|| *Comments on the 2000 Race 4:* View the most recent comment <#15> | Post a comment <#post> 1. JPM42ROTY2007 posted: 11.11.2006 - 4:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last start in IROC for Gordon as of 2006. 2. most posted: 12.18.2006 - 2:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Strange, actually he had been in the lineup a few years ago but pulled out, the CART driver did the same thing I remember, IROC is a struggling series for sure. 3. biffle16 posted: 12.29.2006 - 1:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, Rusty Wallace's last start in IROC. 4. biffle16 posted: 06.13.2007 - 12:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And Greg Ray's. 5. BurtonRuddFan posted: 12.05.2007 - 11:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This proved that Martin kicks butt with a large margin for an IROC race for this era. 6. RaceFanX posted: 12.31.2007 - 3:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Martin would not get to run another IROC race after this for three years. When he did he picked right back up where he left off here, winning at Daytona in 2003. 7. Anonymous posted: 03.14.2009 - 11:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Number / Color / Driver 12 / Orange / Mark Dismore 11 / Med. Blue / Greg Ray 10 / White / Rusty Wallace 9 / Violet / Dale Earnhardt Jr. 8 / Cream / Jeff Gordon 7 / Aqua / Dale Jarrett 6 / Yellow / Jeff Burton 5 / Gold / Eddie Cheever Jr. 4 / Lime / Bobby Labonte 3 / Powder Blue / Tony Stewart 2 / Red / Mark Martin 1 / Dark Blue / Dale Earnhardt 8. RaceFanX posted: 05.12.2009 - 12:16 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) And the final IROC race for Dale Earnhardt Jr 9. RaceFanX posted: 06.09.2011 - 11:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Numbers: Dale Earnhardt- #1 Mark Martin- #2 Tony Stewart- #3 Bobby Labonte- #4 Eddie Cheever, Jr.- #5 Jeff Burton- #6 Dale Jarrett- #7 Jeff Gordon- #8 Dale Earnhardt, Jr.- #9 Rusty Wallace- #10 Greg Ray- #11 Mark Dismore- #12 10. RaceFanX posted: 07.22.2017 - 1:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The battle for the IROC championship comes down to a final showdown at Indianapolis with five drivers mathematically having a shot at the crown: points leader Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, and former Indy 500 winner Eddie Cheever, Jr. Earnhardt and Martin came through the field like hot knives through butter, Martin made it from eleventh to fifth in the first lap alone, and took the top-2 positions by lap 10. Martin led from there on out to win the race but Earnhardt had enough points that he took the championship anyway by three points over Martin. While Martin lost the title he did get to make history, this win made him the first driver in any series to win three consecutive races at the fabled Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Had Earnhardt finished third he and Martin would have tied and Martin would have won on the tiebreaker. Tony Stewart made a run at Earnhardt on the last lap but the Intimidator held him off to ice his fourth IROC title and his last championship in any series. Earnhardt celebrated his title by pulling alongside Martin and making a hand gesture out the car with a single finger at speed on the cool down lap. Earnhardt then used his championship interview to call out the CART guys for turning down IROC that year, saying they must be scared of him and Martin, then inviting them to come race with them in 2001. Indy Racing League competitors Mark Dismore and Greg Ray started on the front row for this race since they came in last in points. Dismore started strong and led the first six laps of the race while Ray fell back a bit. Jeff Gordon, racing on his 29th birthday, passed Dismore for the lead with Martin following by to take second and Rusty Wallace moving into third only for the Indy racers to then take each other out making contact racing for fourth that put Dismore in the wall, and out of the race, and sending Ray for a loop. Ray continued for a few laps but his car had aerodynamic issues after the crash and he ultimately parked it due to the damage. Jeff Burton's yellow Firebird broke on the opening lap. IROC cars rarely had mechanical issues but Burton had two put him on the sidelines in consecutive races at the end of 2000. 11. Brandon posted: 07.23.2017 - 2:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In all of the series that have ever raced at Indianapolis, this is the only time ever someone has won the same event three years straight here. Kyle Busch in yesterday's Xfinity race had a chance, but today he has one in the Cup race. 12. RaceFanX posted: 04.19.2019 - 8:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) IROC typically played no favorites when it came to inviting NASCAR Cup drivers, the top-5 in the series' final point standings were usually the ones who got the invites with only a few exceptions (ex. Darrell Waltrip in 1997 but only as a last-minute addition after Davy Jones got hurt and had to withdraw) unless a driver was the defending IROC champion and automatically invited back as such. Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon both finished outside the top-5 in Cup points in 2000 and were not called back in 2001. Gordon was invited to IROC again in the future but famously declined his invite as the reigning Cup champion in 2002 because he said he was too busy as his Cup Series and related commitments (such as a ownership role with the new Jimmie Johnson #48 team). 13. Ryan posted: 06.13.2020 - 9:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @10 I remember watching the race and it was unreal to see both Earnhardt and Martin cut through the even playing field and both be in the top-2 by lap 10. Martin mentioned that he had to get to first as soon as he could because he knew Earnhardt would probably be right there knocking on his door and of course... he was. Earnhardt didn't mind calling out people. He wanted to race the best in each series in equal cars. He loved that. 14. Rich posted: 09.17.2020 - 1:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons and Ray Evernham were the commentators. Dr. Jerry Punch was the sole pit road reporter. 15. RaceFanX posted: 11.21.2020 - 7:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @13 Indeed, he had a habit of doing that in IROC. He was bummed out when Nigel Mansell declined his invitation to come run IROC in 1994 as the reigning CART champion and joking encouraged him to give it a shot if he got the chance (he didn't, Mansell went back to F1 and quickly retired after a lackluster sophomore CART season in 1994). Earnhardt really wanted to race against him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: