Food City 500
Bristol Motor Speedway

Transmission Trouble Ends a Good Day for Elliott
March 26, 2000 - Bill Elliott and the Drive-Thru Crew had a good day brewing at Bristol, but a faulty transmission ended the team's chances of a decent finish.

Elliott had trouble most of the weekend, staying near the bottom of the speed charts for all of the early practice sessions. During qualifying, Elliott was only able to muster the 38th fastest lap, causing the 94 Ford to take the first provisional to make the race, starting 37th.

Then on Saturday afternoon, the McDonald's team hit on the setup and posted the 11th fastest speed during Happy Hour. Elliott and the crew were now ready to race.

From his 37th starting spot, Elliott worked his way into the top twenty where he would run for the most part of the first half of the race, running a high of 14th.

While the race was nearing the half-way point, with Elliott running a solid 16th, the transmission on the 94 Ford let go. Elliott dove into the pits and the Drive-Thru Crew went to work, changing transmissions. The crew changed the transmission in 42 laps, note that a lap a Bristol is around 16 seconds, some lightening fast work by the Drive-Thru Crew.

Elliott's car was again stout, although 42 laps down, Elliott's lap speeds compared with the leaders. That makes you wonder what might have been, if only the transmission had stayed in tact.

Elliott would finish the Food City 500 in the 36th position, 43 laps down. Elliott dropped from a tie for sixth in the Winston Cup point standings to just out of the top ten. Elliott's 718 points places him in the 11 position, 226 points behind point leader Bobby Labonte.