2003 Brickyard 400

10th Brickyard 400:

It seems like yesterday when we saw Rick Mast to pole position for the first race here at Indianapolis. And gradually, the victories of Jeff Gordon, Rudd wins, Earnhardt, until the victory of Bill Elliott in 2002.

And we are already in the tenth edition of the Brickyard 400, is amazing how time passes. Ryan Newman made ​​his first pole of the season, and Jack Sprague ended up having problems and dropped to the pit lane. Green Flag!



Indianapolis had a problem in the turns: who tried to go to outside line, would easily lose positions. And so Kurt Busch overtook the Rocket Man in the lap six. But before that, Kyle Petty had a flat tire and had to make the pit stop. Great loss to the team of Richard Petty.

Ryan Newman go to the lead on lap seven, and after a great overtake Mark Martin appeared first on lap 8. The mission from there was hold Newman, Busch and Dale Jarrett. Was simple: the 42 cars on the track in single file followed by many laps. And with the crowded racetrack.



And the festival of flat tires continued: Jimmie Johnson had problems on lap 30 and was forced to go to the pit stop´/url]. The race remained quiet, until on lap 37 was the only yellow flag: Casey Mears go with Elliott Sadler to the wall.



Round of pit stops, and Mark Martin restart in first, followed by Ryan Newman. The race took on a leading trio: Martin, Newman and Ricky Craven. The three were being divided by latecomer Jimmie Johnson.

Gradually the problems started: Terry Labonte touched by Jeremy Mayfield and spun in turn 1, and the race continue with green flag. We also had flat tires of Johnny Benson and Steve Park, 15 laps before the second round of pit stops. Martin turned in front of Craven by a front end.



The race pace of Mark Martin was impressive. had returned of the pit lane, and has made Jack Sprague another lap down. Had an advantage of almost 5 seconds over the second placed. Seemed unbeatable.

And then, would just quietly running the race until the third round of pit stops. Returned first, but the second place had a surprise: John Andretti. It was the opposite of Kyle Petty, who suffered a flat tire early in the race.



Martin had been making increasingly latecomers: Benson, Larry Foyt, Fittipaldi. Pause for pit stops, and returned to do: Nadeau, Nemechek, Mike Wallace.

Jeff Gordon got up problem in the ignition and was the only one left on this sunny Sunday afternoon, but that did not take the first time that Martin will kiss the bricks.

If this season was the season that happened in real life, it would of been a WAY better season. I'm not sure about on the racetrack action, but storyline wise, this definitely would of been better. Instead of Matt Kenseth only winning once and completely dominating via points racing the whole season, we instead get this...

Underdogs Sterling Marlin and Chip Ganassi might of won the title in 2002 if it wasn't for his crash (I think they would of.) So it's the next year for the team and what happens? With 3 teams they have 0 Top 10s and 11 DNQs. And hotshot Jamie McMurray misses 7 of them. Maybe that win was a fluke, maybe the team has been totally crushed losing the title last year. Maybe that was the team's (and Sterling's) one chance at a NASCAR title.

In the last 14 years Mark Martin and the #6 team have finished 2nd 4 times, 3rd 4 times, 4th 1 time, 5th 1 time, 6th 2 times, 8th 1 time, and 12th 1 time in the standings. And after finishing 2nd the last season, the #6 team and Mark Martin are proving that they are sick of tired of coming close to the title, and they decided the year after another 2nd place finish, to totally dominate. Mark Martin after 21/36 races already has a record amount of wins in a season for himself.

And what about Ricky Craven and PPI 5th in points, and Ricky Rudd bringing the Wood Brothers back to the front of the field.