| The
Intimidator, who loudly proclaims to dislike restrictor-plate
racing, charged through a crowd at 185 mph, racing from 18th to
first in four laps, then held off the desperate efforts of Kenny
Wallace and Joe Nemechek to win Sunday's Winston 500.
Earnhardt, who led
seven times for 34 of the 188 laps, fell victim to the shifting
fortunes of a race in which upwards of 25 cars were constantly
battling in a pack at the front of the field and there were 49
lead changes among 21 drivers.
After the leaders
pitted during the last of three caution periods in the race, the
49-year-old Earnhardt, chasing series leader Bobby Labonte for
what would be a record eighth Winston Cup championship, found
himself 15th for the restart on lap 174.
In heavy traffic,
often long lines of speeding cars running three-wide on the
33-degree banked oval, Earnhardt slipped back to 18th by lap 183.
Suddenly, the crowd
of more than 140,000 - many of them longtime Earnhardt fans - was
on their feet, screaming as the black and orange No. 3 Chevrolet
began to slice through traffic and move toward the front.
"I was very
frustrated, but I was also very lucky," Earnhardt said.
"I kept working outside and it didn't work. It got three-wide
and it didn't work. So I started working the middle.
"I kept
working the middle, kept working the middle and it started
working."
At the end of lap
186, he trailed teammate Mike Skinner, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and
Labonte.
By the time the
lead pack got back to the finish line, Earnhardt was in the lead,
just ahead of his son. As the leaders began lap 188, Dale Jr.
wiggled and slowed just enough to hold up the inside lane and let
his father, Wallace and Nemechek get a little breathing room on
the field.
It was over at that
point, with Earnhardt beating Wallace's Chevy to the line by about
two car-lengths, earning his record 10th Talladega victory and
fourth in this event.
In fact, he has now
won three of the last four races here and finished third in April
in the Talladega 500.
His 76th career
victory and second of the season also gained Earnhardt a $1
million bonus from the series sponsor.
The inevitable big
Talladega crash actually came after the checkered flag fell as
Rich Bickle and Ward Burton, racing near the rear of the big lead
pack, banged together just past the finish line and ignited a
melee that wound up involving four cars.
Nobody was injured
in that wreck or in the one other crash, involving Mark Martin and
Bobby Hamilton, and the relatively clean race vindicated NASCAR's
11th-hour rule change.
NASCAR has required
power-sapping carburetor restrictor plates at this track since
1988 and has adjusted horsepower production by reducing and
increasing the holes in the plates.
In an effort to
give the drivers more power to get out of tight situations and
help them keep up in the draft, the sanctioning body ordered the
plates opened up from seven-eighths of an inch to one inch.
But that produced
too much speed in practice on Saturday morning and NASCAR took the
unprecedented step of making a major rule change between the end
of qualifying and the final practice session.
"How could
NASCAR do a better job," Wallace said. "It came down to
the last half lap. I looked right (into the stands) one time and
saw everybody standing. I don't think the rules can get any
better."
Asked about the
late rule change, Earnhardt laughed and said, "I don't like
restrictor plate racing and I never have."
Nevertheless, his
latest restrictor-plate win, combined with Labonte's 12th-place
finish, moved Earnhardt past Jeff Burton into second place and
sliced 42 points off Labonte's lead. With four races remaining,
Labonte, aiming for his first title, is ahead by 210 points.
Burton, who was
never in contention and finished a lap down in 29th, fell to
third, 308 points behind Labonte.
Jeff Gordon, who
won here in April, also came from well back in the pack to finish
fourth, followed by Terry Labonte, Skinner, Martin and Rusty
Wallace.
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