First-time victor Sadler lifts Bristol ‘Cup

Sadler started 38th, but was able to drive through the field and take the lead when Kevin Harvick, the leader at the time, had to pit for a flat tyre on lap 431. Once Sadler was in the lead, he was able to hold off a charging John Andretti to win the first NASCAR Winston Cup race of his career and become the third first-time winner in six 2001 races.

It's the furthest back any winner has ever come at Bristol Motor Speedway.

It was also the first victory for the Wood Brothers Racing team at the 0.533-mile high-banked short track and the team's first victory since Morgan Shepherd drove to victory at Atlanta in March 1993.

Sadler defeated John Andretti by 0.426 seconds. Jeremy Mayfield was third followed by Jeff Gordon and Ward Burton.

"This means more than anything in the world," Sadler said. "Pat Tryson made a good call to stay out rather than pit. We had good tyres and a good car. We're so happy about this I don't know what to do. I bumped into Kevin Harvick toward the end, but the car was all right and we kept on going."

Pat Tryson, Sadler's crew chief, made the decision to keep his driver on the race track rather than pit for fresh tyres and fuel at the end.

"Elliott did an awesome job there at the end," said Tryson.

The race was slowed early, and often, for caution. After Harvick took the lead from pole-sitter Mark Martin on the third lap, Kurt Busch, Andy Houston and Jerry Nadeau all crashed in the fourth turn. The incident began when Nadeau spun out. The race was restarted on lap 11 with Harvick leading Sterling Marlin, but the yellow flag waved for the second time when Robert Pressley and Jeff Burton both crashed in the fourth turn.

Harvick, the rookie who replaced the late Dale Earnhardt after he was killed in this year's Daytona 500, was the leader when the caution flag waved on the 79th lap after Busch crashed for the second time in the race. But when Harvick made his pit stop, Marlin's Dodge clipped the side of Harvick's Chevrolet, forcing the rookie driver into the pits so the crew could pull the sheet metal away from the tyre. That dropped Harvick from the lead to 38th place.

Marlin took over the lead and stayed in front before Andretti took the lead on lap 141. Twenty laps later, Jeff Gordon passed Andretti for the lead and was in front at the halfway point of the race. Steve Park passed Gordon for the lead on lap 292 and stayed there until the next caution flag waved on lap 348. That came after Mike Wallace spun like a top down the backstretch after he was involved in a crash with Kevin Lepage and Todd Bodine.

Andretti was the leader when he pitted on lap 349 and was able to keep the lead. After Nadeau spun out to bring out another caution flag on lap 317, Harvick did not pit and regained the lead. He was in front of Sadler when the green flag waved on lap 393, but when his left-front tyre went flat on lap 431, that put Sadler in the lead, where he stayed for the rest of the race.

The race ended with Tony Stewart spinning out after Jeff Gordon ran into the back of him. On the cool down lap, Stewart hunted down Gordon's Chevrolet and spun him out on pit road.

"I had been working on him for a long time and he turned down on me," Gordon said. "I did everything I could to keep from hitting him. I did everything I could to keep the position."

When asked about Stewart spinning him out on pit road, Gordon said, "That doesn't surprise me one bit."

Stewart was running third at the time of the spinout and ended up finishing 25th. He was summoned to the NASCAR trailer after the race for his retaliation of Gordon at the end of the race.

Click here for the race result.