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CONCORD, N.C. -- Michael Waltrip had enough gas. Mike
McLaughlin didn't.
That was the difference Saturday as Waltrip won a Busch Series
race for the time in six years, taking the lead midway through the
final lap of the All Pro Bumper To Bumper Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's
Motor Speedway.
Both drivers made their final stops 87 laps from the end of the
200-lap event.
|  | | Michael Waltrip, 21, escaped an early exit from the All Pro 300 when he avoided Randy LaJoie. Waltrip went on to win the race. |
It appeared McLaughlin, the defending champion, would make that
strategy work for the second straight year. He passed Waltrip for
the lead on lap 187 and held him off in a tight duel until the
leaders entered turn two on the last lap around the 1½-mile oval.
McLaughlin's Chevrolet sputtered and suddenly slowed. Waltrip
bumped the leader in the rear, but was able to remain in control,
slipped past the slower car and raced on to his eighth Busch Series
win and first since the May race here in 1993.
Asked what his crew was telling him on the radio, McLaughin, who
coasted to third, said, "They never mentioned fuel; they were just
reading me lap times. Once I was in front of Michael, I could never
get away from him. We weren't even thinking about saving fuel. We
were trying to win the race."
Having to hold off Waltrip is what ran McLaughlin out of gas.
Waltrip, whose Chevy finished 3.751-seconds -- a full straightaway -- ahead of runner-up Jeff Gordon, said, "We just totally played the fuel mileage game to the end. I'm just thankful that when I bumped him he went straight.
"Going into the last lap, I just kept telling myself, 'Be patient and maybe you can make a run on him in Turn 4.' Then he ran out of gas."
Gordon, making only his fifth Busch Series start of the season,
appeared to be the man to beat after fellow Winston Cup star Mark
Martin and Matt Kenseth, who dominated the early going, ran into
problems.
Martin was leading on lap 147 when he cut his right-rear tire
down, tearing up the brake assembly and ending his day.
"I had no brakes there, so I actually got lucky," he said.
"At least I didn't wreck."
Kenseth, locked in a tight battle for the series title with
defending champion Dale Earnhardt Jr., led four times for a
race-high total of 66 laps, but wound up finishing seventh because
of a handling problem. He lost four points to the fifth-place
Earnhardt and now trails by 117 with four races remaining.
"I was really happy with fifth place," Earnhardt said. "Earlier this week, we were way out to lunch and we were able to make changes. We struggled all weekend and I couldn't get a hold of the car, but when the race started, the car got a lot better. That last set of tires, it was very loose. I didn't have a chance to run Jeff Gordon down, but he didn't win, so it doesn't matter."
Gordon was leading when he made his final pit stop on lap 161.
Crew chief Ray Evernham, co-owner of the Busch team with Gordon,
said he expected everybody else to pit eventually, which would have
put his driver back in front.
"When you're further back, you don't have anything to lose, so
you can gamble on fuel," Gordon said. "But, to come that close
despite the fuel mileage issue, that says a lot for Ray Evernham
and the rest of this team."
Evernham resigned as Gordon's Winston Cup crew chief on Sept. 28
and is in the process of forming his own team. But both Evernham
and Gordon said the Busch association would continue.
"It was fun to have Ray back," the driver said. "We were
clicking like old times."
Waltrip, who won $56,000, averaged 133.235 mph in the race
slowed by six caution flags for a total of 28 laps. | |
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