Random Recap: The 1991 Miller Genuine Draft 500
Welcome to Random Recaps, a weekly feature at From The Marbles. In this space, we’ll recap a random race from the past at the track the where Sprint Cup Series is racing next.This week’s race is the 1991 Miller Genuine Draft 500. And as always, Random Recap is truly random thanks to Random.org.
Rusty Wallace had the lead when the rain hit at Pocono Raceway on Sunday and got the win in his sponsor’s race.
Wallace, who led 29 of the race’s 179 laps, took the lead from Ernie Irvan on lap 168. He held onto the lead and was in first when the caution came out on lap 174 for rain. The race was called six laps later, 21 laps short of the scheduled 500-mile distance.
Irvan gave up the lead to Wallace because he had to pit for fuel sooner than Wallace did. His crew chief Tony Glover said he felt Irvan had a faster car than Wallace did, but the team went ahead and pitted from the lead, hoping the race would go further than it did and pit stops would cycle through. They didn’t. Irvan, who led a race-high 65 laps, finished seventh.
Mark Martin finished second to Wallace. Geoffrey Bodine was third, Hut Stricklin was fourth and Sterling Marlin was fifth. Eight cars finished the race on the lead lap.
Points leader Dale Earnhardt finished 22nd, four laps off the pace. Second-place Ricky Rudd was 20th, and didn’t gain much ground on Earnhardt, who now has a 140-point advantage over Rudd with 13 races to go. Both cars were involved in a big crash on the frontstretch on lap 72.
There was a rash of yellow flags during the first half of the race. 10 cautions happened in the first 103 laps, though the race went green from the caution on lap 103 until the rain hit.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
