Race: Craven nets first win

Craven had pulled away from the field on a restart 16 laps from the finish. While other drivers in the race were too busy beating and banging into each other, Craven was able to keep his cool to win the final short track race of the Winston Cup season.

"I worked all of my life to hear someone say that," Craven said of being a Winston Cup winner. "I have to admit the last couple of years, I wasn't sure I would ever get that chance. It's one of the toughest tracks on the circuit and I want to thank Dale Jarrett for being such an awesome gentleman.

Craven was able to hold off Jarrett, who closed to within one car-length with two laps remaining in the race. Jarrett tried to go on the outside of Craven in the second turn with two laps remaining. That set up a two-lap side-by-side battle that thrilled the crowd that had come out for an exciting Monday afternoon of racing.

"It was exciting," Jarrett said. "Ricky did a great job there. I thought I might have something for him. I had a good run on the outside and I thought I would give it a try. He did what he was supposed to do by running up high. "Ricky Craven is a great guy and it's great that he is a Winston Cup winner now."

Ward Burton was third in a Dodge followed by defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte and Jeff Burton.

A key moment in the race came during the final pit stops on lap 447 with the field under caution after Joe Nemechek spun coming out of the second turn. Bobby Hamilton Jr. was the leader and pitted for two tyres while Jarrett pitted for four tyres on the pit stop. Craven also pitted for two tyres while Kevin Harvick and Johnny Benson Jr. did not pit to gain track position.

Harvick dove under Benson entering the first turn and was able to finally take the lead coming out of Turn 4 on lap 452. But on lap 473, Hamilton bumped Harvick out of the way in the second turn going down the backstretch. By the time the leaders got to the fourth turn however, Harvick ran into the back of Hamilton, spinning him around to bring out the yellow flag on lap 473.

The green flag flew on lap 484 and Craven was able to get a good start to pull away from Jarrett's Ford. From there, he was able to drive to the chequered flag.

Jeff Gordon finished ninth while Ricky Rudd suffered a blown engine on the 397th lap, finishing 39th in the 43-car field. Gordon increased his points lead from 237 points to 334 over Rudd with six races remaining.

For full results, click here.