April 10, 2000
- Penalties UPDATE a rundown: Five teams got caught by NASCAR’s new rules concerning tires left on pit road at Martinsville. #24-Jeff Gordon, #22-Ward Burton, #16-Kevin Lepage, #44-Kyle Petty and #36-Ken Schrader – all were forced to start at the end of the longest line on caution-flag restarts(goracing). NASCAR had penalized #99-Jeff Burton and #25-Jerry Nadeau for disregarding a stop sign from an official posted at the pit exit(Gaston Gazette). Jeff Gordon, Ward Burton, Kevin Lepage, Kyle Petty and Ken Schrader served penalties for the tire infraction. NASCAR officials also handed out 10 more penalties for speeding in the pits, pitting too soon, running the pit-road stop sign, passing on the left too soon, passing the pace car and trying to beat the pace car out of the pits(Daily Press)
UPDATE: here are a rundown of the penalties accessed at Martinsville: 14 total – Five teams noted above with the new tire rule: #24-Jeff Gordon, #22-Ward Burton, #16-Kevin Lepage, #44-Kyle Petty and #36-Ken Schrader each had to go to the end of the longest line on the restarts for the violation. #26-Jimmy Spencer was caught for speeding on pit road. #26-Spencer, #33-Joe Nemechek, #11-Brett Bodine and #13-Robby Gordon for entering the pits too soon. #1-Steve Park for passing on the left on a restart. #42-Kenny Irwin for passing the pace car. #99-Jeff Burton and #55-Kenny Wallace each were penalized a lap for disobeying the NASCAR official at the end of pit road and entering the track when signaled to stop. Most others were penalized by being sent to the end of the longest line(News and Record)(4-10-2000) - Records: After 500 laps on Martinsville’s 1/2 mile paperclip-shaped oval the Goody’s Body Pain 500 records show there were 14 lead changes among 8 different drivers and 14 cars finished on the lead lap. There were also a record 17 caution flags totaling a whopping 111 laps run under yellow due to the short time even caution laps require to complete. After all this Mark Martin’s margin of victory was still only 1.5 seconds over teammate Jeff Burton(Speedway Illustrated) check out their first issue cover at the site(4-10-2000)
- Waltrip finish: Michael Waltrip had his best finish (3rd at Martinsville) since he was 3rd at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May of 1995. It was his first Top-5 since last year’s Daytona 500, and just one spot off his career-best of 2nd at Pocono in 1988(Catchfence-Rumblings)(4-10-2000)
- Cautions at Martinsville: The 17 cautions broke the event record and tied the track record for yellow flags(Total Sports)(4-10-2000)
- Skinner/Lowes/Red Cross: Mike Skinner and Lowes generates more Red Cross funds, leading ten laps and running 498 of the 500 on Sunday, helping him raise $23,438 for the American Red Cross Racing for Relief program. Lowe’s, Skinner’s sponsor, is donating $31 for every lap he completes and $1,031 for every lap he leads in April’s races. After two races, the total contribution is $34,792(That’s Racin’)(4-10-2000)
- 2nd Morgan McClure car? UPDATE: Loy Allen is testing for the Morgan McClure team(#4 Kodak Chevy) at Greenville-Pickens(SC) with regular driver Bobby Hamilton in preparation for the upcoming Martinsville and Talladega races. The way things look right now, they might run a second car at Talladega with Loy Allen as the driver(Morgan McClure PR)(4-4-2000)
UPDATE: Morgan-McClure Motorsports owner Larry McClure has decided not to enter Loy Allen as a second car at Talladega. Allen had tested a car last week at Talladega for McClure. McClure, owner of the #4 Kodak Chevys for driver Bobby Hamilton, said Sunday it is still likely he will field a second car at some point this season, but he has set no timetable for its debut(That’s Racin’)(4-10-2000) - Attendance: The estimated attendance of 84,000 was a track record at Martinsville on Apr 9th(Total Sports)(4-10-2000)
- #36 Crew Chief: Cicci-Welliver Racing announced they have named Billy Nacewicz crew chief for driver Tim Fedewa and the #36 Stanley Racing team. Nacewicz, 50, will make his debut with the team at Talladega. Nacewicz, a New York native, has had an extensive and successful 26-year career in racing. He served as crew chief for Richie Evans, the well-known modified driver, during his run of eight national championships before moving south to work in the NASCAR Busch Series. Nacewicz was also the car chief for Randy LaJoie’s #74 team at Bace Motorsports that won the 1996 and 1997 BGN drivers championships(IMG Motorsports). Nacewicz was the crew chief for PJ Jones until the #74 BACE team closed up(4-10-2000)
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