MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Ricky Craven earned his first career
victory at Martinsville Speedway in the fall of 2001, ending a
173-race winless streak and producing one of the most emotional
stories of the year.
Craven again sparked many emotions Sunday, but this time for
possibly costing Dale Earnhardt Jr. a chance at his second straight
victory.
The problem came on a restart with 55 laps to go, when
Earnhardt's car was running second behind Bobby Labonte's.
Entering Turns 1 and 2 in the double-line restart, Earnhardt
slammed his Chevrolet into the back of Craven's suddenly struggling
Chevy, causing them both to slide up the track as three contenders
passed by.
"I really couldn't do much about it," Earnhardt said. "We
were both real lucky we didn't wreck, or tear our cars up worse
than we did."
Both cars eventually raced away, but when Craven came back
around into the area of the accident, his car stalled up against
the wall, prompting Earnhardt's rabid fans to jeer and point
fingers at their newest villain.
Earnhardt rallied again to finish third.
"I like this old track," he said of Martinsville, where his
father won six times. "One of these days I'm going to get a win
here. Where else can you tear your car all to hell and have
everybody be pretty happy about it?"
Craven still had the highest-finishing Pontiac. He was 27th.
Near miss
Jeff Gordon's victory in the Virginia 500 would
have been a lot harder to pull off if NASCAR officials hadn't been
gracious.
They called for Robbie Loomis twice prior to the start of the
drivers' meeting Sunday when Gordon's crew chief finally
materialized, barking "Here" as he stormed into the meeting and
took a seat.
The rest of the drivers and crew chiefs joined in a chorus of
"Oooooooh" and laughed at the near-miss. NASCAR could have sent
Gordon to the back of the field if Loomis had been late for the
mandatory meeting.
"I know Robbie. He might be a few seconds late, but he'll make
it there eventually," Gordon said. "I was getting a little
nervous. Usually it's the other way around -- he's looking for me,
going 'Where's Jeff?' -- and I show up just in the nick of time. He
was just getting me back."
Fast start
Jimmy Spencer had the first car off pit road after
the second caution 120 laps into the race, but he left his pit so
fast his crew was still gassing his car. The gas can was sticking
out of the car when he sped off and quickly fell off at the end of
pit road.
The mistake caused NASCAR to bring Spencer back to his pit for a
stop-and-go penalty, and he was 26th when he got back onto the
track.
"We were going to be leading the race, and instead we end up
43rd or whatever it was," Spencer said. "You can't recoup from
it."
He finished 19th.
Back of the field
Ward Burton was forced to go from the No.
12 starting spot to No. 42 because he went to a backup car after a
crash during practice Saturday. Among the other cars at the tail
end of the field were those of defending champion Bobby Labonte,
who started 39th, and Kurt Busch, the winner here last fall, who
started 36th.
Burton finished 25th, while Labonte took second and Busch 28th.
Pit stops
Only 15 cars were still on the lead lap at the
race's halfway point. ... Gordon's victory ended a trend of 11
different winners in the last 11 races at Martinsville. He last won
here in April 2002. ... It was Gordon's 14th victory after starting
on the pole. ... Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been running at the finish
in 33 consecutive races.