The 2000 NAPA 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on November 20, 2000, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. It was originally scheduled for November 19, but was postponed due to rain and run on Monday. It was the 34th and final race of the 2000 NASCAR season.
Jerry Nadeau, driving the #25 Michael Holigan Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Hendrick Motorsports, won the race. It was his first and only victory in the Winston Cup Series.[2]
Following the race, the Winston Cup was formally awarded to series champion Bobby Labonte, the driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac Grand Prix for Joe Gibbs Racing. Labonte had won the Winston Cup championship the previous week by finishing 4th in the Pennzoil 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and he followed that up with a 5th place finish in this race.[3]
The event was the final race to be broadcast on ESPN until 2007 and the last one with its broadcast team of Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons, and Ned Jarrett. Jenkins would remain at ESPN in his role as their lead voice for the Indy Racing League, while Parsons joined NBC Sports for their NASCAR broadcasts. Jarrett, meanwhile, retired from broadcasting after over twenty years covering events for ESPN and CBS.
It would also be the final race in the career of Darrell Waltrip, who called the 2000 season his "Victory Tour" in the #66 Kmart Ford Taurus for Haas-Carter Motorsports.
Wally Dallenbach Jr. also retired from full-time racing after the race, as he had signed to join Parsons as a booth analyst for NBC. He drove the #75 Pizza Hut /TBS (American TV channel) Ford for Galaxy Motorsports in the race
Scott Pruett, who had joined the Cup Series for 2000 driving the #32 Tide Ford Taurus for PPI Motorsports, finished what would be his only full time season driving in NASCAR; he was released from the team after the season.
In an unexpected final occurrence, Dale Earnhardt recorded the last top five finish of his racing career as he finished second to Nadeau. The reason this was unexpected was because of his death in the Daytona 500 at the beginning of the following season.
It wasn't uncommon for a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race in the 1990s to have only three to five cars on the lead lap. If someone spun, didn't hit the wall or anyone else, and could fire it up and get going, there would be no reason to wave a caution flag for multiple laps. Between 8-12 cars on the lead lap was considered to be a typical performance at a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race during the 1990s; compared to the more than 15 cars on the lead lap at short track in the current NASCAR.
Approximately 14% of the race was run under a caution flag; the average green flag run was 31 laps. Several accidents and oil spills caused eight caution periods for 44 laps.[2] Three hundred and twenty-five laps were completed in 3 hours, 32 minutes and 32 seconds. Jerry Nadeau beat Dale Earnhardt to the finish line by 1.338 seconds to win the race (his first and only victory in Winston Cup competition). ESPN's Bob Jenkins, calling his last Winston Cup event for ESPN, called the finish thus:
Back in March of '81, Darrell Waltrip took the checkered flag to win the very first race we televised on ESPN...and in November of 2000...Jerry Nadeau wins the final race on ESPN!
As the competitors of the race completed lap 320, Dale Earnhardt finally achieved the feat of completing 10000 laps in a single NASCAR Winston Cup Series season before his death at the 2001 Daytona 500.[2] The race was officially started shortly after 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time and finished at approximately 4:32 PM EST.[4]
Geoff Bodine finished last due to an engine problem on lap 11. Buckshot Jones was the lowest finisher to complete the event, finishing in 37th place, 48 laps behind the lead lap drivers.[2] Jeremy Mayfield had a winning racecar that was forced to leave the race on lap 53 due to engine problems; this performance was typical of his 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season.[2] Darrell Waltrip finishes 34th in his final Cup start and 7 laps behind Jerry Nadeau; even though it was certainly not the "victory tour" that he had planned.[2] For the 2001 season, Waltrip would begin working as a color commentator for Fox Sports' coverage of Winston Cup racing. Waltrip's retirement also ended a rocky relationship between himself and Travis Carter Motorsports that lasted since the 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season.
According to certain fans, the final years of Waltrip's NASCAR career had involved him allowing Jeff Gordon to take a leading role. Jeff Gordon was in his early career at the time. Darrell Waltrip's career with Fox Sports commenced with the Budweiser Shootout on February 11, 2001. The following week, Waltrip provided commentary for the Daytona 500 race in which the death of Dale Earnhardt occurred on that race's final lap..
43 drivers, all born in the United States of America qualified for the NAPA 500, driving either Chevrolet, Ford or Pontiac cars. 13 other drivers failed to qualify, including Dick Trickle, Hut Stricklin, Morgan Shepherd and Hermie Sadler.[2] Individual race earnings for each driver ranged from $180,550 to Jerry Nadeau ($319,443 when adjusted for inflation) to $34,982 to last-place finisher Geoff Bodine ($61,893 when adjusted for inflation). The total purse for the event was $2,336,442 ($4,133,809 when adjusted for inflation).[5]
Notable crew chiefs who actively participated in this race included Robin Pemberton, Jimmy Fenning, Tony Eury, Sr., Greg Zipadelli, Donnie Wingo, Larry McReynolds, Hut Stricklin, Jeff Hammond among others.[6]
This was the last NASCAR race of the 20th century and of the 2nd millennium. While the price of gasoline and oil would remain cheap throughout the first five years of the 21st century, the constant threat of fossil fuel depletion eventually caused NASCAR to adopt electronic fuel injection as a fuel-saving measure. Concern for the environment also caught the eye of NASCAR officials during the 21st century; they would make an attempt to reduce the carbon footprint that NASCAR elevated during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.[7][8][9]
The 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season was when the average NASCAR fan could see some changes in the pecking order brewing. Matt Kenseth was an excellent young contender who could compete alongside Steve Park and Dale Earnhardt Junior. Fourteen different drivers would win, which was a substantial number back then.[10]
At least five of the drivers involved in this race are no longer living as of 2020, including Blaise Alexander,[11][12] Dick Trickle,[13] Dale Earnhardt,[14] Bobby Hamilton,[15] and John Andretti. Only Kurt Busch still remains in the NASCAR Cup Series from this race; making him one of NASCAR's elder statesmen.
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