Gordon, four others eye shot at $1 million in Las Vegas

Tuesday, Feb. 16, 1999 | 11:04 a.m.

BONUS BOYS

Here are the five drivers eligible for the "No-Bull 5" $1 million bonus in the Las Vegas 400 on March 7:

1. Jeff Gordon

2. Dale Earnhardt

3. Kenny Irwin

4. Mike Skinner

5. Michael Waltrip

The thrill of winning his second Daytona 500 hadn't even worn off and Jeff Gordon already was thinking about next month's Las Vegas 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Gordon earned a $1 million bonus for winning Sunday's Daytona 500 as part of series sponsor Winston's "No Bull 5" program and became one of five NASCAR Winston Cup drivers eligible for the million-dollar bonus in Las Vegas.

The top five finishers at Daytona -- Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Kenny Irwin, Mike Skinner and Michael Waltrip -- can capture the $1 million bonus by winning the March 7 Las Vegas 400.

"This is going to set us up for another No Bull event," Gordon said Monday, less than 24 hours after earning $2,172,246 for his Daytona 500 victory -- the biggest payday in auto racing history.

"I'll be testing in Vegas in a couple of weeks. I'm going to be counting on that Busch car to help us out in Vegas."

Gordon will be at LVMS on Feb. 23 and 24 to test his Busch Series car on the 1.5-mile superspeedway. The test session, which will include several other Winston Cup and Busch Series drivers, will be open to the public.

Gordon, who finished 17th in last year's inaugural Las Vegas 400, also will drive his new Pepsi-sponsored Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the Sam's Town 300 at LVMS on Saturday, March 6. It will be one of only five Busch Series races in which Gordon will compete this season.

Besides the five drivers eligible for the No Bull 5 bonus award in Las Vegas, one fan will have the opportunity to win $1 million.

RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company will select five fans from a nationwide contest this week and pair those fans with the five eligible drivers during a ceremony at the Fremont Street Experience on Thursday, March 4. If one of the No Bull 5 drivers wins the race, the fan paired with that driver also will receive a $1 million check.

This marks the first year the Las Vegas 400 will be one of the five No Bull 5 races on the 34-race Winston Cup circuit. Las Vegas replaces the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in this year's five-race program.

The other No Bull 5 races this year will be the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway (Charlotte, N.C.) May 30, the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway Sept. 5 and the Winston 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway Oct. 17.

Gordon has captured the $1 million bonus from Winston four times. He won the Winston Million in 1997 by winning three of NASCAR's four "crown jewels" -- the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500 -- and he won last year's Brickyard 400 and Southern 500.

"To me, winning the (Winston Cup) championship is really my main focus and winning big events is certainly always important," Gordon said of the Las Vegas 400.

Posted awards for the Las Vegas 400 is $3,778,694 -- the third-largest purse on the Winston Cup circuit behind the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400. The race winner will earn at least $317,990.

Mark Martin won the inaugural Las Vegas 400 and earned $313,900.