With that, we'll get right to the finish. Terry Labonte was on fresh tires after he was spun out with 10 laps to go from the lead by Darrell Waltrip in something of a fluke occurrence. With less than 10 drivers on the lead lap, he stopped for four fresh
tires and charged through the remaining leaders like a hot knife through butter and took the lead coming to the white flag. Then, heck went down. The booth was fairly honest in what happened, but appeared to be in shock. That's more of a sign of the times than anything else. People weren't intentionally wrecking others to win races on a regular basis in 1999. Had this happened today, the tone would have been different.
What still sticks with me
was the fan reaction. It was very rare for Dale Earnhardt to be treated to a chorus of boos to that level. There were also a bunch of middle fingers from fans in the crowd as well that made ESPN's broadcast. The post-race interviews from this race are actually quite iconic. You had the "rattling his cage" comment from Earnhardt, Labonte talking about how "[Earnhardt] never means to take you out, it just happens that way." You also had Tony Stewart so angry that he could spit
nails.
A number of interviews on RPM2night were focused on whether you should be able to win a race the way Earnhardt did that night. Jimmy Spencer and Sterling Marlin were definitely not on that boat. The last 24 years have made the answer to that question a resounding "Yes," even if it makes the sport look bad at times.
The race itself actually was complete in under three hours. As a result, ESPN had plenty of time to rehash the finish and talk to a bunch of the principals involved. Jeff Gordon was the only driver in the top five that wasn't interviewed.
Bob Jenkins
stated on-air that this race would be remembered for a very long time after the incident. That was absolutely correct.
The actual racing coverage was pretty good. It was more inclusive than what we normally see today. There was a good amount of racing. Even with the bottom-feeding that was typical of "Old Bristol," there was side-by-side racing. Part of how
Earnhardt was able to get to the front after starting 26th was his ability to pass on the outside. Even at the time, I knew that was incredibly rare at Bristol.
The general feel here is that the broadcast is just more in tune to NASCAR in general. They understood that all of the teams had fans at the time, which is something that doesn't seem to be the case now. ESPN
also did their best to cover everything. That said, this is Bristol and things happen in a hurry.
Bristol was the third weekend since ESPN had switched to a on-screen scoring display that showed only three drivers at a time, matching what NASCAR's other TV partners were doing at the time (they previously used one with five drivers at a time). By today's standards,
this would be considered a downgrade as it was also pretty slow (I hated the move at the time). Then again, they weren't completely dependent on it.
NASCAR 2Day actually previewed the race itself as opposed to just the championship. Yes, Dale Jarrett had a 314-point lead at the time, but you got a much-better idea of what to expect from the race here
than you do today. Watching this broadcast, someone who didn't already know the outcome would have been more informed.
Differences between the original broadcast and what's on NASCAR Classics are fairly substantial. The NASCAR Classics video cuts out about the first five minutes of the broadcast, which featured an introduction set to Molly Hatchet's "Flirtin'
With Disaster, along with the booth introducing the race. All of the pre-race interviews were on NASCAR 2Day. There was also two laps cut in the middle of the race, seemingly for the sole reason of Jenkins talking about the "Taste of the Race," which saw Bryan Meats sponsor the telemetry during the races. Knowing how bad Bahari Racing/Eel River Racing was in 1999 (they DNQ'd no less than 13 times), that might have gotten them more exposure than sponsoring the No. 30
Pontiac.
Somewhat overlooked with the insanity of the final lap is the fact that the top three finishers (Earnhardt, Spencer and Ricky Rudd) all pitted on the backstretch. Today, that's not that big of a thing at Bristol, but it was a distinct disadvantage to pit there in 1999. Drivers only had to go down their pit lane under yellow and those on the
frontstretch got to pit first. Once off of pit road, they could drive unrestricted to the rear of the field. Anyone pitted on the backstretch would more than likely lose spots.
Overall, ESPN seemingly knew ahead of time that this race was going to be special. Heck, in a piece on NASCAR 2Day, Jarrett stated that if you wanted to introduce someone to
NASCAR, give them a ticket to the night race at Bristol in a feature. Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that earlier this year about Atlanta.
This race is something of a joy to go back and watch, even knowing everything that happened ahead of time. It goes back to a period of time in which NASCAR was quite competitive and exciting to watch. Basically, the Boom
Years.
Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com. Photo is courtesy of Nigel Kinrade Photography. 
