|| *Comments on the 2000 DieHard 500:* View the most recent comment <#60> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Jack Lewis posted: 08.17.2004 - 5:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeff Gordon's 50th career Winston Cup win. 2. Sergio Cimino posted: 12.17.2004 - 12:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jeremy Mayfield was penalized the owners' and drivers' points for his fourteenth place finish after it was discovered in post race inspection that an additive had been put into his car's fuel. 3. NascarF1Fan posted: 12.11.2005 - 5:32 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Car Owner Bud Moore's last start =-( 4. Darrell posted: 12.16.2005 - 11:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) NascarF1Fan, Moore just got snookered by that Fenley group. That's how I view it. This was the last top-five for Kenny Irwin. 5. Bennett posted: 07.16.2006 - 9:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Surprising DNQ's for Elliott Sadler, Kevin Lepage, and Gary Bradberry. 6. Miller4Prez64 posted: 07.31.2006 - 1:57 am Rate this comment: (3) (1) How is Kevin Lepage DNQing a suprise? 7. Mr. Etc posted: 08.23.2006 - 8:07 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) He was driving for Roush at the time. 8. jim posted: 10.05.2006 - 4:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Jr. ran into the back of his dad on the start. His car was never right after that. I was at this race, and I vividly remember Stewart and Bobby Labonte running in the back of the pack to avoid "the big one" and getting caught up in it anyway. 9. Jeff posted: 11.27.2006 - 6:58 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think it was more surprising seeing the #21 miss the race than Lepage missing. 10. Steve posted: 01.26.2007 - 4:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'm not exactly sure why Lepage was never able to demonstrate his ability with Roush Racing. He had strong qualifying runs and some solid finishes with the low budget Joe Falk team, and later had superb qualifying performances with teams like C & J Racing (#37 Dodge) and Front Row Motorsports (#61 Ford), but being with Roush didn't help much. Perhaps he had a sense of urgency with those smaller teams and kicked it up a notch, but perhaps he felt more confident in superior equipment at Roush. 11. David posted: 01.28.2007 - 2:58 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) hats off to wally dallenbach, 16th place, I believe thats as close as wally finished to the lead group that year 12. Dan posted: 03.16.2007 - 6:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I believe the pressure to perform well got to Kevin during his years at Roush Racing. 13. David posted: 03.17.2007 - 5:33 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) robby gordon and scott pruett got together about 2/3 the way through the race and created a 18 car maylay on the front stretch. ABC had very good replays and analysis of the crash. 14. Darrell posted: 05.13.2007 - 11:02 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I think the fact he was given R&D equipment is what killed Lepage at Roush. Final attempt for Hedrick Racing. 15. biffle16 posted: 05.24.2007 - 4:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Also, this was Irwin's last top-10. :( 16. BurtonRuddFan posted: 11.25.2007 - 7:19 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Gordon's 50th win and this race showed that Robby Gordon is like an "Swervin Irvan" in racing style. It was unusual to see Roush and Wood Brothers cars having DNQ's. Great runs for Mike Skinner and Kenny Irwin. 17. SK posted: 12.07.2007 - 9:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Skinner came close to victory numerous times in Winston Cup racing, yet this proved to be his only 2nd-place finish. He has not finished in the top-5 since this event. 18. Douche Bagolow posted: 01.03.2008 - 7:05 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) David, it's spelled "melee". 19. Mr. Big posted: 05.22.2008 - 3:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mark Martin had the best car in the pack for the first 150 laps, then Gordon appeared. 20. Mr. Big posted: 05.22.2008 - 3:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dammit, I meant to say field. 21. Clayton posted: 08.27.2008 - 5:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) best finish of the 2000 season for Kenny Irwin, Jr. 4th. He would lose his life later this season. 22. Brock Beard posted: 01.07.2009 - 5:15 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Wacky race for most of the event. Between Junior's incident at the start and the debris caution shortly before the pileup, the race was under green for so long that fuel mileage came into play. Mark Martin and Jeff Burton stretched their fuel for 62 laps in the opening stages and, hoping for the race to stay green, planned on making the race with just two pit stops. This strategy threw everyone for a loop, particularly Dale Jarrett, Bobby Hamilton, and Scott Pruett, who all ran out of gas in the middle stages trying to stretch their fuel. (Hamilton's engine blew sometime after this). When the cautions finally came, Martin stayed out on old tires and looked like he was going to win in dominant fashion. Dale Jarrett was on the tail end of the lead lap and stayed in front of the pack all the way until 4 laps to go. Jarrett and Martin reached an agreement during the late stages that Jarrett would remain in front of Martin to keep Martin from being passed. Apparently, this was to make up for Jarrett shaking Martin out of the draft to win the Daytona 500 that Februay. When Gordon got by anyway, Jarrett fell back with Martin, setting up the battle of the Chevys for the final laps. One of the fastest cars in this race had to be Jimmy Spencer. Mr. Excitement went toe-to-toe with Dale Earnhardt in a side-by-side battle in the mid-stages. Also, near the halfway mark, Spencer dove to the apron in turn three trying to race Rusty Wallace for 2nd. Spencer barely kept the car under control as he and Wallace washed up the tack. 23. Russ Shurtliff posted: 09.23.2009 - 2:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) THE BIG ONE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e5eICTEyXI 24. Anonymous posted: 11.14.2009 - 3:41 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) A surprisingly good race, considering the aero package used at Daytona and this Talladega race in 2000. 25. NASCAR 24/7 posted: 03.25.2010 - 8:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Wallaces had a bad day, with #55 Kenny 40th and #2 Rusty 41st. 26. NZ Nascar fan posted: 01.05.2011 - 6:09 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Great race, I really thought Martin was going to win, but that's Dega for you. 27. NZ Nascar fan posted: 01.05.2011 - 6:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was Scott Pruett who caused the big one, not Robby Gordon 28. beau posted: 03.11.2011 - 4:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) only race of the 2000s that elliott sadler missed. 29. RaceFanX posted: 08.20.2011 - 11:31 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First-round qualifying for this race was NASCAR's one and only true "Talladega night." A heavy rainstorm moved through and caused a serious delay in Cup qualifying and wiped out Busch qualifying. They were able to dry the track and continue the session but by the time things restarted it was quite late. By the end of the session the last nine or so cars had to qualifying in the dark even though Talladega didn't have lights beyond some limited ones in the trioval. Amazingly they got the session in and the night qualifiers didn't far too badly, one of them was Sterling Marlin and he qualified in the top-10. During the session because of the darkness NASCAR gave the okay for any driver who felt the session was unsafe to pull off and without penalty they could have a run the following morning instead. None of the drivers took them up on their offer. The last two drivers to qualify in the dark were Dave Marcis and Jeff Burton. Both joked to officials before their runs that would gladly run together "to help save time." Burton ended up breaking on his first qualifying attempt. 30. RaceFanX posted: 08.20.2011 - 11:33 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Here is the session, the night stuff at the end... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lil4kON6Pmo 31. RaceFanX posted: 08.20.2011 - 11:39 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ted Musgrave's Bud Moore #15 Ford had a throwback paint job for this race, the car had the white-and-blue look made famous by Moore's team back in the 1970's. Ironically fitting for what became the team's final race. 32. RaceFanX posted: 02.10.2012 - 10:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sponsor: #6 Mark Martin- Eagle One / Cummins This was one of the few times Martin, the winner of the previous race at Martinsville, ran an Eagle One car in a points race. Typically Roush saved the colors of Valvoline's line of car washing products for The Winston. 33. Spen posted: 02.24.2012 - 3:55 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) I'd forgotten that Mark had the point lead for a week this season. I usually think of this as the start of Mark's "declining years" (compared to 89-99, anyway). But he did get off to a good start that year. 34. Will posted: 10.28.2012 - 10:04 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Anonymous posted: "A surprisingly good race, considering the aero package used at Daytona and this Talladega race in 2000." I think Talladega lent itself to having better races because it's a decent bit wider and slightly more banked than Daytona. Handling isn't quite as important there at Talladega. 35. kidracer posted: 05.04.2013 - 8:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) They did qualifying at night. It was delayed because of rain and the last 10 cars went out under the lights at the grandstands and asked fans to turn on the headlights for the turns. Jeff Burton, Sterling Marlin, and Kenny Irwin were some of the cars to qualify at night. 36. myself posted: 06.04.2013 - 1:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I call BS on the request of fans to turn on headlights for the turns. 37. Anonymous posted: 06.26.2013 - 5:37 pm Rate this comment: (4) (1) Tony Stewart Getting Banged up by Dick Trickle - Thats Nasty 38. Evan posted: 04.06.2014 - 10:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) A lot of seemingly unhappy drivers after this one especially after the aero package, except for Jeff Gordon of course and Kenny Irwin. Dale Earnhardt was not too thrilled in his interview, but Earnhardt really is not too thrilled about finishing third or second anyhow. Mark Martin did not seem too happy about his day either, he led the race had the car to beat and Jeff Gordon pulled the move on him to win. Sure was a pretty down interviews between the top 5 guys in 39. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 05.14.2014 - 9:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Owner of the #21 was the Wood Brothers Owner of the #41 was Larry Hedrick 40. Jack Johnson posted: 01.18.2015 - 12:15 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How Many Drivers Were Actually Involved In That Big Pile Up & Who Was Involved In It? 41. nascarman posted: 01.25.2015 - 8:24 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was a very underrated finish as far as I'm concerned. As they got down to the end, Dale Jarrett was in front of the main pack but was on the tale end of the lead lap. With six laps to go, Mark Martin was leading, Mayfield was second and Gordon third. In turn three, Mayfield went to the outside to pass Martin for the lead and the two raced side by side throughout the corner. Then coming off turn four, Gordon dropped onto the apron and made it three wide. Skinner pushed Gordon into the lead and was then three wide for second. As soon as the cars passed the tri-oval grass, Kenny Irwin dropped onto the apron and made it four wide for second. By the time the cars got to turn one, Jarrett and Gordon had broken away followed by Irwin leading about a 10 car pack. When the cars came around to the front stretch, Irwin and Skinner caught Gordon and made a run at him. Exiting the tri-oval Irwin dropped onto the apron to try and make a pass for the lead. Seeing this, Gordon went onto the apron to block Irwin but at the same time Skinner tried to pass Irwin on the inside. This led to the top 3 cars all on the apron coming to four laps to go. Skinner was forced into the grass and had both left side tires off the pavement at over 185 mph. Ward Burton got a run and made it three wide for second heading into turn one. It filed down to single file by the turn with Jarrett in front (hoping for a caution to stay on the lead lap,) followed by Gordon, Skinner, Burton, and Irwin. With three to go Jarrett moved up the track and let the leaders go by. They raced single file for the next two laps until Burton made a move to the outside for second in the tri-oval coming to the white flag. This opened the door for Irwin, pushed by Earnhardt (who was running as far back as 10th with four laps to go) to move past into third. Irwin was giving Skinner a strong push down the back stretch but couldn't quite get to Gordon. Irwin gave second a brief look on the apron entering turn three so Earnhardt made the move to the outside for third. The two raced side by side through three and four leaving no one to help Skinner. As they crossed the line, Earnhardt beat Irwin by about two feet for third. Jimmy Spencer running eighth coming off turn four got a great run and beat Martin and Labonte in a three wide photo finish for fifth. With no yellow line rule, drivers could really sneak past the car in front before they had a chance to block and muscle the position away from them. It also looked really cool to see the cars bouncing up and down as they drove across the un-even and bumpy apron. 42. Dave posted: 04.12.2015 - 2:50 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This being Gordon's 1st win of 2000 in the 9th race of the year was amazingly his longest "drought" to open a season since 1994. Say what you will about Gordon but he's undoubtedly one of the greatest of all time. Still can't believe he's retiring this year 43. RaceFanX posted: 11.14.2015 - 12:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Kyle Petty's ninth-place finish was his only top-10 of the 2000 season. 44. sk posted: 05.01.2016 - 12:21 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dave Blaney came into the pits too hot during the late stages of the race and spun toward the pit wall, making minor contact but sending crew members and media personnel running. Robert Yates took a tumble trying to clear the deck and hit his head, but got up unhurt and no other injuries were reported. 45. 28DaveyAllison28 posted: 12.28.2016 - 11:23 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Who would've thought at the time this would be Mike Skinner's last top 5 finish.. ever! 46. 3ForeverFan posted: 12.28.2016 - 2:03 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Who would've thought at the time this would be Mike Skinner's last top 5 finish.. ever! That. And after this race, you had told everytone two of the top 5 finishers from this race would be dead in a year from now.. they would've told you that you were crazy 47. Jack Johnson posted: 01.21.2017 - 7:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) How Did Car Number 71,Driven By Dave Marcis,Get Involved In That Big Pile Up? 48. Jack Johnson posted: 02.01.2017 - 11:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) How did car number 75,driven by Wally Dallenbach,manage to avoid getting a piece of that big pile up? Who made up the list of drivers involved in that big pile up? 49. Seibaru posted: 02.01.2017 - 1:10 pm Rate this comment: (1) (1) @48 'Who made up the list of drivers involved in that big pile up?' How dare you accuse Alan of 'making up' a statistic. 50. Jericohol14 posted: 02.01.2017 - 8:11 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) @49 This guy is on tons of videos of big ones on Youtube asking the same kinds of questions. "Why wasn't this guy listed as involved? How come I couldn't see this guy involved?" One time he even asked for someone to upload the 2001 Talladega Busch race in, I quote, "In perfect quality". 51. Seibaru posted: 02.01.2017 - 9:31 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @50 Yup. You should see his comments on the Goody's 300s in the early 90s. I mean, I think the 2001 Busch race is in good enough quality. But nope, apparently in his eyes (pun not intended) the cameras used in the race are so blurry that they probably have glaucoma. (I can make that reference, because I know from personal experience) 52. racefangurl posted: 02.01.2017 - 11:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 51, I have a blind e-friend named Amy that's a race fan with glaucoma. Talladega is her favorite track. Btw, in the late '90's and the year 2000, I watched races, so I remember DieHard 500 watching. 53. Greg9ChaseFan posted: 05.29.2018 - 5:27 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) TOo many blown motors in the career of Rusty Wallace. Cost him a title or 2. 54. JSPorts posted: 05.29.2018 - 5:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 60 of Wallace's 117 career DNFs came as a result of a blown engine. That's pretty bad. 55. Anonymous posted: 05.10.2020 - 7:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Both Bill eliott and Jimmy Spencer were listed in crash during the ABC broadcast both were not in the wreck. 56. Cash posted: 07.27.2020 - 6:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To this date, the 36th starting spot for Jeff Gordon is the worst by an eventual race winner. It's also the worst starting spot in a win in Gordon's career. In fact, He's only won 2 races where he qualified outside the top 30 - both coming at Talladega (other was the fall race in 2007). 57. Rich posted: 11.27.2020 - 10:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The ESPN / ABC era airing the spring NASCAR cup series event at Talladega came to a close on this day. FOX would begin airing this event the following year, which continues to this very day. 58. Rich posted: 11.27.2020 - 10:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Skinner earned his 10th and final top five finish in his NASCAR cup series career. 59. TeamDCRfan posted: 04.12.2021 - 7:40 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) For lack of a better word, The Gibbs cars sounded as if they had some flatulence in qualifying. Something was severely wrong as both cars were extremely slow and both were in provisional land at the start of the race. 60. Anonymous posted: 04.25.2021 - 12:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) 14. Roush always seemed to have that ?red headed stepchild? car at that teams prime, be it the 16 when Roush went to 2 cars, the 97 when Chad Little's team was bought, or the 26 when that car AWA created. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: