The 2001 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 was the fourth
stock car race
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It or ...
of the
2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 53rd season of professional stock car racing in the United States, the 30th modern-era Cup series. It began on February 11, 2001, at Daytona International Speedway and ended on November 23, 2001, at ...
. It was held on March 11, 2001 at
Atlanta Motor Speedway, in
Hampton, Georgia
Hampton is a city in southwestern Henry County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 6,987, up from 3,857 at the 2000 census. By 2018 the estimated population was 7,922. "Hampton" mailing addresses outside t ...
. The 325-lap race was won by
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champion, ...
of the
Richard Childress Racing team after starting from fifth position.
Jeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
finished second and his
Hendrick Motorsports teammate
Jerry Nadeau
Gerald Nadeau (born September 9, 1970) is an American former stock car racer. He competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He started racing in karting before moving up to car racing, driving in the 12 Hours of Sebring, the European Formula Ford ...
came in third.
This race and 6 other races was supposed to be
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champion, ...
's Cup debut for the #30
America Online Chevy.
Pole position driver
Dale Jarrett
Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American race car driver and current commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series champi ...
maintained his lead for the first six laps of the race, but Harvick, who started fifth, passed him on the seventh lap. Gordon soon became the leader and would lead the race high of 118 laps. Five laps from the finish, Harvick took the lead after a five-car battle. On the final lap, Harvick won his first Winston Cup Series race from Gordon by .006 seconds in his third start.
There were 8
cautions and 25 lead changes among 11 different drivers. The result left Gordon in first position of the
Drivers' Championship, thirty-seven ahead of second place driver
Sterling Marlin
Sterling Burton Marlin (born June 30, 1957) is an American semi-retired, professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, driving the No. 114 for Sterling Marlin Racing. He formerly competed in the N ...
and seventy-three ahead of
Johnny Benson
Jonathan Thomas Benson Jr. (born June 27, 1963) is an American retired stock car racing driver and the son of former Michigan modified driver John Benson Sr. Benson has raced across NASCAR's three national series ( Cup, Busch, Truck), and his ...
.
Chevrolet maintained its lead in the
Manufacturers' Championship, fourteen points ahead of
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
and twenty ahead of
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
, with thirty-two races remaining in the season.
Report
Background
The track,
Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of three
quad-oval
Oval track racing is a form of closed-circuit motorsport that is contested on an oval-shaped race track. An oval track differs from a road course in that the layout resembles an oval with turns in only one direction, and the direction of traffic ...
tracks to hold
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
races, the others being
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing includin ...
and
Texas Motor Speedway
Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 24 ...
. The standard track at Atlanta Motor Speedway is a four-turn quad-oval that is long. The track's turns are banked at twenty-four degrees, while the straightaways are banked at five degrees. Atlanta Motor Speedway can seat up to 99,000 people.
Before the race,
Sterling Marlin
Sterling Burton Marlin (born June 30, 1957) is an American semi-retired, professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, driving the No. 114 for Sterling Marlin Racing. He formerly competed in the N ...
was leading the
Drivers' Championship with 468 points, and
Jeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
stood in second with 433 points.
Michael Waltrip was third in the Drivers' Championship with 415 points,
Dale Jarrett
Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American race car driver and current commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series champi ...
was fourth with 411 points, and
Steve Park was fifth with 401 points. In the
Manufacturers' Championship,
Chevrolet were leading with 27 points, nine points ahead of their rival
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
.
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
, with 12 points, were two points ahead of
Dodge in the battle for third.
Dale Earnhardt was the race's defending champion.
Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—one on Friday, and one on Saturday. The first session lasted 120 minutes, and the second 60 minutes. During the first practice session, Jarrett was fastest, placing ahead of
Jimmy Spencer in second and Gordon in third.
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champion, ...
was scored fourth, and
Brett Bodine
Brett Elias Bodine III (born January 11, 1959) is an American former stock car racing driver, former driver of the pace car in Cup Series events, and current NASCAR employee. Brett is the younger brother of 1986 Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine a ...
placed fifth.
During Friday afternoon qualifying, forty-six cars were entered, but only forty-three were able to race because of NASCAR's
qualifying procedure.
Dale Jarrett
Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American race car driver and current commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series champi ...
clinched his second consecutive
pole position of 2001 with a time of 28.763 seconds. He was joined on the front row by Jeff Gordon,
Todd Bodine
Todd Martin Bodine (born February 27, 1964) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 62 Toyota Tundra for Halmar Friesen Racing, and current racing ...
and
Mark Martin
Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959) is a retired American stock car racing driver. He has the second most wins all time in what is now the Xfinity Series with 49. He scored 40 Cup Series wins. He finished second in the NASCAR Cup Series s ...
shared the second row in the third and fourth position,
while Kevin Harvick, with a time of 28.908, qualified fifth.
Jeremy Mayfield
Jeremy Allen Mayfield (born May 27, 1969) is an American stock car racing driver. He drove cars for the Sadler brothers, T.W. Taylor, Cale Yarborough, Michael Kranefuss, Roger Penske, Ray Evernham, Bill Davis, and Gene Haas. In 2009, he drove for ...
,
Dave Blaney
David Louis Blaney (born October 24, 1962) is a semi-retired American professional stock car racing driver. Blaney was a successful sprint car driver before he started racing in NASCAR, competing in both the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Ser ...
,
Jimmy Spencer,
Rusty Wallace
Russell William "Rusty" Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He has won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. Over the course of his successful care ...
and
Michael Waltrip rounded out the top ten qualifiers. The three drivers that failed to qualify were
Rick Mast
Richard K. Mast (born March 4, 1957) is a former NASCAR driver. He competed in both the Winston Cup and Busch Series before retiring in 2002. He holds a business administration degree from Blue Ridge Community College.
Early and Busch career
M ...
,
Carl Long
James Carlyle "Carl" Long (born September 20, 1967) is an American professional stock car racing driver, mechanic, and team owner. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 66 Toyota Supra for MBM Motorsports. In t ...
and
Casey Atwood.
Race
The race, the fourth out of a total of thirty-six in the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...
, began at 1 p.m. EST and was televised live in the United States on
FOX
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
. To begin pre-race ceremonies, at 1 p.m EST, Phil Brannon, the Atlanta Motor Speedway Chaplain, gave the
invocation
An invocation (from the Latin verb ''invocare'' "to call on, invoke, to give") may take the form of:
*Supplication, prayer or spell.
*A form of possession.
*Command or conjuration.
* Self-identification with certain spirits.
These forms ...
. Then, Moby in the Morning, from local radio station
WKHX-FM
WKHX-FM (101.5 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Marietta, Georgia, featuring a country music format known as "New Country 101.Five". Owned by Cumulus Media, the station serves the Atlanta metropolitan area. WKHX-FM's studios are loc ...
performed the
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...
, and television personality
Willard Scott
Willard Herman Scott Jr. (March 7, 1934 – September 4, 2021) was an American weather presenter, radio and television personality, actor, narrator, clown, comedian, and author, whose broadcast career spanned 68 years, 65 years with the NBC br ...
gave the command for drivers to start their engines.
Dale Jarrett made a good start, retaining the first position; Jeff Gordon behind him maintained second position. At the end of the first lap, Kevin Harvick passed Gordon. By lap 3, Jerry Nadeau was clipped by
Michael Waltrip with
Robert Pressley
Robert William Pressley (born April 8, 1959) is an American former NASCAR driver who previously served as the promoter at Kingsport Speedway in Kingsport, Tennessee. Pressley is now a County Commissioner in Buncombe County, North Carolina.
Beginn ...
spinning out and nearly being clipped by Nadeau. During the same lap, the grandstands fell silent and spectators held up a three-finger salute in the memory of
Dale Earnhardt—who was killed in an accident during the
Daytona 500 three weeks previously; and 7,000 balloons were released into the air.
The heartbreak of the day was for
Dave Blaney
David Louis Blaney (born October 24, 1962) is a semi-retired American professional stock car racing driver. Blaney was a successful sprint car driver before he started racing in NASCAR, competing in both the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Ser ...
. Blaney, driving Bill Davis Racing's #93 Dodge, dominated the middle of the race, leading 70 laps. Blaney was about to make a pit stop with less than 90 laps to go, when a caution came out. Blaney chose to not pit and lead to the caution flag to protect his lead. Two laps later, the wheel came flying off, costing him his first Winston Cup win. Once Blaney was out of the race, this would set up the final shootout between 5 cars with those being Jerry Nadeau, Dale Jarrett, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Gordon. With 5 to go, Harvick passed Nadeau and Jarrett to take the lead. With 3 to go, Dale Earnhardt Jr. came down pit road with a flat tire ending his chances of winning. At the same time, Jeff Gordon passed his teammate Jerry Nadeau for second setting up a dramatic final lap between Harvick and Gordon.
On the final lap (325), Gordon attempted a pass on Harvick the straightway but Harvick won his first Winston Cup Series race by .006 seconds, the second closest finish in a NASCAR-sanctioned race. Nadeau followed in third, ahead of Jarrett in fourth and Terry Labonte in fifth.
Post-race
Kevin Harvick appeared in victory lane after his
victory lap
A victory lap (also lap of honor) is a term used in motorsports to describe an extra lap of the race track after the conclusion of a race. This lap, driven at reduced speed, allows the winning driver to celebrate their victory and gives the s ...
to start celebrating his first win in the Winston Cup Series. Harvick's victory took place in his third start, breaking the record of the fewest starts to first victory previously held by
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for '' NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving ...
Results
Qualifying
Race
References
{{NASCAR on FOX
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., doing business as simply Cracker Barrel, is an American chain of restaurant and gift stores with a Southern country theme. The company was founded by Dan Evins in 1969. Its first store was in Lebanon, ...
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc., doing business as simply Cracker Barrel, is an American chain of restaurant and gift stores with a Southern country theme. The company was founded by Dan Evins in 1969. Its first store was in Lebanon, ...
NASCAR races at Atlanta Motor Speedway