2001 Pepsi 400

The 2001 Pepsi 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car race held on July 7, 2001, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida as the 17th of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. It was the first race held at Daytona since the 2001 Daytona 500, in which Dale Earnhardt was killed on the final lap. Sterling Marlin of Chip Ganassi Racing won the pole position. Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. won the race, while DEI teammate Michael Waltrip and Elliott Sadler finished second and third, respectively.

2001 Pepsi 400
Race details
Race 17 of 36 in the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Track map of Daytona International Speedway showing mainly the speedway.
Date July 7, 2001 (2001-07-07)
Location Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Florida
Course Permanent racing facility
2.5 mi (4.02 km)
Distance 160 laps, 400 mi (643.27 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching up to 89.1 °F (31.7 °C); wind speeds approaching 11.10 miles per hour (17.86 km/h)[1]
Average speed 157.601 mph (253.634 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
Chip Ganassi Racing
Most laps led
Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
Laps 116
Winner
No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
Television in the United States
Network NBC
Announcers Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons, Wally Dallenbach Jr.[2]
Nielsen Ratings 6.1/13
(25 million viewers)[3]
Radio in the United States
Radio MRN
Booth Announcers Joe Moore, Barney Hall
Turn Announcers Kurt Becker (1 & 2), Dave Moody (Backstretch) and Kevin O'Neil (3 & 4)

Qualifying

Qualifying was scheduled for Thursday, July 5,[2] but was rained out. As a result, it was held the following day, but was delayed for 3 hours, 12 minutes due to rain.[4] On the ten-year anniversary of his first career pole position, Sterling Marlin clinched the pole with a lap speed of 183.778 miles per hour (295.762 km/h). Dodge drivers claimed the first four spots, with Ward Burton (183.597 mph (295.471 km/h)), Stacy Compton (182.678 mph (293.992 km/h)) and Casey Atwood (182.597 mph (293.861 km/h)). Chevrolet driver and Cup points leader Jeff Gordon qualified fifth at 182.312 mph (293.403 km/h).[5] Buckshot Jones, Ron Hornaday Jr., Hut Stricklin, Mike Bliss and Andy Hillenburg failed to qualify.[6]

Race

The Rev. Hal Marchman gave the traditional invocation, Edwin McCain sang the National Anthem, and Pop singer Britney Spears gave the command to start the engines.[2] Ward Burton took the lead from Sterling Marlin on lap one, but relinquished it to Marlin on lap three. After Kevin Harvick, Marlin and Michael Waltrip shared the lead from laps 10 to 26,[6] Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took the lead on lap 27, leading 22 laps.[7] Matt Kenseth and Todd Bodine would lead for a combined seven laps, before Earnhardt reclaimed the lead and led 33 more laps. The first caution of the race flew on lap 89, when Andy Houston crashed in turn 4. Robert Pressley took the lead on lap 90, which Earnhardt reclaimed the following lap.[6] With 18 laps to go, cars entered pit road for final stops, but ten cars (Mike Skinner, Pressley, Sterling Marlin, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Terry Labonte, Bobby Hamilton, Kevin Harvick, John Andretti, Mark Martin, Dave Marcis, Jason Leffler) were involved in a crash in turn 4.[6] Earnhardt would surrender the lead again to Johnny Benson, Jr., who had made a late-race gamble to pull ahead. Dale Jr had to deal with lap traffic on the restart, but the Caution flew for the final time when Jeff Gordon's oil line cut. The race restarted with six laps to go with Johnny Benson still leading. But with five laps remaining, Earnhardt took back the lead,[7] and with drafting assistance from Waltrip, claimed the victory.[8] Elliott Sadler, Ward Burton and Bobby Labonte finished in the top five.[6] Tony Stewart crossed the line in sixth, but officially classified in 26th,[9] had his finishing spot taken by Jerry Nadeau; Rusty Wallace, Jeff Burton, Brett Bodine and Mike Wallace rounded out the top ten.[6]

Post-race

To celebrate, Earnhardt climbed onto his car's roof, and shared an embrace with Waltrip (who had been unable to celebrate his victory in the 500 that February because of Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash) before diving into his pit crew.[8]

After the race, Tony Stewart, who ignored orders to return to pit road due to passing Dave Blaney[10] below the track's yellow line, knocked a tape recorder away from a Winston-Salem Journal reporter[11] and kicked it under a hauler, and attempted to confront Cup director Gary Nelson, but was restrained by owner Joe Gibbs and crew chief Greg Zipadelli.[9] Stewart argued that he had been forced below the yellow line by Johnny Benson, Bobby Labonte and Jeremy Mayfield. Stewart was later fined $10,000, had his probation (dating back to spinning out Jeff Gordon at Bristol Motor Speedway) extended and was penalized 65 points.[12]

Standings after the race
Pos Driver Points
1 Jeff Gordon 2403
2 Dale Jarrett 2355
3 Ricky Rudd 2327
4 Tony Stewart 2207
5 Rusty Wallace 2184
6 Sterling Marlin 2159
7 Bobby Labonte 2061
8 Johnny Benson Jr. 2051
9 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2010
10 Kevin Harvick 1987

Broadcasting

The 2001 Pepsi 400 was broadcast by NBC,[7] as the first race broadcast by the network under a new centralized NASCAR contract which gave a consortium of NBC Sports and Turner Sports rights to broadcast the second half of the season.[13]

25 million viewers watched the race, setting a viewership record for night races.[14]

gollark: It's stuff other than neutrinos, isn't it?
gollark: I mean, light will get absorbed and reemitted a lot by any matter in the star, neutrinos won't.
gollark: You would die from more things first.
gollark: You should probably not watch that from within several light years.
gollark: No, I mean the gas giant fired from another star system would destroy it.

References
  1. Weather information at The Old Farmers' Almanac
  2. "THE RACE: Pepsi 400". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
  3. "TV RATINGS 2001". Jayski's Silly Season Site. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
  4. Coble, Don (July 7, 2001). "Marlin starts on pole for rain-cleansed Pepsi 400". Athens Banner-Herald. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  5. Associated Press (July 7, 2001). "Marlin Wins the Pole for Pepsi 400 at Daytona". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  6. "2001 Pepsi 400". Racing-Reference. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  7. "From Tragedy To Triumph: Junior Exorcises The Demons of Daytona in 2001". Bleacher Report. July 1, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  8. Thomas, Stephan (July 7, 2001). "Junior achievement". CNN Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  9. "Stewart's grandfather died before race". CNN Sports Illustrated. July 9, 2001. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  10. Lipsyte, Robert (July 9, 2001). "AUTO RACING; 'The Call' Is Answered in Earnhardt's Pepsi 400 Victory". The New York Times. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  11. "PLUS: AUTO RACING; Further Probation For Irate Stewart". The New York Times. July 12, 2001. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  12. "Severe punishment". CNN Sports Illustrated. July 7, 2001. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  13. Sherman, Ed. "New TV Contracts Place NASCAR In Driver's Seat". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  14. Madden, Mark (July 14, 2001). "Madden: Earnhardt win a quick-fix". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
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