Daytona Pepsi 400 Post Race Notes

Pepsi 400 Saturday notebook

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 3, 1999) Notes and quotes Saturday following the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway:

Dave Marcis finished 159 laps in his Realtree Camouflage Chevrolet and placed 31st in his 30th Pepsi 400. In the process, Marcis took over the lead in the miles completed category in the Pepsi 400, with 10,402 miles in the race. He overtook Richard Petty in Saturday night's event. The King completed 10,337.5 miles in his career.

Jeff Gordon's place in restrictor plate history at Daytona remained intact when Dale Jarrett won the Pepsi 400. Only one of the 23 modern-era restrictor-plate races at Daytona was won from the pole -- Gordon's 1999 Daytona 500 score. Bud Pole winner Joe Nemechek led the first four laps in his BellSouth Chevrolet, but slipped to 16th at the finish.

Jarrett had to be pumped up after winning the Pepsi 400.It unofficially improved his lead in the NASCAR Winston Cup standings to 177 points over Bobby Labonte. That is the largest margin in the points so far this season.

In addition, the last six drivers to lead the NASCAR Winston Cup Series point standings at the halfway point in the season have gone on to win the championship. The last driver to lead at the halfway point and not win the championship was Davey Allison in 1992. Alan Kulwicki edged out Bill Elliott that year by 10 points, the closest championship battle in history, after Allison was taken out of the season finale in an accident.

Geoff Smith, president of Roush Racing, said that Valvoline's recent announcement that it is cutting back its investment in its open-wheel racing programs does not mean that they will in turn cut back on their NASCAR Winston Cup Series program when their contract runs out after the 2000 season.

"Whatever Valvoline's marketing plans around racing are -- they are designed to put more emphasis on the 6 car program, not less," said Smith of Mark Martin's team. "We're definitely signed up with Valvoline through next year. The whole Valvoline/Cummins/Bugles sponsorship will remain exactly intact through next year as it is today and more than likely we won't even get to next year before we've got some longer term deal beyond that."

Larry McReynolds gave an update at Daytona on his plans to own his own team in 2000. Ricky Rudd wasn't the only one disappointed in the announcement that Tide is working out something with current CART FedEx Championship Series team owner and future NASCAR team owner Cal Wells. "We had two sponsors working," McReynolds said. "I would have almost bet you we wouldn't have lost one of them and we lost the Tide deal. I'm not sure what happened. We had good meetings with them and good conversations.

"They basically told us everything was right. We had all the I's dotted and all the T's crossed. They were a little nervous about going with a new team. They kind of threw that theory out the window yesterday. That's over with. That's done.

"We've got one more company we're working close with. Meetings have gone well, but it ain't done yet. I've learned from the first one not to judge it until they either say yes or no. We're past the line I drew in the sand (on a date for making the decision whether to go ahead with his own team)."

Petty may have had a recent Intensive Care Unit stay at a North Carolina hospital, but he was back at Daytona for the Pepsi 400 and is already planning a vacation trip with wife Lynda and three of his grandchildren.

"We're going over to England next week," Petty said. "We're going to take three of my oldest granddaughters. We're going to London for two or three days and then going to Paris for two or three days. Lynda has been before, three or four times. I've never been. I've been to London one time. The girls talked their grandma into taking them. I got volunteered to go along."

Petty also spoke of his birthday, which he spent at home in North Carolina on July 2 -- rather than in Daytona Beach, where he's spent every birthday since the 1965 when Chrysler was involved in a boycott of NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing.

"I stayed home -- it was great," Petty said. "Most of the time on July 4 we pack up everybody and bring them down here, all the kids and that stuff. It's kind of confusing. You've got 10 grandkids and all that stuff. We were able to do a home alone deal, me and Lynda. We sent everybody else off. It was a good vacation. It worked out good and was a good deal. We might do that some more."

STP Pontiac crew chief Robbie Loomis demanded a check of the scoring camera following the finish, under caution, of the Pepsi 400 Saturday night. The check, which went back a lap further than had originally been done, showed that lead lap finishing positions 19th through 26th had changed. The re-check moved John Andretti and the 43 car from 22nd to 19th. Biggest losers were Bill Elliott, who dropped from 20th to 23rd, and Johnny Benson, who went from 21st to 24th. Official prize money and standings will not be available, per usual, until Monday.

Source: NASCAR Online