| | Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS -- Mark Martin's year-long Winston Cup slump continued at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when he crashed on the 16th lap Saturday and finished dead last for the second race in a row.
Martin also finished 43rd last weekend at Pocono, but that was because of a blown engine. Whatever the problem, it has
happened to Martin this summer. Four of his last eight finishes have been 36th or worse, and his position in the Winston Cup
standings has plummeted from third to 10th.
|  | | Mark Martin's day ended on Lap 16 when he tangled with Mike Skinner and hit the wall. |
Saturday's crash came courtesy of Mike Skinner, who tapped Martin
in the back as they entered the first turn on Lap 16, causing
Martin to spin out of control and slam backwards into the
outside wall. Martin's car lifted off the ground briefly before
coming to rest in the middle of the asphalt. Martin was unhurt
and quickly exited his demolished racer.
"We started just a little too far back in the pack and we had to
race back there," Martin said in the garage a short time later.
"Michael Waltrip was having trouble getting through the corners.
I was just trying to be real careful as I got on the inside of
him. And Skinner was trying to help me draft by him. When we
had to check up for the corner, I had to check up early because
Michael was on the outside of me. It was earlier than Mike
expected and he just touched me a little."
"That was the worst thing that happened to me today," said
Skinner, who finished ninth. "I ran into the back of Mark and
spun him out, took him out. It could have been a good points
race for him, and I just really, really hate that."
As Martin wrecked, Rick Mast slowed and Jeff Gordon plowed into
him from behind, spinning Mast's car and knocking both cars out
of contention. Gordon finished 33rd, Mast 38th.
"I was slowed down a good little bit, and all of a sudden
somebody absolutely just ran over me," said Mast. "I guess
whoever it was either didn't have a spotter or didn't have his
eyes open."
Said Gordon, "Rick Mast slowed down a lot faster than I could.
The rest is history."
Pruett enjoys second 'rookie' experience
Scott Pruett, a Winston Cup rookie, became the seventh driver to compete in the Brickyard 400 and the Indianapolis 500.
Pruett, Indy's co-rookie of the year in 1989, last drove at the Speedway in 1995, the year before the split between CART and IRL. He started 11th Saturday and wound up 10th, the same position he finished in his first Indy 500 race.
"What I remember most is the awesomeness of Indianapolis. ... The intensity and the excitement are very similar," Pruett said. "Realizing I was 10 years younger and a little more excitable, the biggest difference is you're here for this for three days.
"When I came here in '89, it was for a month. There's a lot more buildup to it than for this race. But for excitement, it's right on par."
Pruett was the highest finisher among six rookies in Saturday's race, but said it wasn't easy making the adjustment from open-wheel Indy cars to stock cars.
"The biggest obstacle was trying to drive the car too hard," he said. "I'm used to driving as deep into the turns as you can. (Winston) Cup cars are not like that at all. After coming here for tests a few weeks ago ... I knew it was going to be hard. There's not many parallels."
The others who have driven in both races at Indianapolis are
A.J. Foyt, Danny Sullivan, Robby Gordon, Geoff Brabham, John
Andretti and Tony Stewart.
Stewart started 18th Saturday and finished fifth, the best
Brickyard finish for a former Indy driver.
Andretti started 15th Saturday but finished 42nd after he had a
flat tire and hit the wall on the 42nd lap. He was not injured.
"I thought the track was in good shape," Andretti said. "You expect Indy to get slick, but we blew a right-front tire. ... I don't know what happened. Maybe we built some more heat in there with the brakes or whatever. I don't know what to say. I'm not delirious, I'm just upset."
Pole jinx?
The pole-position starter has never won the Brickyard 400.
Ricky Rudd, a former Brickyard winner who set a track record in
qualifying on Thursday, led the first 17 laps but finished a
distant 21st, a lap behind the leaders.
"The car just got too tight," he said. "It just wasn't our day."
The best finish for a pole-sitter in the seven Brickyard 400 races was third by Jeff Gordon in 1999. Gordon also had the worst finish for a pole-sitter when he was 37th in 1996.
Rudd said once he got behind, he couldn't catch up because there were no caution flags after the 46th lap. That meant he had to take his pit stops under the green and fall even farther behind.
"There wasn't any chance, because our car needed some serious adjusting and we never got a chance to do it," he said.
Nadeu Na-did
Jerry Nadeau's fourth-place finish matched his best career result, accomplished only a month ago at New
Hampshire.
Nadeau, who started 23rd, quickly moved up through the pack and
led laps 33-43 before slipping back. He spent most of the race
among the top five.
"Toward the end of the race it was getting frustrating because I
knew I didn't have the car to win, and I wanted to win," Nadeau
said. "But this means a lot. We've got a lot of new people on
the team and they have worked real hard. For us to go out and
do as well as we are now, that's pretty exciting."
Nadeau said it's invigorating to run up front.
"You know, this sport is so difficult," he said. "And when
things start turning around and go your way, it makes life so
much easier. I mean it's still hard now, but it's a lot of fun
running with those guys. It actually makes the race a lot
easier. Those guys know how to race up there. Now we want to
get in the top three next week and hopefully win it." ...
Some fleeting fame
Stacy Compton gets his name in the record book as a lap leader in the Brickyard 400 -- even though he had only a momentary stay at the head of the pack.
The Winston Cup rookie, a provisional starter at the rear of the
field, stayed on the track when everyone else made pit stops
following a crash by Mark Martin on lap 16.
Under the yellow, Compton led the field for one lap before he came into the pits, too. That gave the lead to Rusty Wallace, and Compton again dropped to the back. He finished 37th, three laps down.
"We had a bunch of changes we wanted to make on the car and knew we were going to come out fairly close to the back anyway, so we figured it was a chance to lead a lap and get five extra (Winston) bonus points," Compton said. "Five extra bonus points could mean a lot one day, and we might as well get in that practice
right now."
Compton is the third driver to lead in his first Brickyard 400, not counting the inaugural race in 1994. Johnny Benson led for 70 laps in 1996, and Mike Skinner led for eight laps in 1997. Compton is the first driver to lead the race after starting in last position. The previous lowest starting position for a lap leader
was 42nd, by Harry Gant in 1994.
Labonte's streak ends
Terry Labonte, older brother of Brickyard 400 winner Bobby Labonte, wasn't the only person who had an impressive streak come to an end Saturday.
Ken Schrader, the only driver to complete every lap in each of the first six Brickyard 400s, finished 22nd, one lap short of the finish. He is now tied with Bobby Labonte and Bill Elliott, who also have completed 1,119 of a possible 1,120 laps at the Brickyard.
The elder Labonte, recovering from a July 1 crash at Daytona, decided to sit out the Brickyard, ending his record string of consecutive NASCAR starts at 655. He watched from the pits.
"I hated for him that he wasn't in the race, but I think he made the right decision," Bobby Labonte said.
"It was more frustrating than disappointing watching the
race," Terry said. "I watched him (Bobby) the whole race, and I
was real nervous the last few laps."
Todd Bodine, who started in place of Terry Labonte, finished
15th.
Crunch time
Besides Martin, the only other driver knocked out of the race by a crash was John Andretti, who hit the outside
wall in Turn 3 and again near Turn 4 after cutting a tire on his
Petty Racing Pontiac on Lap 42.
"We were really conservative (with tire pressure) and Goodyear
said we were good, so I don't know what happened," said
Andretti. "Maybe we built some more heat in there with the
brakes or whatever. I don't know what to say. I'm not
delirious, I'm just disgusted."
Andretti said his car was too badly damaged to consider
re-entering the race.
"This is too important a race to go back out there and get in
somebody's way to try to get three or four points," he said. ...
Second-place blues
Although Rusty Wallace led 110 laps -- the most ever by a non-winner here -- he lost the lead to winner
Bobby Labonte with 14 laps to go because his team couldn't quite keep up with the change in track conditions as clear skies
became overcast, crew chief Robin Pemberton said.
"The driver drove his heart out, the pit stops were perfect, the
engine was great, everything was great," Pemberton said. "But
you can't battle race tracks like this that are so sensitive to
track temperatures. The track temperature cooled off 15-20
degrees after the start of the race. That's just what happens.
"We were loose when we started and we tightened the car up. And
then the last two (pit) stops we needed to start loosening the
car back up. But the track cooled down so much, we couldn't get
it all back out in time. At least you know you can dominate.
People can criticize all they want, but at least we're there to
give them away or let `em slip away."
That's awesome, Bill
Bill Elliott's third-place finish was his best since the same result in the Daytona 500, and ended a slump
of five straight finishes of 24th or worse.
"I tell you, the last six or eight weeks have been very devastating for the McDonald's team," Elliott said. "So it was a
big accomplishment for us to finish well here today and try to
get this second half of the season turned around from the first
half."
During his five-race slump, Elliott dropped from 14th to 19th in
the Winston Cup race. His third-place finish vaulted him right
back to 14th again.
Remembering Irwin
In a pre-race ceremony, Speedway officials dedicated the Brickyard to the late Kenny Irwin Jr., an Indianapolis native killed July 7 during Winston Cup practice in
Loudon, N.H.
Saturday would have been his 31st birthday.
Irwin was the 1998 Winston Cup rookie of the year. Ted Musgrave,
who joined Sabco Racing in place of Irwin, finished 24th Saturday,
a lap behind the leaders.
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