11th New England 300:Are all welcome to Loudon, in the state of New Hampshire, for nineteenth stage of the 2003 season of NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Here, Ricky Rudd got his third pole of the season.
It's a fairly cloudy day; early, rain dropped on the track, which postponed its start in an hour. Now, with the dry track and a bit distant clouds, let the race begin!
The recent rain has brought some problems; drivers like Kevin Harvick, on lap 2, and Sterling Marlin, on lap five, has had to make pit stops because of flat tires.
New Hampshire is known for being a little boring track, but early on it was not what we see. Besides the unexpected pit stops and the fight for the lead, on lap 11 just had the first accident:
Jamie McMurray hit the wall along with Robby Gordon and
the #31 hit the #44.
And then came the first window of pit stops and Ricky Rudd restarted first on lap 16.
From there, started walking what seemed an easy victory for Ricky Rudd. He built a growing advantage, while the middle of the pack was touching and changing positions in
the fight for the top ten.
Until, on lap 50, Rusty Wallace appears in contention for victory. It was the beginning of a very cool fight where
Rusty emerged victorious after a few laps. However, on lap 82, we had another yellow flag:
Mike Skinner was with Bobby Labonte to the wall.
When everything seemed finished, Ricky Craven spun out the #4 car before enter the pit lane.
After another window of pit stops,
Rusty Wallace restarted first and remained strong.
Began to be pushed by Rudd, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton. Meanwhile,
Jeremy Mayfield had a flat tire and was forced to go into the pits.
While this was happening, we had Robby Gordon. Since the wreck with the #42, he was making a pit stop sequence - track - pit stop - track - pit, and so followed. In an attempt to make the turn 3, always doing a very open turn,
ended up with Ken Schrader into the wall. In the return, if surprised with Larry Foyt and
hit the pit road tire barrier: another yellow flag.
Another pit window, and another restart again with #2 in the lead.
Rusty followed well but had problems at the back of the pack: Dave Blaney was surprised with some and
sent Kevin Harvick and Ricky Craven into the wall.
On the next lap, the rematch:
Blaney crashed with Jeff Green and rookie Casey Mears.
Dale Jarrett still hit the rear end of #77.
Another restart, and Rusty fired along with the #21 and #99. On lap 146,
Ricky Rudd overtakes the #2 for the victory. Four laps later,
the engine of the #01 bursts, he collects the car and the race still under green flag.
Gradually, Ricky Rudd will increasingly making laggards. On lap 188, another yellow flag:
Jack Sprague hits hard the wall along with Larry Foyt and Ward Burton. Restart with the #21 in the lead.
Two laps later,
Brett Bodine takes a touch of Matt Kenseth and spun on turn 4. Restart without pit stops, and then starts a big fight for victory.
The #2 of Rusty Wallace, the #6 of Mark Martin, the #21 of Ricky Rudd and the #99 of Jeff Burton distance themselves from the rest of the grid and begin a particular fight. Is mainly between Rudd and Rusty, but others help with the vacuum.
With 70 laps remaining, the #49 of Ken Schrader abandon the race with problems. Four laps later, Jeremy Mayfield slows in the turns 1 and 2, and after collecting the car
gets hit from Derrike Cope, hitting with Elliott Sadler and Jimmie Johnson.
Another pit window, and Rudd restarts in front again. So #21 shoots and begins an
intense battle for second place between the #2, #6, #16, #97 and #99.
Rudd goes for first win of 2003... but an accident between
Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart occurs. Another restart, and two laps later three candidates for a top ten
crash in the Turn 4: Terry Labonte, Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch. The Tide Ride is forced to abandon.
Restart on lap 293 in single file, and with three laps to go, Rusty Wallace gives a "bump-and-run" in Ricky Rudd and
takes the lead. Epic overtaking of another driver who got his first win in 2003.
