| Race details[1][2][3] | |
| Date | May 19, 2001 (2001-05-19) |
| Location | Lowe's Motor Speedway inConcord, North Carolina |
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.4 km) |
| Distance | Winston Open: 30 laps, 45 mi (72 km) No Bull Sprint: 16 laps, 24 mi (39 km) The Winston: 70 laps, 105 mi (169 km) |
| Avg Speed | All-Star Race: 185.022 mph (297.764 km/h) |
| Winston Open | |
| Pole position | Johnny Benson Jr.(MBV Motorsports) |
| Winner | Johnny Benson Jr.(MBV Motorsports) |
| No Bull 5 Sprint | |
| Pole position | Mike Wallace(Ultra Motorsports) |
| Winner | Todd Bodine(Travis Carter Motorsports) |
| Winston All Star Race | |
| Pole position | Rusty Wallace(Penske Racing) 119.112 seconds |
| Winston Open Transfers | Johnny Benson Jr. (Open winner) Todd Bodine (No Bull Sprint winner) |
| Most laps led | Ward Burton(Bill Davis Racing)/Johnny Benson Jr. (MBV Motorsports) 20 laps |
| Winner | Jeff Gordon(Hendrick Motorsports) |
| Television | |
| Network | FX |
| Announcers | Mike Joy,Darrell Waltrip andLarry McReynolds |
The 2001 edition ofThe Winston was held on May 19, 2001, atLowe's Motor Speedway inConcord, North Carolina. This was the 17th running of the event. The race is mostly remembered for the start, when rain progressed onto the track, causing cars to get loose and crash into the wall. One of the first ones to crash wasKevin Harvick, in his first appearance at the speedway. ThenJeff Gordon got sideways and wrecked after tappingJeff Burton from behind, thenMichael Waltrip wrecked Gordon, destroying his car, at which point the race was stopped. All of the drivers returned with back-up cars. At the end, Gordon came across the line and won his third All-Star race, tyingDale Earnhardt. DriversJohnny Benson andTodd Bodine advanced from The Winston Open, with Benson winning the Open and Bodine winning theNo Bull 5 Sprint race. This was the first Winston event withoutDarrell Waltrip andDale Earnhardt. Waltrip retired at the end of 2000 and called the 2001 race from the booth, and Earnhardt waskilled earlier in the season at theDaytona 500. Both drivers competed in the first 16 events.
Johnny Benson started on the pole and led the first 7 laps of the 30 lap Winston Open. After a caution for a single car accident byStacy Compton on lap 3, part-time driver and second-place starterRyan Newman passed Benson for the lead. Newman led most of the race until his engine blew with 2 laps to go, causing a caution. Johnny Benson would take the lead under caution, win the race, and advance to The Winston.[1]
In the 16 lap No Bull 5 Sprint Race,Buckshot Jones got loose in turn one and touchedJason Leffler, who also spun. After crashing hard into the wall, Jones came down across the track into the path of 60-year-old driverDave Marcis. Jones was seen wearing aHANS Device upon exiting his car. Marcis was making his final attempt at The Winston and all 3 drivers failed to finish the race. After the race restarted,Todd Bodine took the lead, held on to win and advance to the Winston.[2]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(August 2011) |
At the start of the race, pole sitterRusty Wallace led off the green flag when rain was starting to fall at the track. ThenKevin Harvick, the third car in line, got loose and hit the wall in turn one.Jeff Gordon then hitJeff Burton from behind, and both hit the wall. Gordon was spinning and was hit byMichael Waltrip as rain was coming down even more, Gordon's car was lying at the grass. The red flag came out once the rain was coming down hard. The drivers involved in the crash restarted the race with back-up cars. Harvick would be the only driver to not finish the race, only completing 19 laps.
| This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding missing information.(August 2011) |
After the wreck,Jeff Gordon came back from the mayhem to win his third career All-Star race victory, tyingDale Earnhardt.[4] Gordon led for 10 laps during the race and earned $515,000 for the win.