|| *Comments on the 1998 Primestar 500:* View the most recent comment <#47> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. HomeDepot20TS posted: 02.26.2005 - 9:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) After this race, it was expected that Kenny Irwin would be a force not only in 1998 but for many years to come. It turned out that it was the first and last dominant performance he turned in during his 87 race career. 2. Matt posted: 10.21.2005 - 1:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Steve suffered a broken right femur in a severe crash during practice. Park also suffered a broken left shoulder blade, left collarbone and two chipped front teeth. Something broke in the right front of his car to start the accident. 3. Darrell posted: 01.29.2006 - 11:10 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Phil Parsons tried to qualify Park's car after the wreck, but failed. 4. nascarman posted: 05.15.2006 - 11:18 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Irwin's first top 5. 5. Darrell posted: 05.19.2006 - 12:32 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Really good weekend for Dick Trickle. 6. Thomas posted: 08.03.2006 - 4:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Race run on Monday after a torrential Atlanta downpour washed out this race on Sunday and postponed Saturday's Busch race until October. 7. Darrell posted: 09.03.2006 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The first race Todd Bodine and Team Tabasco Racing qualified for all season, and they lead 46 laps. Atlanta was always a good Cup track for Bodine for some reason. Notable DNQs: Sterling Marlin, Chad Little, and the above mentioned Steve Park/Phil Parsons duo. 8. Anonymous posted: 09.19.2006 - 1:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Park would miss the next 14 races due to his injuries. Darrell Waltrip would replace him for those races 9. Frogger49 posted: 10.05.2006 - 1:41 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Derrike Cope suffered a very hard driver's side impact with the wall in this race, causing him to sit out a couple races a little later in the season. 10. David posted: 04.11.2007 - 7:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sterling Marlins first DNQ since 1986 11. Somerandomnascarfan posted: 08.21.2007 - 2:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Only Top 10 for Team Tabasco. 12. Anonymous posted: 09.16.2007 - 6:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Very surprised Marlin failed to qualify. 13. most posted: 04.17.2008 - 11:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Chad Little missed the race also, a shocker cause he was in a Roush Ford! 14. Rad83 posted: 06.03.2008 - 5:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was a shame for Little too. He really was an awesome driver. He justed needed to close the deal. Even when he was fired in 2000, he was around 20th in points. 15. Rob posted: 09.02.2008 - 5:05 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) There were two things that plagued this whole race weekend. Rain and driver injuries. On Friday during Cup practice Steve Park was injured in a brutal practice crash that resulted in him missing a good part of the 1998 season. During the ARCA race Mark Thompson was injured in a crash and while they were under caution it began rain causing the race to be ended early. THe Busch race was originally moved to Monday. Then the Cup race was also a washout and moved to MOnday which caused the Busch race to move to November. During the cup race there were two serious crashes involving Derrick Cope and Mike Skinner and I believe that both missed a few races as a result. 16. 18fan posted: 10.10.2009 - 6:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yet another Atlanta win for Bobby Labonte. It seemed like he could be having a crappy season, then go to Atlanta and pick up the win. 17. 18fan posted: 11.28.2009 - 9:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Also, eight Fords in the top ten, but none in victory lane. 18. AJ posted: 12.10.2009 - 12:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last career Top 10 for Dick Trickle 19. Dale Jr. posted: 01.08.2010 - 5:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Derick Cope suffers 3 broken ribs after a hard crash. He blew a right rear tire and slams the wall hard. 20. 18fan posted: 07.09.2010 - 1:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was mentioned that Todd Bodine was ineligible for the halfway money. Anyone know why? 21. Jim posted: 12.29.2010 - 11:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) D.W.'s sponsor bailed on him after this race. 22. 18fan posted: 01.22.2011 - 1:40 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Todd Bodine led the first lap he raced in 1998 as he DNQ for the first three races. I wonder if that has ever happened before or since. 23. AutoRockinRacing94 posted: 04.06.2012 - 3:09 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Andretti didn't got the money from winning the pole due to the Petty Clause 24. CBASS posted: 05.14.2012 - 9:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some sponsor corrections using CIA Stock Photography's photos #16 Primestar 500 25. 1995z71 posted: 05.30.2012 - 8:36 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Kevin Lepage spun during morning practice in Joe Nemecheks oil and Felix Sabatas helped LJ Racing out by letting them use a car. Hints why the #91 is sponsored by First Union. 26. Paul posted: 04.02.2013 - 12:38 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kenny Irwin, Jr. led 130 laps in '98 and 179 in his entire Cup career, and 113 of those laps came in this race. This turned out to be his only top five finish on an intermediate track. The 46 laps that Todd Bodine led in this race turned out to be the most he ever led in a Cup race in his career. 27. 18fan posted: 11.24.2013 - 6:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the Bobby Labonte's 3rd Atlanta win and Dale Jarrett finished 2nd in all three. DJ would also finish 2nd in Bobby's 4th Atlanta win. 28. Evan posted: 03.17.2014 - 8:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Bobby Labonte Atlanta Express continues. 29. Breaker047 posted: 12.31.2014 - 10:31 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) At the time, the $10,000 bonus for leading at halfway was called the Gatorade Front Runner Award, and I don't believe the #35 Todd Bodine Tabasco car had that contingency sticker on it. They didn't run very many contingency stickers at first, but added them later on in the season, presumably after they realized they missed out on $10,000. 30. JJ24 posted: 12.10.2015 - 2:43 pm Rate this comment: (6) (0) I miss the days where random guys like Todd Bodine and Kenny Wallace would lead laps, now it semes like the same 5 guys lead in every race 31. Ak47 posted: 12.10.2015 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I second that. Part of what made late 90s-early 00s Nascar great was the parity. Although Hendrick, Roush, Yates, and Gibbs had the best teams, any of the smaller programs were capable of showing up to compete any given Sunday. If you look at the guys who won poles and had top-5s in poor equipment during this era, you can't help but feel nostalgia for a better time..... 32. 88&4Fan posted: 12.10.2015 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) I agree too. I loved it when you had mid-level teams like MBV, Bill Davis, Haas CNC (pre-Stewart merger), and Andy Petree that were capable of coming out of the blue to run in the top ten all race long and even lead laps without the aid of fuel strategy or restrictor plates. Sadly it hasn't really been the same since around 2008 or so. 33. RaceFanX posted: 03.06.2016 - 12:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #35 Todd Bodine- Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce The Tabasco team swapped their normal orange-and-white Pontiac for a black-and-green one to promote a variant flavor in this race. The team DNQed with those colors at Las Vegas but it had by far their best run of the year using them here. This was the only time Todd led a race in his much hyped Tabasco #35 Pontiac. How awesome the team went from three early DNQs to outside pole and a top-10 run here but what a shame they couldn't build any momentum from it for later on. 34. RaceFanX posted: 03.06.2016 - 1:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sterling Marlin DNQs for the first time in 16 years, ending a streak of 332 consecutive NASCAR Winston Cup starts dating back to the end of the 1986 season. The DNQ was a shocker for SABCO, the team had sat on the pole for this same race a year earlier when Robby Gordon was their driver. 35. RaceFanX posted: 01.08.2017 - 5:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Driver Change: Steve Park- #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet owned by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. 36. SK posted: 03.08.2017 - 7:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Relief driver: #46 - Sterling Marlin 37. Josh posted: 03.05.2018 - 3:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was a really soggy weekend overall and a brutal one. I went to the track on Friday for Cup practice and the ARCA race. Steve Park's crash really started between Turns 3 & 4; he hit the Turn 4 wall first, then again hit the frontstretch wall where it straightens out, then started heading full bore through the infield for the scariest part of the wreck (I assume the car had no brakes and/or steering and Park was unconscious by now). Some of Jimmy Spencer's crew members were on pit road for some reason and had to scramble out of the path of the wayward #1. Really scary watching that from the stands. 38. CJ posted: 04.18.2018 - 10:07 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Season best and only Top 5 of 98 for Kenny Irwin. Season best and only Top 10 of 98 for Dick Trickle. Only Top 10 for the Tabasco 35 39. Anthony posted: 01.13.2019 - 8:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Its crazy that Sterling Marlin missed this race. 40. HD11 posted: 03.31.2019 - 3:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Petty was having a decent run and had engine problems with about 40 laps to go. When they interviewed him he was lamenting how it was not a very good Pontiac day but a great one for Ford. The problem with this was that Bobby Labonte's Pontiac had taken the lead and went on to win the race. Piss poor timing for Kyle's comments, lol. As mentioned above it there were several hard crashes including Jeff Burton?s crash that end the race under caution. Several cars struggled to make it to the end of the race on that final set and many had to pit with less than 10 left to go including Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin, who was plagued twice by tire issues. It was a classic Labonte victory, nowhere really to be seen until it was belltime. 41. Matt posted: 07.08.2019 - 10:50 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Skinner's crash was very similar to what Derrile Cope would have at Richmond in the Busch Series a few years later, except Skinner's windshield didn't come unhinged. Skinner was said to have suffered some broken ribs in his crash, but didn't miss any race time until another crash at Texas 3 races later. 42. Matt posted: 07.08.2019 - 11:32 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Also, although Sterling Marlin failed to qualify, he still had some track time in this race. Wally Dallenbach suddenly became sick at some point before/during the 4th caution, and Sterling Marlin jumped in to drive for him, although at the time the car was 27 laps down. 43. Altracing posted: 12.04.2019 - 4:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First time that Pontiac would sweep the front row since the 1991 Budweiser 500 at Dover 44. Foote posted: 04.18.2020 - 3:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The reason for the third caution of the race is listed as "NASCAR" what does that mean? 45. Canadianfan posted: 04.18.2020 - 3:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @44 It was a competition caution to check tire wear. 46. possum posted: 04.18.2020 - 6:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @45 - may have been the earliest case of that pernicious practice. I really don't recall them before the 2000s and the Mike Helton "we're in charge" era in NASCAR. Hopefully one day intelligent management will reappear in NASCAR, and competition cautions will disappear. 47. Rich posted: 12.26.2020 - 7:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons were the commentators. Dr. Jerry Punch, Bill Weber and Ray Dunlap were the pit road reporters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: