MBNA Platinum 400- Dover Downs, Delaware
Qualifying:
Jeff Gordon
qualified 19th for Sunday's race with a lap of 23.095
seconds (155.878 mph). Rusty Wallace got the Bud Pole with a
lap of 22.870 seconds.
Race:
Jeff Gordon's day
ended badly in the MBNA 400. First, the team never seemed to
get the handle right in the #24 DuPont Chevy, and Gordon
could barely keep the car in the top-10. He fell a lap down
to Tony Stewart, who dominated much of the event, at about
the midway point of the race. He stayed a lap down in about
10-12 place for much of the race.
Then, with 19 laps to go, all heck broke loose. Tony Stewart was ripping thru the field to get as much of an advantage on second-place Dale Earnhardt as he could. He moved in to put another lap on Gordon. Gordon, who saw that Stewart had the faster car, moved up the track to let him get by. Suddenly his right front tire blew; sending him into the wall. The caution came out and the team worked as hard as they could to get the car back into the race, but to no avail. Gordon will receive his first DNF of the season. He finished in 32nd place.
Jeff dropped 2 places in the points chase. He is now 340 points behind the leader, Bobby Labonte.
Tony Stewart got his first win of the season. Matt Kenseth and Bobby Labonte finished 2-3 respectively.
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