49th Pontiac Excitement 400:Welcome to the city of Richmond, Virginia, for the 49th edition of the Pontiac Excitement 400. RIR has a size of 3/4 mile, and is considered a short track with a great tradition for hosting races since 1953.
Kurt Busch made the pole position and start in front row. Let's go racing!
On the first lap, Dave Blaney gets a touch of Johnny Benson and runs in front of much of the field on the backstretch. This is the first yellow flag of the day.
The restart came on lap six, with Kurt Busch in the first position and Tony Stewart for second. 32 laps later, the positions were reversed and seven laps after, Rusty Wallace started pressing them trying to get in front to finish the race.
However, Stewart came increasingly expanding its domain towards other drivers. Stood in front of 201 laps, passing through the pit stops until came the second yellow flag for debris. And the restart came with Smoke on the front and "Wonderboy" Jeff Gordon in second.
On lap 241, came the big one.
Ward Burton subtly touched on Jeremy Mayfield, and Ricky Rudd took it to the wall. Without being able to stop the car like ARCA drivers,
Greg Biffle, Kenny Wallace and Mike Skinner beat strong car in Mayfield. The #23 came to be wheeled into the air in a different way after taking tap of Bobby Labonte.
It was a big one greater than the track itself, because exiting the T4 Jeff Green, Dave Blaney, Tony Raines, Sterling Marlin, Brett Bodine, Morgan Shepherd, Jerry Nadeau, Johnny Benson, Jimmie Johnson, Christian Fittipaldi, Kyle Petty and Jack Sprague also came to touch in who was involved in the big one.
The restart came on lap 247 with Tony Stewart still leading. But after six laps, Jeff Gordon took the first position. And shortly after, former Hendrick driver Jack Sprague
spun in the middle of the backstretch after a touch of Jimmie Johnson. This stroke caused another yellow flag because of debris on the track.
Greg Biffle, Ward Burton, Jerry Nadeau and Tony Raines were involved in the crash.
And completing the party, Dave Blaney was involved in a crash with Andretti and Nadeau again on the frontstretch. Claimed the race for the #77. The restart came on lap 262 with Jeff Gordon leading and followed by Rusty Wallace. Another knock on the backstretch,
with Dale Earnhardt Jr. pressed into the wall by Joe Nemechek.
And now, with all in the pit road, Mark Martin was the fastest and went ahead during the lap 269. Seven laps later, some cars were involved in a crash and another yellow flag. And few laps after the restart occurred on lap 281, Tony Stewart took the front after using the vacuum generated by Robby Gordon, who was just behind.
Gradually, Stewart was consolidating in front. During the lap 332, startled: Ricky Craven gets a touch of Bill Elliott and incredibly saved the car from a likely hit. On lap 349, the window of pit stops came and Smoke continues in front. On lap 353, the lack of vision of Ricky Craven triggers another yellow flag: try to invade the track early and goes along with Brett Bodine and Ryan Newman into the wall.
Came back the restart on lap 359, and especially at this point of the race has to be noted that Christian Fittipaldi came much slower than the leader. He caused much congestion with drivers who were not on the leader lap and came on the bottom line.
Leaving the slow side, in the lap 362
Jimmie Johnson touched Ricky Rudd, who also took Jeremy Mayfield to the wall. Another crash and another restart with Stewart in front.
Restart on lap 367 and seven laps later, Steve Park, Christian Fittipaldi and Jack Sprague engage the
last crash of the day.
After the restart on lap 379, was only hold the lead and ready. Tony Stewart is the winner of the Pontiac Excitement 400.
