2001 Dura Lube 400
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 2 of 36 in the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
Layout of North Carolina Speedway
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| Date | February 25–26, 2001 | ||
| Location | North Carolina Speedway, Richmond County, North Carolina | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1 mi (1.637 km) |
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| Distance | 393 laps, 399.681 mi (643.224 km) | ||
| Weather | Temperatures reaching up to 71.6 °F (22.0 °C); wind speeds up to 14 miles per hour (23 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 111.877 mph | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Time | 23.401 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | |
| Laps | 180 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 1 | Steve Park | Dale Earnhardt, Inc. | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | Fox Broadcasting Company/FX | ||
| Announcers | Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Larry McReynolds | ||
| Nielsen Ratings | 7.0/10 | ||
The 2001 Dura Lube 400 was the second of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It was held on February 25, 2001 but ended on February 26 due to a rain delay at North Carolina Speedway, in Richmond County, North Carolina and was the first race to take place after the death of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt on the last lap of the Daytona 500, and he was commemorated in various ways throughout the race weekend.
The race was delayed for more than 90 minutes before only competing for 52 laps when it was stopped due to rain falling on the race track. The race restarted the next day under sunny conditions. The race was won by Steve Park in the No.1 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.; this was DEI's first win after Earnhardt's death in the previous race. This was also Kevin Harvick's debut in the Cup Series, as he replaced Earnhardt in the #3 (renumbered 29) Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
Before the start, the race was delayed for 1 hour and 33 minutes. During this time, Darrell Waltrip led an invocation that commemorated Dale Earnhardt. Waltrip asked for all spectators to hold the hand of the person that sat next to them to bond and remember Earnhardt. Waltrip also performed a prayer asking for strength, pray for the Earnhardt family and asked for sadness to be turned for celebration towards Earnhardt's life. The invocation was joined by Staff Sgt. Joseph Hunter of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base who performed the national anthem which was to have been followed by three F-15 Stick Eagles from the 333rd Finer Squadron Lancers of Seymour Johnson that would have performed the missing man formation over the racetrack with the No. 3 missing man aircraft absent from the proceedings. This did not occur due to heavy cloud cover. During the national anthem, the three crews from Dale Earnhardt, Inc. stood atop their pit walls and raised their caps in the air and this continued when the drivers entered their cars. The pole position was left open during the parade lap in tribute to Earnhardt.
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