Gordon Wins Under Caution
Written by John Davison · October 27, 2003
Pit Woes, Newman’s Crash Spoil Tony Stewart’s Day
Hampton, GA - October 27, 2003 - Tony Stewart must have thought he was the apple sitting on top of the head of William Tell’s son Monday. Twice the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet had a lug problem on pit stops. The first came when the left front wheel had a lug problem and the second came only about 110 laps from the finish when a nut on the left rear jammed in the air wrench, dropping the Joe Gibbs team from first to seventeenth.
Stewart and teammate Bobby Labonte combined to dominate the race, Stewart leading 109 laps and Labonte 66 or over half the 325 scheduled laps. Stewart was chasing Jeff Gordon for the race lead when Ryan Newman crashed the No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge on the back straight when Dale Earnhardt Jr’s car took the air off of Newman’s car, sending him sliding into the outside wall to end the race under caution. The win gave Gordon his sixth-straight top-five finish.
Gordon’s teammate Jimmie Johnson took third, Georgian Bill Elliott was fourth and Bobby Labonte fifth, giving four of the top five spots to the Hendrick team and the Gibbs team.
The race was red-flagged Sunday after only 39 of the 325 laps scheduled when rain forced NASCAR to halt proceedings and continue Monday morning. The first caution on the second day came almost immediately when Michel Waltrip’s car twitched, hitting Todd Bodine’s and sending Bodine into the wall. Other cars that got involved in the melee were Matt Kenseth, Kenny Wallace and Kevin Lepage, all spinning in reaction to the initial contact. In the ensuing pit stop round, Matt Kenseth was judged guilty of speeding on Pit Road, sending him to the end of the restart queue.
Harvick led for a dozen laps until Bobby Labonte, always a power at AMS, displaced him. Labonte held the point until fellow Joe Gibbs Racing driver Tony Stewart took the lead, holding it until he pitted, moving Dale Earnhardt Jr to the first position. Only two laps later, a crash between Ricky Rudd and Scott Wimmer.
Mark Martin suffered an engine failure in the No. 6 Ford, followed ten laps later by Michael Waltrip’s exit with a “bumpy oil pan” as the engine in his No. 15 Chevy erupted with Ricky Rudd crashing in the oil spilled.
Over the remaining laps, Stewart, Gordon and Labonte swapped the lead with Earnhardt sneaking in for a half-dozen laps. The final caution flew on lap 322 for Ryan Newman’s spin, ending the race under caution. Newman was upset at the spin: “”It would be in my best interest and everyone else’s best interest if I didn’t say anything right now. Whatever I’d say would be wrong,” Newman said.
Understandably, Earnhardt’s view was somewhat different: “he used up a little too much race track, I had a run there on the outside and he just pulled up there in front of me. I was right there on me. He’s a great race car driver, but he just used the whole race track doing it.”
The win was Gordon’s fourth repeat win, where he won consecutive events, his third win of the 2003 season and fourth win at Atlanta.
Ward Burton made his debut start in the No. 0 NetZero Pontiac Grand Prix. He finished 13th, the team’s best of the season. Jack Sprague had the previous best of 14th at Daytona. “That was just what the doctor ordered for this NetZero HiSpeed Pontiac Racing team,” said Burton. “This was our first time out and we were in a backup car, so we’ve got to be pretty proud of that. The guys made great adjustments all day-the car got pretty tight on a couple of runs, but Tony [Furr] made good calls. If we’d had that last caution flag about 30 laps earlier, I think we would have finished in the top 10. We can whip those guys if we keep working hard.”
While Burton and his brother Jeff were sitting around in the rain at Atlanta, their father John was running to a strong second place in a Sports Car Club of America race at VIRginia International Raceway. “That was my first rain race,” Burton reported.
Race Results:
Fin, St, Driver, Car, Pts/Bonus, Laps, Status
1 19 Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, 180/5 pts, 325 laps, Running
2 24 Tony Stewart, No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet, 180/10 pts, 325 laps, Running
3 9 Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 170/5 pts, 325 laps, Running
4 5 Bill Elliott, No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge, 160/0 pts, 325 laps, Running
5 2 Bobby Labonte, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 160/5 pts, 325 laps, Running
6 3 Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, 155/5 pts, 325 laps, Running
7 15 Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers Dodge, 146/0 pts, 325 laps, Running
8 17 Kurt Busch, No. 97 Rubbermaid Ford, 147/5 pts, 325 laps, Running
9 22 Jimmy Spencer, No. 7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge, 143/5 pts, 325 laps, Running
10 8 Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Pontiac, 134/0 pts, 325 laps, Running
11 37 Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Smirnoff Ice/DeWalt Ford, 130/0 pts, 325 laps, Running
12 31 Dale Jarrett, No. 88 The UPS Store Ford, 127/0 pts, 325 laps, Running
13 29 Ward Burton, No. 0 NetZero HiSpeed Pontiac, 124/0 pts, 325 laps, Running
14 12 Kevin Lepage, No. 4 Kodak Perfect Touch Pontiac, 126/5 pts, 325 laps, Running
15 18 Jamie McMurray *, No. 42 Havoline Dodge, 118/0 pts, 324 laps, Running
16 40 Sterling Marlin, No. 40 Coors Light/St. Jude Hospital Dodge, 115/0 pts, 324 laps, Running
17 6 Elliott Sadler, No. 38 M&M’s Ford, 117/5 pts, 324 laps, Running
18 33 Tony Raines *, No. 74 Staff America Chevrolet, 114/5 pts, 324 laps, Running
19 21 Rusty Wallace, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, 106/0 pts, 324 laps, Running
20 10 Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Service Chevrolet, 108/5 pts, 324 laps, Running
21 16 Robby Gordon, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 100/0 pts, 324 laps, Running
22 11 John Andretti, No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet, 97/0 pts, 324 laps, Running
23 38 Jeff Burton, No. 99 CITGO Ford, 94/0 pts, 324 laps, Running
24 30 Johnny Benson, No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac, 91/0 pts, 323 laps, Running
25 25 Kyle Petty, No. 45 Georgia Pacific Dodge, 88/0 pts, 323 laps, Running
26 43 Ken Schrader, No. 49 1-800-CALLATT Dodge, 85/0 pts, 323 laps, Running
27 36 Bobby Hamilton Jr., No. 35 U.S. Marines/WaWa Ford, 82/0 pts, 323 laps, Running
28 14 Casey Mears *, No. 41 Target Dodge, 79/0 pts, 321 laps, Running
29 1 Ryan Newman, No. 12 Mobil 1/ALLTEL Dodge, 81/5 pts, 320 laps, Running
30 28 Kenny Wallace, No. 23 Stacker 2 Dodge, 73/0 pts, 320 laps, Running
31 42 Ricky Rudd, No. 21 Motorcraft Quality Parts Ford, 70/0 pts, 319 laps, Running
32 41 Scott Wimmer, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, 67/0 pts, 316 laps, Running
33 32 Terry Labonte, No. 5 Kellogg’s/got milk? Chevrolet, 64/0 pts, 316 laps, Running
34 27 Greg Biffle *, No. 16 Grainger Ford, 61/0 pts, 314 laps, Out of Race
35 26 Ricky Craven, No. 32 Tide Pontiac, 58/0 pts, 222 laps, Out of Race
36 20 Steve Park, No. 30 America Online Chevrolet, 55/0 pts, 221 laps, Out of Race
37 35 Dave Blaney, No. 77 Jasper Engines & Transmissions Ford, 52/0 pts, 201 laps, Out of Race
38 13 Michael Waltrip, No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 49/0 pts, 170 laps, Out of Race
39 39 Mark Martin, No. 6 Viagra Ford, 46/0 pts, 159 laps, Out of Race
40 23 Derrike Cope, No. 37 PHM/Friendly Ice Cream Chevrolet, 43/0 pts, 132 laps, Out of Race
41 34 Hermie Sadler, No. 02 Zapf Creation Chevrolet, 40/0 pts, 77 laps, Out of Race
42 7 Todd Bodine, No. 54 National Guard Ford, 37/0 pts, 44 laps, Out of Race
43 4 Brian Vickers, No. 25 UAW/Delphi Chevrolet, 34/0 pts, 18 laps, Out of Race
*: Rookie of the Year Competitor
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