DieHard 500
Talladega Superspeedway

Up-and-Down Day in Talladega
April 16, 2000 - First of all, let me say, "Wow, what a strange day for the 94 team." From the front row to the back, back to near the front to near the back, to the weird happenings on pit road, back to the front and to the end of the draft... and Scott Pruett talks about a roller coaster ride.

Bill Elliott would start the event from the outside pole and run strong at the begining of the race. The car looked good running the outside groove, until he was left there all alone and soon found himslef back in the 40th position. Elliott was having trouble with the temperature of the 94 Ford and chose to bide his time near the end of the field.

Elliott would then go for a two-tire pit stop and gain much needed track position, placing the McDonald's Taurus in the seventh position. It didn't take Elliott long to loose the track position gained in the pits, but it was not of his doings. Steve Park got into the side of Bill's car, causing Bill to lift out of the gas and fall back to the 31st spot, the last car of the lead draft.

Then the strangest of things happened. During a green-flag pit stop, a photographer kicked Elliott's right-rear tire back out onto pit road. Elliott's catch-can man, rushed out, with and empty can of fuel in hand, to retrieve the tire to save the 94 team a penalty. While the catch-can man was tending to the loose tire, Elliott sped away from pit road, with the catch can still in the car, resulting in a stop-and-go penalty.

Elliott was then about three seconds ahead of the leaders and in danger of going a lap down, when a well-timed caution flag flew, allowing Elliott to make up ground and pit with the leaders. Elliott would restart the race 23rd.

On lap 135, the "big wreck" happened, collecting 17 cars. Elliott was able to avoid the accident and was in 13th place with the laps widing down

Elliott then made a charge to the front, passing several cars on his way to third place in the running order. Elliott was poised to make a charge to win in his 600th start.

With the exception of this year's Daytona 500, Elliott seems to have problems finding partners willing to work with him at the restrictor plate tracks. Elliott, again, was without a drafting partner as the DieHard 500 neared the closing laps.

With 13 laps to go, Elliott was hung out to dry and left alone once again. Elliott would fall back in line in the 16th position, again as the last car in the lead draft. Elliott would gain one spot before the checkered flag would fly and come home 15th.

Elliott said it best when he said, "Talladega has been a tough race track for me the last several years."

Elliott picked up a spot in the Winston Cup point standings, he now sits 12th, with 1051 points. Elliott is 35 points behind 11th place Ricky Rudd and 319 points behind point leader Mark Martin.

Front Row at Talladega!
Bill Elliott will start the DieHard 500 at Talladega from the front row, grabbing the outside pole with a lap of 51.226 seconds, at 186.936 mph.

"We picked it up a lot from practice," said Elliott. "These guys have worked their tail off and done one heck of a job. They put it all together. We had a good run at Daytona, went back and worked harder and here we are."

"I don't think words could describe it. We've gone through so many emotions the last three or four years. It's been a struggle in one way, but I think adversity makes you better in a lot of ways and I think we've all looked back and take a look at ourselves and say, 'here's where we need to be.' Ford's come up and given us a good race car and we've worked hard to put everything together. I don't know where we'll end up, but at least we'll be somewhere up front."

"Talladega has been a tough race track for me the last several years, but what these guys have put under me lately between Mike (Ford) and all the guys on the car and Ernie (Elliott) and everybody on the engines, they make me look good because all you do is sit here and hold it wide open. If it goes it goes, if it don't, it don't. But they've worked really hard and put a lot of effort into this weekend and we'll just have to see. I think these guys are due to do something good. We had an awfully good car at Daytona and we'll just see what we have here."

Talladega Notes