2000 Checker Auto Parts/Dura Lube 500k at Phoenix

Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, is a one-mile, low-banked tri-oval, and on November 5, 2000, it hosted the 32nd of the season's 34 races. The distance was set at 312 laps, 312 miles, which comes to 502.115 kilometers and explains the 'k' in the race name; the day ran at an average of 105.041 mph. Rusty Wallace started from the pole in the No. 2 Penske-Kranefuss Ford and led 86 laps, more than anyone except the winner. Burton led 105. Jeremy Mayfield in the No. 12 led 46, Mark Martin led 12, Steve Park led 11, and Bobby Labonte and Dale Earnhardt each led a single lap. The race turned on its last restart. With 11 laps left Burton, who had qualified second by fifteen thousandths, came off the restart, charged to the front and stayed there to the finish. Mayfield was second, Park third, Wallace fourth after leading so much of the day, and Labonte fifth. Dave Blaney brought the No. 93 home eighth as a rookie. Attrition was modest. Bobby Hamilton crashed after 51 laps and Matt Kenseth after 53, Ryan Newman's engine let go after 176, Rick Mast crashed as well, and Mike Bliss crashed after 291, deep into the closing run. Wikipedia lists the winner's purse at $197,345 and calls the win Burton's 15th in the series. A note for the newcomer: a restart with 11 to go on a flat one-mile track is a different animal from one at a superspeedway, because there is no draft to hide in and the car that gets the best launch through the first two corners usually keeps what it gains.

The finishing order below comes from the Wikipedia race article, with laps led noted where the article records them. Positions eleven through twenty ran Mike Skinner, Ward Burton, Jimmy Spencer, Tony Stewart, Sterling Marlin, Johnny Benson Jr., Terry Labonte, Ricky Craven, Kenny Wallace and Brett Bodine.

Fifteen thousandths of a second separated Burton from the pole on Friday. On Sunday he did not need them.

This race is unusual within the archive because Wikipedia's article preserves the practice results, which means the sessions the old Racin.net published sheets for can be described from a second source. Four sessions ran across Friday and Saturday, and the old site put up a page for each; those four addresses are the ones Wikipedia cites.

• Practice 1, Friday 10:30 a.m. MST, 55 minutes: Robert Pressley fastest at 27.108 seconds, 132.802 mph
• Practice 2, Friday 12:35 p.m. MST, 50 minutes: Johnny Benson Jr. at 27.069 seconds, 132.993 mph
• Practice 3, Saturday 8:30 a.m. MST, one hour: Johnny Benson Jr. again, at 27.775 seconds, 129.613 mph
• Happy Hour, Saturday 10:30 a.m. MST, one hour: Ken Schrader at 27.729 seconds, 129.828 mph

Happy Hour is the garage name for the final practice before a race, the last chance to work on race trim. Look at the drop between Friday and Saturday: the Saturday sessions were six or seven tenths slower, which is what you expect once teams stop chasing a single fast lap for qualifying and start setting cars up to run 312 of them. The archived pages sat at /nascar/cup/races/00/phoenix/prac1.shtml through prac4.shtml. This rebuild keeps those addresses live so the citations resolve, but it does not reproduce the original tables, and the figures above are Wikipedia's.

Qualifying used the two-round format, with sessions on Friday afternoon and Saturday midday, and 43 drivers tried for the field. Behind Wallace and Burton came Robert Pressley at 27.011 seconds, Johnny Benson Jr. at 27.032, Steve Park at 27.035, Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace tied at 27.044, Mark Martin at 27.054, Bobby Labonte at 27.055 and Ryan Newman at 27.061. Five drivers went home: Stacy Compton, Steve Grissom, Robby Gordon, Dave Marcis and Hut Stricklin. TNN carried the race on television with Eli Gold, Buddy Baker and Dick Berggren in the booth, and Motor Racing Network had the radio call. Two races remained after Phoenix. Tony Stewart won at Homestead on November 12 and Jerry Nadeau won the finale at Atlanta on November 20; Bobby Labonte took the championship. One caution about the record. Wikipedia's race article calls Phoenix Burton's third win of 2000, while its season summary page tallies his year differently, so treat the season count with care and rely on the race result, which is not in dispute.