Blk3GM's NASCAR Winston Cup News - Dale Earnhardt Wins 3rd IROC race in a row

Dale Earnhardt is 3 for 3 in 1999 IROC races. He has tied Rusty Wallace as the only 3 consecutive race winner in a season! To clinch the IROC Championship Earnhardt must finish 8th or better in the final IROC race at Indy. If he wins the final event he will be the only driver to sweep the season by winning all four events.
Go Earnhardt!!

Earnhardt by nose over Earnhardt Jr
June 11, 1999

The crowd is in their seats the sun is out and round three of IROC XXIII is ready to go at Michigan Speedway. The anthems have been played, the invocation given and the command to start engines is given just moments later.

Starting in reverse order of points, Jeff Burton leads the field to three warm-up laps around the two-mile oval in preparation for the green flag.

At the green Jeff Burton stays low and pulls out to a bit of a lead. The battle is for second with Eddie Cheever and Earnhardt Jr in third. Earnhardt Jr. gets second on lap 3.

Mark Martin has moves up to fifth on lap 4 with Earnhardt coming with him in fifth. Three abreast going in to turn one for sixth place.

Lap 5 top five…Burton, Earnhardt Jr., Cheever, Martin, and Earnhardt. They have a break away going on lap 6. Mark Martin heads into the lead from fifth shooting the gap between Burton and Earnhardt Jr. going three wide at the stripe. Earnhardt goes with him for second.

Greg Moore has moved up to fifth by lap 8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. challenges Dale Earnhardt for second but can't get it done. Moore and Labonte team up as drafting buddies to get them up front. Moore challenges Wallace for fourth but doesn't quite make it so he falls in line.

Six cars in the lead draft with Martin still on point Earnhardt second, followed by Earnhardt Jr., Wallace, Moore, and Labonte at lap 15.

Lap 17 and Earnhardt Jr. tries Earnhardt for second going down on to the apron. Earnhardt keeps his second place but is challenged once again on the next lap. Wallace decides to go high and grabs second place from Earnhardt Jr. on lap 18.

Lap 20 and the top four of Martin, Earnhardt, Wallace and Earnhardt Jr. have a bit of a breakaway going.

At the halfway point it's Martin followed by Earnhardt, Wallace, Earnhardt Jr and Bobby Labonte. But on lap 26 Earnhardt gets a run on Martin and takes the lead. Earnhardt Jr. takes third on lap 27. Wallace goes back to fifth. Greg Moore was there ready to challenge.

Lap 32 and Earnhardt Jr. takes second with Bobby Labonte coming with him. A few laps later Greg Moore goes into third in turn three with no drafting help from Labonte and Gordon. Now Moore comes up on the Earnhardts and takes second on lap 37 but Earnhardt Jr. comes right back at him up high on the frontstretch holding on to second.

Bobby Labonte tags the outside wall coming off of turn two and has a big moment correcting and continuing.

Ten laps to go and the top 5 are Earnhardt, Earnhardt Jr., Gordon, Moore, Wallace. But Wallace takes third on lap 41 from Moore. Now Gordon tries to hold of the challenge from Gordon. Lap 43 and Gordon goes low in turn one, Moore goes low coming off of two and they're four wide coming off of turn four with Labonte tapping Greg Moore. Moore drops to eighth.

Lap 44 and Martin challenges Wallace for fourth. Jeff Burton comes with Martin for fourth. Martin goes under Gordon on the next lap to take third. But Gordon stays with it and has the drafting help but Martin goes by coming out of four.

Three laps to go with Earnhardt, Earnhardt Jr., Martin, Burton and Gordon your top five. Gordon ties Martin for third but gets left out of the draft and he looses a spot to Wallace.

White Flag.

Earnhardt leads Earnhardt Jr. with Martin third. Martin goes low out of turn twobut to no avail. Earnhardt Jr. goes high out of turn four and takes the lead by a half a fender. But Earnhardt stays with him and they briefly come together as Earnhardt grabs the lead right back. At the stripe Dale Earnhardt wins his third consecutive IROC race by a nose!

IROC XXIII Race Three - 50 Laps (100 Miles) Friday June 11, 1999 Michigan Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan 2.0 Mile Oval Speedway
Finish	Start	Driver	Car Color	Number	Laps	Times Led	Laps Led	Bonus	Points	Status
1	12	Dale Earnhardt	Medium Blue	1	50	1	24	5	21	Running
2	2	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Orange	11	50	1	1		17	Running
3	9	Rusty Wallace	Cream	4	50				14	Running
4	10	Bobby Labonte	Powder Blue	3	50				12	Running
5	11	Mark Martin	Yellow	2	50	1	19	3	10	Running
6	1	Jeff Burton	Violet	12	50	1	6	2	9	Running
7	8	Jeff Gordon	Lime	5	50				8	Running
8	7	Kenny Brack	Rose	6	50				7	Running
9	4	Greg Moore	Red	9	50				6	Running
10	6	Adrian Fernandez	Dark Blue	7	50					Running
11	5	Dale Jarrett	Purple	8	50				4	Running
12	3	Eddie Cheever Jr.	Silver	10	48				3	Running

IROC XXIII POINTS Following Round Three Michigan Speedway June 11, 1999
Position	Driver	Points
1	Dale Earnhardt	68
2	Mark Martin	48
3	Rusty Wallace	40
4	Bobby Labonte	39
5	Jeff Gordon	32
6	Kenny Brack	29
7	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	25
8	Greg Moore	22
9	Adrian Fernandez	21
10	Dale Jarrett	21
11	Jeff Burton	18
12	Eddie Cheever Jr.	14