|| *Comments on the 1998 Miller Lite 400:* View the most recent comment <#25> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. timothy King posted: 08.11.2004 - 8:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) The best race ever (If you were to ask me) The date was Sunday, August 17th 1997. The morning started out at 78 degrees and was headed for the upper 90s. The humidity was so high it almost made you sick to take a breath. Whatever I was going to do that day, I was going to do it inside in the air conditioning. I started with a little ironing while watching an old movie on tape. When 11:00am rolled around I checked the TV listings and found that ESPN would be showing the K Mart 400 from Michigan. What could be better? The fridge was well stocked with Linenkeugles and cheese. I had a full pack of Camels and an incredibly hot afternoon with nothing to do but watch a race and relax. Having been a Mark Martin fan for four years by this time I was a little disappointed to find that Mark had qualified 12th for the race. I was mostly disappointed because Martin was in a struggle with Jeff Gordon for the championship. With 2/3rds of the season gone Gordon was continuing to chip away at MartinĘs slim lead bettering him in the last three races. The weather was not much better for the fans gathered in Brooklyn Michigan to watch the race first-hand. Their salvation was a heavy cloud cover and a heavy haze near ground level. The race started with MartinĘs nemesis in the third position. Once the race began Martin started his slow march to the front and to my delight, Gordon was losing positions at an equal rate. Caution flew at lap 48, a bit before the scheduled pit window. Martin emerged from the pits in 5th spot but due to some heroic efforts by the rainbow warriors Gordon came out in forth. When the green waved it was apparent that the warriors worked faster but not better than MartinĘs crew as MartinĘs Thunderbird shot by Gordon two laps after the re-start. Position after position he climbed to the front by lap 63 and then pulled away from the field. Green flag pit stops began at lap 82 for all competitors and went smoothly. Martin was holding on to the lead and was beginning to stretch it again when near disaster struck on lap 97. Without warning MartinĘs left rear tire suddenly went flat coming out of turn 2. The Valvoline Thunderbird went sideways twice down the backstretch as Martin slowed it and regained control. Lucky for him he had built such a lead at that point that the rest of the field was able to react and avoid his out of shape racecar. Martin was able to guide the car down to the apron and slowly limp around the track to the pits with what was left of the rear tire flapping wildly against the fender. Due to the fact Martin was able to get down to the apron the race remained under green. Arriving in his pit stall MartinĘs crew removed the smoking hulk of what was once a race ready Goodyear Eagle. The damage to the rear fender was not too bad but the crew found that tire cords and pieces of the tire had wrapped around the rear axle and broken off the brake line for the left rear caliper. Four new tires were mounted and he 2. timothy king part 2 posted: 08.11.2004 - 8:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (3) Martin was able to guide the car down to the apron and slowly limp around the track to the pits with what was left of the rear tire flapping wildly against the fender. Due to the fact Martin was able to get down to the apron the race remained under green. Arriving in his pit stall MartinĘs crew removed the smoking hulk of what was once a race ready Goodyear Eagle. The damage to the rear fender was not too bad but the crew found that tire cords and pieces of the tire had wrapped around the rear axle and broken off the brake line for the left rear caliper. Four new tires were mounted and he was sent out and around the track only to return to the pits. By this time the crew had readied a kit to cap off the broken brake line so no more brake fluid would be lost. At least he still had use of the right rear brake. When all repairs were completed, Martin emerged from the pits in 36th place 2 laps down. Martin went back to work chewing his way through the field working his way up within sight of the leader Jeff Burton. Martin then got his first gift of the day when Geoff Bodine tangled with Steve Grissom in turn 2 bringing out a caution. Steering clear of the wreck Martin screamed down the backstretch and hung the car out for all it had through the turns. He caught and passed his slowing teammate Jeff Burton at the finish line gaining him one of his two laps back. Everyone took advantage of the caution and pitted for fuel and tires. The green flag flew again with 55 laps to go Martin was in 22nd place on the tail end of the lead lap with a full tank of gas and four fresh tires. The car continued to advance through the field, as the last laps were all run under green. During the last 15 laps one after another the remaining cars in front of Martin were forced to pit for a splash and go. The Roush cars of Martin and Burton were set up for fuel mileage and remained on track and click off laps. With 5 laps to go Burton realized that MartinĘs car was the better of the two and relinquished the lead. With the lead in hand the only other concern was if the crew had calculated the fuel mileage correctly. The cars circled the track lap after lap on that hot, hazy, August afternoon. With 3 laps to go fingernails were taking a beating and grown men were afraid to watch thinking the car could sputter and slow any minute. The mileage gods were smiling on Mark Martin that day as he finished the last lap and won the race. He finished his cool-down lap and headed for victory lane. Waiting for the crowd to clear out of the way to go the last ten feet onto the checkered pavement of victory lane the number 6 Thunderbird hiccuped and stalled. Mark began to crank the engine only to realize that he had just run out of gas. The car was pushed onto the checkers, Mark jumped out and the crowd roared their approval. The man from Batesville, Arkansas had beat the field and lady luck on the same day. I wished I had taped it because I had just witne 3. je24go posted: 12.09.2005 - 7:22 pm Rate this comment: (4) (0) Wrong race... 4. CanucksAndNASCAR Fan posted: 05.30.2006 - 10:49 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the race where Jeff Gordon was so dominate at a track where he had yet to win (he get that Michigan win in August 1998). But a debris caution late in the race wrecked his chances of winning because Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett made pit stops and seemed to have better cars than Gordon down the stretch. 5. HomeDepot20TS posted: 06.03.2006 - 1:43 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) I give Timothy King an A for effort and a D for dumbass why didn't you look at the date? 6. Mark O. posted: 03.02.2008 - 4:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I believe this was the race where Morgan Shepherd had trouble with his car in first round qualifying; came back in second round qualifying and beat the pole speed. 7. Josh posted: 04.05.2008 - 11:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Amazing qualifying runs by Kevin Lepage and Wally Dallenbach, two drivers who aren't NASCAR Nextel CUp stars now. Gordon dominated this one but Martin fortunately won it. 8. Dave B posted: 04.08.2008 - 11:12 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Lake Speed's 400th career start!! 9. RaceFanX posted: 12.27.2008 - 5:29 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Basically the last race for the Stavola Brothers #8 team. They had switched from Ford to Chevy for 1998 and struggled after the change. Circuit City pulled the plug after this race and the team basically shut down. They'd return for one last race at Atlanta at the end of the year then close up. Morgan Shepherd makes his first start for them in this race, he'd also be their driver for their final race in November. 10. Rob posted: 01.02.2009 - 1:46 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) The first caution was a debris caution but turned into a NASCAR conspiracy for 1998. For several laps something in turn 1 kept flying up every time the cars went by. NASCAR threw the caution and discovered it was a piece of roll bar padding. Shortly after it appeared someone (forgot who) radioed their crew and said that someone (also forgot who) just threw something out of the car. Also that summer FOX Sports was showing the legends cars from Charlotte duriing which they would always have a convertable showdown between two NASCAR drivers. Several times during those races someone as a joke would throw out roll bar padding. Every year Sports Illustrated would have a special cup season in review magazine. When it got to the June races it said "After winning at Charlotte Jeff Gordon was kept from victory lane thanks to a splash, a crash, and some trash." A splash was Dover where he needed to make a splash and go. A Crash refered to Richmond where he was wrecked, and some Trash refered to the debris at Michigan. By the way I do not think they ever found out who really did throw the roll bar padding on the track. 11. speakingof posted: 01.17.2009 - 10:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last time we saw Circuit City in NASCAR. 12. Anonymous posted: 01.28.2009 - 11:11 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Dale Earnhart wrecked his primary car in practice forcing him to a back up car which was a short track car rather than a superspeedway car. 13. Mark O. posted: 05.23.2009 - 12:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Incorrect, speakingof. They served as an associate sponsor on the #18 after this. 14. myself posted: 08.17.2009 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Timothy....what an idiot! 15. Kyle W. posted: 01.12.2011 - 4:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I believe the culprit of the rollbar padding was Jimmy Spencer if I remember correctly. 16. Terminator posted: 11.02.2011 - 7:59 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale and Rusty tangled in practice with Earnhardt getting the worst of it for a change. 17. RaceFanX posted: 03.29.2012 - 8:54 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsors: #5 Terry Labonte- Kellogg's Marshmallow Blasted Froot Loops While this was Lake Speed's 400th start what no one knew at the time was that he would only make two more. 18. RaceFanX posted: 04.28.2013 - 12:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #9 Lake Speed- Cartoon Network / Happy Birthday NASCAR (also run in the previous race at Richmond and the following race at Pocono) 19. Anonymous posted: 05.03.2014 - 2:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the best start for Joe Falk's team until their pole at Talladega in 2014. 20. 18fan posted: 10.05.2016 - 4:29 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was Jeremy Mayfield's 7th top 5 of the 1998 season in the 14th race and he would go on to have 12 that year. He never topped 6 top 5s in any other season. 21. stone cold posted: 03.18.2017 - 7:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) Jeff Gordon would avenge this race by winning his 4th in a row in the fall Michigan race of 1998. Thank God he beat Mark Martin and Jack Roush. 22. CJ posted: 04.18.2018 - 7:41 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Starting here, Jeff Gordon would finish in the top 5 in all but one of the remaining races. The exception was a 7th at Phoenix. 23. JT posted: 03.09.2019 - 7:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @RaceFanX: Except they "merged" with the # 00 Buckshot Racing team and ran 3 or 4 races in the early fall. They ran the # 00, with RealTree as the sponsor, but ran the STavola Chevrolets, and used the # 8's owner points. 24. Jimnsimforever posted: 04.10.2020 - 3:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Before this race Childress would switch the crew chiefs of his two teams, putting Kevin Hamlin with Dale Earnhardt and Larry McReynolds with Skinner starting here. Hamlin would be the crew chief for Dale Sr for the remainder of Earnhardt's career. 25. Rich posted: 12.31.2020 - 7:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Joy, Ned Jarrett and Buddy Baker were the commentators. Dr. Dick Berggren, Ralph Sheheen and Bill Stephens were the pit road reporters. Ken Squier was the studio host. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: