2003 Tropicana 400

3rd Tropicana 400:

Are all welcome to Joliet, Illinois, to another race of the 2003 season of NASCAR Winston Cup Series, here at Chicagoland Speedway. This 1.5 mile track is relatively recent, as in 2001 the first race was hosted here.

In qualifying, Ricky Rudd got his second pole of the year. It's a fairly cloudy day here in Illinois, 87% chance of rain. Can we have another shortened race?



In contrast, the pole was not worth anything: Ricky Rudd was forced to make a pit stop on the first lap because of a punctured tire. The fight for the lead was between Kurt Busch, Bill Elliott and Ricky Craven.

Gradually they were moving away from fifth place, as Rusty Wallace was also coming in trio who disputed the victory. And on lap 13, Ricky Craven became the leader.



Ricky Craven would gradually moving away from second place and the race was calm, without many disputes for positions.

On lap 42, he found the first latecomer: Larry Foyt in his #14. Passed without major problems. However, six laps later, the Tide Ride arrived in a group of four stragglers, which decreased the speed of Craven, and allowed the approach of Busch and Rusty.



They spent, and on lap 61 began the first pit window. There were all the cars get new tires and fill the gas tank. This was a crucial factor for Craven; he lost the lead to Mark Martin on lap 67.

Could be the Martin's sixth victory in 18 races, and ever closer to his first title in NASCAR Winston Cup Series.



Despite the cloudy weather, we continue with problems in cars: Bill Elliott had an unexplained problem on lap 84; and a lap later, Jeff Green left.

On lap 95 we had the first yellow flag of the race, for debris on the backstretch. Everyone did the pit-stop; with 20 cars on the leader lap, and 21 beyond, the restart came.



Martin knew very well use the inefficient laggard Dale Earnhardt Jr to keep leading the race. It was a solid walk, which was increasingly moving away from second place.

And Martin was quiet, reaching 200 mph at the end of the main straight. Not even the near misses between Jimmie Johnson and Jason Keller called a yellow flag. Everything was peaceful, until the arrival of the rain on lap 151. A lap later the yellow flag was thrown and a heavy rain came on the track. This brought victory to Mark Martin for the third Tropicana 400!