|| *Comments on the 1995 Goody's 500:* View the most recent comment <#60> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Sebastien posted: 06.30.2004 - 3:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Terry Labonte succesfully hold off a more than aggressive Dale Earnhardt to score this victory. 2. Mike Lindeen posted: 09.07.2004 - 6:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Terry was nailed by Earnhardt just before the start/finish line, so Terry crossed the finish line sideways and actually crashed the car right after winning 3. HomeDepotKid posted: 01.09.2005 - 1:22 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) And remember, Dale Earnhardt had some troubles with Rusty Wallace, including a memorable post-race altercation. D:"Hey, buddy." R:"DON'T YOU BUDDY ME!"(Or something like that) (Rusty and Dale jaw a little at each other, mainly Rusty jawing. I saw a picture in an old scene of Rusty pointing his finger at Dale, with Earnhardt just smiling.) Now, a little later in the altercation, Rusty threw a water bottle at Earnhardt. This is what the post-race skirmish is known for. 4. Djrfan posted: 09.07.2005 - 5:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Terry Labonte scores career win number 16. 5. Darrell posted: 01.29.2006 - 1:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Yeah, Rusty got sent to the back of the pack for rough-housing with Earnhardt. Kyle Petty failed to qualify for this race, and I think Joe Nemechek did also. I forget who else did. 6. Steve posted: 02.03.2006 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nemechek finished 16th. Todd Bodine failed to qualify along with Kyle Petty and Elton Sawyer. I'm not sure who else, but I'm positive that there were more. Likely Kenny Wallace. 7. Matt posted: 02.21.2006 - 3:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bobby Hamilton was also punished for rough driving during this race after wrecking Brett Bodine twice in a 20 lap span. Hamilton was held in the penalty box for 5 laps. 8. Matt posted: 02.24.2006 - 9:12 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) DNQ: Kyle Petty (#42), Joe Ruttman (#95), Kenny Wallace (#81), Jimmy Hensley (#32), Todd Bodine, (#75), Elton Sawyer (#27), and Bobby Hillin, Jr. (#77). 9. Andrew posted: 03.03.2006 - 6:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) also, wasnt this race over like 1:30 am due to the hurricane? 10. brandon posted: 03.04.2006 - 5:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) yeah it was delayed and finished at 2am 11. J. Kircher posted: 04.04.2006 - 9:28 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) First of all on a personal note, this was my first NASCAR race and I think if you can remember the finish then you can see why I was hooked. Also fortunate for me was the fact that the race was rain delayed, because ESPN interviewed almost the whole line-up before going to alternate programming allowing a first-time viewer the chance to see some personalities in the sport and to see the great fans there weathering the storm by doing the wave, which NASCAR actually started scoring and timing. (The fans were up by 20 or so laps by the time the cars got the green). Just before the start, Terry Labonte was selected by NASCAR to test the track by getting out of his position under the pace laps and taking a corner or two at speed. I don't believe I've ever seen that since, but I guess at one time it was a common practice. In typical Bristol fashion, pretty much every car came away with some battle scars except for points leader Jeff Gordon and his teammate Terry Labonte (oops, except for right after the race was over). As I said, this was my first race and I owe a great deal of watching the sport to Dale Earnhardt, who had a vintage night where he was involved in several bumps and spins, controversy, and having to drive from the back to the front. The night started with him turning friend and rival Rusty Wallace before 100 laps was on the board. Wallace pulled alongside his car under caution and with fury pointed at him (index finger) several times and of course we know about the post-race Evian bottle hurled at Earnhardt (maybe Rusty wasn't an Evian drinker). NASCAR then penalized Earnhardt for "rough driving" sending him to the back of the pack with a big reaction from the crowd. Earnhardt drove from the back and eventually to the lead passing cars at a very impressive rate. During a late restart, Earnhardt was behind Derrike Cope, who missed a shift causing a chain-reaction bump. Earnhardt's car was damaged and again had to drive from the back to the front, where in the last few laps thanks to some fresher rubber and mostly lapped traffic, he caught Labonte and tagged him coming out of turn 4, but Labonte was able to cross the finish line first, albeit sideways for the win. Ward Burton was an early exit in his first race with Bill Davis. He jumped in this car after parting ways with A.G. Dillard (#31 Hardee's Chevy) after finishing 6th at Michigan the week before. This was also the night that Jeremy Mayfield appeared to be in contention for the win after he pitted early under one of the many cautions and stayed out while the other leaders pitted, but was then a victim of a multi-car pile-up that finished the car. As for the car itself, just a few weeks prior to the race it was a show car at a mall but the crew made the switch to it in time for Bristol. Lake Speed also had the same pit strategy as Mayfield and spent some time out front. He too was collected in a crash that cut the oil line and after driving away it caused a fire. Speed stopped the car and was taken to the infield car center to treat a smoke inhalation problem, but was O.K. 12. Steve posted: 10.23.2006 - 4:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was an instant classic. 13. Thomas posted: 01.21.2007 - 9:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty was never put to the back, Earnhardt was for spinning Rusty out on the frontstretch. 14. Debo posted: 03.26.2007 - 11:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Didn't Bill Elliott climb the wall in this race? 15. biffle16 posted: 05.28.2007 - 1:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yup. Saw the video of it on Youtube, Debo. 16. Clayton Caldwell posted: 06.27.2007 - 6:39 pm Rate this comment: (1) (3) We all saw, what Dale Earnhardt was about in this one! Wreaking people and saying "I didnt mean to wreak 'em I just meant to rattle his cage a little" and then smerck that cocky smerck he had! So badly I wanted Rusty to beat the living hell out of Earnhardt at the end! Dale deserved it! Early in his carrer there wasn't a dirtier driver, before or after that! Dale was by far the dirtiest! People loved him for that, People (like me) hated him for that! Jeff Burton had the best quote, "It takes more talent to pass him, then it does to wreak him!" He is so right! After that being said, one of the most exciting races, I've ever seen! Just the atomsphere, Dale finishing second even though he wreaked Terry, and Rusty and Dale at the end! It was a classic! 17. Steve posted: 08.07.2007 - 5:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Such a memorable finish, but some fans don't have ESPN Classic, so for those fans I present a link to a video of the final 10 laps. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH9sLnJL8NE 18. Anonymous posted: 08.19.2007 - 11:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Jarrett led the most laps for the first time in his career. 19. Anonymous posted: 09.14.2007 - 10:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'll recall some of this race. Rusty wallace got off to a bad start when Earnhardt spun him out. Bobby Hamilton spun Brett Bodine out twice and got a 5 lap penalty. The race was plagued all day and night by Tropical Storm Jerry, and Jerry dumped more rain on the track to bring out another caution. Morgan Shepherd spun out and John Andretti hit the wall to avoid him. Ricky Rudd also brought out a caution when he crashed. When Bill Elliott climbed the wall, Rusty spun out behind him and hit the inside backstretch wall, and THAT is why he finished 46 laps down. Jeremy Mayfield got spun out while running in the top 10 by Steve Grissom. Mayfield got up there with pit strategy. He never actually hit the wall, instead, he was hit by a bunch of other cars. Among the cars involved:Mayfield, Grissom, Dick Trickle, Hut Stricklin, Ricky Craven, Rich Bickle, Rick Mast, Greg Sacks, Robert Pressley, Jimmy Spencer, and Joe Nemechek. Later on, after the final restart, Ted Musgrave spun on the frontstretch but no caution came out. Then Rick Mast's "modified" cut a tire and slapped the wall, but made it to the pits without causing a caution. And, Dave Marcis also slammed the wall and tore up his car, but, AGAIN, no caution came out. 20. Anonymous posted: 09.22.2007 - 8:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Was Kenny Wallace attempting to run the full schedule? Because this is about the 10th race I've noticed he failed to qualify for. 21. Steve posted: 10.12.2007 - 4:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually, Kenny Wallace was running a "half-and-half Busch/Cup schedule" if you will, attempting some Cup races and some Busch races. The following year he and the FILMAR team ran all 31 Winston Cup races. 22. Clayton posted: 03.13.2008 - 3:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Excellent Race on ESPN Classic right now as I type this! 23. Matthew Sullivan posted: 04.03.2008 - 12:32 am Rate this comment: (4) (5) Clayton Caldwell, you're an idiot. The fact that you quote Jeff Burton, one of the biggest pansy drivers in NASCAR history speaks for itself. Sorry, but I don't take advice from a driver who isn't willing to use his bumper from time to time. And there's a big difference between wrecking someone going into a corner and coming off of a corner which is what happened in the Earnhardt/Wallace incident. BTW, how many cars did Jimmy Spencer wreck on this night? Not once was he sent to the back for his driving. 24. rustyfan posted: 05.09.2008 - 11:37 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ah the infamous "Water Bottle Episode"CLASSIC! 25. GJinVA posted: 09.06.2008 - 1:17 am Rate this comment: (3) (5) anyone who would refer to Jeff Burton, one of the classiest and most respected drivers in NASCAR today (and the modern era for that matter), as a "pansy" is not someone whose opinion matters. You do realize that Dale Earnhardt told Richard Childress that Burton was the driver he wanted to replace him when he retired, right? Since you would only take advice from drivers who wreck others, and since no driver was ever more notorious for wrecking others (we're just not supposed to talk about that anymore because of what happened in '01), perhaps Dale's own opinion of Jeff should hold some weight for you. 26. Ryan posted: 01.08.2009 - 7:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (2) Classic Dale, car beat to death, penalized, come to the front from the back twice, almost win in thrilling fashion, altercation after it's over... I dont care who you are, lover or hater of him, you gotta love it! 27. Matthew Sullivan posted: 01.16.2009 - 5:07 pm Rate this comment: (3) (1) Just because Dale thought highly of Jeff Burton doesn't mean that I do. Certainly he's one of the most respected guys in the business, but he's cost himself chances of winning races by being a pansy on the track. All one has to do is look at the 1997 Southern 500 when he let Gordon run all over the side of his car and let him pretty much win that race. It's no wonder why he's never won a championship and never will. Pushover. 28. jp posted: 02.21.2009 - 12:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) earnhardt gave wallace, lake speed and derrike cope the famous "earnhardt tap". :) 29. myself posted: 08.17.2009 - 1:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) "And he hit me over the head with his Miller Genuine Draft." 30. 18fan posted: 01.07.2010 - 1:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Precursor to the "rattle his cage" race. Also, Darrell Waltrip's last top 5 at Bristol and last top 5 outside of the state of California. His last two were at Sonoma in 1997 and Fontana in 1998. 31. 18fan posted: 01.22.2010 - 7:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) What Dale did in this race was classic Bristol, except how many cars he passed was insane. If it was someone else that more fans didn't hate, like, say Mayfield, there wouldn't have been as much controversy. 32. JakeTV370 posted: 09.21.2010 - 10:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Very competitive. 33. Ryan posted: 11.21.2010 - 3:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) I agree Matthew Sullivan. Burton made that comment, and that's his opinion, but it also takes talent to tap someone and not spin them out, and at the same time go by them without you wrecking yourself as well... I like Burton, but that's a loser mentallity, you gotta use the horn every now and then, especially at a place like Bristol. That's what we pay to see and watch, not guys just staying behind people and constantly stare at their asses, that's gay! Hit that ass out of the way! 34. Austin posted: 07.27.2011 - 10:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) #9 what hurricane? 35. ericthenau posted: 07.29.2011 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Austin, there wasn't actually a hurricane, but a tropical storm named Jerry, that caused this race to end at about 2 A.M. 36. Ryan W posted: 07.25.2013 - 12:40 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) I agree with Sullivan also about Burton at the '97 Darlington race. Beat and bang with Gordon and see what happens. No way I would have let him come down on me without him paying the price. 37. Ed posted: 12.31.2013 - 7:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well of course Gordon's car was fairly unscathed at the end of this race, he spent a good chunk of this race in the same place he spent a lot of 1995: leading. 38. 33kalam posted: 01.19.2014 - 10:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Perhaps the best race of 1995 39. wrank fakefield posted: 08.21.2014 - 5:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Dale Earnhardt Show. The best (fighting from the back twice on one of the toughest tracks to pass on in the world to almost win) and the worst (wrecking two cars) of Earnhardt was on display this night. The man's talent and ceaseless determination are undeniable. So are all the drivers he just plain knocked out of the way . And say what you want about the "water bottle incident," but notice, he never tried to push Wallace around on the track after this. 40. Anonymous auto racing fan. posted: 08.20.2015 - 12:14 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) If you go back and watch the final 50 or so laps of this race. There was a big piece of metal on the frontstretch they never threw the yellow for it. Now nascar just calls cautions whenever they want. 41. AJ posted: 02.09.2016 - 3:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Amazing that 6 different drivers led at least 50 laps in the race. When's the last time that happened recently?? 42. Zachary posted: 06.08.2016 - 7:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Funny... Kyle Petty qualified 3rd in the Spring race here and he fails to qualify for the night race... 43. 21 Years Behind posted: 08.18.2016 - 2:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Played on MRN Throwback Thursday 8/18/16. Green flag was not displayed until 9:09 EDT due to a persistent drizzle at the start. Announcers mentioned that it had been raining heavily in nearby Johnson City all afternoon, but the track remained completely dry until much closer to the scheduled start time. 44. HD11 posted: 02.24.2017 - 11:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Jarrett arrived at Bristol with a contract from Hooters to sponsor his own Cup team for 1996. The deal was as good as done but meanwhile Ford was all over Robert Yates about starting a second team that would be sponsored by Ford Credit. Yates had cold feet about it for a long period of time and finally gave in to Ford's wishes. He then offered Jarrett the ride at Bristol. The rest as they say, is history. It's crazy to think what might've happened to Jarrett's and Yates's careers had he signed that Hooters deal. I cannot imagine Jarrett in the Hall of Fame and who knows who would've been tabbed for that 88 car. It's all fun to guess about for sure. 45. DaleSrFan3 posted: 07.06.2017 - 9:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Burton deserves respect from all NASCAR fans, as does every driver on the track. If you love the sport, appreciate those who compete! Great driving from Dale Earnhardt, almost had Terry there at the end. 46. RaceFanX posted: 11.05.2017 - 7:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the first of just two top-10s for Jeff Burton this season. 47. BradTeagueFan~ posted: 01.31.2018 - 10:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale only made 50 bucks less than Terry~ That's pretty comical~ 48. Earnhardt3 posted: 02.09.2019 - 11:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was stationed in Korea that year and this was the only race I got to see that whole racing season and boy was it entertaining. Classic Bristol race! Now Brian France has screwed NASCAR up so bad that the racing at Bristol is even boring now. 49. Jimnsimforever posted: 03.10.2019 - 1:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Being a master of human behavior and psychology, as well as watching a lot of old races in rapid succession, I'll give my expert opinion of what the deal was with Rusty Wallace. He truly believed for years he was the best driver on the Winston Cup circuit. I've watched countless interviews with him as well as speech's given at the year end awards banquet's over those years. He was truly frustrated and sickened that Dale Earnhardt, an inferior driver, was winning his championships and that the 95 season wasn't going well either. He could see Jeff Gordon coming on and knew it was going to make it that much harder to win the titles and the races he knew he deserved to win in his career. It all boiled over on this night and he put on an absolute show of true disgust towards the man that stole his destiny, Dale Earnhardt. As the next few years passed and Gordon started to steal Rusty's titles and wins, Rusty would take it out on him as well. That is only my diagnosis of why Rusty acted the way he did on this night, as well as the way he acted in the years following this towards Jeff Gordon. Rusty fans may disagree and that's fine, but I am, as I said, a true expert on human psychology. 50. TooSmartForThis posted: 03.10.2019 - 7:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was either all that or he was just ticked off that Dale Earnhardt once again turned him into the wall for no reason for what was probably the 20th time in their careers. I'm not sure if you're an actual expert or not but you are definitely as insufferable as most self-proclaimed experts tend to be. 51. Chase9Fan posted: 06.25.2019 - 7:42 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 49. lol Yeahhhh we all disagree with your "expert" opinion. 52. Corey posted: 09.18.2019 - 8:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I believe this was the first Cup race I ever saw. I was only 8 and I caught it during the week while my dad was on vacation. ESPN usually re-aired the Cup races, but they may have cut some things due to time constraints. I kept going out telling him what had happened and he probably did the usual parent thing and said yup even though he had no clue who I was talking about. 53. RaceFanX posted: 10.12.2019 - 12:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Joe Ruttman, a regular in the new NASCAR SuperTruck Series at the time, fails to qualify the Sadler Brothers' Shoney's #95 Ford in his only outing with that team. Ruttman had won the inaugural SuperTruck race at Bristol earlier in the year so bringing him in for this one wasn't a bad choice even if it didn't work out. 54. Anonymous posted: 11.07.2019 - 4:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Rusty Wallace actually got loose which caused Earnhardt to reach his bumper. I just watched a video of Rusty Wallace admitting this is what happened. 55. Timothy_Eklund posted: 04.06.2020 - 12:42 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) No. 56. NASCARfan22 posted: 04.06.2020 - 1:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) Is Joey Logano in this race? 57. BadBooking posted: 04.06.2020 - 1:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Apparently Ward Burton did not crash in this race. He had ran over debris after a wreck at the mid-way point and the result of that was critical damage to his engine. Watching the NASCAR upload, there's no damage to that car at all. 58. GregSacksIsYourGod posted: 05.20.2020 - 6:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Think Earnhardt must've hit (or at least had contact with) 9 or 10 cars on his way to the finish here, some of them multiple times - Wallace, Cope, and Labonte everyone knows about, but he also spun Lake Speed, got into Mayfield a couple of times, just barely got clipped by Shepherd when the 21 spun early on, as well as having contact with Derrike Cope twice, even before the incident which busted the front of his car and gave him oil temperature concerns for the rest of the night. Say what you want about the Intimidator, but I don't think any other driver, past or present, NASCAR, F1, IndyCar, whatever you like, could've hustled that car to still be in contention on the last lap the way he did - and I'm a Jeff Gordon fan. 59. Rich posted: 12.28.2020 - 7:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons were the commentators. Dr. Jerry Punch, John Kernan and Bill Weber were the pit road reporters. 60. Jacob posted: 02.13.2021 - 5:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The race grand marshal for the race was Fred Thompson, one of the two freshmen Senators from Tennessee (Thompson winning the 1994 special election to finish the term of the seat vacated when Al Gore became Vice-President); who had a tangential NASCAR connection in playing Big Bill in 1990's "Days of Thunder". ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: