2001 Sam's Town 300
The 2001 Sam's Town 300 was the third stock car race of the 2001 NASCAR Busch Series and the fifth iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, March 3, 2001, in North Las Vegas, Nevada at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent D-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. At race's end, Buckshot Racing driver Todd Bodine came back after a bad pit stop to pull away on the final restart with four to go to win his 13th career NASCAR Busch Series win and his second and final win of the season.[1] To fill out the podium, Greg Biffle of Roush Racing and Jason Keller of ppc Racing would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 3 of 33 of the 2001 NASCAR Busch Series | |||
| Date | March 3, 2001 | ||
| Official name | 5th Annual Sam's Town 300 | ||
| Location | North Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.41 km) | ||
| Distance | 200 laps, 300 mi (482.803 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 200 laps, 300 mi (482.803 km) | ||
| Average speed | 125.625 miles per hour (202.174 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Reiser Enterprises | ||
| Time | 31.880 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Todd Bodine | Buckshot Racing | |
| Laps | 104 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 00 | Todd Bodine | Buckshot Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | FX | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, Darrell Waltrip | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
Background
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada outside the Las Vegas city limits and about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a 1,200-acre (490 ha) complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Entry list
Practice
Originally, there were two planned practice sessions to occur, with both being held on Friday, March 2, with the first being an hour-long session held at 11:15 AM PST, and the second being held after qualifying. However, both sessions were cancelled due to rain.
Qualifying
Qualifying was held on Friday, March 2, at 12:15 PM PST. Each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap.[2] Positions 1-36 would be decided on time, while positions 37-43 would be based on provisionals. Six spots are awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The seventh is awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champ needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points will be awarded a provisional.[3]
Matt Kenseth of Reiser Enterprises would win the pole, setting a time of 31.880 and an average speed of 169.385 miles per hour (272.599 km/h).[4]
No drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
| Fin[5] | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 00 | Todd Bodine | Buckshot Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | 104 | running | 185 | $94,450 |
| 2 | 3 | 60 | Greg Biffle | Roush Racing | Ford | 200 | 39 | running | 175 | $59,925 |
| 3 | 20 | 57 | Jason Keller | ppc Racing | Ford | 200 | 0 | running | 165 | $53,100 |
| 4 | 31 | 33 | Tony Raines | BACE Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | 8 | running | 165 | $35,500 |
| 5 | 13 | 10 | Jeff Green | ppc Racing | Ford | 200 | 0 | running | 155 | $39,000 |
| 6 | 26 | 9 | Jeff Burton | Roush Racing | Ford | 200 | 0 | running | 150 | $23,350 |
| 7 | 9 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | NEMCO Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | running | 146 | $22,300 |
| 8 | 14 | 98 | Elton Sawyer | Akins Motorsports | Ford | 200 | 1 | running | 147 | $25,350 |
| 9 | 8 | 20 | Mike McLaughlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Pontiac | 200 | 0 | running | 138 | $20,300 |
| 10 | 29 | 43 | Jay Sauter | Curb Agajanian Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | running | 134 | $25,550 |
| 11 | 35 | 23 | Scott Wimmer | Bill Davis Racing | Pontiac | 200 | 0 | running | 130 | $19,100 |
| 12 | 16 | 2 | Kevin Harvick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | running | 127 | $28,150 |
| 13 | 21 | 61 | Tim Sauter | Xpress Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | 0 | running | 124 | $18,000 |
| 14 | 7 | 92 | Jimmie Johnson | Herzog Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | 12 | running | 126 | $21,490 |
| 15 | 37 | 59 | Rich Bickle | ST Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | running | 118 | $21,880 |
| 16 | 12 | 74 | Chad Little | BACE Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | running | 115 | $17,070 |
| 17 | 34 | 18 | Jeff Purvis | Joe Gibbs Racing | Pontiac | 199 | 0 | running | 112 | $20,960 |
| 18 | 38 | 21 | Mike Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | running | 109 | $19,850 |
| 19 | 15 | 37 | Kevin Grubb | Brewco Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | 4 | running | 111 | $19,740 |
| 20 | 6 | 27 | Jamie McMurray | Brewco Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | running | 103 | $20,430 |
| 21 | 11 | 71 | Kevin Lepage | Matrix Motorsports | Ford | 199 | 0 | running | 100 | $16,520 |
| 22 | 22 | 36 | Hank Parker Jr. | Cicci-Welliver Racing | Chevrolet | 199 | 0 | running | 97 | $24,190 |
| 23 | 32 | 38 | Christian Elder | Akins Motorsports | Ford | 199 | 0 | running | 94 | $16,275 |
| 24 | 10 | 48 | Kenny Wallace | Innovative Motorsports | Chevrolet | 198 | 0 | running | 91 | $19,165 |
| 25 | 25 | 25 | Chad Chaffin | Team Rensi Motorsports | Chevrolet | 198 | 0 | running | 88 | $18,130 |
| 26 | 28 | 77 | Kelly Denton | PRW Racing | Ford | 198 | 0 | running | 85 | $15,920 |
| 27 | 23 | 1 | P. J. Jones | Phoenix Racing | Chevrolet | 197 | 0 | running | 82 | $23,310 |
| 28 | 30 | 66 | Tim Fedewa | Cicci-Welliver Racing | Chevrolet | 196 | 0 | running | 79 | $24,200 |
| 29 | 39 | 63 | Shane Hall | Hensley Motorsports | Ford | 194 | 0 | running | 76 | $18,590 |
| 30 | 5 | 46 | Ashton Lewis Jr. | Lewis Motorsports | Chevrolet | 191 | 0 | crash | 73 | $15,580 |
| 31 | 19 | 14 | Larry Foyt | A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | 190 | 0 | crash | 70 | $15,370 |
| 32 | 17 | 55 | Mark Green | ST Motorsports | Ford | 187 | 0 | vibration | 67 | $16,260 |
| 33 | 42 | 49 | Brian Tyler | Jay Robinson Racing | Chevrolet | 185 | 0 | running | 64 | $15,150 |
| 34 | 1 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Reiser Enterprises | Chevrolet | 182 | 32 | running | 66 | $21,740 |
| 35 | 40 | 28 | Brad Baker | Brewco Motorsports | Chevrolet | 181 | 0 | running | 58 | $14,930 |
| 36 | 18 | 11 | Marty Houston | HighLine Performance Group | Chevrolet | 152 | 0 | crash | 55 | $14,895 |
| 37 | 4 | 26 | Bobby Hamilton Jr. | Carroll Racing | Chevrolet | 122 | 0 | overheating | 52 | $17,860 |
| 38 | 24 | 7 | Randy LaJoie | Evans Motorsports | Chevrolet | 103 | 0 | engine | 49 | $20,325 |
| 39 | 33 | 99 | Michael Waltrip | Michael Waltrip Racing | Chevrolet | 97 | 0 | crash | 46 | $14,790 |
| 40 | 27 | 34 | David Green | Cicci-Welliver Racing | Chevrolet | 59 | 0 | engine | 43 | $17,755 |
| 41 | 41 | 16 | Sammy Sanders | Day Enterprise Racing | Pontiac | 22 | 0 | ignition | 40 | $14,720 |
| 42 | 43 | 52 | Scott Gaylord | Means Racing | Ford | 15 | 0 | engine | 37 | $14,685 |
| 43 | 36 | 8 | Blaise Alexander | HighLine Performance Group | Chevrolet | 5 | 0 | crash | 34 | $14,650 |
| Official race results | ||||||||||
References
- "Todd Bodine wins Sam's Town 300". Las Vegas Sun. 2001-03-03. Archived from the original on 2022-02-10. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
- "NASCAR - 2001 Rockingham Las Vegas Race Info / Rundown Page". NASCAR.com. Archived from the original on 2001-04-13. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
- "Jayski's Silly Season Site - 2001 Provisional Start Status". ThatsRacin. Archived from the original on 2002-02-01. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
- "Kenseth wins Busch pole". UPI. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
- "2001 Sam's Town 300 - The Third Turn". www.thethirdturn.com. Retrieved 2022-02-09.