It was a rough night for a couple of the points leaders,
particularly defending champion Dale Earnhardt Jr., but also Elton Sawyer and Jason
Keller. On the flip side of the coin, it was a great night for Matt Kenseth, Jeff Green
and Todd Bodine.
Kenseth unofficially took the point lead by 84 points as he took a huge bite out of
Earnhardt's lead for the second week in a row. While Kenseth finished 3rd, Earnhardt's
ACDelco Chevrolet was involved in an accident for the second week in a row and finished
32nd -- following up last week's 34th.
"They wrecked in front of me and I just couldn't get through there," he said of
an accident on about lap 156. The crew jumped in en masse -- including Earnhardt who
wielded a mean sledgehammer -- and replaced the rear end housing and did massive body
work. However, a short time after rejoining the fray, Earnhardt was on the sidelines.
"We had to put a new rear-end in there and with about 10 laps to go, it burned up on
us," he said. "By then, though, we had gained all the spots that we were gonna
gain. It was no big deal, though. I don't really know where we finished."
Earnhardt temporarily slip to second in the point. He is also making his Winston Cup
debut May 30th at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600. His first of five Winston
Cup races in 1999.
