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| | Monday, June 19 Pit strategy comes back to haunt Wallace | |||||
| Associated Press LONG POND, Pa. -- Rusty Wallace looked like he was about to back up a top qualifying run for the first time this season, and tie a record for victories at Pocono International Raceway. Then came a late-race mistake on pit strategy that ruined 107 laps of leadership Monday in the Pocono. And Wallace, who says he makes those decisions himself, took the blame for a massive loss of track position that relegated him to a 10th-place finish. "Fourteen cars take on two tires and we take on four," he lamented. "It was a stupid call." He sat on the pole after setting a track record with a qualifying run of 171.625 mph -- his series-best fifth No. 1 spot this season -- and his Ford looked like the class of the field for more than half the race. "It's upsetting to lead the most laps and have a great car," he said. "I just don't understand it." Stewart runs out of luck If Rusty Wallace wasn't going to win the Pocono 500, it looked for a while like Tony Stewart would. And if he had, it would have been his third straight victory. After taking the lead as the event was winding down Monday at Pocono International Raceway, Stewart began to look like a winner. Then he proved that to be one virtually everything must go right. It went very wrong after Mike Bliss spun with 17 laps remaining, bringing out the final caution flag of the race. "They had great pit stops," Stewart said of his crew. "The weak link on the pit stops was me." Indeed it was. "I stalled the car," Stewart said. By the time he got his Pontiac refired, Stewart was far behind those who left pit road ahead of him, and he had to drive hard just to finish sixth. Rudd takes third Ricky Rudd, adjusting to his new driver-only role, had a good shot in the Pocono 500 at his first victory in nearly two years. Rudd, who gave up as an owner-driver to move this year to powerful Robert Yates Racing, wanted desperately to put the No. 28 car -- previously driven by such greats as Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison -- in Victory Circle for the first time since 1997. But he tangled with the lapped car of Jimmy Spencer, and his Taurus lost some of its zip. "Yeah, it really was a shame," said Rudd, who last year failed to extend his Winston Cup record by winning a race for a 17th consecutive season. "It knocked the nose all in, and we were never quite the same." Still, Rudd managed to finish third behind Jeremy Mayfield and Yates teammate Dale Jarrett. Labonte settles for 13th Bobby Labonte was hoping to continue his mastery of Pocono International Raceway with a record-tying third straight victory on the track in the Pocono 500. But things got a little too hot for him. No, it wasn't the competition. It was a cracked tail pipe that cost him considerable track position and led to a finish of 13th Monday. "It was pretty hot," said Labonte, who last year pulled off a rare sweep of the summer races on the mountaintop. "Thank goodness it wasn't something internal." Despite his disappointing result, Labonte holds a 57-point lead over Dale Earnhardt in the Winston Cup standings with 15 of 34 races in the book. | ALSO SEE Mayfield makes intimidating move to win Pocono 500  | |||||
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