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Day at a Glance History favors Rudd in the 'Great American Race'
Posted: Sunday February 20, 2000 08:44 AM
By Ryan Smithson, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Could we see a Victory Lane celebration similar to Dale Earnhardt's in 1998? Probably not, but it could come close. The Daytona 500 is an elusive reward, and some of Winston Cup's top stars are still chasing their first victory in the Super Bowl of motorsports. Three of them -- Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin -- will start in the front five rows. Rudd, who will make his much-anticipated debut with Robert Yates Racing by starting in the No. 2 spot, has history on his side -- over a third of the Daytona 500s have been won by the top two starters. Wallace, who starts fifth, nearly won last year -- he was leading with 10 laps to go -- and he was one of the fastest cars Saturday in final practice. Martin, who starts ninth in his first race since major back surgery, was also fast on Saturday. Martin finished a career-best third here in 1995; Wallace was fifth in 1998 and eighth (although he led for 109 laps) in 1999. Dale Earnhardt starts 21st. He is not used to starting this far back in a Daytona 500 -- he had started in the top four for 10 straight years, but The Intimidator knows how to get to the front, especially at a restrictor-plate track. Earnhardt won at Talladega (a restrictor-plate track) last fall from the 27th spot. In 1999, he made seven starts from the 20th-to-27th starting spots and he won two of them. In all, he finished out of the top 10 just once.
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