The Associated Press

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.

Monday, February 18, 2002

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – There were no side-by-side sprints to the checkered flag and no passes for the lead on the final lap.

Yet the finish of Sunday’s Daytona 500 will be remembered as one of the most bizarre in the 44-year history of ”The Great American Race.”

Ward Burton took advantage of Sterling Marlin’s blunder for his first victory at Daytona International Speedway. It also was the first win for Dodge at NASCAR’s most famous track since July 1977, when Richard Petty beat Darrell Waltrip.

”This was sort of like a soap opera,” NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter said. ”It was like every 30 minutes, we went from one episode to the next. The story line of the race changed about every 40 or 50 laps.”

Consider:

– Favorite Tony Stewart fell out of the race with engine failure on the second lap.

– An 18-car pileup on lap 149 took out top contenders Kevin Harvick, Ricky Rudd, Bobby Labonte and Ken Schrader.

– Dale Earnhardt Jr. had two blown tires and lost 12 laps in the pits to repair a broken brake caliper, only to return and get involved in the big wreck.

– Marlin, who was leading when the red flag came out on lap 195 and appeared in control of the race, was penalized for getting out of his car and pulling briefly on a damaged fender during the stoppage.

All of that – and much more – paved the way for Burton’s victory.

”I think that’s what makes the Daytona 500 such a special race,” Hunter said. ”It’s unpredictable, it’s unbelievable and it’s unforgettable.”

Burton, the older of two racing brothers from the tiny town of South Boston, Va., led the most laps in last year’s race. But he was part of a 19-car wreck and watched the rest of the race from the garage.

”We felt like that was a race that was kind of stolen from us, not that we had it won, but we had a real legitimate shot at it,” said Burton, who speaks with a garbled drawl native to his hometown. ”These races, the nature of them, is that you never know what’s going to happen until the race is over.”

Elliott Sadler finished second, about a car length behind the winner, and Geoffrey Bodine was a surprising third. Bodine, the 1986 winner, has been out of the sport for most of the past two seasons and was competing as part of a four-race deal with car owner James Finch.

Kurt Busch and defending race winner Michael Waltrip rounded out the top five.

The race-turning red flag came out after a five-car tangle on a restart at lap 194. While those cars were bouncing off each other and spinning through the infield, leader Jeff Gordon cut across the track to try to block a move by Marlin.

When Marlin didn’t yield his position, Gordon lost control of his Chevrolet and spun through the grass. He had little damage to his car, but Marlin’s right-front fender was rubbing against the tire.

Marlin beat Burton back to the caution and parked his Dodge out front when the cars stopped on the backstretch under a red flag.

Unsure of how badly his car was damaged, Marlin climbed out of his car and surveyed the damage. He briefly tugged at the fender to pull it away from the tire before an official jumped out of the pace car and made him stop.

NASCAR rules clearly state no work can be done while the red flag is displayed, so Marlin was sent to the tail end of the lead lap cars, 12th as it turned out. He said he saw the late Dale Earnhardt do something similar 15 years ago.

”I saw Earnhardt do it at Richmond one time in 1987. He got out and cleaned his windshield, so I thought it was OK,” Marlin said. ”I don’t guess it was. Never read the rule book, so maybe I should. But it’s the Daytona 500 and you got to do everything you can to win it.”

With Marlin out of the way, all Burton had to do was hold off Sadler and Bodine. Neither mounted a serious charge, and Burton had his fourth career victory.

”It’s going to take a while to sink in,” he said.

Marlin and Schrader took turns dominating most of the race, leading for long stretches while most of the leaders ran single file. A caution on lap 139 for a two-car spin involving Mike Skinner and Shawna Robinson bunched up the field, setting up the 18-car wreck that changed the race.

Marlin was out front on the restart, with Harvick and Gordon close behind. On lap 149, Gordon made a run on Harvick for second, moving to the inside heading toward Turn 1. Harvick moved over to block the move, but Gordon tapped his rival and sent him spinning.

Harvick backed into the outside wall and then slid into the path of John Andretti and others. Before it was over, the cars of Kenny Wallace and Bobby Hamilton burst into flames, and nearly half the field was wiped out.

”Gordon wanted the same spot I did,” Harvick said. ”I tried to block, he came up and all hell broke loose.”

No one was injured in the wreck.

Gordon, the defending Winston Cup champ and a two-time 500 winner, was able to come back to the front after that, taking the lead from Busch on lap 177 and holding it for the next 18 laps until Marlin spun him out.

”I probably should have given it up once he got beside me,” Gordon said. ”That was my own fault. … He had a run on me and I blocked him and got myself turned.

”It was a wild and crazy race. I went from the back to the front and the front to the back,” Gordon said.