1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series *In Progress*

Race 15: First Union 400 @ North Wilkesboro Speedway; North Wilkesboro, North Carolina; June 21st, 1998.

MARTIN JOINS 3 WIN CLUB, WINS WILKESBORO

NORTH WILKESBORO, NC(AP)- Mark Martin captured his first win at North Wilkesboro since the 1995 Tyson Holly Farms 400 in dramatic fashion after dueling all afternoon with Roush Racing teammate Jeff Burton. Burton, who finished 3rd in this race, lead the race high 131 laps. The real story was the performance of former 3-time winner at the Wilkesboro short track Geoffrey Bodine, who after starting 33rd wove his way through the field and came home 6th for his 3rd Top-10 of 1998, the first since Texas in April. Dale Jarrett left the track with an 11-point lead over Rusty Wallace as the series prepares to go west as the Winston Cup Series meets the new configuration of the Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, California for the Save Mart/Kragen 350k.

Contingency Awards


Bud Pole Award: Ernie Irvan (2nd of ’98, 21.819 seconds/103.121 mph)

Safety Kleen Front Runner (Most Laps Led): Jeff Burton (131 of 200 laps)

Gatorade Hard Charger (Most Positions Gained): Geoff Bodine (+27, Started 33rd, Finished 6th)

Jiffy Lube Hot Lap (Best Lap Time): Mark Martin (21.539 seconds/104.462 mph)

Raybesto’s Rookie of the Race: Kenny Irwin, Jr. (Finished 16th)

Race Results.htm (17.94 KB)
Point Standings.htm (32.96 KB)

1998 Pepsi 400 Pre-Race Report

Race 17 of 33, July 4th, 1998

Clear skies at a humid 95 degrees, winds Northwest at 10 MPH.

Some storylines heading into tonight's race:

Last 5 Winners at Daytona:
1998 Daytona 500: Dale Earnhardt
1997 Pepsi 400: Terry Labonte
1997 Daytona 500: Mark Martin
1996 Pepsi 400: Terry Labonte
1996 Daytona 500: Jeff Gordon

-Dale Earnhardt is 2-for-2 at superspeedways this season, winning the Daytona 500 in February and the DieHard 500 in April.

-Defending 2-time winner Terry Labonte gets his first pole of 1998 with a lap of 47.091 seconds/191.120 mph.
        -Terry Labonte's qualifying speed is nearly two seconds faster than brother Bobby's Daytona 500 pole run at 48.825 seconds/184.332 mph.

-Todd Bodine will not be racing in tomorrow's Busch Grand National DieHard 250 in Milwaukee, or next week's Myrtle Beach 250 due to Winston Cup obligations. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will be most likely to inherit the series point lead.
        -Robert Pressley will not be participating in the DieHard 250 either.

-Points leader Rusty Wallace starts 19th with a 9 point lead over Dale Jarrett who starts 10th.

-Chad Little's Thunderbird clocks in 3rd for tonight's race.

-As a promotion in conjunction with Pepsico and the International Speedway Corporation, if Dale Earnhardt achieves the Daytona sweep, or Terry Labonte wins 3 straight Pepsi 400s, either man will receive a hefty 5 million dollar bonus.

Manufacturers Breakdown:
Chevrolet Monte Carlo: 14
Ford Taurus: 20
Ford Thunderbird: 1
Pontiac Grand Prix: 7

With a lot of money on the line, let's look at the starting lineup. (*=Rookie)


Drivers who DNQ'd
8-Hut Stricklin
9-Lake Speed
47-Billy Standridge
50-Ricky Craven
71-Dave Marcis
78-Gary Bradberry
79-Randy MacDonald
80-Andy Hillenburg
85-Ken Bouchard

Race 18; Pocono 500 @ Pocono Raceway; July 12th/13th, 1998.

TEXAS TERRY CONQUERS POCONO

POCONO, PA(AP)- Mother Nature fought the Pocono Mountains hard on this weekend, washing out most of the practice time and qualifying and as a result the field was set by points, meaning Rusty Wallace started from pole position with Dale Jarrett to his outside. There was a competition caution at lap 20 and on lap 38 the rains came once more, holding off the conclusion of the race to Monday where Terry Labonte shined through and got his first victory of the season, becoming the ninth different winner in 1998 after passing teammate Jeff Gordon with only two laps to go. Gordon, who led a race-high 56 laps, left the bottom open for Labonte coming into the tunnel turn with two laps to go, barely able to hold off Ricky Rudd and Mark Martin who finished third and fourth respectively.

This wasn't an easy day by any means for Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett who came in first and second in the points, Wallace holding a 12-point lead. On lap 7, Jarrett got into Jeremy Mayfield's quarter panel, sending them sliding up and Jarrett into the wall with Mayfield's back bumper wrecking the transmission on Jarrett's Ford Quality Care Taurus. Mayfield went on to finish 24th after starting 9th, Jarrett dead last in 42nd after starting 2nd. As for points leader Rusty Wallace, who led 19 laps in the early going, had a left rear tire go down under caution on lap 27 while running in the third spot, causing him to pit and run in 40th place when the rains came 11 laps later. Through strategy and lucky yellows, Wallace came back to finish 22nd and leaves with a 17-point advantage over Jeff Burton, 34 over Dale Jarrett, and 48 to Mark Martin.

Maybe a win is in the cards for Ken Schrader, who finished 11th today after starting 5th. Schrader ran in the top 10 for most of the race before and after the delays by rain, and is the only driver in the top-10 in points without a victory so far this season.

But the second biggest tip of the hat today goes to Wes Ward, crew chief for Jeff Green's unsponsored Monte Carlo for Diamond Ridge Racing who made the call for Green to stay out on the lap 75 caution where the leaders came in and Green ran 27th. The field didn't restart until lap 85 due to a spot of rain in the short chute before turn three with Gordon leading, Rudd second, and Green third, able to hold his own in third until lap 97 where Terry Labonte and Mark Martin passed him. Green would go on to finish 5th for the second consecutive week, finishing 5th as well at the Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

Contingency Awards

Bud Pole Award: Rusty Wallace (Qualifying rained out)
Safety Kleen Front Runner (Most Laps Led): Jeff Gordon (56 of 100)
Gatorade Hard Charger (Most Positions Gained): Jeff Green (+33, Started 38th, Finished 5th)
Jiffy Lube Hot Lap (Best Lap Time): Jeff Burton (53.157 seconds/169.310 MPH)
Raybesto’s Rookie of the Race: Jerry Nadeau (Finished 7th)

Race Results.htm (18.73 KB)
Point Standings.htm (32.97 KB)

Finally got in the mood to run another race after all this time.