1986 Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway | NASCAR Classic Full Race Replay

we welcome you live to Darlington International Raceway we're inside the number four Kodak sponsor car driven by Rick Wilson and we're set to go in the 37th annual Southern 500 the threat of rain is causing an early start of this race the lineup on the front row will be Tim Richmond in the folders coffee Chevrolet car number 25 outside of the front row will be Jeff Bodine in the number five Levi Garrett Chevrolet in the second row will be Neil Bonnet and the number 12 buttweiser Chevrolet and Harry Gant driving the skull Bandit car number 33 row number three has the number 88 Brisco Ile driven by Buddy Baker alongside will be the Miller American Buick driven by Bobby Hillen Jr in row number four it's Terry labani and the number 44 p m airlines mmobile alongside the Hardy for number 28 driven by KO yarboro in row number five the Copenhagen o will beile on number 55 driven by Benny Parsons starting alongside in row number five the buttweiser Chevrolet driven by Daryl walum the sixth row has Bobby Allison and Rick Wilson in row number seven it's Sterling Marlin and Bill Elliott row number eight Ricky Rodd and Rusty Wallace in the ninth row Phil Parsons in 66 and Joe Rutman in 26 row number 10 Richard Petty in number 43 and Morgan Shepard in 47 in the 11th row it's Dale erard in number three and Jim solder in 75 the 12th row Allan kcki in car 35 and Kyle peny and number seven the 13th row number 71 D Marcus and 98 Ron Bard throw number 14 Mike walri in number 23 and Eddie bewal in number 17 in the 15th row at C Philip in 81 and Donnie Allison in 54 the 16th row consists of DK alrick in number six and Ken Sher and 90 row number 17 it's JD McDuffy and Connie sailor the 18th row HB Bailey and Jimmy means row number 19 buddy Arrington and Jonathan Edwards and in row number 20 Mark stall and James Hilton I'm Bob Jenkins in the booth jackaroo in the pit area Jerry punch and dick bergren as we get set for coverage of the 37th annual Southern 500 the weather has not been kind to us all weekend here yesterday we had the American the grand national race rather postponed because of rain it was raining hard at our hotel this morning but when we got to the racetrack it had not been raining and it looked very very promising however we have had a few sprinkles reported on Pit Row just in the last 10 minutes we go inside once again the Rick Wilson car as he prepares for a start we have been told that they'll go at least one more lap before we get the green and Bob let's take a look at the other incar camera that'll be driven by Rusty Wallace in the allea guard special number 2 7 from the Raymond beetles stable now they're both mired back in the middle of this 41 car 42c car field with one lap to go before we green flag RAC it now one thing to remember starting back in 21st position is Dale Earnhart he had a problem during his qualifying attempt they repaired the car brought it back here at 7:00 the following day but he had to qualify the second day so he's going to have to carve his way to the front quick comment before the start of the race from dick Beren well about most everybody is working on a chassis setup in an engine combination that's untested there was no practice yesterday they had all counted on it even the pole C's got a chassis set up in an engine combination he hasn't tried so when this green flag drops nobody really knows what these cars are going to do when they go into the first Corner the number 92 car driven by Jonathan Edwards has still not started and there is some question as to whether he will be able to join the field for the start of this event the light on top of the pace car is out indicating that this time around we should get the green flag and begin the southern 500 367 laps of racing on this 1366 mile oval here comes the field off of corner number four and the green flag is out the southern 500 underway from Darlington South Carolina we're glad you can be with us on this Sunday afternoon it's a very narrow racetrack Tim Richmond has grabbed the lead Neil Bonnet second Jeff Bodine is third but Bodine moves alongside Neil Bonnet at the end of the backstretch and Bodine quits himself in second place Bodine second Neil bondn is third they come off of corner number four and complete lap number one get a good you get a good idea Bob of just the kind of respect that the these drivers have for the lady in black or the track too tough to tame already with just one lap in the record books they formed a single file snake all the way around the racetrack they will pick and choose where they'll pass here well there has been so much rain in the past 48 hours that all of the rubber that had been laid down in practice and qualifying is gone so it's a green racetrack they're racing on combined that with the fact that Darlington is so demanding anyway on a driver and I think we're going to see some caution taken here in the open in laps just drivers settling back seeing what their car is going to do waiting for the track to come in take for instance Tim Richmond we alluded to the fact that they didn't have a last practice session and Richmond's crew dropped a new engine in that car and they are a little bit concerned because they didn't get a chance to shake it down even to just make sure that all the hose spinnings were tight but now looks like B his teammate is going to close up on the rear bumper and the car that is being laed here in the early going is Jonathan Edwardson car number 92 so the Rick hendrik team running first and second just like they started Tim Richmond the pole sitter is the leader and Jeff Bodine who started outside of row number one is running in second position right on the rear bumper up Tim Richmond this will complete lap number four when they cross the stripe Richmond and Bodine followed by Neil Bonnet then Harry G then Buddy Baker Terry Leon Bobby Hillen Jr kale yarboro Benny Parsons Bobby Allison darl walri and Sterling Marlin these front two cars have pulled away to about a two second separation over third place and it looks to me like Tim Richmond just gets into turn three a tad better than Bodine Bodine however seems to be able to close up as he exits turn [Music] four Rusty Wallace running back in 17th position there is the view from inside that alugard Pontiac and we have a crash it's Richard Penny on the main straightaway Penny bangs the wall right at the start finish line and the car comes to a Hal that's where we've seen most of the accidents in yesterday's Grand National Race that was suspended just almost near the halfway point and now Richard Petty tastes the concrete here at Darlington the car just beyond the start Finish Line the yellow flag comes out and you can see conversing with his crew chief Dale lman to let him know that he was okay he's beginning to unhitch the seat belts and the shoulder harness but he will sit inside that race car not that he's hurt or anything but waiting for the rest of the field to go by and let the safety crew come to his [Music] assistance and a replay of the accident again trouble erupting just out of corner number four there you saw Petty on the high side it looks like he just got crossed up and bang got eaten by the concrete right at the start Finish Line line he keeps the wheels cocked he stays off The Brak and he just comes to rest those dark spots there on the very inside of the RAC trck are wet spots but the groove itself the area of the RAC trck that they use for racing is completely dry there's no problem in that respect well the STP Pontiac is started once again and Richard Petty will limp to his pit area well they will try to straighten out the Bodywork and get Richard back into this event the southern 500 from Darlington South Carolina we'll be right back we are under yellow on lap number seven here at Darlington because of an accident on the main straightaway involving Richard Penny the leader of the race is Tim Richmond Jeff Bodine second Buddy Baker is third the number 12 car of Neil bonded is fourth and per Gan is Fifth and those specks on the windshield we're afraid to report to you is rain Bob rain is the biggest Factor here all weekend it seems to have reared its ugly head and it's so unusual because Labor Day here in Darlington especially in the PD area of South Carolina it's usually filled with a lot of sunshine now the guys that have a lot of work ahead of them are right there Richard Petty's crew tried to bend away all that sheet metal and there's a mechanic's nightmare if there's ever been one the STP Pontiac with damage in the front end and at the rear end of the car but they'll work here in the next few minutes and get all the body workor away from the wheels and undoubtedly Richard Petty will be able to get back into this competition you know one of the things we talked about what a difference a year makes last year at this race we were looking at a historic possibility that came to full fruition at the end in Victory Lane when Bill Elliott captured the Winston million and became the first driver in American history to ever win a $1 million bonus well well the million dollars is up for grabs today as we continue to see Tim Richmond leading the pack here under caution but there are three drivers that do have a shot at $100,000 a consolation prize of sorts the winner of the Daytona 500 of course that was Jeff Bodine who was running in the second spot then the winner of the Winston 500 Bobby Allison and the winner of the World 600 of course Dale Earnhart should they be able to score a double win here in the southern 500 one of those three drivers they'll receive a $100,000 bonus from the Winston people at RJ Reynolds so the field is slowed under caution now Tim Richmond the leader of the race is way out ahead of everybody else including Jeff Bodine who's running second the pace car has pulled ahead of Tim Richmond on the racetrack but I'm not real sure whether Tim just got out to a a real big lead or whether Jeff Bodine is sort of holding up everybody else's proceedings well Bob what Tim Richmond is doing is actually he's taking care of taking care of business the way he's supposed to he's right behind the pace car the safety car so it's really Bodine in my estimation that hasn't caught up with the rest of the field yet we'll try to talk to Bobby Allison here on our incar radio Bobby Allison this is Bob Jenkins up in the ESPN Booth do you read us yeah Bob I hear you Bobby uh Richard Petty and a bit of a slide down the main straightway into the wall here in the early going is the RAC track pretty green well the track's a little green but unfortunately uh Bob began to rain uh lightly at the end of the back straightway and ended turn three and the caution period I think has contributed to the wetness of the track over there while I'm right here I need to say hi to M Robinson who's uh recuperating from a neck injury he's a a spiritual member of our team but uh we'll get back to racing now all right Bobby we'll be talking with you throughout the race good luck to you yellow light still uh on on top of the pace car uh Jerry punch our other pit reporter for the activity here this afternoon here's Jerry with Richard Penny Richard has climbed out of the STP Pontiac Richard first of all are you all right yeah I'm okay what happened out there anytime you get close to racing with ear Hort you're get in trouble and I I wasn't smart enough to get out as well well Richard Penny's STP piaac mangled he climbs out of it makes a short exit of the day Southern 500 we have a bit of an explanation as to what is going on on the racetrack apparently the drivers were given the signal that we be we would be going green but uh there was a bit of an incar protest from most of the driver saying it isn't safe to go green we're going to hold up the proceedings here and not uh get up to racing speed so the rain is falling or at least sprinkles and causing us to remain under caution here at Darlington so 11 laps have been completed there are the top five and we'll be back with more right after [Music] this we are told that they'll go back to green in two more laps there's Harold Kender the NASCAR flag man holding up two fingers two more laps and green flag conditions will prevail here in the southern 500 for the first time in about 2 hours and 30 minutes and Rusty Wallace carrying one of our incar cameras comes into the pits once again let's see what they're going to do to Rusty Wallace's car it looks like maybe they're just going to top off the gas tank they're looking at the tires on the right side one crew member was changing the windshield that's indeed all they did was add a little fuel oh Rusty is on the lead lap only one car of the 39 restarting is not on the lead lap and that is the number 92 machine Jonathan Edwards who had trouble getting started initially back around the 1:00 hour and was lap in the early going 38 cars on the lead lap Rusty Wallace pulling back out onto the racetrack now take a look at how Rusty Wallace tries to get back into line he's made a pit stop so he can't go to the front and it's a down finger restart so he's relegated right to shotgun on the field at the tail end but he's caught up with the tail end of the field and now he wants to keep the revs up and get ready you can get a good look at just how bumpy a ride you can get one of these stiffly suspended cars as you tour this old lady in the black all right there is Tim Richmond followed by Jeff Bine Buddy Baker and Neil Bonnet your first four positions in fifth is Gant sixth latti seventh is Bobby hyan Jr they're on the backstretch and we go green when they come down and cross the start Finish Line and we will have completed 25 laps at that point Richmond gets to call the shots from here he gets to see the flag first he'll determine the speed as they come down to take the restart pace car is pulling off of the racetrack here comes the field off of the fourth quarter looking for speed for the first time in a long time it seems there's the green flag racing conditions once again at the southern 500 they go three AB bre coming down the main straightaway as some of the faster cars go low and pass the slower cars and one of them was Dale erard he picked up three spots on that restart a good move by nhart Tim Richmond leads them down the backstretch once again pulling out to about a five or six car length advantage on his teammate Jeff Bodine This Is How They started the race with Richmond in the full position and Bodine to the outside and here they are [Applause] [Music] track appears to be in good shape as the leaders are able to move up to some high speeds here Jeff Bodine moves in on the leader the track is in excellent shape and you can see it just it's indicative of the way Tim Richmond and Jeff Bine are beginning to pull away they're running right out on the ragged in that real highp speed group Bodine looks to the inside across the stripe but he's not going to make a move at all it looks as if Jeff Bodine watch this want the lead this is what happened on the restart going to the inside of Bill Elliott he loses it just a little bit herard gets into Elliot Elliott gathers it back in they come across the stripe that's part of racing to Darlington nice job of driving by both Elliot and Dale Earnhardt saving their cars it looked like uh they may have lost control and crashed but both gathered it in now the Hendry cars beginning to move away from the rest of the field as Buddy Baker runs in third position but he is already about a half a straight away behind the number five Levi Garrett Chevrolet driven by Jeff [Music] bod Rick Wilson looking a little bit squirly there in the third turn as Morgan Shepard is moving up nicely he went to the inside of Joe rman and picked up a spot noward looking once again to the inside of Rick Wilson but has to back off typical sparring match you can see the hands being sawed back and forth by Dale nhart he's really working that car trying to look for a slight advantage to get around because he looks in his rear view mirror and he sees Morgan Shepard one tough customer himself just some excellent pictures from that Kodak Ile now herard once again cannot get it done you have got to be careful where you pick your place to pass here at Darlington Raceway you just can't stick your nose out at let's say like a place like tadeo or Michigan you've got to just pick it stab it and go for it that's why as you see in the picture here the car seem to come up real close then back off nowart goes to the inside he's going to try it one more time coming out of the corner he's going to do it this time and Morgan Shephard comes right behind him and crash and turn two is CH Phillip pH hitting the wall in corner number two and scattering a lot of debris everybody scrambles to miss him they do Philip's car still under power he pulls it to the acon of the racetrack and gets headed in the right direction once again but debris on the track will cause our first caution of the day and one would think that all the leaders will come into the pitch during this caution be able to top off for fuel get some input as to what the track conditions are now and you can see the damage that's been done to Circle LGE Truck Corral car it's pretty well dinged in the front and they're pitting on the backstretch so he had a very short trip to his mid area chat was one of only two drivers that participated in the rookie program rookies are required to undergo a program take some lessons from the more experienced drivers Chad Philip and Jonathan Edwards were the only two to participate in that they are starting their first Darlington uh event here this afternoon and haric H heads into the PS number 33 yeah locks it up trying to find his pits there just sliding through there was a good indication of what Bobby Allison told us everybody was going to take it easy Neil boted also in taking on right side tires theyve dropped the Jack and let's see if they're going to go for four tires yes they do now you see that move the Jackman went around got in position and Tim Brewer who is changing that front tire waited for the Jackman to go around him before he went and attacked that front tire also a couple of other cars on Pit Road as we watch Neil Bonnet pull out Sterling Marlin and Joe rman both on Pit Road with their hoods up there is Harry Gan with his hood up and that does not look good for Harry Gan you don't want to go beneath the hood this early in a race and had very high hopes of doing well in this race he qualified fourth fastest but it looks as if he has a problem with that car we'll be right back in a moment to Darlington [Music] back at Darlington International Raceway where the yellow remains out because of the crash involving Chad Philip over in car number two and turn number two well so far some unexpected but some expected things we saw the PO and outside pole Center Rumble to the front here we've had the red flag delay but it looks like you know Richmond and Bine are still the class of the field at least in the early going that is the indication and also the indication is that we're going green once again this next time around here's a good look from inside Rusty Wallace's car as they start to come up through the gearbox anticipating that restart all the way there in turns one and two Wallace at the tail end the back and he's got to be not caught asleep because he's going to try and take some positions on this restart couple of cars have gone behind the wall Harry Gan and Joe Rutman are both behind the wall because of mechanical problems and the hood is up on the Sterling Marlin machine number one in the pit area well that's disappointing for the bullseye crew you know they finish fourth at tallad and high hopes for here Here Comes frond leing down once again for a green flag [Music] restart two a bre on the main straight away but everybody filing in the single file form going into turn number one the narrow race group here at Darlington necessitates that now they're on the back still Tim Richmond and the number 25ers coffee shrr leading Jeff Bodine and budy Baker Tim Richmond qualified for this race at 15489 milph about a mph faster than his teammate Jeff a [Applause] [Music] second car running very slowly on the inside of the racra you got a shot of it there on straight away was Mark stall in car number 82 now once again Jeff Bodine makes a bid for that lead as they go down into the back stretch and into turn number three he took a look and then thought better of it and really there's no real reason to have to go out and battle right now for the front position he's right to the re buper of Richmond a good indication that he's just as fast as they pulled away just a little bit from Buddy Baker thir so what b do is just move to the inside take a look see if what's ahead of him and then stay right behind his team [Music] there you can see how close they are separated by just a few inches as they race down the backstretch once again but Richmond holding on to that topot here in the early going of the Southern 500 delayed by more than 2 hours and 15 minutes because of but the weather doesn't look too bad right now skies are still overcast but it has not rained now in about an hour and the track conditions are very conducive right now to some good Strong high speed racing the dness that was on the RAC trck most of it has disappeared the majority of it now is down on the inside where you don't race anyway sure it's 80 80 ft wide there's only about 35 ft use the racing group here let's go down to Nick who is with apparently an early retiring from the race here again well Bob hoping to not be a retire this was the distributor Captain was on the side looks fine but that's how har came in this thing was broken directly in half and they're working on the car right beside me now trying to get the car back together again there's about seven mechanics with their hands underneath This Hood and again hopes to go back right now Jerry punch is up pit rod and he's with Joe Rutman well dick we're in the garage area and Joe rman is a second car to retire Joe what puts you out well we have water run out the exhaust which indicates that we probably got a cracked head and uh you know obviously there's not much way to there no way ofing that kind of problem out of back up R's terrible luck continues on the Winston Cup Trail he is the second car to drop out of competition in the southern 500 the first being Richard peny on the racetrack with 41 laps completed it's still a battle between Tim Richmond and Jeff Bodine I tell you while we watch Tim Richmond and Jeff Bine begin to pull away from your third Place Runner there is a one whale of a battle going on behind him for fifth 6th seventh eth and Ninth positions K yro ined the head of your picture directly behind him is Bobby Hill Jr then right in the back of that package you see him there going beneath the sign is Bill Elliot Elliot is on the move he set his sights now on darl Walter he has begun to show the muscle the million dooll bill exhibited last year in his Run for the million five cars running right together on the racetrack here bringing up the TA at the moment is Bill Elliot but he has moved in ninth place after starting in 14th position but the real battle and the best one is still up front the teammates Richmond and pine going at it at the moment Pine content appears to remain in second position letting his teammate Richmond set the face when you look at the nature of these two drivers that's exactly the way they should run Richmond is the flamboyant one that likes to get out front the lead a little more calculating he rather just save maybe a couple of cards in his hand till later again he shows just to the inside he faints that move but you never really see him Lo the cannon and try and go after he just Peaks sneaks a peek to the inside and then goes back behind that fold start on the way dard has moved up to 12 position now from his place start Richmond and Alo once again sneaking right up on the back bumper that number 25 car they come down the straightaway slower car there to the inside is Jonathan Edwardson number 92 when they get by him safely now for the looks of things the way Tim Richmond is running as he's here now in turns one and two but when he gets over to turn three it looks like possibly he has just a slight handling problem nothing to be real concerned about but he'll point the nose downstairs he'll try and get as low as possible there and then the nose starts to run right up high up against the wall that is usually indicative of a push with the race car odine on the other hand seems a little more content able to keep the car pointed down low each time down the main straightaway j9 moves his car to the left and takes a look but has not made a real indication that he wants to pass now watch the line they take going into turn number three Tim Richmond will move right down to that low stripe and then the car swings High well now he used a little lap traffic there with Buddy Arrington so you really didn't get a good look at what they call giving a car its head letting it go to the wall just not trying to bind it up but that's the technique that Richmond's using now and here's the Bill Elliott darl walri and Bobby Allison battle for seventh position Allison's in seven walri is in eighth and Elliot is in ninth position and downstairs in Pit Road with a story from the Elliot pit is Jerry punch we're standing with older brother Dan Elliot and Dan B starting to make his move the car must feel pretty good to him start make you move he said the car was just really comfortable and the engine was running good which we didn't have any practice on here after we changed after qualifying and he said really like the set up so set comfortable and we're just going to ride there was a big question mark in that engine you said they hav't a single lap for a brand new engine they were concerned about the engine might be yeah it's really really good you get some practice time on the engine think have any all leaks or any problems with it we didn't have a chance to do that and we just had to start cold turkey so we're pretty happy right now well they're awfully confident here in the Elliot pit well Elliot's awfully confident right now Bob he's watching a heck of a battle between Bobby Allison and Daryl Walter Walter's downstairs he's looking for that seventh position and wal falling in behind Bobby Allison here choosing not to pass at the moment Benny Parsons Hasen back now to 10 position and there is Dale herart in 11 so 7 8 9 10 and 11 here running nose to tail on the racetrack a couple of cars have come back out on the RAC track as walri makes a bid to the inside of Allison but can't pick up the spot both Harry Gant and CH Philip have come back out onto the racetrack and there is they are continuing to pick him off he goes to the inside and passes B in turn four now compare this sparring for that seventh position between Allison and walri to that that we saw just moments ago between Richmond and Bodine Bodine with faint a move to the inside walri wants the position held by dere by by Bobby Allison watch he takes a look to the inside he tries to get his corner panel up to the door post but Bobby Allison that's a signal that hey the spot is mine he didn't do it that time but every other lap he's made that attempt at least going into turn three there you can see 50 laps completed our 2858 update with latest baseball scores of course there was an indie car race this afternoon at Mid Ohio sports car cour will have delayed same coverage of that at 8:00 tonight there was an accident late in the race what appeared to be a very serious accident involving Jose Le Gara Larry nber will update us on that situation in just a few moments there Allison held off darl walri one more time going into three walri tries to set him up coming out of four he's looking for that spot and you've got to pick your spot to make the pass not able to do it that time let's go down to Jerry punch in the P are once again's with Richard well he's the car owner for Richard are you concerned about how hard Dale having to run the car early in the race no we're just just to lose a whole lot of track try to get back the leaders but he's being careful right now how is the track overall is the track Drive pretty well he be pretty tight with the car yes uh we were a little tight we're still a little bit tight we're going to have to work with our tires on the next Pit Stop how about Fu M everything going as you plan well it's hard to tell we we didn't get a chance to run this practice we don't know that's a story here in the r side by side into turn one door handle the door handle racing and Daryl walri picks up the spot forcing Bobby Allison high and here comes Bill Elliot right behind and Bale erard is going to try to follow also before they get to turn three he can't get the job done though as the door is Slam by Bobby Allison now ear heart to the inside of Allison and he picks up the SP that's how quick you can go from Seventh to 10th here at Darlington a good move by walri benefiting from it was Elliot and nhart they did their homework as well so now in seven position is darl wal Allison nard and [Music] 10 Tommy Allison Benny Parson running right behind Allison 55 laps have been completed and the reason that we are only 55 laps into this race is because of a rain delay that we had it started to rain just after the cars began this 367 lap event it rained hard they red flight but we went back to racing and now we are proceeding we have a car smoking very badly and a crash to the inside there is the top of the car we still can't get an indication of who it is but the car did slide off of the RAC track and probably came into contact with that wall separating the track from the pit area how quick things can change here just that quickly coming hurdling out of turn two looks like it would be Eddie beer whale's car number 17 and that is a tough break for beer well but look at the look at the uh the windshield it's popped right out of his position and they race back to the line here's the yellow flag display Tim Richmond will maintain the lead and couple of cars trying to get their laps back there but did not that was number 64 machine driven by con sailor who tried to get ahead of Richmond but was unable to do so before the cars crossed the line now if the leader should pit let's watch and see type of adjustments they make on their cars we talked about the fact that from our perspective it looked as if maybe Richmond was a tad tight going into this race let's see if one of his crew members if he does bring the car into Pit Road and he will let's see if they make any sort of chassis adjustment look for either the front tire changer to go beneath before he pulls the wheel and puts the other one on to make an adjustment or going in the back of the area diving into the inside the cockpit to make an adjustment on what they call the four stacking bolts let's go down to our pit reporters who going to be able to call these pitch stops by the leaders the leader and Harry H the gr will go to work under caution they should change four tires they're cleaning the windshield that b they get richm something cold to drink they have the car on the jacks on the right side and the car number five also as you see both cars now in the pitch they will go the left side for Tim Richmond left side tire change the cre now getting all four tires fresh rubber on the Chevrolet has been leading to the green flag TR they have the car off theck pretty good P about 282 seconds for Tim Richmond and a great credit to all these drivers because that Pit Road is still very slick in fact there are still puddles but everybody came in and uh didn't have a single problem and also you notice that they didn't make any adjustments on the car so the way they've solved their slight problem with what we call Tire staggers they've changed it just a little bit and hopefully that'll make the car run that much better richond back out on the racetrack Benny Parsons was the leader but now he will come in and relinquish the lead and so the standings are changing here as we're having our first series of pit stops in the southern 500 59 laps have been completed 367 will make up this race there was some damage showing there on the Benny Parson car obviously he's had contact with someone out there from inside the Kodak machine driven by Rick Wilson we'll take this break and be back with more of the Southern [Music] 500 we are back to racing at Darlington and what a race we've got going Tim Richmond and Neil Bonnet are going at it tooth and nail as a matter of fact B [Applause] [Music] and now Bodine tries the inside of Bonnet for that second position into three some great racing going on here now nhart looks to the inside of Bodine trying to take away that third spot and he does Dale Earnhart moves to Third now Jeff Bodine has Terry labani to contend with lebani in that number 44 pedmont eMobile moving to the inside and crash on the main straightaway Mike Waltrip and Bill Parsons are involved and there may be others oh Rick Wilson just missed and so did Benny Parsons boy that was close boy closer than anybody would ever want to admit to you you just we talked about this track being 80 ft wide as we look at Phil Parsons getting back into the gearbox and pull away from the scene of the altercation as they would say but once things start to break loose here out of the racing group everybody darts and Dives but you just don't have a lot of room now there's another car that was involved Jim solder pitting on the backstretch he shows cosmetic damage to the outside and Parsons is making his way around for service with his crew boy it was just inches that this car and this man right here Rick Wilson missed Bill Parsons who was in the middle of the straightaway let's take a look at again it happened coming off of corner number four Parsons and walri sideways here now the racetrack is blocked the groove look at all the cars going to the inside up against the retaining barer that yellow car is that was wow that was too close Rick Wilson just threaded the needle just a slight twitch of the wheel and he got by and Benny Parsons also went right through the middle of everything and avoided it and here is how it looked from Rusty Wallace's car as he scrambled to avoid now try and imagine you're going to get through all this thread the needle it still about 100 mph you go by Phil Parsons you take a look real quick as to what's happening you try to gather it back in and you just go he missed it and so did Rick Wilson but now the track is littered with debris and the crew will have to the track crew will have to come out and pick up the pieces of sheet metal and fiberglass that were torn from those race cars were under yellow once again with 67 laps completed and boy the way Tim Richmond was battling with Neil Bonnet there Bob one would have thought that maybe it was for the last five or six laps Bonnet as we said had some real quick pit work and he got out towards the head of the field he took that lead on the drop of the green flag and and Tim Richmond just said I'm going to have none of that and just grabbed it right back away from Bonnet couple of cars in the pit area Bobby Allison has come in for a uh a pit stop rck Wilson also stops and now here comes Phil Parsons in there's a look as they've completed the service on the Kodak car now he made it through all right but you can see the tape that was on the windshield there he's got a crack windshield he had that before the accident of course we understand that Phil rather Jim soter may have had contact with the wall up in turn number four to cause that accident here on the main straightaway we'll be right back the race is back under green at Darlington and Tim Richmond has the advantage once again followed by Neil Bon and Dale nhart and Jeff Bine as they file into turn number two once again now there is a Quinella right there you've got Richmond on the point planked by Bonnet now Bodine looks to the inside of nhart he gets the spot and takes over third but look at erard says nothing doing fella I'm going to the inside downstairs in three and four battle for third here nard gets it back oine back to Fourth position from the looks of that move Bob one would have to say that nhart is really not using all that he's got in that race car just the way he took that spot back it's almost as if he's going to let the race come to him now knowing the weather that has prevailed over this area all weekend do you go for the halfway point Jack or do you go for the uh full distance I think they've said it's so many times you've got to at least at this point in the race go like it's going to be for the full distance now you're going to run just as hard as you can here at Darlington as compared to let's say a Talladega or a place like that because this track is so treacherous drivers will tell you you don't race the competition you race the track itself so whether it's 200 Mi 400 mil or 500 Mi it doesn't matter every lap you've got a race at 110% Tim Richmond pulling away from the rest of the field you can see the interval there between first and second as Richmond has opened up about a half a straightaway advantage on second third fourth and fifth they running right together second B it nhart making a bid for second he gets it at the end of the straightaway like I said nhart wants to wait for the race to come to him he looked in his in his front windshield and he saw that Richmond was beginning to pull away so he just reached down and beneath the hood of that car and said give me a little bit let me take over a second so I can at least keep the lead in sight he doesn't want to let Richmond get too far ahead of him a phenomenal March toward the front of the field by Dale nhart who was relegated to a second day qualifier he was the fastest of course on second day qualifications started this race 21st and now has moved all the way up to number two had he uh been able to qualify on the first day his speed was good enough for fifth starting position third fourth and fifth here Bonnet and Bodine going at it Bodine picked this spot going into turn three he goes downstairs boy Bonnet ped oh that was close it's almost it looked to me like maybe Bonnet didn't see him and pinched him just a little bit downstairs but Bodine gathered it back in and the other guy that did a whale of a job was Terry lebani he gave Bodine the room to recover just a terrific job of driving by jef Bodine whose car was almost completely sideways and he saved it to hang on to that third position position not done intentionally Neil Bonnet just looked down and he just saw him and he had to back out of it but that's the Close Quarters racing that we've got here at Darlington a great job by Bodine Bonnet and as I said Terry leani he hung on to Fourth position in that move now here's what here's what I'm talking about bodin's downstairs Bonnet taking his customary line going to point the nose down into where the groove is but Bodine is there Bodine has to go almost down onto the apron he loses traction and and he gathers it back up now see leani was back out of the throttle gave Bodine all the room that he needed it was a situation similar to one uh in Bristol last weekend you saw it on our uh replay of that race a little bit earlier when Ricky rud last weekend was right behind Harry K when Dan got sideways and Ricky backed off the accelerator to make sure that he didn't spin boy all that action is tightened up now for fifth sixth seventh and eighth position odine running up there in that uh third spot in fourth position now is Bonnet fifth goes to leani and Daryl walri has moved to six spot bodine's beginning to pull away but the battle is for the position number four held by Neil Bonnet Bond it in fourth followed by Terry labani and then Daryl walri following walri on the racetrack is Bobby Hillen Jr kale yarboro Buddy Baker who was third when we restarted this after our great delay in 10th position is Ricky rdd 11th is Bill Elliot and the number 27 car of Russy Wallace has moved back up to 12th position and Tim Richmond is still maintaining a sizable lead over Dale nhart nhart is closing but ever so slightly the action is right here what you're seeing leani goes downstairs and takes the spot from Bonnet it looks like Bonnet may have a little bit of a problem well Terry made that move very very nicely and with authority as he moved to the low side to make the pass and then moved high on the racetrack to pass a back marker so obviously that Pont Airlines S mobile is working fine Chad Philip is being laed on the racetrack he's been into the wall earlier in the race now we're going to watch the teammates go at it here as Neil Bonnet and Daryl walri meet on the racetrack and Bobby Hillen Jr is also right there in number eight as you watch Neil Bonnet go through the corners here Daryl Walter hurdling directly behind him it looks as if there is a little erratic movement on the part of car number 12 that would be indicative of a handling problem let's see if we can notice it here in turns one and two Bonnet tries to maintain the line and there looks like there may be just a little wiggle to the nose could be that that car is a tad [Applause] loose the Junior Johnson machines running in fifth and sixth position neither of these drivers will be with Junior next year Neil will be going to the rainock operation and course darl walri with the Rick hendri organization and look look who's lurking in the back there kale yro just waiting a five-time winner of the Southern 500 he likes this race I think the irony is he's never won the trans South 500 but he boy he knows how to get it done on a Labor Day weekend 81 laps have been completed now on the racetrack the leader is Tim Richmond and he is just dominating this race at the moment crossing the line right now as second position the yellow car driven by Dale erard and then back to third position is Jeff Bodine followed by Terry leani in fourth and Neil Bonnett in fifth position so at the moment Tim Richmond is controlling the southern 500 at Darlington International Raceway back with more in just a [Music] moment [Music] we are back at the southern 500 Tim Richmond D erard and Jeff Bodine are your top three with 85 laps completed there's the leader Tim Richmond and he has about a 3sec lead now on second place Dale nhart Richmond is being very cautious as he works the race traffic because he knows there's plenty of it and he knows that while he negotiates it so does Dale nhart so he's not really going to lose much of his leading advantage and he can afford at least at this point in time to be extra cautious well the uh good news is that Tim Richmond is leading and everything is going well with 87 laps completed the bad news is it's raining and we have a car in the wall That's number 70 JD McDuffy just a slight bump he just kissed it the Winkle piac goes down onto the infield apron it looks like he might have missed his pit there on the back straightaway but so far no yellow has been displayed because he's out of Harm's Way he's out of Harm's Way the car is still moving at least to the moment although it is now coming to a halt but he's well off the racetrack and out of everybody's way so we could very easily not have a yellow flag now it is displayed the yellow comes out and it'll be a race back to the line as we were saying just before JD did KISS the wall as we watched the battle back to the line here comes Tim Richmond he crosses the line Dale Earnhart about to right now it is raining once again over Darlington International Raceway not a heavy rain but drops are beginning to show in the puddles once again and drops are beginning to show on the windshield of Rick Wilson in the Kodak time now remember what Tim Richmond told you though that raindrops now well that may obscure your visibility because of the heat that's been built up on the racetrack until it rains a little heavier the racetrack is fine it's been dried in fine fashion and with all the heat from the tires and these cars it dissipates as quick as it hits the pavement unfortunately doesn't do the same on the windshield we anticipate some more pit stops in just a moment as the field will come around here comes Tim Richmond Here Comes Dale nhart Jeff Bodine and others into the pit area let's go down to dick bergren and the pits are going the pits are going to be a very busy place for sure all of the leaders are into the pit area right now this will almost certainly be a four tire change for everyone Richmond is gesturing wildly inside the car to his crew he is obviously upset about something it is raining down here on Pit Road in fact it's raining more by far than we'd like to see at this particular juncture if it keeps up this hard we may eventually have a problem on the speedway more Tire changes going on up and down Pit Road everybody taking on a full load of fuel and the first car out is the 47 that's Morgan shefford there goes kale yor there goes Richmond oh in and Richmond almost Collide on Pit Road herard however gets out in front Richmond that was close but Earhart won the battle Bill Elliott has a problem and uh Terry laon's car also with a problem down here right in front of us it looks like the car fell off the Jack or the wheel fell off after they had have fixed it because leani had begun to pull away from his fits and the car just the whole left side the left front just fell down to the ground so most everybody moving out of the pit area now now they have labon's car down off the Jack and moving Bill Elliot also is back out onto the racetrack so we are under our fifth caution period in 90 laps of the Southern 500 back in a [Music] moment we're back at Darlington and Terry labot is making another pit stop the car apparently fell off the Jacks Last Time by dick bergren can explain that for us dick well they definitely had a problem here in Steve meal the crew chief was knocked over he was the back of his his shirt his pants are all skinned up he's he's wet he's okay in fact he's the guy that's doing the work on this left front and they did have some damage here on the left front of the automobile but it doesn't appear to be anything major they're putting out the left front tire on the car they beat the damage out and Leon is back on his way to the speedway unfortunately though he has lost a lap so a tough break for lebani who is running up there in the top 10 that's in six make that fourth position when the incident occurred and it was just a scant few feet that cost him the lap if they'd been able to reix that tire in maybe four or 5 Seconds earlier than they did Bob the stop sign was still green saying he could have on out but the leaders had come across the stripe and they had said got to hold everybody in the pits and lebani lost one one full lap there you can see our 2858 update the American League baseball scores will have golf later this afternoon here on ESPN later tonight we will have the Escort Radar warning 200 indie car race from met Ohio Sports Car course and wherever we are in our broadcast schedule we will have the finish of this race live in here on ESPN kind of a fitting departure for Jack BBE Morgan Shepard who won in Atlanta earlier this year in April surprised so many people with that Privateer entry he's now leading the fame Southern 500 boy BB would like nothing better than to go out as a car owner winning the oldest race in Nascar second on the serial score is Jeff Bodine then kale yarboro now third Dale nhart is fourth Tim Richmond back to fifth sixth position is Bobby hillan Jr seventh is Neil Bonnet eighth darl walri ninth Ricky rud 10th is Buddy Baker 11th Phil Elliott 12th is Rick Wilson in 13th position Dave Marcus 14th is Benny Parsons 15th Bobby Allison 16th is the number seven car of Kyle Penny then we have Ron Bard followed by Morgan Shephard and Rusty Wallace well they've been given this signal one fla and will be back to green [ __ ] czy and Shephard will really have his hands full Bob because directly behind him is Bodine then yarro and then Dale nhart and nhart has really turned the heat up but as I said before I don't think sufficiently that he's wasting his race car in any way by the way that is Jim solder that is running in 18th position Morgan Shepard is the leader of the race and he'll bring him to the green flag as we restart the southern 500 there is the shot from r Wallace's car as he moves that Pontiac down the backstretch they are getting into the two ab breast restart formation Rusty is suffering with a shock absorber problem that's what's keeping him off the very fast pace although he is still on the lead lap and is still running in the uh 19th position here they come down for the restart the green out once again and four a breast this time down the straightaway and the jockeying for position on the inside is mostly lap traffic they're looking for a spot because they're racing with those guys even though they may be two three laps down to the leaders but up front the battle is enjoyed Bodine goes downstairs down the backstretch Jeff Bodine going to the inside of Morgan Shepard and taking over the lead kale yarbor is there on the white and orange number 28 car in third position why don't you think kale Yo's got mixed emotions right now that number 47 car he's about to purchase it so he's going to be extra care careful when he goes around that one because soon it's going to be his piece of Machinery kale is tucked right on the back bumper of that Morgan Shephard machine the number 47 car owned Now by Jack phebe but it'll soon become the kale yarboro racing operations kale a five time winner of the Southern 500 and a five time winner here at Darlington first race that kale yabra ever saw was at the knee of his dad and it was the fame Southern 500 and kale said from that day forward I knew I wanted to be a race car driver he was thrown out of the Southern 500 about four different times because he tried to race underage all in one day his first race here at Darlington was back in 1957 now we go back and pick up on this battle involving Tim Richmond Dale nhart and Neil Bonnet Richmond's in fourth in fifth is nhart Bonnet is in six then they're beginning to Duke it out here as they go into turn three nhart looks at Tim Richmond's rear deck lid stays Blue right there and looking after which Bonet can close up the advantage but he seems to be lacking just a little something not enough to stay just as tight as as nhart does to Richmond running in this group of cars behind Neil Bonnet and Bobby hillan is Daryl walri now we showed you part of the Bush 500 from Bristol International Speedway while we were in our rain delay for those of you who do not know Daryl walri did go in to go on to win that race at Bristol follow followed by Terry lebani Jeff Modine Dale nhart and Harry G those were the first five finishers of the Bush 500 last Saturday night at Bristol International Raceway and Dale nhart knows that Daryl walri scored that Victory nhart is at the head of the points list and he is being followed by darl walri wal's done it before in 81 82 and in 1985 he scored a Winston Cup Championship after being down as many as 200 points going into this race so nhart he feels the heat he here's the footsteps from one Daryl Waltrip Waltrip is only 121 points behind they earn hard as we enter this 21st race of the 1986 Winston Cup season it's going down to the final race undoubtedly again for the Winston Cup title let's go to Jerry punch well peon Airline Ile is in the pits and Terry Leon continues to have problems on the last Pit Stop they did not get all the lug nuts in the tires and you heard Nick Bergen talk about the problem they had they also tagged one of the crew members Steve meal he's kneeling down before that left front tire trying to work on the car now they have another problem they have lost the brakes apparently when they dropped the car off the Jack they must have cut a brake line in the car they have no brakes on it to get the car slowed they going to try to make some repairs and get him back out but it could be a long afternoon for the Pont crew and Terry leani tough break for Terry leani leani will be moving over to Daryl walri Jr got some prepared entry next year but he wanted to win for Billy Hagen and now the the lesie of the team Wayne King who's taking over the day-to-day operation and Steve m one of the best crew chiefs in the business and boy he was lucky that he didn't to get injured when that car fell off the Jack B still up on the Jacks right now they're conversing with Terry and now the car is down and Terry leonti moves away from the pit area and rejoins the race carrye was the winner earlier this year at Rockingham and has had about 3 second place as he just can't get the car to run I thought he was going to pull behind the wall there for a moment indeed that's what he wanted to do is he wanted to go behind the wall but the wall was blocked by the pace car so what they're going to do is he's going to take one quick circuit around Steve me and the crew got set out back behind the wall and they're going to make major repairs for the breaks there you can see Terry was the winner of the 1980s Southern 500 leani the Corpus chrisy Texas driver now living in Arsdale North Carolina may be pulling behind the wall the on the move is Rusty Wallace number 27 now remember they we've got to report that Rusty Wallace is having some sort of a shock absorber problem and you can see it in this in car see the bounce see that's not the way it should be this track is not that bumpy the car is not traveling properly on its shocks so the race setup has just gone totally out the window and what what wrestling Wallace is faced with is wrestling a grizzly bear for the next 500 miles it's amazing that he's been able to put himself into 19 position with the 1987 is concerned who Shard is riderless right now he does not have a drive it's the word is that he will be departing the Mike Curb organization a lot of talk that Dale Jarrett will drive that car Jarrett made a campaign with it at Bristol one week ago where buard goes no one knows right now and Jeff has just opened up a tremendous lead on the rest of the field he passed Morgan Shepard when the green came out on the most recent restart and now has almost a 4C lead on Shepard who continues to run in second position Tim Richmond is third then nhart then Neil Bonnet kale yarboro and Bobby hyan Jr there's Bodine crossing the stripe and completing 106 laps that halfway point is 184 if they run 185 laps and if we should have heaven forbid another rain shower they could stop the race and it would be declared an official race but we're hopeful that we can get the entire 367 laps in complete this Southern 500 remember one thing there's only about 142 mil completed in this 500 M contest and right now the key the battle plan for all these drivers is not to go a lap down there's no need to really use up your equipment and from the looks of things at looking at Bodine as he works his race car as we've seen Tim Richmond Dale Earnhardt all of them are driving a very heav race none of them are pressing at 150% they're not getting everything out of the car but Jerry punch right now is with someone from Terry lean's Crew with Steve me the crew chief and Steve you've had a ration of problems with what really is the problem with the car well we messed up a pit stop and it left the car got let off the jack with a left front wheel nut on it and Terry come back in and we fixed it but I told him it may have heard a brake caliper so he went out he had a vibration he thought he busted a brake rotor might have broke a caliper or something actually he had equalized the left rear tire so we fixed that and the cars all right but we're a bunch of laugh down you got hit by the car when it dropped off the Jack are you okay yeah I'll be all right that's Steve M here in the tont pit Jeff Bine continues to lead you know you can come to a racetrack and lay miles and miles of cable and get everything just right but when it rains it really causes some headaches for us perhaps you're not getting the best video or audio on this Sunday evening now in your respective hometowns while you're watching the race we apologize it's simply the fact that a tremendous amount of water has fallen here and has gotten into our tables and is really messing things up the battle is for second position Morgan Shepard and Tim Richmond and it's become a Dandy one Shepard holds the spot as they go to turn three but Richmond began to make a move on him there in turns one and two now Richmond goes down takes a look backs up back into the group now he's trying to get a run on Morgan Shepard as they hurdle down across the start Finish Line won't do it though this is more than a two-car race it's a fourcc car battle for position Shephard Richmond right behind Dale Earnhart and then Neil Bonnet and Richmond's car a little bit sideways there in the second turn we even saw some Tire smoke come off of it but Tim handled it nicely he did drop back though about a car length and now is being challenged by Dale erard as they are at the end of the back stretch but Richmond holds on to that third spot now nhart again to the low side of the racetrack he passes to Richmond and goes to third classic move by Dale Earnhardt saw a miscue saw an opportunity and just stabbed at it took the spot away Morgan Shepard has been able however to hold on to that second position in a pretty impressive drive by Morgan who next year goes to the Kenny Bernstein own team which is now of course the car being driven by Joe Rutman who retired from this race very early in the contest so Richmond has been relegated back to the fourth position in in fifth spot is Bonnet now Bonnet looked to the inside trying to take a move but Morgan Shepard is holding all of these guys in Bay right now and Shepard has got a little something to prove not only for himself but his retiring carer Jack B now Bonnet looks to the inside of Richmond for the spot and that's for fourth pulls alongside at least gets about half the car alongside Tim Richmond but then backs out of the accelerator and sets the car into third place Terry leani into the pit area once again as they continue to work on that car and try to get it back in good running ORD Terry lebani was running as high as fourth position when the car fell off the jack on a pit stop and they've had trouble with it ever since well you heard Steve say that they think they may have bent a break calber and if that's the case the car will vibrate terrifically even when you're not on the brakes because it may be rubbing up against the rotor and boy that's tough here leonnie goes back into the race as we continue to watch 2 three four and five now third and fourth position it's herard and Tim Richmond now Neil Bonnet once again Dives that car low but is unable to pass here is Richman looking to the inside of Dale nhart but he also backs out of it as they go high on the RAC track to lap number 64 Connie sailor some nice early power too from Neil Bonnet Bonnet has not been really that great of a ride in 1987 he's yet to be victorious that's so unusual for any Junior Johnson ride and bonnett's got a lot to prove he's going to the raymok team next year but it would be nice as we talked about early on in the race for him to be able to score a victory gain entrance into the Winston and possibly be able to bring to the raymok team an invitation to the winner circle program that's worth about1 8 to $200,000 in 1987 now Neil Bonnet once again watches Tim Richmond's car slide just a little bit sideways in the second corner but Bonnet thinking better of making a move I think that Morgan Shepard has to be given a lot of credit here he qualified in 20th position he was the slowest qualifier on the first day of time trials at say but he has held on to that second spot and now Tim Richmond moves inside at the end of the front stretch to pass Dale nhart and Richmond momentarily moves to third Bonnet also challenging Dale nhart now Bonnet looked to the inside of Dale nhart but when Richmond got out of the throttle just burped it for a second erard had to back out everybody was crossed up not enough that you could see it on your screen but enough that they all just played it a little cautiously because there's so much racing left and everybody said well let's settle down and we'll go for it the next lap while all of this is going on Jeff Bodine continues to hang on to the lead and in fact he continues to stretch out the advantage there he is lapping Jonathan Edwards in car number 92 Bodine one of three drivers here this afternoon who can win if he should win this race a bonus of $100,000 he was the winner of the Daytona 500 and you have to win two to pick up that $100,000 meanwhile back for the battle in second position Morgan Shepard runs in second third spot still belongs to the the teammate of your leader Bodine that of course Richmond nhart has been moved to Fourth spot as they go down into turn one and in fifth is Neil Bonnet kale yarro is in Sixth and it looks as if moving into seventh yes it's Buddy Baker and in eighth spot is Bill Elliot by the way it's a 6 and 1 half second Advantage for Jeff Bodine over Morgan Shepard there is herard and the number 12 car of Neil Bonnet now behind Bonnet at sixth seventh and eth Yar in sixth seventh to Baker and in eighth is Bill Elliot and they're having one winging Battle of their own kale yarboro in the Hardy car number 28 there is Buddy Baker who ran as high as third but has not been quite as fast on the racetrack since we had the rain delay as he was in the very early going of this race he's driving the Crisco sponsored o mobile car number 88 B Elliott is there in car number nine they have to maneuver themselves through the slower traffic going high to pass some cars and moving to the inside in this case to pass J DK alri of the number six car are you an aspiring race driver do you want to someday Drive in Darlington we study these cars Morgan Shepard Tim Richmond Dale nhart Neil Bonnet kale yaru watch the way they approach this Racetrack and the way they work the race traffic they go to the high side just weave alongside a slower car they never want to use too much energy they don't want to horse the car around they want to just keep it as smooth as possible because that's why they call Darlington the lady in Black if you don't it'll bite you it's almost a 9sec lead now for Jeff Bodine but look at this 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 running right together on the racetrack this looks like almost a type race as they're hooked into each other and really going at it only difference is about 35 to 40 mph but the concentration I would dare say is higher here because of the mental fatigue that you've got to go through in any second you can lose a position Baker looks to the inside of yarro and as does Elliot Baker's hung out there he's going to have to go for the spot he does he's got it Baker moves into sixth position kale is back to seven and V Elliot runs in E spot we have completed 122 laps of the Southern 500 at Darlington on this very overcast and what has been a very rainy weekend the grand national race yesterday here at Darlington they completed three laps shy of halfway and had to stop it and it's supposed to be finished tomorrow morning at 11:00 if we can get get this race in Terry Lebon comes back into the pits as we watch erard and Bonnet on the racetrack now Elliot and kale ybar into a tussle as Bill Elliott moves to the inside in the backstretch and Bill Elliott moves to seventh relegating kale back to eight again a little jostling for positions they're just trying to check things out it's still a long way to go in the race and you can be sure that the crews are keeping each of these drivers appraised as to what the weather conditions are to not only on the track but what the skies look like in the answer to your question earlier right now they're racing like this is going to go 500 Miles Morgan Shepard is continuing to hold on to that second place here is the leader Jeff Bodine Crossing this drive completing lap number 125 Bodine finished third last weekend at Bristol his win his wins this year have come at Daytona of course and on the high Banks of Dover Speedway you know Bodine had a real thrill this past week he got a chance to go down to the United States Air Force 48th fighter Interceptor Squadron and they put Bodine through the paces in an F-15 Eagle jet fighter and it gave him a totally new definition of Speed and Performance but do you know who you know who gave him a ride in it Mike Alexander a Grand National driver's brother who is one of the lieutenants in the Air Force gave him a ride in that F4 F-15 and there you had an idea of the interval between first and second as I said it's about a 8sec lead right now for Jeff Bodine this second place uh scramble between Morgan Shepard and Tim Richmond Shepard pretty impressive though in that number 47 race Hill Farms Buick being able to hold off Richmond nhart and the others and keep that Morgan Shepard's a winner on the Winston Cup tour he won in Atlanta and in his rookie year of Winston Cup competition he scored a short track victory for Cliff Stewart when he drove the faint number five kind of ironic huh at Martinsville Speedway so Shepard knows his way to Victory Lane and he's got one heck of a crew chief Jake Elder who was who was his crew chief on the 47 car today we'll get a clocking here on exactly the interval between first and second as Jeff Bodine now is running right behind the number number 75 car of Jim solder and solder is running in 19th spot here they come and it's about a 6 and 1/2 second lead for Jeff Bodine over Morgan Shepard and the others 6 and 1/2 seconds in Darlington is not a whole lot especially at this point in the race we're coming up to what a little over 170 mil of competition there's a lot left this race is going to go well into the evening if we don't get any more uh precipitation we'll do it one more time here and see if it's a larger interval or a smaller interval for Jeff Bine over the group of and it's a 5.6 so almost a second shaved off there in just that one lap well there's a reason for that too the race traffic has begun to thin out directly in front of Bodine and in front of the rest of the pack Bodine now is kind of like blazing his way through he's coming up on heavy race traffic so he will have to be a little slower and a little more cautious than the rest of the field namely Shephard and Richmond and [Music] nhart Je Bodine leads the southern 500 at Darlington International Raceway we'll be back in just a moment with more [Music] coverage we're glad you could join us on this Sunday afternoon at Darlington International Raceway for the southern 500 it's being led right now by Jeff Bodine the story has been wet here all weekend we had a 2hour and 13-minute rain delay with Jeff Bodine leading the real battle is for second position it involves several cars including Morgan Shepard Tim Richmond Dale nhart and others as they come down this straightway and jockey for position and a pass was made for fifth spot moving into fifth position was Million dooll Bill Bill Elliot is moving now he's moved up to fifth and he's beginning to challenge Dale nhart for the fourth spot working the traffic going by Eddie bewell Elliot just didn't have enough [Applause] [Music] time there is Bill Elliott and Dale erard running right together on the racetrack and Neil Bonnet is also in this battle let's go down to dick bergren for a report from the pit area well well it may appear as if everything is just fine with jeo 9's car but the crew beside me here has been busily preparing the tires for the next pit stop crew chief Gary Nelson says the car sure is pretty good but it can be a little bit better the car is a little bit loose so they're going to change the rear tire stagger they're going to change the handling on the car not that much said Nelson on the next Pit Stop oine can get faster yet well Jeff Bine is having no problems at the moment keeping that lead but look at this it is still a tremendous race involving Bonnet nhart and Bell Elliott and that is the the battle for the fourth spot Elliot is taken over fourth relegating erard back to Fifth and actually uh do say Bonnet is in the sixth position and look who's beginning to show in the picture as well the 88 Crisco car of Buddy Baker he's in the seventh position oh Bonnet almost sideways there we've seen that though before and each time Neil has been able to maintain control of that car he moves alongside nhart at the end of the straightaway he picks up the position what a way to C capitalize on Misfortune and turn it around 180° and make it good fortune that's what Neil Bonnet did and he gained a spot in the process there is kale yarboro who's running behind Buddy Baker and nhart and Bonnett now nhart looking to the inside upon it oh the cars it appeared they touched they bang there's no question about it they really put the Chrome horn to each other this is a reminiscent more of the Bristol short track last weekend of the Super Speedway at Darlington there's been a lot of body contact out there on the RAC trck let's take a look at it watch this out of the throttle just a little bit nhart looks to the inside boom little bit of a drop kick intentional probably not just part of the racing action here and look at Baker Baker just had to gather it all in because he drove right up on them it is still CHF Bodine controlling this race at Morgan Che in second there is Bine as he continues to just run flawlessly around this 1.3 M racetrack with 140 laps completed will be at the halfway point in 44 more laps but what was going on with Gary Nelson and the Levi Garrett crew on Pit Road that dick Bergen recorded is indicative of their feelings about how the race is going they're not satisfied with the way the car is they feel that there's plenty of racing left and boy especially at darling and the setup can go away in a heartbeat they want to be prepared to make the adjustments on the next pitch stop now for Jake gelder and the crew in the second place machine of Morgan Shepard they've got to sit down and look in their playbook and say how can we gain the advantage but they also have to figure out what's going to happen to the racetrack they can't try and make an advantage now for the situation they've got to anticipate what it's going to be like maybe 30 or 40 laps from now and try and give that set up to Morgan Shepard on the next pitch now Tim Richmond speaking up on Morgan Shepard and it appeared his as if he was going to make a run for that second spot now he pulls alongside once again but drops back in line as Bill Elliott is beginning to catch now Tim Richmond for third kind of looks like these guys are catching their southern 500 stride so to speak they're beginning to bounce around a little bit try each other out just a little bit more look at that changing position second spot now it goes to Tim Richmond Morgan Shepard's back to Third and Morgan Shephard had held on to that second spot for many many laps but finally relinquishes it to Tim Richmond the lead by the way for Jeff oine has moved up to 7.8 seconds while these guys have been battling for that second spot Bodine has just continued to motor away now it appears as if Bill Elliott may be able to may be ready rather to make a move on Morgan Shepard for that third position Bill begins to close in on the race Hill Farms Buick and assess his chances of making the pass here remember Dan Elliot told us on Pit Road that the car was comfortable nobody wants to hear that about an Elliot car if bill says that it's comfortable he's going to be awesome all afternoon Bill Elliot the winner of $1 million here last year but he's not eligible for that this year while we watch our 2858 update let's go down to the pit area once again well if you've ever driven a car down the Highway and sort of heard a Thump Thump Thump and felt a little bump bump and wondered what it was and felt a little anxious and a little nervous imagine what it would be like to do it at 150 mph this is the left front wheel that they just took off Terry Leon's car and you can see marks on that left front wheel those marks were caused by the brake caliper actually contacting the wheel that's what leani felt a imagine feeling a Thump Thump that you couldn't identify you had several good mechanics look at it three or four times they couldn't find it and you're out there at 150 mph not sure where all this noise is coming from Bo I'll tell you it must have been quite a ride for leani problems fixed now though so that is this explanation of Terry Lea's problem he has been in and out of the pits all afternoon we continue to watch this second third and fourth place scramble and it's beginning to heat up Morgan Shepard feeling the hot breath of Bill Elliott is picked up the pace just a bit and they've closed on Tim Richmond it's a trifecta for second spot now Richmond may be has three car lengths over Shepard in third and then maybe one car length between Shepard and fourth position held by Elliot Elliot right behind Morgan Shepard coming off at the fourth corner but Elliot content for the time being to sit right where he is and watch the action in front of [Music] him Elliot has looked strong all race long after having started from 14 position he has been very competitive and as you can see he is now in fourth [Music] place 148 laps completed Elliot again charging up on the rear bumper of that car now moving to the inside they go three wide down the straightaway here but Elliot still cannot pick up the position they move to the inside and outside of Rusty Wallace to pass him and Rusty's shock absorber problems are continuing for him in that ALU guard car he was another very optimistic race driver coming into this event but things can go wrong and it's been a simple matter of a shock absorb that has made Rusty Wallace and competitive this afternoon there's Tim Richmond behind the incar camera Richmond who is being posted in the second position so that means that Wilson is one of the left cars that Richmond has to successfully negotiate way around and let's see what position he takes boy you can see just how loose Richmond's car was now whether that was loose or tight you can't tell from that position but he gets by Wilson moving to the inside of the racetrack to allow this group of cars to pass second third and fourth position now DK alri also moving low on the racetrack to allow the faster cars to pass Rick Wilson in car number four there he is running in 14th position he is a down to the leaders but still out there and moving at pretty good speed in that Oldsmobile and Bob by our calculations in about another 10 to 15 laps we should begin to see some of the Front Runners presenting themselves on Pit Road which would which could be the first green flag stop of the race bod's gone by Dave Marcus to put another lap in the record books that'll be lap 152 now most of them most of them have pitted on lap 90 and it's getting tight now now look at this battle for that third position gotten by Richmond and so now oh whoa real close Shepard is taken over second spot Shephard has moved into second position but Tim tried to take it back there at the end of the straightaway couldn't get the job done so it's second third and fourth once again battling for the spot here is Tim Richmond moving to the inside of Shepard once again and taking the spot so Richmond now back to second or is he shepher this is a battle to the strip po the caution has been displayed for Rusty Wallace there you see it they're going for the front position Richmond is going to take it at the stripe so Richmond will be second on the restart and Morgan Shepard third Rusty Wallace has crashed in the backstretch let's take a look from the other incar camera exactly what the crash looked like by the way you can see Rusty is moving around in there he's okay but here's how it was from the incar camera of Rick Wilson you're looking at it from behind Rick Wilson's Car Wallace loses it com out of turn three just a slow easy slide and then ping little puff of smoke and he hits the retaining barrier Rusty Wallace sits helplessly against the inside wall he takes off the helmet and it appears as if he's going to be calling it a day now here are the leader pit stops Pine is in they go to work on the right side of the car and he's showing some damage the leader showing some damage on the right rear quarter panel as they go to work there Morgan Shephard led by Jake Elder pitch cre they're making some changes now they're going to change four tires Richmond is going to do likewise the crew comes around they've completed their work on the right side they're removing the left side tires let's go down to Nick bergren who's on Pit Road well I'll tell you Richmond's pit is certainly an animated Place they've changed two tires on the car and Richmond the whole time was barking in his crew come on guys hurry up it's great he wants to get back out there and get going so Morgan Shephard moves back out onto the racetrack as does Bill Elliot Morgan Shepard kale yor and others darl walri has not yet left the pit area now there he goes they were jacking some weight weren't they making some major chassis modifications on that card so Jeff Bodine I believe is going to hold on to the lead here as he was in and out of the pits very quickly 155 laps completed in the southern 500 we are in our sixth caution per period of the afternoon and we'll be back right after [Music] this we will be going to that live coverage of our gol tournament this afternoon at 5:30 we'll break away from the southern 500 however we will be back with occasional updates and we will have the finish for you live at the moment there are the top five it's Bodine Richmond nhart Bonnet and ell it with 155 out of 367 laps completed there are the second five R Shephard walri Baker and Bobby Hillen Jr there's how quick you can lose a front running position and be relegated back to the second five Morgan Shepard and darl Walter both of them running quite well but made long pit stops to make chassis adjustments the pace car has positioned its light in the off position the field is rumbling into turn three and Bob we're getting ready to go back to green flag racing with 156 laps in the record B still not to the halfway point that will be lap 184 Rick Wilson is having trouble with that number four Kodak car he was in for a very long pit stop but now is back out there and he himself is getting ready for the restart looks like the Long Island Expressway waiting to go through the toll boot there as he begins to build the revs up you see the tachometer go up and shifts through the gear we're back racing again thundering her down the main straightway receiving the green flag Benny Parson's car is faltering here at the start he's dropping blow on the racetrack meanwhile some body contact between Dave Marcus and and Tim Richmond they in turn number two Richmond set sail for his teammate the leader Jeff Bodine Bodine just shot himself out of a cannon he's got a sizable advantage over Richmond but at the far end of the screen there's Dale Earnhardt he's just reeling in Tim Richmond there's where the battle's going to be for second spot shortly Dale erard moving up quickly on second place Tim Richmond the field comes out of turn number four coming down the main straightaway once again there's the interval between first and second position Bodine and Richmond and the narrowing margin between second and third as herard moves in on Tim Richmond Benny Parson's car just would not go on that restart he dropped low on the racetrack and has fallen back [Music] considerably herard and neighbors friends they talk a lot about racing they have a style that's very similar both of them would like to win the southern 500 as with this gentleman Jeff Bodine Bodine I think more than anyone is really super motivated for this win but you can't cut out Morgan Shepard and Daryl walri either now they had that low Pit Stop they're running back in the second t 10 as we say being shown in seventh and eighth positions right now but they've made some chassis modifications and right now they're trying to test it out to see if they're going to work to their advantage or not walri looked at the high side of sheer and just did a whoop-de-doo scoop down low but couldn't get by him we gave you the top 10 just a moment ago also on the lead lap Bobby Allison and K yarboro now a lap down in 13th position on officially is Dave Marcus in 14th also a lap down Kyle peny and in 15th is Ron buard there is the seventh and eighth place Runners Morgan Shepard and Daryl walri a Buick and a Chevrolet very different body configuration one with a long sloping rear window that the Chevrolet Mony Carlo SS of Daryl walri the other one with kind of a blunt nose that being the Buick that has a kind of a unique hood to it that wraps around almost down under the quarter panel but Morgan Shepard is holding Waltrip and now buddy Baker at Bay for that battle for seventh spot Baker all of a sudden makes himself a factor in this race for seven spot as baker has closed in on the the rear of the Daryl walri car they move into turn number three and we now have three cars nose to tail battling for that position you can still see evidence of the rain that we had earlier today as on the inside of the racetrack there are still some dark spots and those spots are wet but the groove itself the racetrack that they use to run on is completely dry we have had no rain now in quite a while and we are still optimistic that we will continue to get this race in Buddy Baker making the move on darl walp and moving into eighth position and he acquired it very nicely Baker a good call to him in the first half of this race he's driven a heady race he knows it's a longdistance event now he set his sights on Morgan Shepard as they come down across the stripe will he get him they're side by side as they hit the stripe in that battle for the seven spot he's got it bony Baker goes into seventh having picked off both waldrip and Morgan Shepard in that last lap the number 88 car is the one that Al uner was asking to drive at Watkins Glenn while Buddy Baker played crew chief that weekend but now buddy is back in the car for this Southern 500 and doing a fine job and Baker owns that car along with textile magnet Danny ship and you know you got to hear Baker tell the stories about being an owner and a driver he says what can you do if it's an owner you can't fire the driver Buddy Baker has won twice here on Darlington International Raceway but he has never been a winner of the Southern 500 both of his victories have come in the spring race that's now called the trans South 500 approaching day Marcus in car number 71 Marcus will move to the high side of the racetrack and allow buddy to go low it's evident that Baker is getting hooked up now he's beginning to turn the wick up he is leaving Morgan Shepard and Daryl Waltrip in his wake he's put Dave Marcus between himself in those as he stays solidly in seventh spot but he's got a long way to go before he comes up on Bill Elliott who is posted in the fifth position and a guy that we have uh not talked about hardly at all today but someone who is solidly in this race in sixth position the driver who's in the car right ahead of Buddy Baker and that is Ricky Rudd rud driving for Bud Moore they've renewed their contract for 1987 rud will stay at the wheel of the Motorcraft Ford now let's see if Baker can reel in Rd as easily as he did Shephard and nhart not quite so easy in turn one let's see what he does coming out of two can he gain the momentum to try and pass that Ford Thunderbird rud as you said kind of unnoticed kind of quiet but he's there solidly in Sixth and here's the battle for the front position Tim Richmond takes it so for the first time in many many laps we have a change of leader Jeff Bodine had been dominating this race since the 96th lap however now Tim Richmond the pole sitter in today's Southern 500 grabs the lead away from Jeff Bodine and Tim Richmond now being shown as the leader on lap 167 boy Richmond just pulled away to a good siiz Advantage there once he negotiated the pass of Bodine Bodine there you see him in second spot Richmond looks like he may have cured some of his handling difficulties as well Bob it just doesn't seem to Dart as much it it looks like the car is a little steadier in turns three and four in the last 10 races Tim Richmond has finished either first or second in eight of them he had a uh very poor so to speak 15th Place finish at Michigan and he was sixth last weekend on the high Banks of Bristol aside from that in the last 10 10 races Richmond either first or second and he obviously is uh happy with the way that this car and his crew chief Harry Hyde and the rest of the team has performed don't count out Tim Richmond either because in the points Chase because he's only about 175 points actually 165 points behind your leader Dale nhart and Richmond has always said he wants to let his right foot do his talking as it applies to the Winston Cup Championship but he's going to have to get his short track program better prepared than it was at Bristol if he hopes to win the Winston Cup Richmond leading Bodine nhart then Neil Bonn and pH Elliot those are your top five at the moment right now ESPN and NASCAR present a track [Music] back within airshot of the fourth turn of the Darlington Raceway and well within walking distance is an establishment that holds just about as much history it's called the Raceway Grill and it's where the Winston Cup Elite meet to eat it may not be the 21 club or the brown Derby but it's close and the food is good teams can take a quick time out from their chores and duck over here to fill their stomachs and be ready to get after it some more believe me more race setups have been talked over this kind of a setup than in any garage area anywhere hey wait a minute what are you doing here the cheeseburger are F Richmond Bodine nhart spotted an Elliott your top five with 169 laps completed at the southern 500 we'll be back right after these [Music] messages with Tim Richmond leading the southern 500 and Jeff Bodine his teammate running in second spot let's go to Dick berren who who is with Jeff bodine's crew chief Gary Nelson well Gary after you guys LED so many laps Tim is blown by you is there a problem with the car what's going on are you just being conservative at this point well definitely we're we're on the loose side the car Jeff can run the car faster than he is but it's too early to take chances we're going to ride for a while make some adjustments and hope to be up front at the end you're going to make some adjustments on the next stop try to the car up and go faster well yeah we've adjusted it a little bit on each stop and we've only come close to solving it uh I think we're going to make a little bit bigger adjustment this stop and see if that'll do it and they've been looking at all the tire chars just to be sure they get exactly the right set up meanwhile up Pit Road Barry punch is up with another [Music] competitor Benny it's been a rough afternoon for you you've had to park to Copenhagen elv what put you out on the restart the transmission Went Away Jerry I I don't know what happened I think that I probably knocked all the teeth off the main Drive in the transmission probably what happened you had trouble earlier in the day you got in a little bit of a fender duel with someone out there and had some brake problems y when uh the 17 car wrecked on the back I ran on the back of Bobby Allon and when had to mix up on the front straightaway I hit the 23 car or something I just couldn't stop we have a spin on the track B and it is Jim solder in car number 75 who spins to the infield the inside of the racetrack in turn two it was a real lazy sort of spin no real danger no real harm done no foul but for solder it's been a long afternoon in that Nation wise Pontiac you know this is only solder's second race here the last one was his first one in 1981 and he only ran 20 laps there so he's paying his dues here at the lady in Black Morgan Shepard the uh driver of that car on the short tracks with solder here on the super Speedways we have not seen the yellow flag and again again solder's car is well off of the racetrack but now the yellow does come out we apologize to Benny for having to bring a premature halt to that conversation with him and we know that Benny will be back uh on the racetrack and hopefully in the broadcast who is with us here on ESPN Bob a lot of viewers May wonder why doesn't the caution come out real quick why don't they show the flag when you've got a car positioned like that one where Jim solder was as I said no harm no foul they want to wait and see if the driver will be be able to refire it first if he can and then pull it back and drive away we'll stay with green flag racing when they let what seems to be a long time but was only about 8 to 10 seconds tick off then they say all right let's put it out because it must be obvious that he can't get the car ref fired so the yellow has come out and now we anticipate more pit stops and we heard Gary Nelson say that they were going to have to make a major adjustment this time to try and find the advantage that they need to go back to run to the front we'll have to wait and see what Nelson and Company do to Jeff Bodine who's running in second position and also they don't cut out Harry hide with Tim Richmond it looks like Hy kept Richmond out there to lead a lap well why would that be all of a sudden he just pulled back onto the racetrack Tim Richmond did allowing everyone else including his teammate Bodine nhart Bonnet Elliot Baker waltr yarbor Allison and others to come in don't know I mean that that really is a question because he's already LED enough laps he's got you know he's got that to his Advantage so if he's looking for points that wouldn't be but the way that he was called out there it looks to me almost as if Richmond was told on the radio stay out don't come in at the last minute well maybe it's because he's happy with the tires that he has on the car right now and he feels that there will be an ample opportunity to come in for fuel so he's just happy with the car just staying out there dale nhart by the way had a very quick quick pit stop and is a is uh the first one out of the pits from this series of stops now here's a strategy move I would think on on Harry Hyde's part fuel is not in Precious commodity right now they pitted just a while back so they've got plenty of fuel I think Harry Hyde may have gambled and said this way look the tires are good on the car no sense coming in and topping off the fuel if the rain comes you've got the lead they've all got to work their way back through the lap race traffic but if it doesn't rain if they do start to close in on him the likes of Dale Earnhart and Morgan Shepard well he's still got everything that he needs to be able to go the distance until his next customary pit stop but the question mark is they'll need another caution or they'll have to do it under green we will reach the halfway point in three more laps and we'll be back with our coverage from Darlington after these [Music] messages the green has just come back out at Darlington and this completes lap number 183 now one more lap will be halfway and if we should have a major downpour the race would be stopped and it would be considered a complete race now Tim Richman did not pit on that most recent caution why dick bergren tell us the reason well he asked Harry hide that Bob and he just pointed up at the sky and as you can see it's very dark you guys can't see it cuz it's behind you but dark clouds are coming in it is starting to rain again if he stayed in the lead and if we do get a rain and if it rains it out he's the winner never count Harry Hyde out he is one Sho operator boy and look at this battle too they're Racing for things now the 47 of Morgan Shepard Neil Bonnet running there and Jeff Bodine they've made their pit stops and they are battling for third fourth and fifth spots respectively Bodine looking for the fourth spot he goes to the inside of Bonnet for from the looks of things Bob everybody has seen the dark clouds except us because they're uded from us and I think they're all racing like now this thing's only going to go about halfway that is exactly my thoughts it's obvious that Jeff Bodine is trying to get to the front very very quickly now Jeff Bodine to the inside of Morgan Shepard he passes Morgan and now Jeff Bodine is in third spot setting sail for second place Dale nhart we do have a complete race we are past the halfway point so we will not be back tomorrow the question is can we complete the full distance here this afternoon or will we have to stop it prematurely and with the for booing clouds behind us you're going to watch these drivers and in their minds they're going to drive it like there's only 50 or maybe 60 mil to go in the southern 500 they've all turned the wick up the lap speeds are much quicker now they're trying to lay every card they have on the table nobody wants to have this one be a runway for Tim Richmond but maybe Harry Hyde gave Richmond the unfair as vage fourth fifth sixth and seventh here it is Bonnet going to the inside passing Morgan Shepard taking fourth Here Comes Ricky Rudd into fifth Shephard back to sixth and that is Bill Elliot running in eighth position they they've taken the gloves off now they are scrapping for every spot they can get Ricky Rudd who really we neglected so often in the early going here was poised and positioned ready to get into the hunt he's done that right now he's being posted there in the third spot right in front is Tim Richmond in second is Dale nhart then rud comes into play now Jeff Bodine passes Dale erard there you can see them as they go into turn number three Bodine has moved into second position he is really charging toward the front but he has that much interval right there Richmond now Bodine there's that much separation between first and second now here's where the strategy could go aride let's take a look at Tim Richmond as he circuits the racetrack especially in the corners and compare you see the way Bodine is running there very nice and easy the car has its own head he's running quite well now let's look at Richmond see if there's any kind of a squirl to Richmond is the car pointing towards the wall well not too bad let's see if we can see because he may be using worn tires even though they're a good set they could go away on him and it could cost him to spot because bodine's closing there is less than a second interval between first and second as bodai continues to move in on the leader Tim Richmond we go back and take a look at the pass here is the pass for second spot nhart is up on the high side Bodine just rides the roller coaster down out of turn two and he's got he's got the spot right there now Bodine just gets enough now is isn't that whoa look at that caution is out on the racetrack and bodai comes to the St oh it was close but Richmond beat him to the line the caution is out why the report is that there is debris on the racetrack some metal down here in one of the corners and they're going to have to go back and uh try and try and pick it up and you can see from the looks of that speed shot that there has been some precipitation but not enough for that that to be the reason for the yellow flag Bo that was a close call For Temp and there is the debris out on the racetrack hard to believe that that could create a problem but you wouldn't want to run over that right there down before the start finish line and cut a tire especially at this juncture so the field is under caution the safety car has pulled out directly in front of the field in turn one Tim Richmond stays out as does Bodine and nhart now it will be a game of monkey see monkey do should one of the Front Runners elect to come on to Pit Road then you'll have to make a decision in consultation with the crew chief and the driver as to whether you follow suit and come in or do like Tim Richmond did and elect to stay out now they've pulled the metal off the race track there you can see one of the NASCAR officials carrying it back over the wall just some sheet metal nothing too major but you wouldn't want to run over it we've got 191 laps completed Bob and this thing is official and as we said under green flly conditions it looks like it could go just at any moment right down to the checkered flag the way these guys are racing unfortunately Mother Nature was just not Cooperative with us here today and it caused us to uh have about a 2hour and 15minute downtime and we're going to have to break away now for coverage of the golf tournament in Memphis and just a few moments but please be assured that we will be back to update you on what's going on here in Darlington and certainly we'll have the finish of the race just as soon as it occurs and it could occur uh quite soon because as we have mentioned the dark clouds are gathering in and uh if we are going to continue the bad weather that we have had all weekend it could rain at any moment we're sorry but uh the rain has just uh really caused this problem that we are going to experience here this afternoon there's the top five Tim Richmond Jeff Bine Earnhart Neil Bonnet and Ricky Rudd with 192 of 367 laps completed and there are the second five Bill Elliott darl Waltrip kale yarboro Buddy Baker and Bobby Allison right now we're going to uh switch you to Memphis Tennessee for the golf tournament that's going on right there but we will be back with updates here at Darlington now here's Roger [Music] twible the pace car is pulling off the racetrack and we are going to go back to racing conditions there you can see the scoreboard saying that there are 192 laps completed and the field about to get the green once again with Tim Richmond leading them down to the line green flag comes out again Bodine is second Earnhart thirdd as the Scramble for position occurs into turn number one and you are scrapping for every single position right now Neil Bonnet is shown in the fourth spot Ricky rud is Fifth and look at the advantage that Richmond streaks away from Bodine the advantage between first and second they have pulled away they really came up the gear box quickly the Henry cars are still on top that's where they started first and second and they're still running that way with Richmond the P cter leading and a yellow flag a crash in turn number three at least spins Rick Wilson among those involved our incar camera car slides to the infield and there were I think a couple of other cars that did a spin down there there's some debris on the racetrack so another yellow comes out Rusty Wallace looking more like a modified than a Winston Cup car he's had really a tough day first the shock absorber problem now the Hood's been all peeled off the car but he continues to run around here and one of the reasons is what they call the Winston Cup point standing not only for the front three positions but all the way back through the top 20 RJ Reynolds tobacco company pays Hefty checks at the end of the season and Wallace is in the hunt for that as well so not much of a uh green flag period did we have on that one and can see that there are a few more evidences of rain falling on the speedway as our camera lens there had a couple of drops on it now Rick Wilson he comes into the pit area to check the tires the pace car moves out onto the track with its yellow light blinking a top it slowing the field down Wilson now stops in his pit area and here's Jerry punch brings the Kodak car to a hall and Tony Glover and the crew will go and change right side tires you see that damage on the front of the car they also have a crack in the windshield which we talked about earlier we saw from the end car camera that has been baged with some tape on the windshield they will be trying to beat and prize some of the sheet metal away where they did come into contact with the concrete wall now changing left side tires but tire wear probably is not a problem here they think they may have cut a tire down on the car Tony Glover motion to me right front tire possibly may have gone down and produced that spin over in contact with the wall a still are trying to get the car out as they work feverously now off the Jack and they're holding this momentarily to get that right rear tire and Sheet Metal pulled away Tony Glover talking signaling to his driver now trying to get their their loose and they get him down off the back away that's the damaged Kodak car now moving down Pit Road so a long pit stop for Rick but he's going back out there into competition and the field continues to be slowed under caution 196 laps completed back in a moment back at Darlington and Tim Richmond has decided to finally come in for a pit stop now we're going to go back green in a couple of laps strategy at its utmost here well the strategy just earlier before the rain delay let's go to Dick Berger and he can explain it well basically what happened here was Richmond and his crew looked at the sky earlier they saw rain clouds they thought well if the rain comes we sure don't want to get caught in the pits they wanted to stay in the lead well the rain has stopped we're going to get this race underway again so Richmond could not have gone much past lap another another 30 laps or so without stopping for fuel so he's come in now he's got four tires and a full load of fuel meanwhile down Pit Road Jeff Bodine who has been his Nemesis all day also had four tires and a full load of fuel so those two guys are ready to go Bob Tim Richmond's last Pit Stop came on lap 152 that's when he stopped for fuel so as as dick bergren alluded to he had to come in he was almost out of precious gasoline 21 laps completed right now as Jeff bodai now has a lead with Dale nhart second will watch the pace car as it comes down the straightaway when it crosses the line if it shuts off its light it means that we will go back to green next time around and it does and Buddy Baker his come into the pits as has Harry Gant and Jerry punch has got a very quick comment about Dale erard who's running in second position Jerry herard at radio in the bit and told his crew Kirk Shel and he has a visibility problem that the oil mixed with the water from the rain has produced a problem with the windshield he's having a little bit of difficulty seeing out the front of the car so he'll be able to make it but he may have to back off a little early going in the corner I find that hard to believe that Dale nhart would ever back off going into a corner visibility or no visibility so it's going to be a return to racing when they come down next time it'll be Bodine nhart Neil Bonnet Ricky Rudd and Bill Elliott your top five now Tim Richmond has fallen in at the back of the pack he is in 11th position and it'll be interesting to see how quickly he moves up through the field Buddy Baker who also made the stop for fuel isn't 12th spot and those are the 12 cars that are on the lead lap here comes the field out of turn number four and the green [ __ ] is waving already so we're back to racing with 213 circuits completed kale aror and Daryl walri made some quick moves to the inside trying to gain some position but there was some bumping going on between he Morgan Shepard Daryl walri and Bobby Allison and it all went for not meanwhile up front there's the battle for second spot between Neil Bonnet and Dale NH heart and there's your leader Jeff Bodine and the car between first and second is Dave Marcus and Neil Bonnet goes to the inside of nhart and moves into second position and a Marcus that orange car number 71 blocking perhaps the uh progression of Dale nhart enough so that Bond was able to take second spot away and look who's lurking in fourth spot that is Ricky rdd one more time in the bud more prepared for Thunderbird he's right on the rear bumper of Dale Earnhardt ruds in the thick of things Bud Moore has three wins here at Darlington as a car owner and Ricky rud is certainly in the hunt but nhart is too he moves inside and just blasts around Bonn it like he was shot out of a can and he just took the spot right back behind Ricky rdd it is Bill Elliot then Daryl walri Bobby Allison Morgan Shepard kale yarboro and Bobby Hillen Jr then come Tim Richmond and Buddy Baker as they are not having a real easy time moving up through the traffic well race traffic and its best is difficult here so they've got to maintain their Poise and composure and do it not in one or two laps but maybe in six or seven meanwhile Bodine is just pulling away from nhart nhart not not to make light of the visibility problem I'm sure he does have his hands full but at least with the clear sailing he's got right now he can carry it a little deeper in the corner than he would let us say if we were passing some lap TR traic let's take a look at what the visibility would be like inside the car it's not that bad on Rick Wilson's car but remember Wilson and Company had extended time on Pit Road you can see the dicing with the battered and bruised remains of Jim solder's car and Mike Waltrip Wilson gets around walri but they've had a long time to clean that windshield meanwhile the battle back up front with only 150 laps to go it's a Dandy that is Ricky Rd in number 15 and Bill Elliott in number nine going for fourth position and Daryl walri is right there also Rudd right now in fourth as they go down the backstretch let's see the tactic used by Bill ell he sneaks right up on the back bumper of that Motorcraft Ford but can't make the pass now let's see what happens in turn three he's on the low side of the racetrack pulling alongside Ricky rud and Bill Elliot moves into fourth and here comes walri right behind him a great move by Bill Elliot Elliott sized up the handling conditions on Ricky rud's car he let Ricky have all the racetrack he needed let him go into the corner as deep as he possibly could and then he just followed him down down to the inside and passed them very nicely so Bill Elliot last year's winner here is now in fourth position but the leader Jeff Bodine is just pulling away from the field he has opened up a pretty good interval between himself and second position it is just about 2 and A3 seconds the inter between Jeff Bodine in the lead and Dale nhart in second place now Bodine and nhart both of them are looking for the $100,000 bonus the other driver well you know his name none other than Bobby Allison the winner of the Talladega Winston 500 he's up in the thick of things now but we've got a crash in turn one HP Bailey wall up the outside retaining wall he gathered it back in however HB started 35th and was running 16th although two laps down when he make contact with the wall he's moving rather nicely though under his own power but the yellow flag does come out to slow us once again and now they will race back to the stripe so Bodine stays in the throttle as HB begins his tour around the racetrack Bodine is out of it he's not running it full racing song but he wants to make sure that nobody sneaks by him in case the weather does come back here comes Jeff Bodine trying to do better than third in the 1986 Ren edition of the Southern 500 and it'll be nhart Bonnet Elliot and walr in that border behind the leader this is our 10th caution period of the afternoon so the Darlington International Raceway the track too tough to tame has taken its toll but none of the crashes has been of a serious nature Richard Petty began things very early in the contest when he smacked the wall coming out of corner number four on the uh front stretch and he had to retire because of it but all the other crashes have been of a relatively minor nature now we're going to see some pit stops again as the leaders come in all the Front Runners are going down for pit stops and let's go to our pit commentator here's a regular Chevrolet making it stop down Pit Road as he just about gets tagged by Neil Bon as both those cars pitting nose the tail here in the fits Kirk Shelbert and the crew going to work on the car number three for Dale erard now during the last Pit Stop they did not change tires they only took on fuel they wanted to get back out before it began to rain as the ragler Chevrolet crew now will change the left side Tire the four tire change there just in front of them is the car number 12 that's the Budweiser car of Neil M changing tire as the nhart crew now trying to get the car in and out for down Pit Road is Nick Berg a long it was a long stop for Jeff bod and several cars have gone out front of him including darl wal and the 47 of Morgan Shephard probably not the first went out everybody down this end of Pit Road did the same thing as they did up by you Jerry four tires and a full load of fuel the sky now looks good so these guys are going to have to race and they're going to have to race for a while Ricky Rudd was the first out of the pits after that stop uh Morgan Shepard second out and then Daryl walri now Tim Richmond and Buddy Baker neither one pitted you remember they came in uh late in the most recent caution period for fuel they chose not to come in this time so it's Richmond and Baker first and second in the race right now then red will be fourth rather third followed by Morgan Shepard in fourth position well that was a good move by Tim Richmond and Buddy Baker as you said they elected to stay out and they have by order of attrition they have moved back up into first and second positions and what a good run for Buddy Baker last time we saw him run this strongly was in the firecracker 400 at Daytona now he ran well also in Talladega in some of the super Speedways but this is a good run for Buddy Baker and he wants to win the southern 500 [Music] bad so once again the uh pace car is leading the field as it has done many many times during this what seems to be long afternoon and we've still got a lot of laps to go in this Southern 500 at the southern 500 in Darlington South Carolina it is Tim Richmond Buddy Baker and Ricky Rudd running in the top three positions we are under caution again because of an accident up in turn number two involving HB Bailey not a serious accident by any stretch of the imagination HB just got the car a little too high on the racetrack and bumped the outside wall yes he did but everything's okay for HB Bailey he continued under his own way but Tim Richmond and Buddy Baker they did not pit during this caution period and they've managed to work their way to the front of the pack and we're right back into a hot southern 500 Bob it's Morgan Shepard running in fourth position right now darl Waltrip is fifth in sixth position is Bobby Hillen junor in seventh is Jeff Bodine eighth is Dale nhart ninth is Bill Elliott and 10th is the number 12 car of Neil Bonnet that is the way they're running with 223 laps completed at Darlington and now back to Memphis we are about to go green once again for the southern 500 here comes the field out of turn number four it's going to be Tim Richmond and Buddy Baker in first and second position now neither Richmond nor Baker pitted however Baker is at a little bit of a disadvantage because he got only gas on the 212th lap and has not had a tire chain since lap 180 so he may not be as quick on the racetrack as some of the others there is a Scramble for position as NH hard and Jeff Bodine head toward the front well they've got a carve their way through heavy race traffic hopefully like a hot knife through butter but really the guy up front Tim Richmond he's been there all afternoon doing well there's what it looks like in the back of the field in the southern 500 Rick Wilson with all the problems that he's had still working hard comes up along Mike Waltrip takes the high side as they go through turn one tries to keep the car he's real close to walp look at him sawing the wheel just trying to hold on to control they come down out of it he checked his mirror checked up a little bit stayed in the throttle you can hear it in the background hear him coming up through the gear that isn't a gearbox that's the RPMs he got out of the throttle just for a second now it starts to build back up again backed off it for a second some great pictures from the incar camera on Rick Wilson in the Kodak sponsored SS mobile as he has had his problems during the course of the afternoon and is not in the top 10 now Jack the question becomes not one of rain but of Darkness we are uh perhaps going to have to end this race prematurely because of Darkness we might be a little premature in saying that we've probably got a good hour and 15 minutes left of good solid daylight here it'll all be predicated on just how many more caution Flags we have if we start to have a rash of yellow fever which we generally do in the late stages of the Southern 500 we could have this thing shortened because of Darkness rather than in Clement weather well we still got almost 140 laps to go in this race so that could become a factor there is Tim Richmond leading Buddy Baker and Ricky Rudd and Morgan Shepard down across the strike once again and Richmond is not pulling away to the size of advantage that he had over let's say Jeff Bodine and Dale Earnhardt before this caution flag I would say that rud Shepard and of course your second place Runner Baker have really got some strength there Baker is showing an awful lot right now now buddy Baker beginning to put some space between himself and Ricky Rudd Morgan Shepard and Daryl Walter running right behind rud down the straightway and there is Jeff Bodine also right in the thick of things and not too far behind Bodine is Dale nhart now Morgan sheeper to the low side of the racetrack looking like he was interested in third position from Ricky rut but it's a single file formation as they once again go down the [Music] backstretch shepher approaching rud and rud just a little sideways there you can see him wagging the tail of that car just a bit Morgan Shepard capitalizes on it but more so comes Jeff Bodine he's going to try and stab around Daryl walri he does it is he going he's going to stay down there and try and get get rud in the process too and is he going to do it oh Bodine is sideways and for the second time during the race he almost lost it look at nhart though make a move on walri and pick up a position boy that was just incredible Not only was was Bodine side sideways but he was looking for a hole a place to get back in where he could gather it up but there was a problem with darl walri Waltrip was alongside of him the door was shut we almost had a potential catastrophe there let's look at it again in slow motion replay here now you see Bodine is loose he starts to lose the handle just a little bit comes up into rud right now he's side by side they're okay here but now it starts to break away from him now look at wal wal goes to the outside he had the door closed now watch nhart to the inside just like a cobra strikes so quickly Earnhart saw all of it happening in front of him and he said oh goody here's my chance and he went to the low side and passed Daryl walri for position now Ricky Rudd is beginning to fall back as Bill Elliott moves alongside in turn number two rud though able to put a half a car length now a full car length between himself and Bill Elliot as Terry Gan is also right there running with Bill Elliott but Gan is many laps off the pace two for Thunderbird not quite the class of the field this afternoon but they've shown the scars that they've been in one tough one here in the southern 500 and rud really has done a very commendable Job Bob he's such a quiet individual he often goes unnoticed in a lot of our calls of races unless he's up front for the victory there is the interval between first and second Tim Richmond and Buddy Baker and Buddy Baker has just had a terrific afternoon in fact he is closing in it appears but so is Bill Elliot on Ricky rud rud running seventh and Elliot in eight but look at Buddy Baker Clos within three4 carlings best finish for Buddy Baker was in the Talladega 500 actually that would have been the Winston 500 he finished third the Michigan 400 the first race the American 400 he finished fourth at the firecracker 400 he was running real strong in contention for the victory until he had a late race problem he finished a disappointed 14th this team is coming together Bob Jenkins could be a win today you don't know he's closed on Tim Richmond he is right up on the back bumper of Tim Richmond as a matter of fact as DK alri in the number six car is in front of the leaders now is passed easily by the leaders and Baker showing a little bit of Tire smoke perhaps on the right side of that race car as he came out of turn number two but still he's definitely within Striking Distance of Tim Richmond Connie sailor and number 64 moves low on the racetrack to allow the faster cars to pass on the [Music] outside the story of this race at the moment is Buddy Baker in the southern 500 he has really closed in on the leader Tim Richmond he was within just a few car lengths of him now there is Morgan Shepard followed by Dale Earnhart third and fourth fifth is Jeff Bodine and sixth is darl walri Tim Richmond continues to lead but Baker is definitely closing with 239 laps completed back to Memphis at the southern 500 it is Tim Richmond leading but Buddy Baker is definitely within Striking Distance buddy has closed the Gap has been within a car length but you can see now that there is a bit of a uh Advantage for Tim Richmond here let's go down to the pit area and visit the Buddy Baker pit I'm standing with a crew chief Doug rer until a couple weeks ago this band was in the Neil buted pitch and now you taking over the Buddy Baker team you got to feel awfully good about the way your driver's running well right now the car is running pretty good we had trouble earlier in the pit and we lost position on the racetrack so we chose to top off the car uh the stop before last uh which enabled us to get back up to the front and when all the leaders ped that really got us back up to the front behind Richmond and now we're holding our own so we got our we got our track position back the chest is pretty good so we should be right with him the rest of the race let's go man is only 26 years old he was the Reon Dale Earnhart won the winster Cup Championship in 1980 he was the crew chief now he's with Buddy Baker and they hope to get a win here today there you can see buddy was the winner of the 1970 Southern 500 he also won the trans South 500 here in 1971 he has 27 previous starts in the southern 500 this is his 28th race Bob dug rer had explained something that's very interesting as we watch a battle back there in third position it looked like Dale erard was going to try and make the pass on Morgan sheer and he does but boy oh he almost loses it gathers it back in he went in way deep into turn number one trying to keep that spot away from Morgan Shepard after getting it wow now let's see if Bodine is able to make a pass as well no well things have settled down what I was going to say is is is rer showed in what he was explaining to you just exactly how you can use pit strategy to gain you an advantage on the racetrack he used it they topped off the fuel didn't change tires took a little less time in the pits and lo and behold he put his driver back in second position Buddy Baker let's take a look at the replay of that pass by Dale nhart and the slide that occurred afterwards all right there's Morgan Shepard nhart makes the move out of turn four now they got the whole front straightaway to accomplish the pass they're side by side when they come to the stripe now nhart has got to carry it in as deeply as possible to gain the position and get back in front of Shepard he does but it's deep the car begins to break traction you can see the tire smoke but he gathers it in he's all right so Dale Earnhart now moves into third place fourth is Morgan Shepard and fifth Jeff Bodine and there is Shepard and Bodine running for position Morgan Shepard the winner at Atlanta and Jeff Bodine twice a winner this year on the Winston Cup Trail now here is Dale nhart who has caught Buddy Baker so a few laps ago Baker was in a position to challenge for the lead now he is dropped back and stands the chance of losing second spot to Dale nhart we'll see how things go nhart once again high in that corner and I'm not so sure but what erard isn't handling all that well although he is uh moving quite well out there one thing about Dale nhart whether the car handles well or not he will get 100% out of the vehicle he is burning that right rear tire but he's making the pass now for that second position by Buddy Baker they come out of turn four reminiscent of the Shephard pass but Baker just says nothing doing it closes the door on more on Dale erard and Dale very wisely just moves back behind buddy and says I will not take a chance of losing the car as I almost did a couple of laps ago when he passed in for another position Dale ear har won the southern 500 back in 1982 and now we'll see if he makes a move again they're in turn number three and nhart moves alongside and does pass Buddy Baker and herard is second and he set him up just a little bit differently this time a little sooner in the corner he started to initiate the pass and he was able to accomplish it before they came out of turn four but let me tell you something let's take a look at it once again because it's going to bring home a point watch how quick see early on still in turn three he darts the nose to the inside he accomplishes the pass they're side by side as they hit turn four Baker got to get out of the throttle just a bit and NH Hart's got the spot but one thing that that shows too I think nhart may be holding back just a little bit sure the car's burning the right rear tire but he's on the hunt for that front position once again and not all that far in second position Tim Richmond is your leader Richmond has been very very compe ative all race long but so has Dale nhart who once again crashed during a qualification attempt late in the week they had to rebill this car he was a second day qualifier the fastest on the second day started 21st and it was not long before he was up front and he is in second position right now about 1.2 seconds behind the leader Tim Richmond Money Maker Now in third position beginning to fall back just a little bit as Morgan Shepard moves up to challenge buddy for that third spot let's see what Morgan can do with Buddy at the end of the backstretch they go in almost side by side and Baker holds them off there's an example of old tires and fairly new tires Shephard's got a newer set of tires on his car than Buddy Baker does so they're beginning to close on Baker as the laps wind down here Baker's tires are beginning to show the heat not necessarily the wear the heat is building in those tires and that's dropping him off the pace just a bit Shephard and Bodine though are right there just sensing that there's a spot available we have had a total of seven leaders during this race and 11 lead changes as nhart is about to or at least once very much to go into the lead he has not LED today and it's very important for him to do so because he picks up five bonus points and all the points he can get very very important toward that Winston Cup side by side with Richmond into turn number one Tim holds him off ell erard just cannot make the pass now remember too you saw it in the screen initially on that initiation of the pass Mike walri was the lapped car and Tim Richmond used that lap car of Mike walri to his Advantage trying to hold off D trying to hold off dard now they go by walr let's see if nhart rolls up the [ __ ] the hammer on the cannon one more time here well Richard cheldas owns Dale Earnhardt's car he's with our Jerry punch Richard chers are going to be awfully proud of your driver a lot of folks are saying that he may have been holding a little something back he moved by Baker like Baker threw out an anre and now he's making a move on Tim richond well we you know we've been trying to get the car to work and we just getting it work a little better and you know we had the car set up to run late in the race and uh you know if we're right here at the end I think we might give him a good run for it have you ever seen a driver as aggressive and anyone able to hold a car in a corner like like this guy you got I think he's the best well that says it all Richard Cher is awfully proud of his driver he thinks he wants go to the front and Lead this thing well he's still in second but boy I'll tell you it is a battle on the racetrack just one Carling separates first from second position nhart down the backstretch following Tim Richmond won't make a bid this time and erard can get all that there is out of a race car and he's doing it right now he goes to the inside of Tim Richmond there's the passard will lead the southern 500 Bo he just again like he was shot out of a cannon does take the lead he becomes our eighth different leader this afternoon does pick up five bonus points toward the Winston Cup forget the five bonus points what about the $100,000 and an almost half million doll purse here that's what Earnhardt's looking for and it's very definitely among the possibilities as we wind down this Southern 500 but we still have 122 laps to go 255 are in the books out of 367 we're at the southern 500 in Darlington South Carolina and the lead has changed Dale nhart has come like a shot from a cannon around Tim Richmond and nhart now leads this race by the way that was the first time that he had led today just two laps ago when he took the lead it is Buddy Baker running in third position and Jeff Bodine is fourth but nhart is the leader at the moment let's go back to Memphis [Music] Tennessee and so the race continues with Dale nhart now entrenched in the lead with Tim Richmond doing the chasing but look how far nhart has pulled out in front of Tim Richmond now we're going to work some race traffic here and let's see if Richmond can use that to his Advantage because nhart will be the first through first one up for grabs is Jim solder as they work turns one and two and Earnhart went in a little deep there burned the right rear just a little bit now he's going to set solder up on the outside and he passes Jim solder going down the backstretch Here Comes Buddy Baker along with Jeff Bodine running third and fourth and right behind Jeff Bine is Morgan Shepard in that number 47 race Hill Farms Buck Shepard now looks low from Jeff Bodine almost passes but can't do it as he backs off the accelerator to go down the the front stretch hard to believe that as wide as this racetrack looks on television that the groove is just that narrow now we've got to go down to dick bergam because he's with a key player in the pits dick well Harry H High crew chief for Tim Richmond it looks like your car is getting loose the tail been coming out from under it well we're not too far now from a pit stop and uh I think the rain had it tightened up a little bit and now then it's going a little bit loose but we'll have to make the breakes uh when we come in the pit hopefully you expect to pit if you don't get a caution PL how soon will you come in to do that we got about 15 18 more laps to go that's har H he's for Tim Richmond Richmond and handle is going away so we'll be watching for a pit stop by Tim Richmond before too long there's rustley Wallace's car by the way running behind Tim Richmonds and that thing looks like a uh modified it's a battered race car that Rusty Wallace is maneuvering around Darlington International Raceway there's the leader Dale nhart passing Kyle Penny in The Wood Brothers number 7-Eleven Ford the Wood Brothers with eight victories here at Darlington but they will not get one today and nhart has pulled off to a sizable Advantage you heard Harry Hyde say that they've developed a looseness to the car and you could see it while we were talking to Harry the car Tim richen would just kind of squabble back and forth and look Neil Bonnet who have run so strong he's into the pits and the Hood's going up and that's not a good sign let's go down to Jerry punch NE bed in the pits an unscheduled stop as Tim Brewer and The Crew looking beneath the car smoke came out from underneath the hood when they raised it apparently the car shut off on Neil B it was not running when he came down Pit Road and has been shut off but is still not ref fired his Bonnet now sits in the car totally frustrated after a good run they had this afternoon the Budweiser crew trying to decipher the problem what a terrible break for NE bunny Neal was running in 12 position the last car on the lead left when he came in for this Pit Stop he raises the goggles and disgustedly waits for the crew to try to determine what's wrong with this car this has got to be the longest moment for any driver when you're not sure if you're in or you're out but you know that you're out of the hunt for the lead now you got to get your mind set to go back out there and maybe gain in some Winston Cup points now there's kale yor and Bobby hillan they're running in the top 10 running in the in the E ninth position that's the battle for ninth Hill's got ninth and uh kale yro had run strong in the early going now he just seems to settle in there in the battle for the 10th spot as well and Bobby Allison's in the hunt as well here's Bobby he's in the 11th position Allison is the final car on the lead lap and Allison one of the three eligible for the $100,000 bonus today but I don't think that he is going to be successful in gaining it but again anything can happen because we're still a little more than 100 laps away from the conclusion of this Southern 500 Bobby Hillen Jr leading kale yarboro on the racetrack now we should be approximately 10 laps away from a pit stop by Tim Richmond who is running in second position but let's also add to the potential Pit Stop sequence number 88 Buddy Baker they pitted early they're going to have to come in a little earlier than the rest of the lead [Music] Duos but what a great run by Hillen and there's your leader Dale nhart and he's beginning to pull away from titim Richmond only four races this year has Dale Earnhardt finished out of the top 10 it has been wins and consistency that has put Dale Earnhardt at top the Winston Cup standings heading into this event here this afternoon with a total of 3,75 points and the question that we put to they Earnhart earlier in the weekend assess your chances of winning the Winston Cup well I think every man's got to race his own race uh for the championship we're racing ours they won One race uh that didn't win in the championship I think you got to race every race from here on out and uh long as I'm ahead I I feel comfortable uh I'm not playing catchup like they are I'm I'm still up in front and we're going to still run our pace and run our comfortable race like we've been doing and try to win races and you know like I say we got to run our race they got to run theirs well Dale Earnhart was the Rookie of the Year in 197 9 and in his sophomore year the very next year 1980 he was the Winston Cup champion and he's looking for that second Winston Cup in his trophy room this year let's go down to Jerry punch who's with Neil Bonnet well Neil Bonnet is the latest retiree from this Southern 500 and Neil you had a pretty good run going but what finally put you out well we we car ran exceptional today and on that last restart about 10 laps after the restart felt like it dropped a valve it just been missing continuously and it finally got to where it wouldn't run at all just just lost the motor can you believe how strong erard is right now I mean he looks like he came back from nowhere but you think he might have been holding a little something back for the late part of the race well on that last restart I was up there by him I drove by him he came back by me like I was tied to a tree so he's plenty strong well that's a comments from Neil but he thinks thirard is going to be the man to be well I would think that most people would would agree with that as Dale has now pulled out to a sizable advantage on second place Tim Richmond and again we anticipate made a pit stop by Tim Richmond within a few more laps we'll time the interval here between first and second the yellow flag is out the yellow is out we don't see any cars that has had an accident could be debris on the racetrack again or perhaps rain but this is a break for Tim Richmond and for Buddy Baker because they were going to have to make a green flag stop if the caution hadn't been displayed time was running out for them they only had about five or six laps before their scheduled stop would have come up so the field slows once again it appears as if D erard will also come in for a pit stop we could see all the leaders in for a pit stop here comes nhart off the fourth turn and he comes in he is followed by Tim Richmond Jeff Bodine Morgan Shepard Buddy Baker Daryl waldrip and others let's see how the pit stops go we're with Dale Earhart's crew right now as it goes to work right side tires for Dale Earnhart that generally seems to be the bill of fair here for all of the Front Runners that have come down on Pit Road you can see they're going for the right side we'll just have to wait and see if they're going to go for left sides as well report is there may be debris on the backstretch which brought out this caution that is the reason for the yellow and there is the piece of debris that did bring out this caution period as pit stops are being made here at the Darlington at the southern 500 at Darlington International Raceway in South Carolina 271 laps have been completed we are yellow because of debris on the backstretch pit stops are being made all of the leaders came in for a stop it's going to be Dale Earnhart reassuming command of this race with Tim Richmond running second and Jeff Bodine running in third position there you can see 27 of 367 laps have been completed nhart comes in again back to Memphis nhart making a uh second pit stop here let's go down to Jerry punch well theyard to just come in for a four tire change they want to bring him back in he said he thinks he may have a tire vibrating on the left side they're going to reack the car they had the car up have changed left side Tire to off the tank and he's down and Away in the right Chevrolet well that's a good feel on the part of a race driver to be able to be out not at full speed and sense that there may be a vibration or a problem with one of the [Music] tires now you want to see something that really got a little hairy watch this this is the pit stop before that one he locks it up slides into his position almost bought a couple of pit crew members couple of tires go flying there that was a close call boy one of those tires weighs a lot and should it have fallen on that uh pit crew member he could have been injured but fortunately the tire bounced away and there was no problem well it appears as if uh Jeff Bodine is going to be in the lead now as we go back to green and Tim Richmond then Daryl Waltrip and then Ricky rdd that's the way they're posted on the outside the cars on the inside are at least one lap down and they're going to try and stay out of the the way and look at nhart nhart trying to slice by some of that lap traffic he's like five wide as they come across the stripe passing Kyle Penny initially and then trying to find the room to get by others well look who is up front again it's the hendrik team with Jeff Bodine leading and Tim Richmond in second position boy these cars have just been so strong all day very consistent as well they've been up front they haven't had to make spirited challenges from the back every Pit Stop they're right there in first or maybe second or third but the guy that is really just running get 115 to 120% is Dale Earnhardt he's got to work through some race traffic but it'll be about five or six laps and you'll begin to see him as well herard is still at the middle of the pack and trying to thread his way through the traffic but we can concentrate right now on first and second Bodine and Tim Richmond you know there's a spirited rivalry between these two teams although they're both owned by Rick Hendrick they're positioned in separate shops and there's Dale Earnhardt working his way up as we were talking he's going to go by Dave Marcus one of the lap cars there's there there's Bobby Allison directly in front of him and kale Yu in front of Allison now Earnhardt's beginning to get into race traffic that races with him these will be positions that he'll be racing for namely with Allison and [Music] yarro see what nhart can do can he dispatch Bobby Allison Allison's in posted in 10th position so that puts erard in 11th let's see what he does with Allison here like he's going to be able to pass him coming out of the corner perhaps down the straightaway here well no move at the moment nhart staying behind Bobby Allison as they go into turn number one now let's see what nhart does a little bit of separation between the two now but what he seems to do time after time when he's coming from the back to the front cuz he exhibits a good amount of patience he sizes up a car and then he'll make the pass and that's exactly what he did with Bobby Allison and that is the place on the racetrack that it seems Dale has chosen to do most of his passing this afternoon going into or between turns three and four that's where he has just passed Bobby Allison and now nhart moves up to 10th position the 15 car of Ricky rud and Bill Elliott are in a tussle for fourth place and Elliott is going to set his sights on that fourth position held by Ricky Rudd but Rudd seems a little strong at least in that East End of the speedway but what a difference a year makes Bill Elliott running back there a ninth position this time last year he was running for a million dollars what a great moment in sports history that was a year ago when talk about odds to overcome Bill Elliott did overcome the odds and went on to take that Checkered Flag but here this weekend it has not been all that great for him but he has run very well not though in a position at least at the moment to win the race but you know Elliot's the one that's so quick to point out that in 1986 gred he seemed to dominate Daryl Walter went on to win the Winston Cup but the entire Winston Cup Brigade caught up with Bill Elliott and this year it's been a highly competitive season a lot of different makes of cars a lot of different drivers have scored victories and that's indicative of the type of show that bill France Jr and the entire NASCAR Brigade presents 29 times a year or actually 30 times a year [Music] we will still have to make one more stop for fuel if the rce remains green the rest of the way still about 80 some laps to go 280 out of 367 completed so everybody is going to have to make one more stop of fuel so this race is far from over although at the moment the hendri cars are running first and second and Daryl walri has now moved up to third position we have seen the complexion of this race change many times since the drop of the green flag but the one thing that has been consistent through it has been the presence up front of Jeff Bodine and Tim Richmond now Earhart's on the move one more time he's picked up two more spots he got by kale yarro and now nhart is being posted in that eighth position because he got by Bobby Hillen as well so erard is just picking his way through the traffic earn hard up to eighth position at the moment but has a lot of distance to make up before he gets to the front of the field but it doesn't look like he's using up much of the race car in the process and that's the mark of a real good race TR it appears to be pretty easy for herard to pass these cars that are on the lead lap like Bobby Gillan Jr and kale yoro the two that he has just passed and kale gets a way high going into the first turn and almost loses it I thought he was going to tag the wall there and slide down the banking but he gathered it in and nice job of driving by Kale yarboro but that allowed Bobby Allison to close in on him and so now Kale's going to have to contend with Allison but there is Bodine Richmond and walri let's not count Waltrip out of the hunt here that's for sure you know a typical Daryl walri race be right there be right there and run for the end he's in third and he's in well with instru Bing distance of your leader Jeff Bodine last week's winner at Bristol Tennessee Daryl Waltrip is running third and is looking pretty strong at the moment here are the standings in the southern 500 with 283 out of 367 completed it is Dale nhart leading the race Tim Richmond rather Jeff Bodine leading the race it is Tim Richmond running second third is darl walri fourth is Ricky Rudd and fifth is Bill Elliott and there is the second and third place but Jeff Bodine at the moment is leading the southern 500 let's go back to our golf match in [Music] Memphis at the southern 500 it is Dale nhart who's continuing to move through the traffic and he moves into seventh position now passing Morgan Shepard there in car number 47 the next car that nhart will have to contend with is Buddy Baker in car number 88 who is in six spot and that was a close call for Dale erard when he passed Morgan Shepard the car got very loose and he almost kissed the concrete coming out of turn four the tail really wagged on that Wrangler jeans machine of Dale nhart nhart is letting it all hang out here as he moves toward the front of the pack Buddy Baker right ahead of him now and Phil Elliott is moving ahead of Buddy Baker on the racetrack and once again the car sliding high in this first turn here comes kale Ybor let's go to Jerry punch for a call of this P stop kale yor brings the Hardy forward to a h and Joey Knuckles and the crew will go to work and he will change four tires a few laps ago we mentioned kale got awfully high in turn one and in turn three they figured he may have a tire going down kale said the car was not handling that well they decided to bring him in change four tires rather than destroying a race car possibly injuring a driver that's a safety measure they said the car probably could finish but they're going to come in here and change four tires now the left side tires going on Joey Knuckles a new crew chief puts the left front tire on battens down the lug nuts they will drop kill off the Jack he's out the way in 29 and 210 seconds you know you've got to say one thing about that team as we watch Dale Earnhardt set his sights on on on Buddy Baker that is the first time that that team has worked together the entire team departed after Michigan and that's tough for a pit crew to try and get the ballet that's necessary and they're doing a fine job today Hal yarboro was running an 11 when that pit stop occurred so now 10 cars are on the lead lap running in 10th position is Bobby Allison here is Dale nhart trying to find the opportunity to pass Buddy Baker and go into sixth watch the patient setup once again sized him up he makes the pass he doesn't almost effortlessly and in the same place every time between turns two three and four that isard's favorite place to pass he's now in sixth position and you can see the tire smoke coming from that car though Jack and I think he may be using it up just a little quicker than he would like it's very deceiving though I've seen Dale Earnhardt and Richard children's run their car like that race after race after race and when another team would have to come in with a blistered Tire or one used up it seems like they've always got plenty I think it maybe is a little bit of Dale Earnhardt's signature a little white smoke never heard anybody Winston Cup points leader Dale erard from Canapolis North Carolina 34 years of age finished in eighth place in the point standings last year but now certainly in a very good position this year to win his second Winston Cup two wins here at Darlington in the southern 582 and in the trans South 500 earlier this year you can see he is closing on that three car battle that is third fourth and fifth and nhart is solidly in the hunt for those positions as they hurdle to turn one whoa he almost lost it there again that car getting sideways on Dale nhart but he hangs on and loses very little position well we asked a Earnhart earlier in the weekend about his favorite places to pass on this racetrack well if you can beat the the traffic the slow cars getting into three and the other guy gets caught up behind him you really beat him you know through the corner Co he's got to wait on those guys get through the corner most of the time but you can't get B them before them but you can gain a whole corner on the guys and I've seen guys lose the races that way and win races that way hopefully it won't happen on Sunday I think you know it'd be better for the fans and myself if I can beat somebody right to the line you know racing them but uh you know traffic plays a big part here traffic does play a big part here but nhart has been able to move through the traffic almost flawlessly right ahead of him now as they come down the straightaway is Elliot Rd and Daryl walri here's where you've got to begin to play your cards properly took a look to the outside of Bill Elliott he's going to get that one as they come out of turn two now will will he set Ricky R up or will he show some patience he alluded to the fact that he likes turn three to try and make a pass he's there solidly in that fifth position is he going to get it no race traffic held him up HB Bailey in car number 36 the Ala Auto Parts Pontiac in the lower Grove preventing Dale Earnhart from moving down there and trying Ricky Rudd now Rudd wants third place from Daryl walri and he gets it and Along Comes nhart so walri may have a problem with that number 11 Chevrolet walri faltered just for a bit and it cost him dearly it cost him two spots it may cost him a third spot because Here Comes Bill Elliot downstairs the brace is for third position here nhart moving inside of Ricky rud they're side by side headed into turn number one and nhart has moved all the way back to third position and Elliot is gathered in that spot he's back to fifth so you know he said he likes to use that third turn to make the pass and that's what he's been doing so effectively coming from the back he's right back in the hunt well let's examine the situation and see how much RAC track uh he has to make up before he gets into a second position battle Tim Richmond is in second and it's about a 2 and 1/2 second separation between Richmond in second and herard in third position and it's about the second and a half lead for uh Jeff Bodine over Tim Richmond let's go to Dick BurGR and I with Junior Johnson Jr how is Daryl running what is the status on your car well we made a chass adjustment to last pit stop and it's just too loose right now we to have to wait till we make another stop and get the car back up he's running sideways and he can't make he just can't stay with him can you tighten up to win this race I think we can kind that big it's going to be in luck whoever wins this race it sure is it's going to be a close finish and no doubt about that eight times here at Darlington Junior cars have won a race at Darlington International Raceway so the record for Junior Johnson is good at this racetrack well the record is very good for Junior Johnson almost anywhere he runs and one of the reasons is he's one of the few car runers along with Bud Moore and Leonard Wood that have been in this so for so very long a driver himself he ran here in the southern 500 in fact the first time he came down here he relief drove for gwin Staley the late gwin Staley then he said hey that looked like fun I'm going to go back down and he went back and raced the following [Applause] year right now darl walri is back to six spot as the lead is continuing to be held by Jeff Bodine there is Tim Richmond blasting out of turn number four in second spot with two cars between the first and second [Music] position Oran Shepard in car number 47 is in ninth and he has not been running as well in the last few laps as previous let's get an explanation of that from the pit area well Morgan shepher having their problems they want they think they have a right front tire going down on the car number 47 they want to bring him in and change tires but they don't want to make two pit stops if they wait two or three more can bring him in and make it the rest of the way on fuel that's a smart move for crew chief veteran Jake Elmer everybody will have to make one more stop for fuel at least that's what we anticipate unless we have a lengthy caution period the race has settled down for the most part bob compared to the early going Jeff Bodine having a good run out front Tim Richmond seems to have settled in behind him him you see the the separation between Bodine and Richmond you know Bodine coming up now on the The Battered forn remains of Rusty Wallace but here is the race between Dale nhart and the number nine of Bill Elliott now that's the battle for third spot nhart again wagged the tail of that car you saw the white smoke he's getting everything he possibly can out of that car Elliot all of a sudden has moved up well and for the moment there just a few uh minutes ago was right on bernhard's bumper but now a little bit of RAC track between the two and Bill Elliot's day continues to go well for him and this would have to be perceived as a very good day for Bill Elliott compared to the season that he's had it's been really a roller coaster ride granted he owns Michigan International Speedway but for the most part everywhere else they've gone it's only been the last few races where they feel like they have finally resolved their problems whether they be mechanical or with the crew or with the illness with this brother Ernie but now they feel like they're back on the right track and that for the rest of this season and of course in 1987 they will be back and they will be back strong he has won two times this year and both of them have been on Michigan International Speedway Jep bodai is still the leader and will pick up the interval between first and second as far as time is concerned between Bodine and second place Tim Richmond well actually the one that would even be more more important than that is to see the interval between Bodine and third place Dale nhart because nhart is the guy that is actually on the Move there's nhart at the tail let's see what the interval will be all right that lap it's 3.6 seconds the Gap is definitely narrowing we'll do it again this time around and see how the two compare Jimmy memes in car number 52 being lapped on the back stretch o9 moving through turns three and four when he crosses the line we'll start this stopwatch again and see if the inter bow widens or closes and it closes just slightly it's it's almost identical though but it's still just a slight interval but you see the difference between the two drivers one Jeff Bodine he's not having the greatest handling car himself but it doesn't look at least visually like he's using the race car as hard Buddy Baker and Daryl walri running close together on the racetrack for sixth [Music] spot you heard Junior Johnson mention a few laps ago that the car is not handling like they would like for it to and will make adjustments on it when he comes in for a stop next time now here's the time in a race that gives crew chiefs ulcers because not only do they have to watch their car now look at this there are three separate stopwatches what this guy is doing is he's trying to time first second and third and look who it is it's Gary Nelson and his crew and they're radioing this information to the leader Jeff Bodine they want to let him know where the competition is who's gaining who's falling back trying to CHS some consistency but in the middle of all that he's going to have to make the decision in terms of chassis adjustment and when to pit that's why I personally don't ever want to be a crew chief I don't think I can stand the stress or the pressure 60 laps to go Jeff Bodine and there is a pass for second as nhart goes to the inside of Tim Richmond in turn four and moves into second now the only other competitor that that he needs to catch up to is the leader Jeff Bodine just when you thought it was safe to go back to the racetrack he's back Earnhardt's on the Move Bob the question is can he catch the leader Jeff Bodine that's a question will answer when we come back to more of the Southern 500 we are slowly clicking the laps off 311 now in the books and Jeff Bodine is the leader but Dale Earnhart is closing and Tim Richmond is also not too far behind without question though the man that we have our eye on more so than Jeff Bodine the leader is Dale Earnhart because he has moved up quickly through the traffic and now is within just a few seconds Jerry punch with a comment on pit strategy the rest of the way all the drivers are going to have to make one final stop Dale Earnhart can go to about lap 340 before he'll have to stop for fuel he's run the car awfully hard because of that late pit stop and the double pit stop the Miss Q in the pits he had to come back toward the front he has worn his tires out he will have to make one stop in about 25 or 30 laps from now he thinks he can make that stop and come home Victorious let's check on Jeff bod strategy with dick ber well thanks Jeff they say that down here bod can go almost but not quite all the way the interesting thing will be this if we stop and we're going to have to stop at some point under the yellow flag will they take two will they take four if you take four tires you can go faster but if one of these two teams takes only two tires they're going to get out of the pits quicker so strategy in the pits May well determine the outcome of this event well there is a passenger car that attempted to get onto the racetrack this is reminiscent of Talladega here they were actually trying to cross the racetrack that's down here in turn number one where there is an exit from the infield outside the racetrack when there is nothing going on but certainly when there are cars on the racetrack you can't get across the track and that young lady tried to do so why would anybody want to leave right now A Lot More Action to uh watch between now and the end of the [Music] race Bob Jenkin jackar dick bergren and Jerry punch covering the southern 500 at Darlington International Raceway for you Jeff Bodine is the leader but the man on the move is Dale nhart he is involved in a terrific battle right now for second position with Tim Richmond everybody's going to have to make one more pit stop and strategy in the pits could determine the outcome we will have the finish of this race live on ESPN right now back to golf and [Music] Memphis [Music] I'm not so sure that the battle is for second position and look at Tim Richmond go inside nhart between turns three and four where nhart has chosen to pass all day this time nhart gets passed by Tim Richmond for second and Bill Elliott is also moving past Dale Earnhart Bob something has happened to Dale Earnhardt's car either he has used the tires up or fuel is becoming a precious commodity you heard though Richard childr told Jerry punch that he wasn't going to have to run that long but now the report is is that there may be some rain on the backstretch we can uh look at the puddles over there in the in the pit area and see that the rain is beginning to come down here comes Jeff Bodine crossing the stripe and Dale nhart is going to be making a pitch stop here comes nhart into the pits Jerry punch will describe this pit stop by Dale nhart the problem with Dale Earnhardt's car he has the right front tire going down on the Wrangler Chevrolet and they told he R into the tire must be going down I can't handle the car so this Pit Stop is about 15 or 20 laps early the what thing had scheduled to make they will change right side tires Kirk sheline and the crew have the right side tires change he's down and Away 14 and 2 seconds good quick stop for her hun but he's going to go a lap down Jeff Bodine goes into the first turn while Dale nhart struggles to get back up to speed and he is down a lap so now Jeff Bodine is the leader look a battle for second between Richmond and and Bill Elliott and that is a heated one because that right behind right in front of them is Dale Earnhardt and all of a sudden look Bill Elliott is back in the hunt Tim Richmond well he's been there all day but these gentlemen will have to pit shortly as well and this will shovel it considerably so there's an example Bodine running a fairly conservative race didn't use things up quite so bad when you saw the pictures of that pit stop you could see the blisters on that right front tire that they removed let's go to Jerry punch for this report here's the right front tire that came off of the nhart car you can see where the tire was cut nothing wrong with the tire itself it was cut on the racetrack the tire began to leak down the rubber peeled away this tire could cost nhart $100,000 in that Winston bonus and Jerry we can still see the smoke coming off of that time although it's been off the car for a few minutes now Elliot right behind Tim Richmond in a bid to take over second spot the slow car to the inside is Buddy Arrington at number 67 and the report is that the rain is beginning to come down even harder now along the main straightaway we can see the rain definitely making an imprint in the puddles over in Pit Road and Gary the crew chief of your lead car is talking repeatedly to Jeff Bodine on the radio keeping him appraised of what the situation is and there is the battle for second position Richmond and Elliot they see the splatters on the windshield they know that this thing could be going down to the final few laps and they're looking for a position Richmond's got it in second but Elliot would like to take it away Bodine he's a little further out front well Jeff Bodine is out front and he is among the three drivers eligible for the $100,000 bonus and at the moment Jeff Bodine looks pretty good in his bid for that his lead over Tim Richmond and Bill Elliot just about 5 Seconds talk about the rain look at this they're racing but they're holding an umbrella in the fits a little shooing between the Winston Cup official and Gary Nelson is Nelson trying to drive a point home but out on the racetrack it is still a battle for second position as we get this comment from dick bergren well that's exactly what they're doing down here with that umbrella Nelson's wife was underneath it for several laps waiting for the rain I'm going to tell you what the rain is intensifying down here and Gary Nelson is a strategist for sure he's still standing under the umbrella talking to the Winston Cup officials explaining to them it's raining we'd like to stop the race the reason is he's in the lead that's why he wants to stop the race but let's keep you appr phase to of the track conditions right now dick from our vantage point they still look fairly dry it still looks like they can run a few more laps before they would have to bring it in due to rain that's correct the track conditions I don't think are bad yet but at the rate it's raining it's not going to take a whole lot longer before track conditions are going to go downhill right now it's probably still okay but the rain is coming now the key is can Dale Earnhardt get his lap back before this caution flly comes out look at this nhart is closing in on your leader Jeff Bodine unfortunately it's not for the lead but just for the lap let's see if the yellow flag will come out this time because of rain or whether they will stay at speed herard is approaching that Jeff Bodine car no caution flag at the moment Dale will continue to try to get the lap back though Allen kwiki moves to the low side of the RAC track to allow both erard and Bodine to pass now remember Bodine he's a prime candidate for that $100,000 bonus he was the winner in the first Jewel the Daytona 500 hasn't been able to win much since then but if he could win the southern 500 today it won't be a million dollars for Bodine but it would be a $100,000 check but here's erard he wants to get back out on that lead lap he's going to challenge Bodine no not enough he's still one lap down the southern 500 at carlington International Raceway and we have a car that has apparently come in contact with the wall and the yellow flag is out and Dale Earnhardt get his lap back he's going to make a bid here as they come through turns three and four they are racing to the yellow flag here is nhart going to the low side but Bodine is trying to block him now erard has to go high on the RAC strike slowing his progress let's see if he does they cross the stripe no Jeff Bodine holds off that challenge by Dale nhart that was not for the lead remember but it was a bid by Dale nhart to get his lap back he had to hit a few laps ago because of a bad tire on the front part of the car and that put him a lap down he simply could not make up the lap the reason that we are yellow is because of a uh incident involving Phil Parsons He has made contact with the wall once again moves by the main straightaway here with some body damage showing that's the reason for the yellow we also have had rain here at Darlington in the last few minutes and we welcome you to this update from our golf match boy what a heads up move by Jeff Bodine he knew that he wanted to keep Dale nhart one lap down and he covered the spot sufficiently more than sufficiently as they hurdled towards the start Finish Line knowing that the caution was out nothing that was out of the ordinary it's what you do when the leader is leading it's his Racetrack and he can cover he did it nicely and with a lot of class and I'm sure Dale Earnhart would agree so Jeff Bodine is the leader here at the southern 500 Tim Richmond second Bill Elliot third Ricky rud fourth Dale nhart fifth Buddy Baker is sixth Morgan Shepard seventh eighth is Bobby Allison and Ninth is Bobby Hillen Jr those cars on the lead lap and in 10th position in lap down is Dale Earnhart now here is Buddy Baker running six in for a pit stop and he pulls back out onto the racetrack 331 laps have been completed our big question at the moment is it raining too hard to resume this action for the moment we are yellow at Darlington back to Memphis at the southern 500 in Darlington South Carolina we are back to green this time around with 334 laps completed and a good move by Bobby Allison and some of the other guys that are up front they elected to pit during this caution and take on fuel while some of the other Runners have elected to stay out namely Jeff Bodine only time will tell whether that's a good move or a bad move nhart gets his spot back though he is now at the tail end of the lead ladder so that puts now another car on the lead lap that gives us 10 and erard will try to stay out there just in case we do have another yellow and that would allow him to encircle the entire track and put himself possibly in contention to win this race after all it seemed Bleak for him now Bodine is making a bit to take the lap back from Dale side by side they go into the corner they bump and touch Bine with the slight Advantage nhart however out Powers him on the high side of the racetrack and maintains that lap look at Bobby Allison Allison that's a race for the lead Allison looked to the inside while they were duking it back and forth Allison said hey I'll take the lead he was going to take advantage of that situation I don't even think Bodine realized it so now we have two of the drivers eligible for the $100,000 bonus battling out for the lead Jeff Bodine and Bobby Allison now remember Allison pitted Bodine did not Allison made a good pit move by coming in it's given him a run to the front and he's in the hunt for $100,000 bonus as well as Jeff Bodine Allison the winner of the Winston 500 earlier this year Jeff Bodine assessing the situation oh and Bodine scrapes the wall puts a Darlington stripe on the car coming out of the fourth turn and the concern that jaff they have now is did it bend the quarter panel down into the tire these are super speedway cars with minimal clearance between the wheel wells and the tires themselves Bine will have to just feel the car out and they'll watch the crew when they come by here they'll check it to see if there's any smoke coming from the right side of the car well it doesn't appear to have hurt that car in any way here's a replay of Bodine getting two high coming out of four it just came right out he was trying to give the car its head and it just red off that wall up there but he didn't lose control of the car he did put a Darlington strike on it but it is still the lead car odine followed closely Now by Bobby Allison Phil Elliot is running in third and Tim Richmond fourth Buddy Baker in fifth can Bobby Allison pull off the win here here he all of a sudden has made himself known we kind of forgotten about him here in the last few laps but it's been a good move on Bobby Allison's Pit Crew That's put him in the hunt and look who's right behind Allison that's none other than Bill Elliott we've got a three car battle for the front position see how quick the complexion can change this has just been an unbelievable afternoon of racing we started the race had a crash by Richard Penny during which it started to rain we closed down the track and Buddy Baker just scraped the wall and drops off the pace too bad for Buddy Baker who is running fifth boy you hate to see that Baker hitting the outside wall just a great run but that's the way his season has been lately it seems if he runs well but can't finish the last 30 or 40 laps of any event he'll have to bring that car into Pit Road for service from Doug rard and his Chrisco ovile crew and had been a great afternoon of competition for Buddy Baker and it appears as if he's going behind the the wall let's take a look at what actually happened to Buddy Baker there's Baker going into turn one the car carries itself up he looks all right there but he's still getting close close close too close there he hits the wall in turn two just scrapes it let's go down now to Dr Jerry punch who's with the crew chief of Buddy Baker's machine well Doug rord after a super run for you and your driver Buddy Baker it's all gone up what happened well the motor gave away on us unfortunately but uh the way it was looking we was in pretty good shape uh we was able to pit there when the others didn't uh because I think they was thinking it was going to rain it out but uh the way they've been going we've been running in the rain all day so I fig we get the tires and maybe have a little bit of Advantage it worked out but the motor didn't well budy Baker had tough luck all year and it won't be again today for him here at Darlington all right on the racet track we continue to see Jeff Bine leading Bobby Allison there in second and just a two carlings behind Bobby Allison is Bill Elliot the leader Bodine can win 100,000 Allison can also win 100,000 Bill Elliott cannot but he is making a bid for second position bill of course is the individual who won $1 million here last year he couldn't make the pass for second now let's see if he tries in turn one no he will not well Elliot took his sights and set them down there in turn three and let's see if he tries it again again race traffic comes into play but Elliot is backed out just a bit and or as Bobby Allison picked up the pace just a bit hard to tell let's see what happens in turn three Elliott he's nowhere to be seen Allison is trying to hunt down Jeff Bine he's got $100,000 on his mind yeah Elliott is really falling off the pace and now is trying to save off Tim Richmond's challenge for third position oh odine and Allison already winners this year and this race making them eligible for the $100,000 bonus just a few moments ago we alluded to the rain drop circuiting around the racetrack well the rain doesn't seem to be too bad right now the racetrack is in good shape and here is Tim Richmond Richmond is starting to close on Bill Elliott Elliot showed some muscle and then they all went atrophied on him and he's just weak need because look at this Richmond is closed up to the rear te to that cor Thunderbird and Bill Elliot seeing Tim Richmond closing in and challenging for that position has caused Elliot to get back on the throttle and now now he is once again closing the interval between himself and Bobby Allison you know it's been a long time for these drivers inside race car and this tough old racetrack it's a long time for them to be in here they started this race at what about 1:00 this afternoon and we're working at 7:00 eastern time and they're still racing let's go down to Dick bergren who is with Gary Nelson on the Jeff loine team and find out what's going on down there dick well there's quite a lot going down here with Gary Nelson Gary do you have enough fuel to go all the way our calculations say we're going to run out on the last lap are you going to come in and try to fill it up or you going to take a chance what are you going to do you either win or you lose in this sport we're going to try to win so you're not going to come in for fuel unless there's a caution How about if there is a will you in we're watching the weather real close if there's a caution and the track looks fairly dry we're stopping for four new tires and fuel um NASCAR's doing all they can to get us to the Finish Line to complete the full race we're going to do our best to be in front when that happens well it could be $100,000 gallon of gas at last gallon in the tank of Jeff bodai Bobby Allison drops off the pace Bill Elliott goes to Second Richmond to Third and Bobby Allison back to forth as we has plent laps to go boy I'll tell you we have been here a long time this afternoon and we're all tired but we can anticipate I believe a tremendous finish to this race Bob it's nail biting time Jeff Bodine from what Gary Nelson has just told us is going to be running on fumes at best if there is no caution they are really playing it not only close to the vest but close to the chest as well because you cannot calculate that closely we've had so many cautions you could see the look on Gary Nelson's face he was really torn should he bring him in or shouldn't he and now he's got to look and see Elliot Richmond and Allison closing on Jeff Bodine why well because bodine's got to back out of the throttle a little bit to conserve fuel this thing's going to be a Talladega type finish I'm sure with just a few laps to go in this event less than 20 laps to go in this one and the pictures that you are seeing on your television screen really say a lot because it is very dark here at Darlington it really is it's uh around 7:15 eastern time we have had a heavy cloud cover all weekend but yet the visibility is good for these drivers all right here's the calculations on Jeff Bodine if he goes the distance without a pit stop he'll have completed 96 laps around this 1.3 66 M circuit that's 13136 miles generally you can figure 100 to 110 miles to a tank of gas that means he would have to average 5.96 mes per gallon I'm not telling Gary Nelson anything he doesn't already know but that's the reason why he's so concerned well it appears as if there is some movement in the Bodine pits they are all moving out into the pit Lane at least they were momentarily it's going to be a gas and go Bob so Gary Nelson's decision to go for it may not happen look at Bill Elliot closing in on Jeff Bodine Elliot I believe is going to take the lead here without Bodine coming in for the stop let's see what happens on this lap Elliot now right behind Bodine let me tell you what I think's happening Jeff Bodine has got a fuel light inside his car the car may be missing or sputtering something like that and he may be radioing to Gary Nelson I think I'm out of fuel but look who's lurking in the shadows and who would appropriate the lead that would be Bill Elliot Elliot who won two races this year at Michigan International Speedway showing his muscle here in the southern 500 in the late moments Bodine stays out again but here comes Elliott he's right to the rear bumper he'll try to make a pass no he won't going into turn number one 353 laps completed we've got less than 14 to go in this Southern 500 now Elliot goes to the outside and passes for the lead he's out of fuel it looks like he's out of fuel Bodine is slowing he's off he's stopped look who's in the lead Elliot he becomes our ninth different leader of the afternoon Bill Elliot has not LED this race but he takes over the lead on 354 let's go to Dr Jerry punch how about Dick Beren dick Berg's down in je Ein dick well they are certainly ready to go here they've got two cans of fuel Gary Nelson is standing on top of the concrete wall they are anxious anticipating the arrival of Jeff Bodine every man on road is looking up waiting for Bodine to come in and here comes Jeff Bodine this surely will be a gas and go situation they're pulling the fender away from the right front tire squirting ether into the engine the engine is fired how it's stalled the engine installed at bodine's car the crew is pushing it there he goes Bodine Das and go but that was the end of the lead for Jeff Bodine now Bodine went 112 miles which is fairly normal for a Winston Cup Grand National car the other figures 131 mil that would have been incredible a tough break for Bodine but you heard Nelson say it that's what Racing's all about you go for the win you gamble and look at Bill Elliott go Dale nhart had passed Bodine and had gotten his lap back but now Bill Elliott puts another lap on or puts one lap on Dale nhart and Bill Elliott looks as if he could win his second consecutive Southern 500 we'll be back with more of our coverage from Darlington International Raceway in a moment with Elliot leading there are less now than 10 laps to go in the southern 500 Bob who would have thought earlier today we'd go the full 367 lap distance this afternoon furthermore who would have thought that Bill Elliott would be in the lead with the size lead that he's got right now with less than 10 laps to go in the southern 500 incredible Bill Elliot began this race back in 14th position with an average qualifying speed about 3 mph off the pace but it's not where you start it's where you finish and Bill Elliot has survived and endured and moved into the lead and now holds it with 358 laps completed you know bouquet have got to go to NASCAR as well because they fought to make this race go the distance for the paying customer and it's been well worth the [Music] wait if Phil Elliot should win this race he'll be only the second driver in 27 years to win outside of a top 10 starting position Elli the course started in 14 this afternoon and we talked about it focused upon it with Dale Earnhart and lo and behold Elliott's the one but remember early on in the race Dan Elliott said bill says the car feels comfortable that's been the way and it might be the key to the victory there is the interval between first and second Tim Richmond in car number 25 the fers copy Chevrolet runs in second spot and behind Tim Richmond in third position is Bobby Allison fourth is Morgan Shephard oh and Elliot slides against the wall hits the outer wall with the right side of the car in the rear end but I don't think he's lost much momentum as he stays on the accelerator but Tim Richmond is moving [Music] in unbelievable happenings here at the southern 500 Bill Elliott is the leader now but he is about to lose the lead to Tim Richmond at the start Finish Line Frenchman moves into the lead Bill Elliot slid against the wall up in the second Corner last lap and is off the pace Jeff Bodine was leading the southern 500 when he had to come in for a fuel stop he completely ran out of fuel that gave the lead to Bill Elliot but he has slid against the wall in turn number two and has lost the lead here it is here's how it happened High wide and handsome but too far into the wall Elliot leading all by himself SP flying from beneath the car and this set up that spectacular pass by Tim Richmond that you saw just moments ago but Richmond was out of shape when he made the pass as well now watch Tim Richmond as he tries to negotiate around Bill Elliott he's all cross DP comes back down across the stripe he's still got to get back in in front of Bill Elliot they Dutch boy they are just letting it all hang out in the closing laps of the 37th annual Southern 500 five laps to go and Tim Richmond now is the leader this will be four laps to go Tim Richmond is the leader of this race Bill Elliot hangs on the second it's Bobby Allison in third Morgan Shepard in fourth and darl Waltrip in fifth position the other cars on the lead left Ricky Rudd also Bobby Hillen Jr Jeff Bodine and Dale erard now Jeff Bodine passes the leader and gets his lap back now Bodine because he had to come in and take on that fuel is not in the hunt for the lead unfortunate for Jeff Bodine he gambled and lost but at least he's at the tail end of the lead lap but his teammate Rich Tim Richmond is out front with just three laps to go Elliot wounded and badly wounded to say the least is limping around in the second position there's the battle for second Bobby Allison's trying to snare the spot from Bill Elliot Elliott has nothing to do with that he is fighting back on the high side and look at nhart although he's down he's in the freus D Earnhardt blistered a tire and had to come in that's the reason he is a lap down now is Tim Richmond crosses the stripe there will be just two more laps to go in the southern 500 it's very dark here at Darlington we are well past Sunset and with a heavy cloud cover it's even more amazing that we can in complete the entire distance of this race don't give it to Tim Richmond yet you saw how quick it could change when Bill Elliott was out front this racetrack that's why they call the track too tough to tame the lady in Black it can turn around and bite you at a moment's notice Richmond knows that every time he comes down he's going for the white flag Bob one more lap around this 1366 mile track they call too tough to tame the lady in Black Darlington International Raceway what a day it has been with rain with accidents with Jeff Bodine running out of fuel with Bill Elliott losing control and scraping the wall giving up the lead to Tim Richmond who is the pole sitter here comes Tim Richmond for the checkered flag in the southern 500 off of Turn number four here he is Tim Richmond wins the southern 500 the 37th annual running of this race Bill Elliott finishes in snow make that Bobby Allison finishes second Bill Elliot third Morgan Shepard fourth there's celebration of the Harry hiy crew till today Tim Richmond's best finish in the southern 500 was a second in 1984 he's bettered that this afternoon though hasn't he and he becomes the eighth driver to win this race from the pole position let's go down to Jerry punon who with Harry Hyde the creie well jubilation here in the Richmond pits and Harry it's got to be a great Victory congratulations for you oh the southern 500's a great Victory a to anybody and and we're real proud and and Tim was just a true champion he drove like a champion all day and we're so happy for Hendrick Motorsports and Rick Hendrick and fers coffee I tell you what this crew is Never say die they just keep on getting it and Tim to Tim just gets in there and keeps pitching and I don't know we're just lucky to be associated with each people well I'll let you go down to Victory L congratulates your young driver congratulations again thank you very much this is one I've always wanted to win and it's finally come through I I couldn't be happier congratulations Harry from the booth and to Tim Richmond the driver of this car and this is going to close the point standings Tim Richmond going into this race was in third in the point standings and he comes away with most points here this afternoon he's maneuvering that fer sponsored Chevrolet into Victory Lane Moving in to the southern 500 Victory Lane area is Tim Richmond boy this one was worth the wait Bob you can see how dark it is here at Darlington but we are finally finished with this long long race there is Tim who still has the helmet on he's getting the steering wheel taken off still got to unbuckle and take off the helmet but you can see the grin on his face after having won this event here today he's getting the congratulations of his mom through the car there they're solidly behind his efforts here you know this guy came from from Indie Car Racing after winning the Rookie of the Year in the Indianapolis 500 and he has found a home here in Winston Cup competition about to step out of the car and here he is Tim Richmond the winner of the Southern 500 here's sck Berg Timmy Tim Richmond they say new teams aren't supposed to do it but here you are with your fifth win the southern 500 well uh yeah it looked like Bill was going to get it there and he went into one a little too hard and uh hit the fence uh and we just you know we we just held on we tried to play it as smart as we could and I think being you know Harry kept telling me take it easy it's raining a little bit uh don't mess it up and uh I was doing my best to catch ellot but uh had he not hit the wall he had probably won but what happened why did he hit the wall could you tell Tim well it was real slippery in that part of the track anyway nhart and I kept going in there all day I never hit the back end of the car but I probably should have and he just went in there a little too hot and I saw it and he you know punch the fence there and it ruined his chances you were up and down in this race there were times when you were Le and there were times when you were way in the back what were your thoughts as the day went on were there disappointing moments or did you always think that you were solid enough to have a shot at the end of the race well no there were some times uh there that you know I wasn't sure whether we were going to be able to pull it off or not you know Jeff was real strong and uh you know ear heart he you know we knew he was going to be strong we didn't see Daryl most of the day um but you know Harry uh Harry won it we had to fuel to go to the end they uh they didn't pit their T I don't think the five car did and a few other ones and and it paid off um you know strategy [Applause] [Music] with Harry Hyde his crew chief has just hugged Tim Richmond this is one very happy Duo for sure Timmy did when when he held you out at the at the the point where a lot of guys came in did you begin to doubt Harry at all did you think that was the right move no I didn't doubt him at all I just uh I was a little upset I told him the car was so darn tight I couldn't drive it and I asked him when we went back out I said did you take any wedge out of it he said no he changed the Stagger a little bit and and I was just trying my butt off just as hard as I could and I kept about Miss hitting that fence out there and uh I was getting a little upset but not bad I was more I was intense after going after the nine call I was trying well they've picked up some points on the current point leader Dale herart hi Sandy and ashy I got say out of my sister and ashh Sandy Wells and uh the whales ribbing all them guys in Florida they picked up some points in this event for sure and Bobby Allison had a fine finish as well and he's with Jerry punch well a fine finish indeed for Bobby Allison who's climbing out and getting some of the debris and dirt off of him that he's grinded in here for 6 and a half hours Bobby a super run for you you almost had one well we got close we worked hard to get the car moved up to the front of the pack and uh you know we kept working Bobby Hudson and the crew kept working uh trying to get the chassis to stick and uh we we uh they finally discovered something Bobby finally discovered something late in the race that was helping and uh so we saved it for the last pit stop and pulled it off and it really helped us Tim got by us and uh you know those other guys were ahead but uh there was a little bad luck went on out there and we weren't the recipients of it this time how about some of the wall tapping out there I know you said you saw Jeff Bodine hit the wall yeah that Jeff just got out of shape off of four you know he just lost it and got in the wall and it uh caused him to bust a tire and uh it was unfortunate for him because uh he had to race one he was far enough ahead everybody that there really was no problem well the five time Southern 500 Champion Bobby Allison gets a cold drink he finishes second here today and our Winner Circle interview has been brought to you by goodye Eagles you either have Goodyear Eagles or you need them what a tremendous afternoon of racing we have seen here with Tim Richmond finally emerging as the winner Allison second Bill ellot third Morgan Shepard fourth Daryl Walter fifth back in just a moment [Music] we take a look at the top 10 finishers in the southern 500 it's very late on a Sunday evening in Darlington South Carolina it has been some kind of a weekend here with yesterday's Grand National Race being stopped because of rain we had a 2hour and 15minute rain delay in this one but when all was said and done this was one of the most exciting Winston Cup races ever I think Jack bob every time they turn a page for the southern 500 record book somebody pens in a new entry last year it was million dooll bill this year with everything that happened as we look at the top 10 finishers with Richmond winning it and the way he won it and the fact that he won it for Harry Hyde the first time that Hyde's ever been victorious in all the years that he's been here it just makes it spectacular it's just really a Great Southern 500 well Tim Richmond gained 33 points on Dale Earnhart in the battle for the Winston Cup Tim Richmond still in third place 132 points behind Daryl walri is 113 points behind Dale nhart promotional fee has been paid for by Eastman Kodak company Eastman Kodak is the official film and photographic paper of NASCAR we thank you for joining us and for the service of dick berren and Jerry punch in the pit area and by uh jackar root for his comments from the broadcast food once again the winner of the Southern 500 at Darlington South Carolina is Tim Richmond thanks for joining us by Jenkin so long everyone