2001 Dura Lube 400

2001 Dura Lube 400
Race details[1]
Race 2 of 36 in the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season

Layout of North Carolina Speedway
Date February 25 (February 25)–26, 2001
Location North Carolina Speedway, Richmond County, North Carolina
Course Permanent racing facility
1 mi (1.637 km)
Distance 393 laps, 399.681 mi (643.224 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching up to 71.6 °F (22.0 °C); wind speeds up to 14 miles per hour (23 km/h)[2]
Average speed 111.877 mph
Pole position
Driver Hendrick Motorsports
Time 23.401
Most laps led
Driver Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports
Laps 180
Winner
No. 1 Steve Park Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
Television in the United States
Network Fox Broadcasting Company/FX
Announcers Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds
Nielsen Ratings 7.0/10

The 2001 Dura Lube 400 was the second stock car race of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It was held on February 25, 2001 but ended on February 26 due to a rain delay at North Carolina Speedway, in Richmond County, North Carolina and was the first race to take place after the death of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt on the last lap of the Daytona 500, and he was commemorated in various ways throughout the race weekend.

The race was delayed for more than 90 minutes before only competing for 52 laps when it was stopped due to rain falling on the race track. The race restarted the next day under sunny conditions. The race was won by Steve Park in the No.1 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.; this was DEI's first win after Earnhardt's death in the previous race. This was also Kevin Harvick's debut in the Cup Series, as he replaced Earnhardt in the #3 (renumbered 29) Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.

Report

Pre-race ceremonies

Before the start, the race was delayed for 1 hour and 33 minutes. During this time, Darrell Waltrip led an invocation that commemorated Dale Earnhardt.[3] Waltrip asked for all spectators to hold the hand of the person that sat next to them to bond and remember Earnhardt. Waltrip also performed a prayer asking for strength, pray for the Earnhardt family and asked for sadness to be turned for celebration towards Earnhardt's life.[4][5] The invocation was joined by Staff Sgt. Joseph Hunter of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base who performed the national anthem which was to have been followed by three F-15 Stick Eagles from the 333rd Finer Squadron Lancers of Seymour Johnson that would have performed the missing man formation over the racetrack with the No. 3 missing man aircraft absent from the proceedings. This did not occur due to heavy cloud cover.[6] During the national anthem, the three crews from Dale Earnhardt, Inc. stood atop their pit walls and raised their caps in the air and this continued when the drivers entered their cars.[7] The pole position was left open during the parade lap in tribute to Earnhardt.[8]

Race

On the first lap, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was bumped from behind by Ron Hornaday, Jr. heading into turn 3 and sent it into Kenny Wallace's path, crashing at 150 mph at an angle with Earnhardt, Jr. suffering bruising and a limp in his leg.[4] Other cars involved were Jimmy Spencer, Mike Wallace and Hut Stricklin. Despite this, Earnhardt Jr. was taken by an ambulance to the medical center.[9]

On lap 44, Park passed Gordon for the lead. Two laps later, the yellow flag was waved when rain started to fall on the track. The race was eventually stopped with Stacy Compton leading when everyone made their scheduled pit stops.[10] The race was red flagged, and eventually postponed to Monday, February 26 at 11 am Eastern Standard Time. The next day, the race restarted on lap 56, and Gordon took the lead from Compton, who did not make a pit stop before the red flag, and led 18 laps before Park took over the top spot. The race went 188 laps green until Mike Skinner spun out on the backstretch, bringing out the third caution of the event. The race restarted once more, and went 52 more laps before the fourth and final caution came out for oil on the track. The race restarted with 85 laps to go. Gordon led the next thirty, before Park took the lead. With less than 10 laps to go, Bobby Labonte was closing in on Park. Park held off Labonte for his second and to date, most recent Cup win.

Post-race

After crossing the finishing line, Park raised a No. 3 Earnhardt hat that hanged on his gearshift lever and thrust it out of the car to holding it high in tribute to Earnhardt. Park also performed a spin, drove towards Michael Waltrip and made a brief stop with the exchanging a high-five.[11] As Park celebrated, he received a call from Earnhardt's wife Teresa Earnhardt who watched the race at the Dale Earnhardt, Inc. shop in Mooresville, North Carolina. According to Park, Teresa was emotional, but happy.[12] The race took three hours, thirty-four minutes and twenty-one seconds to complete, and the margin of victory was 0.138 seconds.[13]

Race results

Pos Grid No. Driver Team Manufacturer Laps Points
12 1 Steve Park Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet 393 180/5
23 18Bobby Labonte Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac 393 175/5
31 24Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 393 175/10
46 20Tony Stewart Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac 393 160
541 32Ricky Craven PPI Motorsports Ford 393 155
6 8 10 Johnny Benson, Jr. MBV Motorsports Pontiac 393 150
7 33 2 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing Ford 393 146
8 26 40 Sterling Marlin Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 393 147
9 16 93 Dave Blaney Bill Davis Racing Dodge 393 138
10 18 88 Dale Jarrett Robert Yates Racing Ford 393 134
11 22 21 Elliott Sadler Wood Brothers Racing Ford 393 130
12 31 77 Robert Pressley Jasper Motorsports Ford 393 127
13 21 55 Bobby Hamilton Andy Petree Racing Chevrolet 393 124
14 36 29 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 392 121
15 21 25 Jerry Nadeau Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 392 118
16 11 22 Ward Burton Bill Davis Racing Dodge 392 115
17 27 33 Joe Nemechek Andy Petree Racing Chevrolet 392 112
18 23 19 Casey Atwood Evernham Motorsports Dodge 392 109
19 7 15 Michael Waltrip Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet 392 111
20 17 6 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 392 108
21 19 43 John Andretti Petty Enterprises Dodge 391 100
22 15 36 Ken Schrader MBV Motorsports Pontiac 391 97
23 14 9 Bill Elliott Evernham Motorsports Dodge 391 94
24 37 31 Mike Skinner Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 390 91
25 28 14 Ron Hornaday, Jr. A.J. Foyt Racing Pontiac 390 88
26 24 4 Robby Gordon Morgan-McClure Motorsports Chevrolet 390 85
27 10 11 Brett Bodine Brett Bodine Racing Ford 390 82
28 38 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Racing Ford 389 79
29 35 5 Terry Labonte Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 389 76
30 32 26 Jimmy Spencer Haas CNC Racing Ford 389 78
31 43 90 Hut Stricklin Donlavey Racing Ford 389 70
32 29 50 Rick Mast Midwest Transit Racing Chevrolet 388 67
33 20 01 Jason Leffler Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge 387 64
34 39 66 Todd Bodine Haas CNC Racing Ford 387 61
35 42 44 Buckshot Jones Petty Enterprises Dodge 383 63
36 9 97 Kurt Busch Roush Racing Ford 383 55
37 5 99 Jeff Burton Roush Racing Ford 379 52
38 13 12 Jeremy Mayfield Penske Racing Ford 364 49
39 4 28 Ricky Rudd Robert Yates Racing Ford 355 51
40 34 7 Mike Wallace Ultra Motorsports Ford 355 43
41 40 92 Stacy Compton Melling Racing Dodge 295 45
42 30 27 Kenny Wallace Eel River Racing Pontiac 0 37
43 25 8 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Chevrolet 0 34
Failed to Qualify
96 Andy Houston PPI Motorsports Ford
45 Kyle Petty Petty Enterprises Dodge
Source:[13]

References

  1. "The Race: Dura-Lube 400". Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  2. "Weather information for the 2001 KMart/Dura Lube 400". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  3. Shontz, Lori (February 26, 2001). "Dura Lube 400 opening-lap crash by Earnhardt Jr. mars rain-delayed race". Post-Gazette. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Park Does It For Boss At Dura Lube". CBS News (CBS). February 26, 2001. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  5. NASCAR on Fox (Television Production). Richmond County, North Carolina: Fox Broadcasting Company. 2001.
  6. "Rain-delayed Dura-Lube 400 to resume today at 11 a.m.". The Post and Courier. February 26, 2001. p. 6C.
  7. "Earnhardt honored at track". Sun Journal. February 26, 2001. p. C1.
  8. "Victory dedicated to Earnhardt". BBC Sport (BBC). February 27, 2001. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  9. Harris, Mike (February 25, 2001). "Earnhardt Jr. crashes at start of Dura Lube 400". USA Today. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  10. "Rain postpones Dura Lube 400". crash.net. February 25, 2001. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  11. "A win in the memory of Earnhardt". Gadsden Times. February 27, 2001. p. B1.
  12. Associated Press (February 27, 2001). "Parks wins Dura Lube 400". The Augusta Chronicle. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  13. 1 2 "2001 Official Race Results : Dura Lube 400". NASCAR.com. Archived from the original on February 18, 2004. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
Previous race:
2001 Daytona 500
NASCAR Winston Cup Series
2001 season
Next race:
2001 UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400
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