Like a Perry Mason cross-exam, this race never — ever — goes off without a hitch. If there were a Big and Tall section for NASCAR, that’s where you’d find The Winston — it’s an XXL Bristol with a loose collar.
For 45 minutes — about the time it takes to move six car-lengths on Highway 29 during a race weekend — 20 drivers whittle out the good from the bad until someone walks away with half a million dollars. They’ll bill it as an all-star race, but as all-star events go, this is the only win where winning means something. There’s no pre-race home run contest, or passing drill or hardest slap-shot contest.
There’s just 70 laps to decide who’s got what it takes to rile the crowd and walk off with the moolah.
Maybe that’s why, year after year, fans flock to Lowe’s Motor Speedway to be part of The Winston.
During its 16-year run as NASCAR’s all-star event, there have been sparkling crashes, passes in the grass, restarts of jumped restarts, more crashes, cars sliding across the finish line, cars running out of gas on their way to the finish line, special paint schemes, bad special paint schemes and charges from the back of the pack.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was last season’s winner in a furious finish. His namesake, Dale Sr., won this race three times. It was as much a part of his legend as that burly mustache and those shiny Gargoyles. His illusionary pass in the grass — actually a move to hold off a pass from Bill Elliott — came in The Winston.
His silver car, his Wheaties orange car, his red, white and blue Olympics car, his golden Bass Pro Shops car — all came about as part of The Winston. He snookered Mark Martin on a last lap restart to win one. He crashed out of most he didn’t win.
The excitement of The Winston was a made-for-Earnhardt television event. The Winston was Earnhardt’s night on Broadway — or, more aptly, his night at the Grand Ole Opry.
Rusty Wallace, another controversy magnet, won his Winston crown in the late 80s.
“Well, it’s a high-impact race, no doubt about it,” said Wallace, whose run-in with Darrell Waltrip in the closing stages sent Jaws to the wall and the fans into a feeding frenzy during Rusty’s 1989 victory. “With 10 laps, all hell is gonna break loose. You’ve got to really drive aggressively and defensively at the same time. We’re just going for the money. You’ve got a ton of drama going on. The people in the grandstands are flipping out going crazy. The flash cameras are jumping out all over the place and it’s a huge event as far as getting your adrenaline flowing.
“It’s a real, real hard race to win because we’re used to running 500- and 400-milers, and in order to get your car to run really super-fast for 30 laps and faster yet for 10 laps is something none of us really have a whole lot of experience with.”
Jeremy Mayfield, Wallace’s teammate at Penske Racing, wants to win so bad he can taste it. “Winning is everything in this sport, but it really shows on Saturday night,” says Mayfield. “You want to win it. You want to win it bad. But, with no points on the thing, your attitude changes. Winning is everything. Second place means nothing in these races. With the huge difference in money, second place means even less than it ever did, and it’s usually meant next to nothing.
“It really comes down to this: It’s a giant television studio. You either go to Victory Lane or you figure some lady wearing black with a British accent is going to come up and tell you, “Goodbye.”
The starting field for The Winston is made up of drivers who have won races in the preceding and current years, active drivers who have won the NASCARWinston Cup championship and winners of The Winston Open and the No Bull Sprint, run immediately prior to The Winston.
Today's News
