1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series - Save Mart/Kragen 350

Save Mart/Kragen 350

The Save Mart/Kragen 350 was run on June 28 in Sonoma, California. Jeff Gordon won the pole. The race was broadcast on ESPN.

Top Ten Results

1. 24-Jeff Gordon
2. 4-Bobby Hamilton
3. 43-John Andretti
4. 18-Bobby Labonte
5. 2-Rusty Wallace
6. 6-Mark Martin
7. 40-Sterling Marlin
8. 75-Rick Mast*
9. 28-Kenny Irwin, Jr.
10. 41-Steve Grissom

Failed to qualify: 35-Todd Bodine, 46-Tommy Kendall*, 58-Chris Raudman, 70-Rick Ware, 71-Dave Marcis

• During the weekend, Kevin Lepage signed a contract with Roush Racing to replace Ted Musgrave in the #16 Primestar Ford after the Bud at the Glen. After learning of the deal, Lepage was dropped by LJ Racing after 2nd round qualifying. The car still made the field in 42nd starting spot through a provisional. Tommy Kendall was tapped to drive the car in the race and drove up from the back of the field to finish 16th.

• To try to get Rick Mast some confidence coming into Sears Point, the Butch Mock Racing team gave Rick the nickname "Nigel Mast," after the former Formula One World Champion Nigel Mansell. It was designed to convince Rick that he could run well at road courses, typically the scenes of mediocre finishes, DNF's, and most notably, a spectacular wreck at Watkins Glen in 1993. Previously, his best road course finish was 11th at Sears Point in 1992.

• Jerry Nadeau got anxious on the start, having never been so close to the front previously in his Winston Cup career. Starting on the outside pole, Nadeau tried to beat polesitter Jeff Gordon to Turn 2 (the first right turn on the course). Unfortunately, he went into Turn 1a too fast and drove off course. By the time he had fully recovered the car, he had dropped to 5th. The off course excursion caused problems with Nadeau's brakes and tires to develop, which resulted in Nadeau crashing in the esses on lap 15, which put him out of the race with a 43rd (last) place finish.

• Jeff Burton became the first Winston Cup driver ever to crash on the 400-foot (120 m) long start-finish straight after contact with Dale Jarrett on lap 64. This resulted in a 10 lap full course caution because the impact of Burton's car causing damage to the wall.

• Lake Speed suffered rib and sternum injuries in a practice crash in Turn 10. The injuries were serious enough for Speed to have to sit out the race. Winston West regular Butch Gilliland drove the #9 Cartoon Network Ford to a 24th place finish from 40th on the grid in place of Speed.

• Jeff Gordon would take over the Winston Cup point lead after Jeremy Mayfield had troubles in this race. Gordon held on to the lead for the rest of the year.

• This was the first race with the configuration erasing turns 4–6. A short chute was in place where the old hills were, making speeds much faster on the speed charts.