Martinsville goes Rusty after Gordon hits rocks.

By Andrew Charman

A lump of concrete, bad tyre decisions and solid driving combined at Martinsville to put Rusty Wallace in the NASCAR Nextel Cup victory lane for the first time in 105 races. Wallace was an overjoyed winner after a crazy race at the half-mile oval, dominated by Jeff Gordon until a five pound lump of concrete broke free from the track surface and slammed into his Dupont Chevrolet, causing a race stoppage that lasted more than an hour.

Pole-man Jeff Gordon, looking for his third straight Martinsville win, proved the dominant factor in the opening half of the 500 lap race. From the green the #24 Dupont Chevrolet took the lead chased by Dale Earnhardt Jnr's #8 Budweiser Chevrolet and the #42 Texaco Dodge of Jamie McMurray, but after just six laps the yellow was flying as 41st place qualifier Andy Hillenburg hit the turn 3 wall hard. Hardly had the field restarted than they were slowing again as Robbie Gordon's #31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet suffered a flat left-rear tyre following contact with team-mate Johnny Sauter, and spun before it could get to the pits.

The restart on lap 31 began a long period of green flag racing with Jeff Gordon still ahead of Earnhardt, McMurray, Kevin Harvick's #29 Goodwrench Chevrolet and the #97 Irwin Ford of Kurt Busch. The Budweiser Chevrolet took over the lead on lap 39, only for Gordon to move back past 16 laps later, and as Junior's car began to fade new pressure on the leader came from his own team-mate, the #48 Lowe's car of Jimmie Johnson.

Gordon led past the 100-lap mark but by lap 115 was reporting to crew-chief Robbie Loomis that the tyres were shot, and three laps later both Johnson and McMurray went past. At this point Gordon was dealt some luck as Joe Nemechek moved down on Ken Schrader along the frontstretch, tapping Schrader's #49 Schwan's Home Service Dodge into a spin and hard contact with the inside wall. The resultant yellow saw the whole field on pitlane, and Johnson led McMurray, Gordon and Tony Stewart's #20 Home Depot Chevrolet to the restart on lap 127.

Stewart had stopped under an earlier caution for adjustments, briefly making his car very good, but it faded fast and as he slipped back down the field the #2 Miller Lite Dodge of Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin's #6 Viagra Ford and Ryan Newman in the #12 ALLTEL Dodge all muscled past, Stewart showing his anger at Wallace and Newman by tapping both of the Penske-owned cars hard in the rear end.

The yellow was out again on lap 160 as several cars all tried to occupy the same bit of road and the #10 Valvoline Chevrolet of Scott Riggs was tipped into a spin. Newman gambled on taking two tyres to come out of pitlane in the lead, a wrong move it turned out as within 10 laps of the restart on lap 169 Johnson took the lead and Newman slipped back down the field. Gordon let his young team-mate enjoy some time up front but by lap 193 was back ahead, and stayed in front through pitstops resulting from Brendan Gaughan's fairly harmless spin in the #77 Kodak Dodge.

Rather more damaging was Jeremy Mayfield's spin on lap 269, the #19 UAW/Dodge Dealers Dodge slapping the wall hard all by itself. The resultant stops saw problems in both sides of the Hendrick Motorsport camp, Gordon and Johnson coming out behind new leader Earnhardt.

Then came the bizarre incident that gave all the heat-soaked drivers a welcome half-time break. It began with Michael Waltrip spinning the #15 NAPA Chevrolet between turns 3 and 4 on lap 283, sparking a yellow. As the field lined up behind the pace-car smoke could be seen pouring out of second-placed Gordon's right front tyre, the fender pushed way back on the rubber, and it soon became clear that the Dupont Chevy had hit a large lump of concrete that had broken free from the track surface. With a sizable hole now in the racing surface NASCAR had no option but to throw the red flag.

Almost 100 minutes and a lot of epoxy glue later the engines fired again and as the cars toured round on caution laps the Dupont crew worked to repair the front end of Gordon's car, angry that he would be forced to restart at the tail-end of the lead lap despite the damage being caused by the track. As Earnhardt led them to the green on lap 301 Gordon was 21st, and beginning a drive through the field. By lap 372 he was ninth, as the caution flew again for an argument between Morgan Shepherd and the unusually subdued Kasey Kahne.

The green on lap marked the end of a strong run for Mark Martin, the Viagra Ford losing fuel pressure having run as high as fifth at one point. Earnhardt still led, but with Gordon still fighting his way back team-mate Johnson took up the challenge, finally passing the Budweiser car on lap 413 as Scott Wimmer spun and brought out the yellow. All the leaders peeled into pitlane for tyres - except Johnson, and his crew-chief Chad Knaus was immediately aware just how wrong a call he'd made. "We haven't a prayer," he said.

As they restarted Johnson held on grimly to the lead, his task eased by yet another yellow as Matt Kenseth tapped Harvick backwards into the wall. At the green Johnson's mirrors were full of Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman, and with 45 laps left the Miller Lite Dodge took the lead, just as the final yellow of the day flew for a multi-car crash between Derrike Cope, Joe Nemechek and Ricky Craven.

With Gordon's progress arrested behind sixth-placed Ryan Newman, the man to watch as the green flew for the final time was Bobby Labonte in the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet. Solid racing had moved him into second and over the final laps he closed Wallace down. But Rusty was not about to be denied his seventh Martinsville win and his first anywhere in 105 races, and duly took the flag almost five hours after the race had begun. Behind Labonte, Earnhardt took third and the championship lead ahead of Johnson, finishing far better than his crew-chief could have hoped after the pitlane mix-up, while Newman led home the justifiably disappointed Gordon.

"It's been a long-time coming," grinned Wallace in victory lane. "I can't believe we won, the hot-rods are rocking and rolling again. I had a great day today and we're going to win this darned championship..." Brave words, which he will need to start proving next week on the biggest, fastest white-knuckle ride of a track - Talladega...

(Wallace photos by Getty Images)