dover. This was his first top-10 finish in six fall races at Dover.

Editors Note: For hundreds of hot racing photos and racing art, be sure to visit The Racing ImageGalleries and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.