MBNA Platinum 400
Dover Downs International Speedway

Elliott Finishes 12th at Dover
June 4, 2000 - Have you heard the saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade?" That is what Bill Elliott and the Drive-Thru Crew did on Sunday at the Monster Mile at Dover Downs.

The McDonald's team brought the car "Rock Crusher" for the weekend's events at Dover Downs International. After a stellar qualifying run that netted Elliott the second starting spot, Elliott blew a tire in the Saturday morning practice, putting "Rock Crusher" out of commission.

"Evidently I ran over something and cut down a right-front," said Elliott. "We'll just pull out the backup and dig on."

The backup car was "Awesome", the car that the team ran at Texas. Elliott would have to start the MBNA Platinum 400 from the back of the field, in the 42nd position. Despite the brush with bad luck, Elliott was not detered in any way.

"I know this crew. They ain't gonna give up," said Elliott. "I know we've got good cars, so we'll just keep digging."

And 'keep digging' they did.

Starting from the back, Elliott had worked his way up to 33rd by lap 10. Elliott, fighting a tight race car, would hang around the top 30 before pitting under the caution on lap 41. Despite contact from Jeremy Mayfield on pit road, Elliott would restart the race in 29th.

Under the caution flag on lap 72, the Drive-Thru Crew would only change two tires to get much-needed track position. Elliott would restart the event in 15th. Now, just what Elliott didn't need to happen, happened, a long green-flag run. The 94 Taurus slowly fell back into the field and went a lap down on lap 140, while running 23rd.

Elliott would eventually loose another lap to leader Tony Stewart. Near the race's end a timely caution came out, Elliott had yet to stop under green and he was able to gain quite a few spots by pitting under the yellow flag.

"The biggest thing that helped us was the caution came out and we hadn't stopped yet at the end of the race, so I was able to pick up a few spots," said Elliott.

Elliott would finish the race in the 12th position, two laps down, gaining 30 spots from where he started the race.

"We struggled," said Elliott. "I was ultra-tight at the first. I mean, that car, to me, wasn't as good as the other car. I know I can say that now, but we fought back. The guys never quit, it's just unfortunate we had to start that far in the back at the start of the race. Then you get the 20 car running like he was running and nobody was in good shape."

Elliott then offered his comments of NASCAR's rule change on the Pontiacs, who, despite three wins, will be getting some aero help on the rear bumper. "I don't understand that," offered Elliott. "Here they've won races and you say you want parity and equal and all this stuff and I don't get it. It might mess them up, too. I mean, they've got a pretty good handle on the balance they've got and that says a lot because sometimes you start changing stuff around and it really screws you up. So maybe it is a blessing they give 'em what they give 'em."

With the top-15 finish, Elliott gained a spot in the point standings. Elliott moved up to 14th, with 1466 points, 480 behind point leader Bobby Labonte.

Elliott Crashes in Saturday AM Practice
Bill Elliott lost control of his McDonald's Ford in the middle of the third and fourth turns and hit the wall during Saturday morning's practice session. The contact with the wall damaged the rear end of the car named "Rock Crusher," thus the team will have to go to the backup car for the race on Sunday. Elliott will loose his front-row starting spot and will start from the back of the field.
Full Story and Quotes

Front Row at Dover Downs!!
Bill Elliott just missed his first Bud Pole of the season and an invitation to next season's Bud Shootout. Elliott's lap of 22.880 seconds, at an average speed of 157.343, earned him the outside pole position. Counting The Winston, Elliott has started third or better in three straight races. "I got up there in the middle of four and just kind of took off there and had to feather back a little to get through. The track doesn't seem like it changed a lot in one respect, but if you get a little bit off your line or whatever, it just seems to be pretty slick out of where you need to be," said Elliott.
Qualifying Quotes and Press Conference

Dover Notes
After a dominant performance in Charlotte during The Winston in which he won the pole and two segments, Bill Elliott suffered a blown motor in last week's Coca-Cola 600 and finished 43rd