Bobby Hamilton Wins NASCAR Winston Cup Series ACDelco 400
28 October 1997
ROCKINGHAM, NC -- It must be the date - October 27th - that sits well with Bobby Hamilton. You see, it was October 27, 1996 that Bobby Hamilton got his first career win in Phoenix. And today, October 27, 1997 Bobby Hamilton notched his second Winston Cup win here at North Carolina Motor Speedway when he dashed across the line 0.941 seconds ahead of Dale Jarrett. The win was good for the winner's spoils of $89,150. The race, run a day later than scheduled due to rain, started with Bobby Labonte on the pole. Labonte looked like he had the field covered as he just drove away, building leads in the six-second range. It was also a day where flaws in setups showed up quickly as in a short 50 laps the first of the weak went down a lap. This included Rusty Wallace, whose performance of late can only be described as lackluster. Bobby Hamilton, who started 28th on the field, just started picking his way to the front slowly using a combination of handling and pit strategy known as 'short stopping' - a process that brings a driver in a few laps earlier than the leaders. The thought is that a few extra laps on fresh tires combined with killer pit stops will gain you an edge on the competition. The move worked well for the Petty Enterprises team as they had worked themselves to the third spot by lap 100. On lap 114 the caution came out when Jimmy Spencer blew a left front tire and popped the wall. Ricky Rudd got tangled up in Spencer's mess as the No. 23 shot back across the track and got the left front of the No. 10 Tide Ford. "I can't catch a break these days," was about all Rudd had to say of the incident. Rusty Wallace, who was a lap down, started racing the leader when the green flew on lap 122. It was some awful exciting racing as Rusty Wallace and then leader Ricky Craven beat off each other for position. Wallace got his lap back for a short while but was unable to hold on as the leaders sailed on past him again. It was during this time that Rick Mast, who has run well here in the past and finished second to Earnhardt back in 1995, had worked his way up to third and was dicing with Dick Trickle for the second spot. The excitement would come to an abrupt halt when the cam shaft in his Remington Ford broke. The team was credited with a disappointing 42nd place finish. The No. 25 of Craven looked untouchable while it was in the lead from lap 123 to 192. He, like Labonte before, checked out on the field with a solid six-second lead at the time. Craven handed the lead off to Jarrett when he brought the Budweiser Chevy to pit road for service. Bobby Hamilton, who had made a short stop, would be shown in the lead after the cycle of pit stops and was awarded the Gatorade Front runner award for leading at the halfway point in the event. It was the No. 99 of Jeff Burton that came and took the lead from Hamilton on lap 214. Burton looked tough, but Jarrett just kept nibbling away at the No. 99 and took the lead away from Burton on lap 235. Jarrett would hold the lead until the caution flew on lap 250 when Gary Bradberry spun up in turn four. The field dove for pit road. It was a battle of the pit crews during the stop and the Rainbow Warriors got the job done fastest and Gordon rolled off the pit road inches ahead of Dale Jarrett. It was also during this pit stop that Jeff Burton got caught speeding on pit road and sent to the end of the longest line for the lap 259 restart. Gordon was able to get some pad over Jarrett on the restart with the help of the lapped traffic. Gordon looked like he'd be okay - that was until lap 272 when the caution flew for - Jeff Burton. Burton, who was fighting his back to the front after the penalty just drove in too deep and it got away from him. "It's hard," said Burton. "But when you wreck it's your fault no matter what. It's my fault. But the only reason I was back there was because of that penalty. I don't understand that. I looked at my tach, and my tach was where it was supposed to be. That's all I know." This time it was the Budweiser Chevrolet that took the field to green - followed by Hamilton, Earnhardt and Martin. Gordon, who had to stop on pit road a second time for a loose end cap on the left rear axle, joined the field on the end of the lead lap in 17th place. Craven took off and built a sizable lead over the field. The real racing was for the top-five as Martin and Jarrett started working their way towards the front of the pack. Their moving up cost Dale Earnhardt as he was shoved back and out of the top-five. The racing continued on and the leaders started to make green flag stops around lap 332 in preparation for a run to the checkers. They wouldn't need to make that long green run, which would have played into Jarrett's hands as he had a distance setup under him, as Greg Sacks stalled on the track bringing out the final of four cautions of the day on lap 367. The leaders dove to the pits. Dale Jarrett led the field to the pits also led them off pit road when the Todd Parrott inspired crew pulled off a 18-second pit stop. When the green flew on lap 371, Jarrett tried to check out but Craven would have none of that as he took the lead from Jarrett on lap 376. The advantage Craven had lasted an entire two laps - that's when Hamilton went sailing on by for the lead. Once there he never had to battle for the top spot again as all the racing that was happening for position was happening in his rearview mirror. Craven and Dale Jarrett staged a ferocious battle for the second spot that wasn't resolved until the bitter end. Craven, who had some margin on Jarrett watched as the Quality Care Ford started to close on him. Then as the pair headed for the white flag Jarrett caught Craven - it was all over but the tears for the driver of the No. 25. Jarrett got alongside of Craven on the backstraight and just mashed it as the pair headed for tun three - neither driver lifted. Jarrett slid up the track and used Craven as a pivot to make it out of the corner. They were nose-to-nose on the exit of turn four. Jarrett goosed that Yates power and got to the line with a fender ahead of Craven. Gordon finished fourth. The next hotly contested spot was 5th place as Martin and Trickle beat on each other for the position. Trickle got it. Martin was mad that he didn't get it. "It was kinda fun racing Mark (Martin)," joked Trickle. "Mark shook his fist a little bit and shook his finger at me. That's fun. He doesn't realize that I'm hungrier than he is. He should have just moved over and let me go. I didn't hit him hard, just enough to make him move up in the second groove. I thought maybe he didn't like that groove anyway." Bobby Hamilton, who scored Pontiac its first victory of the 1997 season and will be leaving Petty's group at the end of the year for greener pastures said, "It was real important for me to win a race. Not only for Richard but for the people that work on the cars. You have to know these people I'm talking about. They never give up. There's nobody that has any better looking equipment than they do. They're really proud of the stuff they do. Everybody in this garage area is underpaid, except maybe a couple of crew chiefs and drivers. The only bonus they get out of racing is to see their car run up front and win races. Knowing I was going to leave Richard at the end of the year, when things go bad, everything falls apart. We worked real hard not to let that happen. I didn't want to be labeled as a driver that said, 'Heck I'm leaving. I don't care if if I win a race or not.' It was just real important to me to win a race for them people that work on the race cars." Jeff Gordon pulls out of Rockingham with 4486 markers - 125 points ahead of second place Mark Martin. Jarrett closed the the gap from third by 15 but still sits 145 off the point. The next race will be the Dura-Lube 500 to be run at Phoenix International Raceway on November 2nd. Mike Snow -- The Auto Channel