| | Associated Press
LONG POND, Pa. -- Rusty Wallace looked like he was about to
back up a top qualifying run for the first time this season, and
tie a record for victories at Pocono International Raceway.
Then came a late-race mistake on pit strategy that ruined 107
laps of leadership Monday in the Pocono. And Wallace, who says he
makes those decisions himself, took the blame for a massive loss of
track position that relegated him to a 10th-place finish.
"Fourteen cars take on two tires and we take on four," he
lamented. "It was a stupid call."
He sat on the pole after setting a track record with a
qualifying run of 171.625 mph -- his series-best fifth No. 1 spot
this season -- and his Ford looked like the class of the field for
more than half the race.
"It's upsetting to lead the most laps and have a great car,"
he said. "I just don't understand it."
Stewart runs out of luck
If Rusty Wallace wasn't going to win the
Pocono 500, it looked for a while like Tony Stewart would. And if
he had, it would have been his third straight victory.
After taking the lead as the event was winding down Monday at
Pocono International Raceway, Stewart began to look like a winner.
Then he proved that to be one virtually everything must go right.
It went very wrong after Mike Bliss spun with 17 laps remaining,
bringing out the final caution flag of the race.
"They had great pit stops," Stewart said of his crew. "The
weak link on the pit stops was me."
Indeed it was.
"I stalled the car," Stewart said.
By the time he got his Pontiac refired, Stewart was far behind
those who left pit road ahead of him, and he had to drive hard just
to finish sixth.
Rudd takes third
Ricky Rudd, adjusting to his new
driver-only role, had a good shot in the Pocono 500 at his first
victory in nearly two years.
Rudd, who gave up as an owner-driver to move this year to
powerful Robert Yates Racing, wanted desperately to put the No. 28
car -- previously driven by such greats as Cale Yarborough and Bobby
Allison -- in Victory Circle for the first time since 1997.
But he tangled with the lapped car of Jimmy Spencer, and his
Taurus lost some of its zip.
"Yeah, it really was a shame," said Rudd, who last year failed
to extend his Winston Cup record by winning a race for a 17th
consecutive season. "It knocked the nose all in, and we were never
quite the same."
Still, Rudd managed to finish third behind Jeremy Mayfield and
Yates teammate Dale Jarrett.
Labonte settles for 13th
Bobby Labonte was hoping to continue his
mastery of Pocono International Raceway with a record-tying third
straight victory on the track in the Pocono 500.
But things got a little too hot for him. No, it wasn't the
competition. It was a cracked tail pipe that cost him considerable
track position and led to a finish of 13th Monday.
"It was pretty hot," said Labonte, who last year pulled off a
rare sweep of the summer races on the mountaintop. "Thank goodness
it wasn't something internal."
Despite his disappointing result, Labonte holds a 57-point lead
over Dale Earnhardt in the Winston Cup standings with 15 of 34
races in the book.
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