|| *Comments on the 1995 AC-Delco 400:* View the most recent comment <#66> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. HomeDepot20TS posted: 02.26.2005 - 8:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) "Wawd" pulls it off! 2. Chris posted: 04.20.2005 - 10:48 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) This race had some controversy to it. At North Wilkesboro a few weeks earlier, a Nascar official took it upon himself to call Ricky Rudd back to the pits after he thought that the team didn't get the lugnuts tightened. At the time, there was no rule about having the power to do this, but Nascar did it anyway. They were loose, btw. In an effort to be proactive about it, the #3 team painted their lugnuts red so that the official could see they were tightened. Just like at Wilkesboro, a Nascar official screwed up during the race, calling the car back in because of loose lugnuts. Ironically, the fact that they were red helped call attention to them, and the official thought they were loose. They weren't loose, and it cost Earnhardt some points as he was running in the Top 5 at the time of being called in, eventually finishing 7th. Richard Childress threatened to protest the championship if Earnhardt lost, but since he went into Atlanta pretty much hopelessly behind anyway, no protest came out of it. 3. MASH_guy posted: 06.08.2005 - 1:59 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually, you're not quite right. The team did have their lugs painted red. However, they lost one of the original lug nuts, and had to put an unpainted one on instead. Since the unpainted lug nut didn't stick out like the others, the officials assumed that it wasn't there. This happened under green, and Dale was waved past the pace car on a later caution period. 4. Djrfan posted: 09.07.2005 - 5:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Congrats to Ward Burton on his first career win! 5. Darrell posted: 12.28.2005 - 7:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ernie Irvan DNQ-d for this race trying to make a comeback from his injuries. 6. ogarek posted: 01.11.2006 - 12:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) actually nascar threw a caution to check earnhardt's wheel once they found it to be tight they waved dale past the pace car and back on to the lead lap 7. gomer posted: 10.23.2006 - 9:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) That caution was very weird. They threw it just to put Dale back where he was before the penalty... and they even left the lap cars and everyone else right where they were, and did a single-file restart. I remember being kinda ticked because there were one or two lap cars between Ward and Rusty. 8. biffle16 posted: 12.25.2006 - 1:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Did Darrell Waltrip crash on the last lap or something? 9. Bill posted: 12.27.2006 - 5:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Ricky Craven crashed DW on the last lap. It was the second time in 2 weeks that he had done so and Waltrip was pretty angry. 10. Mike posted: 01.26.2007 - 11:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hut Stricklin's only pole. 11. myself posted: 02.19.2007 - 3:21 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I remember the outcome of this race (W.Burton winning in the 22) being very shocking! 12. Anonymous posted: 02.23.2007 - 1:21 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Rick Mast led 139 laps in this race. It turned out to be the most laps he'd ever lead in one race. 13. myself posted: 03.16.2007 - 2:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wasn't there some controversy over Ward Burton's win???? 14. Anonymous posted: 05.13.2007 - 6:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) Jeff Gordon had a winning car but spun out and had to pit under green. 15. Destiny posted: 06.23.2007 - 5:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Shane Hall's only start with Dick Brooks. 16. Anonymous posted: 09.14.2007 - 9:34 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) How come nobody mentioned this? Michael Waltrip was running 100 laps down when on lap 210 or something like that, Shane Hall spun out of turn 4. Waltrip went to the low side when Hall came down onto the apron and clipped Waltrip's hoodless car. Waltrip spun backwards and hit the water barrels at the entrance to pit road with the back end, tearing off Waltrip's rear end and sending a huge spray of water about 50 feet into the air. This was a very scary accident and I'll bet Michael's number 30 was absolutely water-logged. Don't any of you remember this accident? 17. BurtonRuddFan posted: 11.27.2007 - 2:22 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) SUPRISE for Ward Burton. It's not like he was competitve back then. 18. RaceFanX posted: 01.04.2008 - 4:12 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) Rick Mast by far had the car to beat before the engine blow. When being interviewed afterward, the reporter commented that he thought he would be interviewing Mast that day but not in that location. For his troubles, Mast did win the "Goody's Headache Award" (why doesn't NASCAR still have that?!) for this event. 19. RaceFanX posted: 01.04.2008 - 4:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boZ14OZ8gXc Waltrip's crash 20. Rad83 posted: 06.03.2008 - 5:44 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Good run for Joe Nemechek: 9th. Hut Stricklin got the pole, and I was absolutely surprised. Read my comments on fluke ppole sitters from 1994-2003. Stricklin is definitely a fluke pole sitter. 21. GITNIT17 posted: 06.13.2008 - 5:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (4) This race caused a ten year love lost affair between me and NASCAR. I had been an avid fan and attended races for 25 years or better at the time. I was sitting on the backstretch near turn three and rememebr when Earnhardt was black flagged. As I remember, Earnhardt was not in contention to win but did have a solid top 10 going. After the black flag he was running 11th. Ward Burton had been faster than everybody else all day on new tires. He would get out front by a straightaway or so in about 10 laps and then the pack would begin to run him down, catching him about 20 laps or so into a run. When NASCAR through the caution with 25 to go, they sealed the fate for everybody else in the race. Burton got fresh rubber, as did everybody else. When the green waved with about 15 to go Burton took off by everybody and the race was over. This race was going to be a good one between Burton, Wallace, and Martin until the caution. I walked out with 5 to go and didn't attend another race for over 10 years. I have always wondered,"Would NASCAR have gone to so much trouble, and ruined an otherwise excellent race, for anyone other than Iron Head?". 22. Ryan posted: 07.28.2008 - 12:31 am Rate this comment: (3) (1) Nascar did the right thing, they didn't want to mess with championship implications, if anything they cost Earnhardt points... 23. Anonymous posted: 08.27.2008 - 1:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first 400 mile race at Rockingham. 24. Anonymous posted: 09.04.2008 - 12:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Did Richard Brickhouse really attempt this race? 25. Anonymous posted: 12.18.2008 - 3:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Who exactly is Alan Russell? 26. Destiny posted: 01.14.2009 - 2:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Nah, but Brickhouse's last start is in 1982. 27. Steve posted: 11.05.2009 - 1:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) How much money was awarded for the Goody's Headache of the Race? If anyone earned it in this race, it was Mast. He finished 2nd to Earnhardt by about a carlength the year before. 28. SMR posted: 02.19.2010 - 11:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I remember I was 6 years old when this race was run, and Kyle Petty had a special Halloween paint scheme with a big jack-o-lantern on the hood. I'll never forget that. 29. martin-n-rusty posted: 02.23.2010 - 3:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Actually, with the controversy, not only did Earnhardt get his lap back, wasn't the field reset to its positions before Earnhardt's penalty, or was that not the case? 30. WillG_46 posted: 12.29.2010 - 11:57 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richard Brickhouse, the 1969 Talladega 500 winner, tried to make a racing comeback, but crashed hard in qualifying and DNQ'ed. 31. Mattswad posted: 08.26.2012 - 11:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yes. That is correct. Brickhouse DID attempt this race and his car was owned by another of the "old guard." A former driver, Dr. Dick Skillen. The two also ran the ARCA race the following month at Atlanta in a #03 Chevrolet. Does anyone have a picture of the Cup or ARCA car? Or even a description on what it looked like? You can email me at mattswad@gmail.com if you don't want to post it here. 32. Ryan W posted: 07.25.2013 - 1:04 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) What was even crazier is that when Earnhardt came down to get his lugs checked is that they went ahead and changed tires on the car while everyone else stayed out. Jack Roush went nuts saying that everyone should be able to pit. Nascar told him they had their chance to when they brought Earnhardt down. However, Nascar went ahead and let everyone pit and put Earnhardt where he was before "penalty". 33. adamal82 posted: 04.22.2014 - 9:11 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Shane Hall's only Cup Start 34. Evan W. posted: 05.17.2014 - 3:52 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I remember Waltrip's incident where he hit the water barrels. I never really saw the ending of the race though. Amazingly, Ward Burton would win with Bill Davis after just 5 races together, the team started with Randy LaJoie in the seat and Randy never seemed to find the proper footing in Cup racing and Davis tapped Ward Burton for the seat. Interestingly, Ward would not win again until Darlington in 2000 the longest stretch between first and second wins I have seen but Ward was close on many occasions, I know some streaks have been longer. This win would validate the Ward Burton-Bill Davis pairing as one to be looked at in the years to come. 35. Evan W. posted: 05.17.2014 - 3:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor #42 Kyle Petty Coors Light The Great Pumpkin Kyle Petty ran a special paint scheme for Halloween called the "Great Pumpkin" who Linus of Peanuts fame, passionately believes in on Halloween. 36. Burton22fan posted: 08.23.2014 - 7:21 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think Kyle's daughter Montgomery Lee designed the car for him if I remember correctly. 37. b4il3y posted: 11.29.2014 - 2:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #35 and 36 nope. it was during the arizona race. i have the .avi of this race and buddy baker felt bad for saying the car looked bad. 38. Nelson posted: 02.08.2016 - 12:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle ran the Pumpkin car at both the Rock and Phoenix. That Waltrip crash was something else. I was sitting in turn one and was amazed how high the water shot up out of the barrels. The Earnhardt incident really was a first it seemed. I was listening the TNN feed on my scanner. Mike Joy and Buddy Baker were talking during a commercial spot and seemed pretty surprised by what they were seeing when they gave Dale his lap back. Ward getting his firts win was awesome! 39. The Great Dave posted: 04.12.2016 - 10:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Micheal Waltrip had another big wreck on lap 85. Bobby Hamilton spun after cutting a tire and in the smoke show Waltrip plowed into the back of the nearly stationary #90 of mike Wallace. The team managed somehow to fix the car and got him back out when he later was involved in the more famous incident with Shane Hall 40. Evan posted: 09.21.2016 - 6:41 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This full race is on Youtube now as is the '97 race where Bobby Hamilton won his last race for Petty Enterprises. 41. HD11 posted: 10.20.2016 - 4:18 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) We need to clarify a few things about the lug nut controversy. After Earnhardt was waved around the pace car, NASCAR had closed pit road as they wanted everyone on the same tires and setup as before the caution. However, Earnhardt claimed he had a flat from catching back up to the field so he came down for four fresh tires. The other contending teams went ape poop on pit road and just before the green waved, NASCAR kept the yellow out and allowed everyone to pit without losing any positions on the track. They even put the lapped cars in between the lead lap cars as they were before the caution Personally I think the race ended about how it would have position wise before the controversy. I think NASCAR was very lucky that Ward still won the race and Dale didn't win the title or it may have been a bigger mess. 42. JSPorts posted: 10.20.2016 - 4:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I did not know about this controversy. That seems like a really strange thing to do, and really odd that they'd let a driver sort of dictate the competition like that. 43. Will posted: 01.02.2017 - 12:25 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) When Earnhardt came down pit road on that caution for his "flat tire", Rudd and Geoff Bodine also pitted. I know Rudd was a lap down at the time. I believe Bodine was also 1 lap down like Rudd. Both teams wanted fresh rubber for the end of the race. Paul Andrews (Bodine's crew chief) even said he knew they would be sent to the back of the line for coming in while pit road was closed, but they were going to be restarting in the back anyway so they went ahead and came in. For some oddball reason, they penalized them 2 laps, but nothing happened to Rudd or Earnhardt. They ended up giving Bodine his laps back post race, as they rightly should. It really was a quagmire trying to fix their mistake on Earnhardt. I'm no fan of his, but he got royally screwed by it. NASCAR did the right thing to give him his lap back, but they should have done it much sooner. I want to say 15 or 20 laps went by before they through the caution to fix their mess. As for hard luck drives...Mast had the car to beat, leading the most laps, but his engine failed him. And Gordon had terrible luck with the caution flying not once, but twice right after he had made green flag pit stops. He had a fast car but never stood a chance and finished a couple of laps down. 44. Bramblegrunt posted: 02.16.2017 - 6:23 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This race had a very weird vibe right from even the pre race that you knew it was going to be a memorable and different event. Aside from the obvious parts people have already mentioned (the Dale-Earnhardt-Lugnut-Correction-Caution-Gate and Ward Burton's first win) The race started with its top 3 starters all winless in their cup careers to this point (Stricklin, Michael Waltrip and Ward Burton). The early stages of the race and through the mid race would prove it would continue when early strong cars showed to be Bobby Hamilton, Ward Burton, and Rick Mast, again all 3 drivers seeking their first wins. Even Gary Bradberry had been running top 20 the entire race and well into the later stages running on the lead lap Most of these folks sadly had their races end early-Waltrip (crashed twice hard and in bizarre fashion), Stricklin (cut tire), Bradberry (crash on the backstretch), Mast (heartbreaking engine failure), Hamilton (crash that he said was his own fault) And then the aura of the title with the bizarre Earnhardt lugnut deal and Jeff Gordon getting spun by Sacks when he wanted to go to the pits. Still when all this crazy dust settled, Ward Burton had gone on to dominate the race once Mast was out and its not like it fell into him, he was always running in the top 4 in this race and managed to deflect the chaos and cruise to victory in what must have felt like a very satisfying way. Overall this was one of the weirdest and yet most entertaining Rockingham races start to finish. 45. Josh posted: 02.17.2017 - 9:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) How did Ernie Irvan DNQ for this race? 46. RaceFanX posted: 02.17.2017 - 10:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Irvan's #88 Ford just wasn't up to speed. The team was new and didn't have any owner points to fall back on, their only prior start of the season was Ernie's comeback race at North Wilkesboro. Irvan and the team would run the last two races of the season after this though and turned quite a few heads in the process. 47. Greg24ChaseFan posted: 08.19.2017 - 3:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was at this race. 16 years old at the time and didn't listen to a radio or scanner back then. I was wondering what the heck was going on haha. 48. Greg24ChaseFan posted: 08.19.2017 - 3:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) But I do remember Ward was the best car for 20 laps before Rusty caught up to him, I knew it was over on that last caution though. 49. Greg24ChaseFan posted: 08.19.2017 - 3:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) One more thing, isn't the penalty for pitting with the pit road closed tail end of longest line? 50. Ryan posted: 05.13.2018 - 9:39 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) " did not know about this controversy. That seems like a really strange thing to do, and really odd that they'd let a driver sort of dictate the competition like that." A Nascar official made a mistake saying that Dale didn't have all his lug nuts on. The GM Goodwrench team did everything they were supposed to do and got penalized for it. I agree with the poster that said they should have made the decision a lot sooner to give Dale his lap back, to be honest though Nascar probably had one of their "discussions" and finally decided to do the right thing not wanting to screw with the points championship. Had Dale even won this race he still would have been a handful of points shy of the championship, so it's a moot point, but at the time a lot of Earnhardt fans went crazy because they felt he was being cheated, me being one of them. The Nascar official dictated the controversy, not Dale. 51. Bad Booking posted: 07.11.2018 - 9:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This is also in conjunction with #49: Rewatching the race, and NASCAR had to fix another flub up! Geoff Bodine was originally scored 21st, 3 laps down, but was rectified to 15th, 2 laps down when it was discovered he was held a lap for a pit stop he should have only went back to the end of the longest line for. 52. Jimnsimforever posted: 03.13.2019 - 7:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) In the Busch race the day before, Jimmy Spencer suffered a broken shoulder for the 2nd year in a row after his throttle stuck and he went extremely hard into the wall. He was taken out of the infield care center on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance that took him to the hospital. Despite this he was in the 23 car the next day and started this race. Rich Bickle was standing by in case he needed relief but not sure if or when they made a change. 53. Jimnsimforever posted: 03.13.2019 - 10:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Man, when Sacks clipped Gordon when Jeff was trying to get in the pits and caused him to do a 360 out of the racing groove with no cars behind and Gordon immediately kept going that was certainly worthy of a 5 lap caution circa 1995 and what warranted a caution in Nascar at that time. I'm thankful that yellow did come out because Gordon had to come in the pits several times during those 5 laps to make repairs and would've finished way below where he did and likely would've cost him the championship. ^^^^Sarcastic response to posts in the thread about Nascar "helping" Earnhardt^^^^ 54. TooSmartForThis posted: 03.13.2019 - 11:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They threw a caution flag to give the guy his lap back and you put helping in quotation marks? 55. Jimnsimforever posted: 03.14.2019 - 12:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It's not helping him to give him a lap back that they shouldn't have taken away, its fixing their mistake. It also took a lot of racing time away from them that they would've had on the lead lap to have a shot at advancing their position. Waiting so long to fix the mistake is another story. It ended up turning into a big mess with how long that caution lasted, the flat tire, all the pit stops etc. The only thing I can think of is they were going to fix it on the next caution and one never came so they threw one because where would you put him at the end of the race, last car on the lead lap? The caution for Gordon's spin really did benefit him. He was already 1 lap down when he was getting ready to come in under green and got spun. After the caution and making a couple of pit stops under it to fix the car he remained just 1 lap down instead of what would've been several lost laps under green. I don't think Nascar did that to help him though. 56. Darrell posted: 02.11.2020 - 9:26 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Such a unique race overall -Hut Stricklin's only career pole, driving for a team that had already effectively shut its doors. -Ward Burton winning two weeks after a DNQ. -Only career Cup start for Shane Hall, a future Busch Series also-ran -DNQ for Ernie Irvan in his comeback attempt from a near-fatal crash. -One-win wonder Richard Brickhouse coming back from a 13-year layoff to attempt a race. 57. Darrell posted: 02.11.2020 - 9:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also add Rick Mast leading the most laps to the aforementioned list of unusual occurences. 58. rateus posted: 04.13.2020 - 10:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @52 Rich Bickle did jump into Jimmy Spencer's car during the race https://www.nwitimes.com/uncategorized/controversy-abounds-in-winston-cup/article_c49fcd39-9d87-57e1-8428-8e3598d0def6.html 59. SweetRich posted: 07.09.2020 - 5:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The final race for Dick Brooks as an owner in The NASCAR Winston Cup Series as well as the last race the #40 would be seen in a cup race until 1997. 60. RaceFanX posted: 07.09.2020 - 6:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @59 Well, sort of. This was its last start but the #40 Kendall Pontiac team attempted the last two races of the season at Phoenix and Atlanta, both with rookie Shane Hall at the wheel again, but failed to qualify for both of them before shutting down for good. At least its last race was memorable, if for the wrong reason, with Hall's accident here in Michael Waltrip's famous crash. Rockingham was not kind to the team in 1995 given they also wiped out a car here in February when Greg Sacks ran into Jimmy Hensley hard in that one. 61. SweetRich posted: 07.09.2020 - 6:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Twenty-Five years later and that crash involving Mikey and Hall is still hard to look at. The image of the water barrels literally exploding on impact, holy cow. But, yeah, a very rough season for Brooks and company. 62. SweetRich posted: 07.09.2020 - 6:13 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Burton's best finish of 1995, which was a rough season for him and The Stavola Brothers, before leaving to join Roush Racing in 1996 and becoming a championship contender by the end of 1997. 63. SweetRich21/43 posted: 08.03.2020 - 3:26 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators were Mike Joy, Buddy Baker and Dr. Dick Berggren. The pit road reporters were Glenn Jarrett and Randy Pemberton. 64. Vaxen posted: 11.10.2020 - 9:32 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richard Brickhouse tried to qualify?? Interesting 65. Unser1 posted: 11.10.2020 - 10:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brickhouse was attempting an unlikely comeback at the time, making his first Cup appearance since 1982. After failing to qualify for this Cup race he and Skillen team dropped down and ran the ARCA finale at Atlanta together but that was about it. 66. Rich posted: 11.28.2020 - 9:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After being one of the most recognized cars in NASCAR cup series history from 1986 to 1995, this race would be the last laps that the #26 Quaker State machine would lead in the cup series as Hut Stricklin, the driver of the car at the time, led the opening 8 laps of the event before finishing a distant 28th, seven laps down. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: