Gordon breaks losing streak at DieHard 500

Paul Newberry

Sunday, April 16, 2000 | 2:43 a.m.

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Jeff Gordon, who had not won a NASCAR Winston Cup race since October, finally drove back to victory lane Sunday.

Gordon grabbed the lead with five laps to go and held off Mike Skinner in another thrilling finish at Talladega Superspeedway, winning the DieHard 500 by about two car lengths. He was the ninth different winner in as many races this year.

On lap 183, the three-time Winston Cup champion dived to the inside coming out of turn 4 to get past leader Mark Martin. Skinner fell into line behind Gordon and tried bravely to pull out his first Winston Cup victory.

But Gordon would not be denied. Mired in a 13-race losing streak, he blocked Skinner time and time again on the backstretch, briefly fishtailing at one point before regaining control and maintaining the lead as the two cars went nose-to-tail.

Dale Earnhardt, who has won a record nine Cup races at Talladega, tried to get into the mix on the final trip around the 2.66-mile track. But The Intimidator drifted high in turn four while Gordon pulled away from Skinner for a 0.189-second victory.

Two weeks after longtime crew chief Ray Evernham left the Rainbow Warriors, Gordon won the Oct. 11 race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He then fell into one of the worst slumps of his career, matching the winless streak that covered the final 12 races of 1994 and the first event in '95.

Gordon failed to finish higher than 10th over the final five event last year and the futility carried over to this season. He had his best finish a week earlier, placing fourth at Martinsville, but still was 12th in the point standings coming into Talladega.

Further compounding his problems, he qualified poorly and started 36th in the 43-car field. But Gordon quickly pushed to the front and grabbed the lead for the first time on lap 103 of the 188-lap event.

He won with an average speed of 161.157 mph in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which captured the top four places. Teammates Skinner and Earnhardt finished second and third, followed by Kenny Irwin. Jimmy Spencer, in a Ford Taurus, was fifth.

Martin, who led 99 laps and seemed much of the day to have the strongest car on the track, slipped back to sixth in his Ford. But he grabbed the lead in the season standings, holding a 24-point lead over Bobby Labonte.

Gordon was one of 10 drivers involved in 27 lead changes on a track where carburetor restrictor plates that rob the cars of horsepower promote close racing.

Despite three- and four-wide racing that kept the massive crowd of 185,000 on its feet most of the day, there were only two brief caution periods until a major crash coming through the tri-oval on lap 138.

Scott Pruett swerved into Robby Gordon, who took Michael Waltrip into the infield grass to set off a chain-reaction crash that damaged 16 cars in all. Dick Trickle suffered the only injury, a swollen right foot that required further observation. The crash also took out Labonte, who wound up 21st and one lap down in his battered Pontiac.

Another frightening incident occurred on lap 175, when rookie Dave Blaney lost control and slid backward down pit road while crew members dived out of the way. The car finally came to a stop about halfway down the lane and Dale Jarrett's team owner, Robert Yates, crumpled to the pavement in pain.

Apparently hurt in the scramble, Yates pulled himself up after a few minutes, put back on his headset and finished the race. But another unidentified person was taken away in an ambulance.