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| | Sunday, November 21 | |||||
| HAMPTON, Ga. -- Ernie Irvan took his final ride Sunday.
Irvan, who announced his retirement in September after two head injuries, drove a ceremonial lap around Atlanta Motor Speedway prior to the season-ending NAPA 500.
"It's not like I would have chosen to end my career," said Irvan, who spent 13 years in Winston Cup. "It's nice for Atlanta Motor Speedway to do this."
Driving a replica of the No. 36 Pontiac from his final season, Irvan slowly circled the 1.54-mile oval, waving to the crowd and accompanied by a bagpipe version of "Auld Lang Syne."
Irvan is recovering from a second head injury in five years. The first nearly killed him; he was hurt again Aug. 20 during practice at Michigan Speedway and missed the final 13 races.
He retired on the advice of doctors, who told him another injury
could take away from his quality of life.
"I don't want to miss my family," Irvan said. "If I had
another concussion, I could miss that."
Rudd's winning streak ends The streak is over. Ricky Rudd had won at least one race a year for 16 consecutive seasons, the longest active streak in Winston Cup. But it came to an end Sunday when he finished seventh in the NAPA 500. "Obviously, I would like to go out with a win this year," Rudd said. "If we had started the season like we ended the season, I think we'd be sitting here with a victory this year. But I'm looking forward to great things next year." Rudd, who will move to the No. 28 car of Robert Yates Racing next year, drove his final race as an owner-driver with the help of a Yates-provided engine. It was only the fifth top-10 finish for Rudd, who wound up a dismal 31st in the season standings. His best showings were third-place finishes at Bristol and Talladega in the second half of the year. Waltrip escapes serious injury in scary crash Michael Waltrip was hospitalized after receiving a minor concussion during a scary four-car crash on lap 198. Waltrip apparently cut a tire and was rammed hard by Terry Labonte in a wreck that also involved Kenny Wallace and Rick Mast. Rescue workers had to cut the roof off Waltrip's Chevrolet to remove him from the mangled car. He was flown by helicopter to Atlanta Medical Center for precautionary X-rays. Doctors described his as awake and alert and he was released after observation. "He lost consciousness out on the track, but he had regained it before he came to the infield care center," said Dr. Mark Waterman, a trauma specialist. "He looks pretty good right now." Labonte described the crash. "I believe Michael had a left rear tire (go) flat," Labonte said. "It broke loose with him. He saved it and it went back the other way and shot straight up the track. I hit him a ton when he came back across the track." Waltrip flexed his left hand and appeared to be conscious when he was taken away from the car on a stretcher. "I talked to him a little bit," Labonte said. "He got his bell rung a little bit. I don't know if he'll remember me talking to him, but I was just thankful to see that he was in good shape." Waltrip, who has never won an official race during his 15-year Winston Cup career, led for 12 laps Sunday but finished 36th in the 43-car field. Mast makes sure he finishes Completing a disappointing year and missing the front part of his car, Rick Mast still managed a feat of consistency that had not been done in Winston Cup since 1977. He was the first driver since Cale Yarborough 22 years ago to be running at the end of every race. Mast was involved in a four-car crash on lap 198 and pulled his damaged car into the garage. But the crew pulled the sheet metal off the front of the Ford, which pulled back onto pit road with nine laps to go. With the engine exposed, Mast waited until the next-to-last lap to rejoin the race, taking one slow trip along the bottom of the track while Bobby Labonte cruised to victory. "I could be on the way home right now," Mast said, "but I'm not because we want to be running at the finish and that's what we're going to do." Mast, who had a wheel problem earlier in the day, completed only 131 of 325 laps and was 41st in the 43-car field. His status for next season is uncertain after a 32nd-place finish in the standings this year. Back to drawing board for Gordon Jeff Gordon has some work to do. His two-year reign as Winston Cup champion ended officially with a blown engine and a 38th-place finish in the NAPA 500. He wound up sixth in the season standings. The transition from Ray Evernham to Brian Whitesell as crew chief appeared seamless at the start, Gordon winning the first two races with the new arrangement. But he didn't finish higher than 10th in the last four events of the year. "We've got to make a lot of adjustments over the offseason," Gordon said, noting the difficulty of adjusting to a new chief and several new crew members. "We were not prepared for this. In NASCAR, if you're not clicking perfectly, you're not going to win." Gordon dropped out of the race after 181 laps. He didn't seem too upset about his misfortune. "A bunch of idiots are out there," he said. "Some guys are making it three wide any time they want. It's one thing at Daytona. It's not very smart here at Atlanta." Martin on way to opperating table Mark Martin finished the season with a fourth-place finish. On Monday morning, he will be in the operating room. Martin was scheduled to undergo surgery to fuse together two vertebrae in his lower back. The operation will be performed at a hospital near his home in Daytona Beach, Fla. "Let's do it," he said. Martin led four times for 17 laps, but he was hurt twice by cut tires. "We gave it all we had," he said. "It was a tough day for us, but we really fought that one hard. We tried to win, we didn't try to just get a top-five finish. We worked on the car and tried to make it a winner out of it and wound up with a good result." Pit stops Surprise pole-sitter Kevin Lepage ran strong at the start of the race, leading three times for 17 laps, but he dropped back to a 17th-place finish. He had a problem on lap 266, spinning into the grass along the front stretch before regaining control of his Ford. ... Sterling Marlin received two stop-and-go penalties just five laps apart for violating the 45 mph speed limit on pit road. ... Marlin's crew taped the letters "T.L." in front of their pit stall in honor of crew member Tommy "T.L." Stiles, who was killed recently in a North Carolina car wreck. ... Dale Earnhardt Jr., preparing for a fulltime ride next year, led for the first time in Winston Cup during green-flag pit stops on lap 271. He finished 14th. ... There were 38 lead changes among 15 drivers, the most jockeying of the year. The previous mark was 32 lead changes during the October race at Talladega. ... While Bobby Labonte won the race in a Pontiac, the next six spots belonged to Ford drivers. ... Ned Yost, a coach for the Atlanta Braves, worked as the second gas man on Dale Earnhardt's crew. | ALSO SEE Bobby Labonte caps Winston Cup season with win
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