2o0oo0o1

Race 18
The next race was greatly anticipated because it was a new track for 2001, Chicago.
No one really knew what to expect, and I didn't expect it to be as good as it was!
The inaugural Tropicana 400 was won by the awesome rookie, Kevin Harvick!

The winner gets a Gatorade bath!

2o0oo0o1

Race 19
The next race of the year at New Hampshire was won by Dale Jarrett.  At about this time, he
was tied for first place in points with Jeff Gordon for TWO weeks in a row!  I never thought
I'd say "Go Jarrett"!  Unfortunately the points would soon take a turn for the worst.

2o0oo0o1

Race 20
The next race of the year, at Pocono, is when Bobby Labonte finally made his breakthrough win of 2001.  The 2000 Winston Cup champion had a terrible beginning to the 2001 season.  Unfortunately, Dale Earnhardt Jr. almost won, but he couldn't hold off Bobby in the final laps.

2o0oo0o1

Race 21 and 22
The Brickyard 400 and the twenty second race of the year at Watkins Glen were absolutely terrible!  Two terrible Jeff Gordon victories in a row!  Almost too much for a true NASCAR fan to handle!  This is about the time that I started getting REALLY sick of Jeff Gordon, and started giving up hope that someone would beat him in points.  He's a tough son of a b. in championship racing.
Even this dog couldn't stop him!

2o0oo0o1

Race 23
The twenty third race of the year, at Michigan, was a breakthrough win for Dodge and Sterling Marlin's first win since 1996.

2o0oo0o1

Race 24
Tony Stewart took his third and final win of the year in the twenty fourth race at Bristol.

2o0oo0o1

Race 25
Ward Burton returned to victory lane for the first time since Spring
2000 with a win in the twenty-fifth race at Darlington.

2o0oo0o1

Race 26
Another Ricky Rudd win took place at the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 at Richmond on September 8th.  This was almost another Kevin Harvick win, but when he passed Rudd for the lead, he bumped Rudd... So Rudd, in turn, did the same thing to get back around him in the very final laps of the race.

2o0oo0o1

No Race...
The next scheduled race of the season was supposed to be September 16 at New Hampshire.  Unfortunately some BAD people decided to crash some planes into some buildings, resulting in all sporting events the following weekend being canceled. The event was rescheduled as the last event of the season on Friday November 23, the day after Thanksgiving.  A lot of drivers and others in the sport were not pleased with this decision (to race New Hampshire in November), but NASCAR stuck by it's plan to hold the race at New Hampshire in what is usually a very cold time of year in northern states.  (Trust me, I'm from Wisconsin!)

2o0oo0o1

Race 27
The next week it was back to racing at Dover.  The race was very patriotic, with the american flag represented in some way, large or small, on all vehicles in the race.  The winner was Dale Earnhardt Jr....  What an exciting race!  And not just because Dale Earnhardt Jr. won.  The race was kept interesting with several cautions.  Some of the caution causing events?...  Well there was the time when Rusty Wallace spun Ricky Rudd, the time Tony Stewart spun Dale Jarrett, and the time when GO FIGURE, Jeff Gordon CRASHED Ron Hornaday on purpose!  Shame on you Jeff!  Ron finally had a good, competitive car and then you have to go and spin him out!!!  It's called patience, GET SOME!
........

...........................
Dale Jr.'s co-pilot from the 9/27/01 weekend, Wilson the Volleyball!
Wilson got to ride along for much of the rest of the season!

Maybe we should have a patriotic theme for races more often...  Seems like every time we do, someone GOOD wins...  First the Fourth Of July weekend at Daytona, and now the first race back since the terrible events of 9/11/2001.  WAY TO GO DALE EARNHARDT JR.!  You are a good American!

2o0oo0o1

Race 28
The next race of the year was the inaugural race at Kansas.  Being a similar track to Chicago, I was hoping for a Kevin Harvick victory, but the evil one had to go an ruin the whole day by winning.

2o0oo0o1

Race 29
Just six races after his first win in nearly five years, Sterling Marlin visited victory lane again at Lowe's Motor Speedway.  Yes NBC, that's LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY, NOT Charlotte Motor Speedway!

2o0oo0o1

Race 30
The next race brought a surprise first time winner when Ricky Craven won the race at Martinsville.

2o0oo0o1

Race 31
Race number twenty one brought another emotional victory by Dale Earnhardt Jr.  It was his first No Bull million dollar bonus, and it came in the same race that his father won his first No Bull bonus just one year before.  Same track, same bonus, different Earnhardt...  Like father, like son.

Memories of Talladega...
This race is DALE'S race.  In fact, along with Daytona, this track is DALE'S track!  This event was Dale's last win of 2000.  Dale won his 76th and final NASCAR Winston Cup race on October 15th, 2000 by passing at least 15 cars in five laps after a late race restart!  This is the first, and only time that Dale Earnhardt won the No Bull Million Dollar Bonus.  It's hard to believe, it seems like just yesterday I was home in my family's living room screaming my head off for those last five exciting laps!!!  This was the most exciting race I've ever seen!!!  I don't believe another race or another victory will EVER be the same.

This is the car that Dale won his 76th and final race in on October 15, 2000.

..
Dale leads the race...............l.........Dale's last win, and his last trophy....

2o0oo0o1

Race 32
Jeff Burton's year was improving by the end of the season, and he picked up
another victory at Phoenix in the twenty second race of the year.

2o0oo0o1

Race 33
The next race, at North Carolina, brought a win to Joe Nemechek.  This was Nemechek's
first win since 1999, and the first win for the #33 Oakwood Homes car.  Rather surprising!

2o0oo0o1

Race 34
The winner at Homestead-Miami Speedway was a total shock to me!  I kept thinking
Bill Elliott was going to win a race last year, and when he didn't, and he didn't sooner
this year, I figured I'd never see him win one!
....

2o0oo0o1

Race 35
Bobby Labonte stole a win in the second race at Atlanta.  Jerry Nadeau had the strongest car for most of the day, and had the race won...  Then ran out of gas with just HALF a lap to go, dropping back to fourth place and handing the lead over to Bobby.  Labonte said of the win "It was a gift"!  It's actually too bad that Nadeau Didn't win though, that would have upped the winners of the season to 20 and broken the record rather than equaling it...  And it's a GM win either way with is good!

2o0oo0o1

Race 36
Ok...  Now here's where the REEEAL shocker win came in...  And how appropriate for it to happen in the final race of the year!  This MAY be more shocking than Kevin Harvick's win in just his third race.  It may be more shocking than the wins of Michael Waltrip, Elliott Sadler, and Ricky Craven...  Robby Gordon, yes I said Robby Gordon, wins the season final in New Hampshire!

Victory Lane at last for Robby Gordon...  Who'd have thought!?

Robby ran strong all day, but wasn't up front until the later part of the race.

OOOOPS...  Robby taped Jeff Gordon and took the lead near the end of the race...
his car was strong, and he would have been able to pass Jeff no matter what anyway.
The bump was mostly due to the fact that Jeff slowed for the lapped car of Mike Wallace.
Jeff, in turn, threw a fit and rammed Robby from behind on the first caution lap.  He was
then black flagged.  It was good to finally see the RCR Lows car in victory lane, even if
Mike Skinner isn't in it anymore.  I was never a Robby Gordon fan, but I have to admit, it
was pretty cool the way he pissed off poor baby Jeffy!  Jeff, that's NO WAY for the points
champion to act!!!

2o0oo0o1

Kevin Harvick is the
2001 Busch Series CHAMPION!!!
AND
2001 Winston Cup Rookie Of The Year!!!
What a year! Dale Earnhardt would be proud!!!
I don't believe this accomplishment will ever be equaled by anyone else!

The evil one's equally evil team mate, Jack Sprague, is the 2001 Truck Series champion.

CHEVROLET won all three of the top NASCAR division championships this year!
Winston Cup, Busch, and Trucks!  Too bad the WC and Truck winners were both #24!

WE DID IT!
Dale Earnhardt is the most popular driver of 2001!  Thank you very much to everyone who voted!  I knew we could do it!  Also thanks to Bill Elliott for withdrawing his name from the voting, it was a very special thing to do!  I'm glad he got a win this year, he deserved it!

Dale also won the Meyers Brother's award for 2001.
Teresa Earnhardt won the Person Of The Year award from NASCAR Illustrated.
Kevin Harvick won the Driver Of The Year award for his double duty efforts.

Final 2001 Winston Cup Point Standings:

Final 2001 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year Standings

Final 2001 Busch Standings