THE WINSTON 1999
Updated 5-16-1999| Updated Rules for The Winston 1999 | ||
| Eligibility rules for The Winston: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1st criteria: Drivers and with wins in '98 or '99(through Richmond 99, owners are not included any longer) | ||
| 2nd criteria: Drivers who are past Winston Cup champions | ||
| 3rd criteria: Drivers who have won The Winston in the last 5 years | ||
| 4th criteria: The winning driver of the Winston Open | ||
| (rules below table) | ||
| The Current 1999 Field | ||
| Driver | Eligibility | |
| Race winners in 1998 and 1999 | ||
| 1 | Dale Earnhardt | 1998 Daytona 500 |
| 2 | Jeff Gordon | 1998 GM Goodwrench 400, Rockingham |
| 3 | Mark Martin | 1998 Las Vegas 400 |
| 4 | Bobby Labonte | 1998 Primestar 500, Atlanta |
| 5 | Dale Jarrett | 1998 TranSouth 400, Darlington |
| 6 | Bobby Hamilton | 1998 Goody's 500, Martinsville |
| 7 | Terry Labonte | 1998 Pontiac Excitement 400, Richmond |
| 8 | Jeremy Mayfield | 1998 Pocono 500 |
| 9 | Jeff Burton | 1998 Jiffy Lube 300, Loudon |
| 10 | Ricky Rudd | 1998 NAPA Auto Care 500, Martinsville |
| 11 | Rusty Wallace | 1998 Dura-Lube/K-Mart 500, Phoenix |
| 12 | John Andretti | 1999 Goody's Body Pain 500, Martinsville |
Previous NASCAR Winston Cup champions | ||
| 13 | Bill Elliott | 1988 |
| 14 | Darrell Waltrip | 1981, 1982 and 1985 |
Previous Winners of The Winston | ||
| 15 | Michael Waltrip | 1996 |
| 16 | Geoff Bodine | 1994 |
Winning drivers from previous seasons not otherwise eligible | ||
| 17 | Ernie Irvan | 1997 Miller 400, Michigan |
| 18 | Sterling Marlin | 1996 Winston 500, Talladega |
| 19 | Kyle Petty | 1995 Miller 500, Dover |
| 20 | Ward Burton | 1995 ACDelco 400, Rockingham |
and.... | ||
| 21 | Winston Open Winner | |
|
If 20 drivers are not eligible, winners from previous seasons still active on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series become eligible for The Winston. All active drivers during that season become eligible, even if the field exceeds 20 competitors. In 1998 #28-Kenny Irwin Jr and #98-Rich Bickle made the Winston field as the rules included former Winning Owners from 1997-1998(up to the Winston) seasons. Other active former Winston Cup winners not eligible: Jimmy Spencer, Talladega 7/94; Morgan Shepherd, Atlanta 3/93; Ken Schrader, Dover 6/91; Brett Bodine, North Wilksboro 4/90; Derrike Cope, Dover 6/90; Dave Marcis, Richmond Spring/82. Eligible drivers for the 1999 Winston Open1) Stanton Barrett-X 2) Johnny Benson #26 3) Ed Berrier-X 4) Rich Bickle #45 5) Mike Bliss-X 6) Brett Bodine #11 7) Todd Bodine-X 8) Gary Bradberry-X 9) Derrike Cope #30 10) Ricky Craven #58 11) Wally Dallenbach #25 12) Ron Fellows-X 13) Butch Gilliland-X 14) Robby Gordon-X 15) David Green #41 16) Jeff Green-X 17) Steve Grissom-X 18) Andy Hillenburg #80 19) Ron Hornaday-X 20) Tom Hubert-X 21) Kenny Irwin #28 22) Buckshot Jones #00 23) Tommy Kendall-X 24) Matt Kenseth-X 25) Frank Kimmel #46 26) Randy LaJoie-X 27) Kevin Lepage #16 28) Chad Little #97 29) Dave Marcis #71 30) Rick Mast #98 31) Ted Musgrave #75 32) Jerry Nadeau #9 33) Joe Nemechek #42 34) Dan Pardus #50 35) Steve Park #1 36) Robert Pressley #77 37) Elliott Sadler #21 38) Ken Schrader #33 39) Dennis Setzer-X 40) Morgan Shepherd #05 41) Mike Skinner #31 42) Lake Speed-X 43) Jimmy Spencer #23 44) Billy Standridge-X 45) Tony Stewart #20 46) Hut Stricklin #90 47) Dick Trickle #91 48) Kenny Wallace #55 49) Mike Wallace-X X-Probably won't participate 1998 Winston Rules(not sure if any rules will change for 1999): The Winston will be run under new rules this season, adding to the excitement and competition of one of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series' most anticipated events. The Winston will be run in three segments. The first two segments at the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway tri-oval will consist of a minimum of 30 laps each. Unlike previous runnings of The Winston, only green-flag laps will count in 1998. For example, if five laps are completed under caution, the segment will consist of 35 laps. Drivers who are on pit road and are lapped by the pace car will be scored a lap down. Drivers and teams will also have the option to pit their automobiles before the final 10-lap segment of The Winston. The pace car will remain on the track and all lapped competitors will be scored one lap down. Another difference in this year's running of The Winston involves the inversion of the field following the first segment. In previous years, the 20-car field has been completely inverted, but under the new rules, a maximum of 12 cars and a minimum of three will swap positions using a number wheel and spinning it to determine how many cars get inverted. The random determination will be made during the 10-minute intermission between the first and second segments. See the 1998 rules and a story at: TNN - www.country.com |