The2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 52nd season ofprofessionalstock car racing in the United States, and was the 29th modern-era Cup series. The season began on February 13 and ended on November 20.Joe Gibbs Racing driverBobby Labonte was crowned champion at season's end. TheNASCAR Manufacturers' Championship was won byFord as they captured 14 wins and 234 points to betterPontiac's 11 wins and 213 points.Chevrolet finished third with nine wins and 199 points.[1]
This was the final season for three-time Winston Cup ChampionDarrell Waltrip. Also, this would unexpectedly be the final full-time season for seven-time Winston Cup championDale Earnhardt, who was killed the following year in the season-openingDaytona 500.
The 2000 season also marked the final one for various networks that carried NASCAR racing. Because of the new television deal struck on December 15, 1999, it would be the last year for a multitude of these long-time broadcasters.NASCAR on CBS broadcast the final races of its twenty-two-season partnership, ending with the Pepsi 400 at Daytona.NASCAR on TNN andNASCAR on TBS ended their time in the Winston Cup Series; the former's run of ten seasons came to an end at the Checker Auto Parts/Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix, while the latter's abruptly ceased at eighteen seasons following the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway (TBS had initially won rights for the new deal, but was replaced by TNT).NASCAR on ESPN, alongside its affiliated programming withESPN on ABC, ended its initial run of covering NASCAR's top series (both networks returned during the 2007 season); ESPN's first run of twenty seasons concluded with the NAPA 500 at Atlanta, while ABC's then twenty-five nonconsecutive seasons with the sport ended with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.
Ricky Rudd suffered a spectacular flip at the checkered flag when he was tapped bySterling Marlin when Marlin ran intoBobby Labonte. Everyone involved walked away uninjured.
Dale Earnhardt finished 11th in duel 2, making this the first time since 1989 that Earnhardt failed to win one of the Daytona 500 duel races. He would have some very negative comments about the new aerodynamics package following this race, and after the finish of the Daytona 500.
As of 2022, Dale Jarrett is the last driver to win the Daytona 500 from the pole.
This would be the 1st time since 1989 thatDale Earnhardt failed to win any NASCAR race in Daytona Speedweeks. This would also be the first time in his career that he failed to finish in the top-10 in all of the races during Speedweeks. He didn't race in theBud Shootout, he finished 11th in the 1st race of theGatorade Twin 125s, and he would finish 21st in this race.
This race was the start of major controversy due to the new aerodynamics package NASCAR officials made for both the Daytona and Talladega races this year. This resulted in what is often considered to be one of the worst Daytona 500s in history, as the race only saw 9 lead changes, and the majority of the race was single file racing, almost 2 full car lengths apart per car. The entire 2000 Speedweeks saw a total of just 14 lead changes.Dale Earnhardt would be very vocal about the negativity of the aerodynamics package following this race.
This was the last Daytona 500 to be televised by CBS, and thus the last 500 broadcasts forBuddy Baker andNed Jarrett.
Dave Marcis failed to qualify, ending his streak of 32 consecutive Daytona 500 starts, dating back to 1968.
Driving a solid-white Pontiac forTyler Jet Motorsports with last-minute sponsorship fromLycos, Inc.,Johnny Benson was in the lead with less than 10 laps to go and looked to be en route to his first Cup Series victory. After a late caution flag and restart, Dale Jarrett andJeff Burton both passed him with four laps to go. Jarrett would wind up winning the race under caution, and Benson finished 12th.
The race was highlighted with a photo finish byDale Earnhardt overBobby Labonte at a margin of 0.010 seconds.
This was Earnhardt's 75th career NASCAR Winston Cup win and his final win at a non-restrictor plate track. Earnhardt also became the third driver to win on both configurations of Atlanta Motor Speedway, the others being Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon.
As of today, with this win in the year 2000, Dale Earnhardt would be 1st and only driver in NASCAR history to score at least 1 win in 4 consecutive decades. He scored his 1st career win in 1979 at Bristol, and then followed it up with 38 wins in the 1980s, and 35 wins in the 1990s.
Mike Skinner led a race-high 191 laps and looked as if he would capture his first Winston Cup points win when an engine failure dropped him out of the race while leading with 20 laps to go. Skinner would finish 30th.
On lap 390,Jeff Gordon ran over one ofSteve Park's old right-side tires that had been left on pit road, ending his chances to win. This incident led to the rule change that pit crews have to bring the right-side tires back to the pit wall during a pit stop.
Rusty Wallace became the 10th driver to win 50+ NASCAR races, and the first to do so sinceDale Earnhardt in 1991.
19-year-oldAdam Petty made his only career Cup Series start in this race, becoming the first fourth-generation athlete in professional sports history. Adam qualified 33rd and finished 40th with a blown engine. His great-grandfather, NASCAR pioneerLee Petty, lived to see Adam race in NASCAR's top level. Lee would die just three days later on April 5, at the age of 86.
This wasDale Earnhardt Jr.'s first career Cup Series victory, coming in his 12th Cup Series start.
Kyle Petty later relieved an injuredElliott Sadler, who suffered shoulder bruising after a cut tire on lap 119. The tire tore through the car's fender and the tire hit his shoulder several times.
This race had 17 cautions for 116 laps, season highs for the 2000 season.
Rusty Wallace dominated, leading 343 of the race's 500 laps, but with 64 laps to go, eventual winnerMark Martin passed Wallace and led until the finish.
This race was dedicated to the memory ofLee Petty, who died on April 5 due to an abdominal aortic aneurysm. He was 86 years old.
Bud Moore Engineering made its final career start in this race, withTed Musgrave finishing 35th after crashing out during the big one. The team would fold after failing to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte the following month, Moore originally planned to attempt to bring the #15 car to qualify for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July, but later withdrew.
Jeremy Mayfield was fined 151 points and crew chiefPeter Sospenzo was fined and suspended after this race for a rules infraction related to theDieHard 500 atTalladega Superspeedway. NASCAR delayed the penalty in order to research the motive behind the infraction.
Bobby Labonte took the points to lead after gaining it at Darlington and losing it at Talladega. He would keep it for the remainder of 2000.
Mayfield's victory made him the 10th different winner in the first 10 races of the season, a record that still stands to this day.
Earnhardt Jr.'s victory made him the first repeat winner of 2000.
This wasDarrell Waltrip's first DNQ this season, having exhausted his past champion's provisionals.
This race sawGeoffrey Bodine make his first Cup Series start since his horrific crash in the Truck Series race at Daytona in February. Bodine started an impressive 4th and finished 13th.
Earnhardt Jr. became the first driver to win an All-Star Race in his rookie season.
This was the 16th and final All-Star race to featureDarrell Waltrip andDale Earnhardt. They are also the only two drivers in NASCAR history to compete in the first 16 races of the Winston.
Carl Long originally qualified for the event, but gave up his spot forDarrell Waltrip to compete in his final Coca-Cola 600. Waltrip would drive the #85 Ford, finishing 14 laps down in 36th.
The race was stopped on lap 254 by a 51-minute red flag due to rain.
This was Kenseth's first career Cup Series victory, the first rookie ever to win the Coca-Cola 600.
This would be the first time in NASCAR history that two rookies won in the same season, asDale Earnhardt Jr. had won two races prior to Kenseth winning.
Robby Gordon was competing in theIndianapolis 500, where the start was rain-delayed by three hours.P. J. Jones started in place of Gordon in the #13 Ford. After finishing 6th at Indy, Gordon decided to fly to Charlotte anyway, arriving during the red flag at lap 254 and drove the remainder of this race. The car finished 35th, 11 laps behind the leader.
John Andretti, who was dealing with rib injuries suffered in a crash in The Winston, started the race in the #43 Pontiac. Andretti drove until lap 81 when he was relieved byTim Fedewa. The car would finish 7 laps down in 31st.
Stewart led 242 of 400 laps and moved up to 9th place in points.
Kyle Petty actually ran this race forJohn Andretti, makingthe driver swap at the first caution. This was Kyle's first race since the death of his sonAdam. The car would finish 13th, 2 laps down to the winner.
Elliott Sadler went for a wild ride in practice, flipping 12 times after blowing a tire on the front stretch. He was not injured.
The race was shortened to 194 laps due to darkness caused by two rain delays. Due to the rain delay, race coverage was moved from CBS to TNN but retained the CBS announcer team and graphics.
Race winnerTony Stewart would give the race trophy to Irwin's parents.
Irwin's death happened on the same day it was announced thatChip Ganassi had purchased majority interest in theFelix Sabates team.[2]
Kenny Irwin's teammate on the SABCO team,Sterling Marlin, declined to run in qualifying following Irwin's death; choosing to use a provisional to enter the race. He finished 1 lap down to the leader in 25th.
Felix Sabates would change the car number of the #42 team to #01 for the remainder of the season.Ted Musgrave,P. J. Jones, andBobby Hamilton Jr. would finish the season driving for the team.
Rusty Wallace led a dominating 110 laps of the race's 160, butBobby Labonte caught and passed Wallace to lead the last 15 laps and win the race.
This race has the record for the fastest Brickyard 400, with only 2 cautions and an average speed of 155.912 mph.
Terry Labonte was forced to miss this and the next race due to inner ear injuries suffered at Pocono, ending his streak of consecutive Cup Series starts at 655. This record would be broken byRicky Rudd in 2002.
Todd Bodine drove Labonte's #5 Chevy for this race, finishing 1 lap down in 15th.
The race was ABC's last broadcast of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series until the 2007 fall Richmond race (in which the series was renamed to NASCAR Nextel Cup Series) as part of the ESPN group of networks.
Jeff Gordon andTony Stewart collided with each other on lap 2, causing him to hit the guardrail. Gordon finished 23rd, ending his streak of consecutive road course victories.
Kerry Earnhardt make his NASCAR Winston Cup Series debut in this race, driving the #71 Chevy forDave Marcis. The presence ofDale Earnhardt,Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kerry made this the only time in NASCAR's modern era, and only the second time in NASCAR's history altogether that a father would race against two of his sons.Lee Petty had previously accomplished that feat with sonsRichard andMaurice back in 1960.[3] While Dale Sr. would finish a strong sixth position, both of his sons had troubles during the race. Dale Jr. blew an engine en route to a 31st-place finish, while Kerry fell victim to an early accident and finished last.
The race was shortened to 328 laps due to thunderstorms. Due to the rain delay, race coverage was moved from ESPN to ESPN2 but retained ESPN's announcer team and graphics.
Bobby Labonte won the race from the 37th starting position. the worst starting spot to victory since Jeff Gordon at Talladega when he started 36th.
Darrell Waltrip made his 800th career Cup Series start in this race, becoming the 3rd driver to accomplish this feat.
Gordon's victory denied Earnhardt a million-dollar bonus as being eligible for the No Bull 5 program in this event.
Casey Atwood, along withRay Evernham's new teamEvernham Motorsports, made their NASCAR Winston Cup Series debut in the #19 Ford (the team switched to Dodge in 2001 due to the team being a huge part of Dodge's return into NASCAR). Atwood finished his debut in 19th place, two laps down.
This would be the final time thatDarrell Waltrip failed to qualify for a Winston Cup race.
This race is the only non-superspeedway Cup race to runrestrictor plates race since the adoption of the current 358 cubic inch formula. After the deaths ofAdam Petty in May andKenny Irwin Jr. in July, NASCAR decided to run restrictor plates as both accidents were caused by stuck throttles. Adding restrictor plates did have the desired result of slowing down the cars drastically, but also restricted passing so much thatJeff Burton led all 300 laps. This lack of passing was so uncompetitive that restrictor plates were gone for the very next Cup race. Replacing the plates was an engine kill switch, which was located on the steering wheel, and it allowed drivers to halt the car if their throttle was stuck.
Jeff Burton led all 300 laps. As of 2020, this was the last time that a driver led every single lap in a NASCAR points race. The closest a driver came to accomplishing this feat was in 2016 whenMartin Truex Jr. led 392 of 400 laps and won theCoca-Cola 600.
This would be Earnhardt's 76th and final career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory beforehis death in the2001 Daytona 500.
In addition, this would be Earnhardt's 100th overall victory in NASCAR Winston Cup racing, with 76 points wins and 24 non-points races throughout his career.
This race is strongly remembered for Earnhardt's late-race charge from the back to the front. With 5 laps to go, Earnhardt was battling for the 18th position, but in just 3 laps, he went from the 18th spot to battling for the lead with less than 2 laps to go. He actually ended up taking the lead from both his teammateMike Skinner, and sonDale Earnhardt Jr. in the tri-oval, coming to the white flag.
This was Dale Earnhardt's first, and only, Winston No Bull 5 Million Dollar Bonus win.
This was Earnhardt's 10th career Talladega win, the most wins at Talladega by a driver as of 2020.
This race was the debut of a new aerodynamics package for both Daytona and Talladega restrictor-plate races. This new package was supposed to go into effect starting in the2001 Daytona 500, but due to the controversy of the 1st 3 plate races earlier in the season, the new rules package took effect immediately in this race. The new package for this race saw a lot of passing and had a total of 49 lead changes among 21 different drivers.
This was the last Cup race sponsored by a tobacco product.
It was the last race televised byThe Nashville Network (during the broadcast, known as The National Network), which was later calledSpike, and is now calledParamount Network.
Ryan Newman made his NASCAR Cup Series debut in this race, starting 10th and finishing 41st.
Bobby Labonte's 5th-place finish gave him a 218-point lead overDale Earnhardt. Labonte could mathematically win the championship at Homestead if he finishes at least 5th or better.
Bobby Labonte clinched the 2000 Winston Cup championship by finishing 4th with only one race left. It was the 2nd straight year that the championship was won at Homestead. He led the standings by 256 points overJeff Burton going into the season finale at Atlanta.
This wasJoe Gibbs' first Winston Cup Championship as an owner since he formed his racing team back in 1992.
Because of a deal that gave broadcasting rights toFox,FX,NBC, andTNT, this wasESPN's last Winston Cup race until the station along withABC was brought back to NASCAR in 2007. It is remembered forBob Jenkins making a farewell speech and his fellow commentatorBenny Parsons andNed Jarrett almost making him cry as they said goodbye on TV. Jenkins introduced a video from ESPN thanking all the fans, simply stating "Without you, there would have been no magic."
This was Ned Jarrett's final Winston Cup race as a full-time color commentator.
This was Nadeau's first and only career Cup Series victory.
This was the 809th and final career Cup Series start forDarrell Waltrip, who would end his driving career and start his broadcasting career in 2001 forNASCAR on FOX.
With his 2nd-place finish in this race,Dale Earnhardt would overtakeJeff Burton to finish 2nd in the championship standings, 265 points behindBobby Labonte.
This was the last race forGalaxy Motorsports after 22 years since the team was established in 1978 underRahMoc Enterprises, it was rumored that the team would return for 2001 withPizza Hut as the primary sponsor, but the team would shut down before the season began due to lack of finances.
Bobby Labonte and runner-Up Dale Earnhardt were the only two drivers to not score a single DNF all season.
Scott Wimmer made his Cup Series debut in this race, having initially entered the weekend'sARCA race, but DNQ'd when ARCA qualifying being rained out. The team elected to attempt the Cup race, with Wimmer managing to qualify, and actually led 9 laps, including three under green flag conditions. Wimmer would finish three laps down in 22nd position.
This was the last race attempted byJoe Bessey Racing, as the team would shut down after failing to qualify to this race, it was rumored thatJoe Bessey had attempted to field the #60 car for 2001 withHermie Sadler driving the vehicle withTracFone Wireless andWorld Championship Wrestling as the sponsors, and it was set to qualify for the 2001 Dura Lube 400 at Rockingham, But Bessey would withdrawal the car from qualifying for this race due to financial and funding problems.
In the preseason, the two favorites for the award wereMatt Kenseth andDale Earnhardt Jr. While Earnhardt had the name, the popularity, and the two wins, Kenseth had more consistency and was able to claim the title by a narrow margin. The third-place finisher wasDave Blaney, who had finished 31st in points.Scott Pruett andStacy Compton showed promise in the beginning of the year, but eventually lost momentum and bottomed out at the end of the year.Mike Bliss started the year withA. J. Foyt Racing, was released after 4 races, then finished the season withEel River Racing.Ed Berrier andJeff Fuller finished towards the bottom, mainly due to being released from their rides during the season.
