SBRS: Alumni update 11-19-01

The Cup Runneth Over For Gordon

Skip Barber grad Jeff Gordon clinched his fourth NASCAR Winston Cup title yesterday by finishing sixth in the Napa 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With it, Gordon breaks away from some very illustrious company to chase down the two kings of the sport. Now breaking a tie with Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson and Lee Petty as those with three Winston Cups to their credit, Gordon is second only to Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt, who are each seven time-champions.

"I’m absolutely blown away." Gordon said. "This is our fourth time doing this and it seems like the first time all over again. Each one gets sweeter."

Fellow Skip Barber alumnus and outgoing Winston Cup Champion Bobby Labonte took his second win on the year at the unfortunate expense of another Skip Barber grad, Jerry Nadeau. Having started 41st, Nadeau was well on his way to becoming a repeat Napa 500 winner and the first to win the race from so far back in the field. Starting 39th, the honor went to Labonte.

Nadeau took the lead on lap 306 of 325 and went on to build what should have been an insurmountable 4.5-seond lead. But as he came onto the backstretch on his way to the checkered flag, the No. 25 car began to do the tell-tale weave of a racecar out of gas. Labonte swept past in the last turn, while the beleaguered Nadeau could only coast to fourth place.

Brothers and Skip Barber grads Ward and Jeff Burton finished fifth and tenth respectively.

-Barber-