2002 Pennsylvania 500

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

The first practice session was held on Friday, July 26, at 11:20 AM EST, and would last for 2 hours.[4] Ricky Rudd of Robert Yates Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 52.859 and an average speed of 170.264 miles per hour (274.013 km/h).[5]

The second practice session was held on Saturday, July 27, at 9:30 AM EST, and would last for 45 minutes.[4] Ricky Rudd of Robert Yates Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 54.410 and an average speed of 165.411 miles per hour (266.203 km/h).[6]

The third and final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Saturday, July 27, at 11:15 AM EST, and would last for 45 minutes.[4] Kurt Busch of Roush Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 54.747 and an average speed of 164.393 miles per hour (264.565 km/h).[7]

On the first lap, outside pole sitter Ricky Rudd took the lead from pole sitter Bill Elliott in turn 1. Behind the leaders where a whole pack of cars were racing side by side, Rusty Wallace, who started 9th, was running in 10th when Steve Park, who started 11th, began to peak to Wallace's outside. Wallace went up to block Park but instead Wallace went across Park's nose and Wallace hit the wall. Park turned left to avoid Wallace but instead ran into his Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammate in Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Park spun across Jr's right front. Both Park and Jr. began to spin and slide through the wet infield grass that was slippery due to the rain that fell. Park's car tipped towards the passenger side of the car and Jr. ended up bulldozing Park's car into the inside of an old-fashioned highway guardrail barrier head-on and then with the passenger side and ended up breaking the barrier. Park's car ramped up over Jr's hood and Park flipped over about 2 times before coming to a rest on the driver's side door. Jr. got out of his car in a big hurry and ran over to check on his teammate to see if he was ok. The caution flew and Ricky Rudd led the cars back to the line and the red flag was shown shortly after as rescue crews attempted to get Park out of his car. About 2 minutes after the crash, the rescue crews with the help of Dale Earnhardt Jr. were able to get Park out of his car. Park was uninjured and he and Jr. walked together to a waiting ambulance to take them to the infield care center. The race was red-flagged for a total of 65 minutes due to the crews attempting to repair the broken barrier.[10]

After the barrier was repaired, the red flag was lifted. The race restarted on lap 9 with Ricky Rudd leading the race. On the next lap, Bill Elliott took the lead from Rudd. On lap 24, the race was red-flagged again due to rain. The race was red-flagged for 2 hours and 2 minutes due to the rainy weather. Once the rain cleared and the track was dried, the race got back underway on lap 33 with Joe Nemechek as the race leader. On lap 39, Nemechek lost the lead to Sterling Marlin. Green flag pitstops began on lap 62 with Ricky Rudd, Elliott Sadler, and Robby Gordon taking the leads before they made their pit stops. Once everything cycled through, Marlin got his lead back. On lap 98, another cycle of green flag pit stops began again with Kurt Busch and Dave Blaney taking the leads before they made their pit stops. Marlin got his lead back after everything cycled through. The third caution flew on lap 105 when Mike Skinner's car stalled in turn 3. The race restarted on lap 110 with Marlin as the leader. During that green flag period, NASCAR decided to shorten the race from 200 laps to 175 laps due to darkness since the racetrack does not have lights. Green flag pitstops began again on lap 136 with Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, and Jimmie Johnson switching the lead. With 37 laps to go, the 4th caution flew when Jeremy Mayfield crashed in turn 2. Sterling Marlin led the field to the restart with 30 to go. On the next lap, the 5th and final caution flew when Jerry Nadeau crashed in turn 2. With 24 to go, Marlin led the field to the restart. With 19 to go, Bill Elliott passed Sterling Marlin to take the lead and his first win of 2002. Kurt Busch, Sterling Marlin, Dale Jarrett, and Ryan Newman rounded out the top 5 while Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Terry Labonte, and Ricky Rudd rounded out the top 10.[11]