2001 Mountain Dew Southern 500
The 2001 Mountain Dew Southern 500, the 52nd running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on September 2, 2001 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. Contested at 367 laps on the 1.366 mile (2.198 km) speedway, it was the 25th race of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Ward Burton of Bill Davis Racing won the race.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 25 of 36 in the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
 Layout of Darlington Raceway | |||
| Date | September 2, 2001 | ||
| Official name | Mountain Dew Southern 500 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway, Darlington County, South Carolina | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.366 mi (2.198 km) | ||
| Distance | 367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.800 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures hovering around 82.4 °F (28.0 °C); wind speeds reaching up to 10.2 miles per hour (16.4 km/h)[1] | ||
| Average speed | 122.773 miles per hour (197.584 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Roush Racing | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 138 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 22 | Ward Burton | Bill Davis Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | NBC | ||
| Announcers | Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally Dallenbach, Jr. | ||
Background
Darlington Raceway, nicknamed by many NASCAR fans and drivers as "The Lady in Black" or "The Track Too Tough to Tame" and advertised as a "NASCAR Tradition", is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends.
The track, Darlington Raceway, is a four-turn 1.366 miles (2.198 km) oval. The track's first two turns are banked at twenty-five degrees, while the final two turns are banked two degrees lower at twenty-three degrees.
Top 10 results
| Pos. | Grid | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 37 | 22 | Ward Burton | Bill Davis Racing | Dodge | 367 |
| 2 | 2 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 367 |
| 3 | 10 | 18 | Bobby Labonte | Joe Gibbs Racing | Pontiac | 367 |
| 4 | 33 | 20 | Tony Stewart | Joe Gibbs Racing | Pontiac | 367 |
| 5 | 9 | 9 | Bill Elliott | Evernham Motorsports | Dodge | 367 |
| 6 | 23 | 99 | Jeff Burton | Roush Racing | Ford | 367 |
| 7 | 26 | 28 | Ricky Rudd | Robert Yates Racing | Ford | 367 |
| 8 | 5 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 367 |
| 9 | 11 | 25 | Jerry Nadeau | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 367 |
| 10 | 8 | 36 | Ken Schrader | MBV Motorsports | Pontiac | 367 |
Race statistics
- Time of race: 4:05:00
- Average Speed: 122.773 miles per hour (197.584 km/h)
- Pole Speed: 168.048
- Cautions: 11 for 51 laps
- Margin of Victory: under caution
- Lead changes: 19
- Percent of race run under caution: 14.2%
- Average green flag run: 28.6 laps