Burr Scores First Career Slim Jim All Pro Series Race
5 June 1999
Race #7 of 16 Slim Jim All Pro Series, NASCAR Touring $47,600 zMAX 100 Bristol Motor Speedway - 0.533 mile oval June 5, 1999 Bristol, Tenn. Bristol, Tenn. - Conrad Burr's success at Bristol Motor Speedway has been either feast or famine. Saturday Night the Concord, N.C. resident definitely was in the mood for a feast after picking up his first career Slim Jim All Pro Series, NASCAR Touring win in the $47,600 zMAX 100 at the 0.533-mile speedbowl. The National Peening Chevrolet driver earned $8,800 for the victory. "We came up here two or three years ago and run second and I thought I could win that one and the last time we were here I wrecked. It seems like my cycle goes, wreck, run good, wreck, run good, so I figured I was due," stated the 30-year-old Burr. "I like this place and I run better on banked tracks," he added. Burr started from the front row and had the fastest time during Bud Pole qualifying but he only managed an outside front row starting position. Rookie Coy Gibbs, driver of the MBNA Chevrolet, equaled Burr's time of 15.939 seconds at an average speed of 120.384 mph and earned the first Bud Pole of his career by virtue of winning the tiebreaker which was a higher series points position. The 32-car field had a smooth start when the green flag waved to start the 100-lap race and Burr emerged as the early race leader. He held the top spot until lap 17 when the first caution occurred after Lee Tissot spun on the frontstretch. During the caution all of the lead lap cars pitted en masse to satisfy the mandatory pit stop requirement and Sharpsburg, Ga.'s Rick Roller emerged as the new race leader. Roller's lead was short lived as Gibbs regained the top spot when green flag racing resumed on lap 29. Gibbs then proceeded to take on all of the appearances of a potential race winner until the lapped cars of Jim Inglebright and A.J. Frank made contact between turns three and four. The duo turned sideways and leaders Gibbs, Benny Gordon, Billy Bigley, Randy Gentry, Eddie Mercer and Robert Burroughs were left with nowhere to go and the second caution flag of the event was displayed. Gibbs and Gordon suffered the worst damage, with Gordon being forced to retire from the event. The caution period, from laps 44 to 52, straddled the 50-lap halfway point. As a result, when green flag racing resumed, and with Burr back out in front, lap 57 was the payoff lap for the $400 Gatorade Front Runner Award. Burr grabbed the loot with Mercer and Anderson grabbing Gatorade points for running second and third. Shortly thereafter Mercer began to backpedal as the damage to his Phoenix Construction/Eddie Mercer Automotive Super Center Chevrolet from the earlier incident hurt his chances at his first career series victory. With Mercer out of his way Anderson set his sights on leader Burr and the Jani-King Chevrolet driver slowly began to reel in the leader. When the checkered flag waved Anderson was able to get no closer than 0.424-seconds from Burr. Big Daddy's BBQ Sauces & Spices/Havana Cola Chevrolet driver Ronnie Burkett hounded Anderson for the second position but had to settle for third for his third consecutive top three finish. David Reutimann and Bigley completed the top five while Steven Howard, Larry Raines, who started last after Scott Sutherland qualified his car earlier in the day, Jason Schuler, Jeff Fultz and Patrick Lawler rounded out the top 10. Burr completed the 53.3-mile race in 42 minutes and 26 seconds for a winning average speed of 75.365 mph. There were a total of three caution periods for 25 laps and there were five lead changes among four drivers. Twenty one of 32 starters finished all 100 laps while 27 of 32 starters were running when the checkered flag waved. A major shuffling of the point standings has taken place as Anderson has emerged as the new points leader, a position he has not held since the first race of the season. Burkett is now in the second position, 15 points behind Anderson while Hal Goodson has dropped from the lead to the third position, now 40 points behind leader Anderson. Entering this event Goodson held the top spot by 15 points over Anderson. Bigley and Howard continue to hold down the fourth and fifth positions. For the second week in a row Colleyville, Tex.'s Lawler piloted his Manheim's Auto Auctions of Texas Chevrolet to Rookie-of-the-Race honors. With Gibbs' 24th place finish the Rookie points race has tightened up with Rodney Childers now trailing Gibbs by just eight points. Mike Franklin is now third, 15 points behind Childers while Ken Weaver and Lawler are tied for fourth, one point behind Franklin. Burr's crew chief Gary Crooks earned the $300 Jasper Engines & Transmissions Crew Chief Challenge by virtue of engineering his team's first career Series win. Just as Anderson has taken the series points lead, so has his crew chief taken a similar position in the Crew Chief Challenge standings. Augie Grill now leads Jimmy King and Jeff Burkett, Goodson's and Burkett's respective head wrenches, by four points. Next weekend the Slim Jim All Pro Series returns to Myrtle Beach Speedway for the running of the $46,100 7 Up 250 on Saturday night. Bud Pole qualifying is set to take place at 6:00 p.m. to determine the 30-car starting field with the green flag set to wave at 8:00 p.m. for the 250-lap race. -30- For further information contact NASCAR Public Relations at (770) 486-3591. jn 1999 Point Standings (thru 6/5/99) Car Pos # Driver Points Starts Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10 Earnings 1 86 Wayne Anderson 1132 7 0 1 6 7 $21,850.00 2 31 Ronnie Burkett 1117 7 0 0 4 7 $23,250.00 3 16 Hal Goodson 1092 7 0 2 4 6 $34,220.00 4 28 Billy Bigley, Jr. 1083 7 0 1 5 6 $23,300.00 5 19 Steven Howard 1027 7 1 2 2 5 $27,255.00 6 00 David Reutimann 986 7 0 0 2 5 $13,375.00 7 45 Scott Kilby 917 7 2 0 2 4 $13,165.00 8 30 Jeff Fultz 893 7 0 0 1 5 $10,080.00 9 44 #Coy Gibbs 883 7 1 0 0 3 $9,000.00 10 53 Robert Burroughs 860 7 0 0 0 2 $8,885.00 11 1 Eddie Mercer 853 7 0 0 2 2 $12,980.00 12 54 #Rodney Childers 844 7 1 0 2 2 $8,815.00 13 33 Conrad Burr 830 7 0 1 1 2 $16,535.00 14 09 Randy Gentry 797 7 1 0 1 1 $10,230.00 15 4 Ron Young 754 6 0 0 0 0 $8,660.00 16 26 Keith White 745 7 0 0 0 0 $7,755.00 17 9 #Patrick Lawler 711 6 0 0 0 2 $5,060.00 18 34 #Ken Weaver 676 7 0 0 0 0 $5,515.00 19 3 David Bonnett 673 7 0 0 0 0 $5,510.00 20 72 #Benny Gordon 672 7 0 0 0 1 $5,785.00 21 25 Mike Cope 617 5 1 0 1 2 $7,880.00 22 11 #A.J. Frank 544 6 0 0 0 0 $3,760.00 23 77 #Chad Bland 537 5 0 0 0 0 $3,165.00 24 61 #Mike Franklin, Jr. 520 4 0 0 0 3 $3,540.00 25 83 #Tina Gordon 511 3 0 0 0 0 $2,025.00 26 36 #Robbie Pyle 485 5 0 0 0 0 $3,345.00 27 38 #Shane Sieg 471 3 0 0 0 0 $1,860.00 28 04 Mardy Lindley 442 4 0 0 0 0 $4,020.00 29 14 Josh Clemons 419 5 0 0 0 0 $3,940.00 30 18 #Strom Altman 409 3 0 0 0 0 $1,850.00 31 20 #Brian Smith 376 3 0 0 0 0 $1,735.00 32 05 Chip Rutherford 347 3 0 0 0 0 $1,495.00 33 20 Jim Inglebright 312 3 0 0 0 0 $2,425.00 34 36 Rick Roller 294 3 0 0 0 0 $1,445.00 35 98 Sean Studer 289 2 0 0 1 2 $3,675.00 36 94 Scott Riggs 279 3 0 0 0 0 $2,585.00 37 23 #Lance Goodson 267 2 0 0 0 0 $1,665.00 38 2 Robbie Ferguson 234 1 0 0 0 0 $555.00 39 37 Larry Raines 216 2 0 0 0 1 $1,620.00 40 07 Greg Harrison 176 2 0 0 0 0 $1,015.00 41 80 Toby Porter 165 1 0 0 1 1 $2,725.00 42 7 Jason Schuler 142 1 0 0 0 1 $1,050.00 43 51 Brian Hoppe 124 1 0 0 0 0 $650.00 44 21 Steve Mendenhall 118 1 0 0 0 0 $1,125.00 45 96 Jeremy Thompson 116 0 0 0 0 0 $0.00 46 62 John Gerstner 109 1 0 0 0 0 $700.00 47 0 Steven Christian 100 1 0 0 0 0 $875.00 48 26 Jimmy Cope 94 1 0 0 0 0 $895.00 49 10 Doug Klein 91 1 0 0 0 0 $775.00 50 01 Derrick Kelley 88 1 0 0 0 0 $575.00 51 70 Kevin Gingrich 79 0 0 0 0 0 $0.00 52 82 Donnie Wilson 76 1 0 0 0 0 $675.00 53 72 Dennis Southerlin 73 1 0 0 0 0 $485.00 54 87 Kevin Prince 73 1 0 0 0 0 $525.00 55 1 Lee Tissot 67 1 0 0 0 0 $485.00 56 48 David Probst 67 1 0 0 0 0 $520.00 57 71 Ray Skillman 52 0 0 0 0 0 $0.00 58 75 Keith Brack 52 0 0 0 0 0 $0.00 59 89 Tony Ponkauskus 49 0 0 0 0 0 $0.00 60 91 Richard Noda 46 0 0 0 0 0 $0.00 61 75 #Billy Mills 40 0 0 0 0 0 $0.00 62 39 Carl Hedin, Jr. 34 0 0 0 0 0 $0.00 # denotes Rookie of the Year candidate. $336,885.00 Jasper Engines & Transmissions Crew Chief Challenge Standings Augie Grill (Wayne Anderson) 34 Jimmy King (Hal Goodson) 30 Jeff Burkett (Ronnie Burkett) 30 Bill Bigley, Sr. (Billy Bigley, Jr.) 24 Danny Howard (Steven Howard) 20 Charlie Phillips (Eddie Mercer) 14 Jason Greene (Scott Kilby) 10 Buzzie Reutimann (David Reutimann) 10 Gary Crooks (Conrad Burr) 10 Dean Nash (Mike Cope) 8 Jon Craig (Rodney Childers) 8 Joey Bishop (Toby Porter) 6 Jerry Russell (Jeff Fultz) 2 James Cowan (Sean Studer) 2 Rodger Gentry, Jr. (Randy Gentry) 2 Rookie Standings Coy Gibbs 58 Rodney Childers 50 Mike Franklin, Jr. 35 Ken Weaver 34 Patrick Lawler 34 Benny Gordon 31 Robbie Pyle 24 Strom Altman 22 Chad Bland 20 Shane Sieg 17 Brian Smith 15 Tina Gordon 13 A.J. Frank 13 Lance Goodson 11 Chip Rutherford 5 Manufacturer's Wins Chevrolet 7 Ford 0 Pontiac 0 Bud Pole Awards Scott Kilby 2 Mike Cope 1 Rodney Childers 1 Randy Gentry 1 Steven Howard 1 Coy Gibbs 1 Gatorade Front Runner Award Steven Howard 10 Eddie Mercer 9 Coy Gibbs 8 Rodney Childers 6 Hal Goodson 5 Toby Porter 5 Conrad Burr 5 Ronnie Burkett 4 Scott Kilby 4 Mike Cope 3 Wayne Anderson 2 David Bonnett 1
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