Events of The Race
The morning of the race, Earnhardt appeared confident and relaxed. Earnhardt was a front-runner throughout the race, leading for 17 laps. In the first three quarters of the race, there were only two caution flags: first, a caution on lap 49 when Jeff Purvis hit the wall between turns 3 and 4, in the same location where Earnhardt's fatal crash would later happen; the second on lap 157, when rookie Kurt Busch hit the Turn 3 wall while trying to pass Joe Nemechek, and slid through infield and into pit road.
On lap 173, Earnhardt and his familiar black #3 car were running in third, with two of his race team's cars, the blue #15 NAPA Chevrolet driven by Michael Waltrip and the red #8 Budweiser Chevrolet run by his son Dale Earnhardt, Jr., running first and second in front of him. On that lap, a crash on the back straightaway eliminated eighteen drivers in spectacular fashion, and led to the race being red-flagged for a lengthy cleanup: Jason Leffler, Earnhardt's first driver Steve Park, Rusty Wallace (who would rally back to finish third), Robby Gordon, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, Elliott Sadler, Ward Burton, Jeff Gordon, Jerry Nadeau, Kenny Wallace, John Andretti, Buckshot Jones, Dale Jarrett, Andy Houston and Jeff Burton. The crash started when Robby Gordon turned Ward Burton, who had led the most laps in the race so far (53 laps) at the exit of turn 2. Tony Stewart was hit by Ward, turned backwards against the outside wall, and was pushed airborne over Robby Gordon. Stewart then barrel-rolled two full times, hooking to Bobby Labonte's hood, and stood on his front wheels before coasting to a stop in the infield, while Ward's car turned sideways and collected most of the field behind him. Earnhardt, Ron Hornaday, Ricky Rudd and Ken Schrader were four of the few drivers who escaped the wreckage.
The race restarted on lap 180, with Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. still out in front. Sterling Marlin, who had beaten Earnhardt in the Gatorade Duel, led the next three laps before Waltrip took the lead again. The lead changed several times between Waltrip and Earnhardt, Jr. during the next few laps.
As the laps wound down, Waltrip and Earnhardt, Jr. were running in first and second place, with Earnhardt, Sr. behind them, blocking Marlin's attempts to pass. With less than two laps remaining, Fox commentator Darrell Waltrip noted that "Sterling has beat the front end off of that ol' Dodge trying to get around Dale ".
As the cars entered Turn 3 on the final lap, Earnhardt still held third, and was running in the middle lane of traffic. Marlin's #40 Coors Light Dodge was just behind him and running the bottom lane, while Rusty Wallace's navy blue #2 Miller Lite Ford was directly behind Earnhardt and Ken Schrader was above Earnhardt riding the high lane in his yellow #36 M&M's Pontiac.
Read more about this topic: Death Of Dale Earnhardt, Circumstances of Earnhardt's Death
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