1999 Frontier @ the Glen

1999 Frontier @ the Glen

Race details[1][2]
Race 21 of 34 of in the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
The short course at Watkins Glen International
Date	August 15, 1999
Location	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York, U.S.
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.450 mi (3.943 km)
Distance	90 laps, 220.50 mi (354.86 km)
Weather	Mild with temperatures approaching 73.4°F (23°C); wind speeds up to 7.36 miles per hour (11.84 km/h)
Average speed	87.722 mph (141.175 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Penske-Kranefuss Racing
Time	1:12.752
Most laps led
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	55
Winner
No. 24	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins and Ned Jarrett

The 1999 Frontier @ the Glen was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held at Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, New York on April 15, 1999. It was the 21st points-paying event of the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Rusty Wallace won the pole, and Jeff Gordon won the race for the third consecutive year. A total of 49 cars attempted the race.

Summary

Practice and Qualifying

Practice and Kendall Pole Day, scheduled for Friday August 13, were both delayed for several hours due to inclement weather conditions. First-round qualifying would be held that day, allowing qualifying positions 1-25 to be locked into the field, but second-round qualifying would be rained out, forcing spots 25-36 to be locked in based on their first round qualifying speeds, and positions 37-43 were locked in based on owner points. Two drivers who failed to qualify, Jack Baldwin and Paul Gentilozzi made their only attempts at a Winston Cup event during this race. Rusty Wallace set a new track record with his pole-qualifying speed at 121.234 mph.

As was common with many road races, several road course ringers attempted to qualify. Two drivers, Boris Said and Ron Fellows, led their first Winston Cup laps during this race. Said, David Murry, and Ted Christopher made their first Winston Cup starts. Christopher also competed in the companion NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series and NASCAR Busch North Series races that weekend, winning and placing second respectively. In addition, full-time Winston Cup driver Jerry Nadeau, who began his career on road courses, led his first career laps in a Winston Cup race.

Race

The only drivers who failed to finish underwent mechanical failures. During the race, there were four caution flags for cars (#11, #36, #40, and #45) off the track in the inner loop at separate times, for oil on the race track, and for the #26 car wrecking. 16.7 percent of the race's 90 laps were spent under caution.

1991 winner Ernie Irvan made his final NASCAR Winston Cup start in this race. Irvan suffered career-ending head injuries while practicing his Busch Series car at Michigan International Speedway the following week. David Murry's lone career start came in this race. This race was also the last win for Ray Evernham as crew chief. He left Jeff Gordon's team several weeks later to start his own Winston Cup team.

ESPN carried the coverage for the race. Regular color commentator Benny Parsons missed the race due to a recent operation, however called the telecast in the middle of the race to talk to fellow commentators and viewers.

When the race began to come to a close, the race came down to Jeff Gordon and Canadian road course ringer Ron Fellows. Ron Fellows, in a one-time drive in the #87 NEMCO Motorsports Chevy, led 3 laps late in the race and got passed by Gordon with less than 30 laps to go. Fellows remained in second for several laps and ultimately had one shot at the lead on a restart with 2 laps to go. Fellows tried to pass Gordon in turn 1, but Gordon held off the challenge, pulling away to win the race by 5 car-lengths. Gordon praised Fellows for a fun race in victory lane. It was Fellows' first of 2 runner-up finishes in the Cup series race at Watkins Glen.

Ron Fellows was not the only road course ringer in the race. Boris Said started 2nd in the race and led some laps early in the race in the #14 car owned by Mark Simo. However, Said's day came to an end on lap 48 with a blown engine.

Coming off a win at the Brickyard 400, Dale Jarrett finished fourth to gain twenty-four points on his points lead over Mark Martin. His points lead was at 300 points at the end of the race.

Results

Pos	Grid	Car	Driver	Team	Make	Laps	Led	Status
1	3	24	Jeff Gordon (W)	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	55	Running
2	7	87	Ron Fellows	NEMCO Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	3	Running
3	1	2	Rusty Wallace (W)	Penske-Kranefuss Racing	Ford	90	9	Running
4	9	88	Dale Jarrett	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	90	0	Running
5	6	9	Jerry Nadeau	Melling Racing	Ford	90	9	Running
6	4	20	Tony Stewart (R)	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	90	0	Running
7	26	25	Wally Dallenbach, Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	2	Running
8	25	44	Kyle Petty (W)	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	90	0	Running
9	17	31	Mike Skinner	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
10	5	6	Mark Martin (W)	Roush Racing	Ford	90	0	Running
11	10	5	Terry Labonte	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
12	39	1	Steve Park	Dale Earnhardt, Inc.	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
13	27	99	Jeff Burton	Roush Racing	Ford	90	0	Running
14	38	97	Chad Little	Roush Racing	Ford	90	0	Running
15	16	66	Darrell Waltrip	Haas-Carter Motorsports	Ford	90	0	Running
16	13	23	Jimmy Spencer	Haas-Carter Motorsports	Ford	90	0	Flagged
17	30	33	Ken Schrader	Andy Petree Racing	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
18	42	21	Elliott Sadler (R)	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	90	0	Running
19	23	55	Kenny Wallace	Andy Petree Racing	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
20	14	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	90	0	Running
21	19	7	Michael Waltrip	Mattei Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	1	Running
22	12	4	Bobby Hamilton	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Chevrolet	90	2	Running
23	41	98	Rick Mast	Cale Yarborough Motorsports	Ford	90	0	Running
24	22	18	Bobby Labonte	Joe Gibbs Racing	Pontiac	90	0	Running
25	40	16	Kevin Lepage	Roush Racing	Ford	90	0	Running
26	29	28	Kenny Irwin, Jr.	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	90	0	Running
27	43	75	Ted Musgrave	Butch Mock Motorsports	Ford	90	0	Running
28	8	94	Bill Elliott	Bill Elliott Racing	Ford	90	0	Running
29	18	43	John Andretti	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	90	0	Running
30	11	42	Joe Nemechek	SABCO Racing	Chevrolet	89	0	Running
31	33	13	Ted Christopher (R)	Mystique Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	0	Running
32	24	10	Ricky Rudd (W)	Rudd Performance Motorsports	Ford	89	0	Running
33	20	40	Sterling Marlin	SABCO Racing	Chevrolet	89	0	Running
34	37	12	Jeremy Mayfield	Penske-Kranefuss Racing	Ford	89	0	Running
35	21	60	Geoffrey Bodine (W)	Joe Bessey Motorsports	Chevrolet	89	0	Running
36	28	45	Rich Bickle	Tyler Jet Motorsports	Pontiac	88	0	Running
37	32	41	David Green	Larry Hedrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	88	0	Running
38	34	26	Johnny Benson, Jr.	Roush Racing	Ford	85	0	Running
39	31	61	David Murry (R)	Phoenix Air Racing	Ford	78	0	Running
40	35	11	Brett Bodine	Brett Bodine Racing	Ford	66	0	Running
41	36	36	Ernie Irvan (W)	MB2 Motorsports	Pontiac	60	0	Engine
42	2	14	Boris Said (R)	Irvan-Simo Motorsports	Ford	48	9	Engine
43	15	22	Ward Burton	Bill Davis Racing	Pontiac	48	0	Engine
Failed to Qualify
		77	Robert Pressley	Jasper Motorsports	Ford
		30	Derrike Cope	Eel River Racing	Pontiac
		19	Paul Gentilozzi (R)	Roehig Motorsports	Pontiac
		91	Jack Baldwin (R)	LJ Racing	Chevrolet
		58	Hut Stricklin	SBIII Motorsports	Ford
		71	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing	Chevrolet
Notes: Homelink signed a one race agreement to sponsor the #14 car for this race after their original entry, the #19 car, did not qualify.

References

1. "Weather History for Watkins Glen, New York: April 15, 1999". Farmer's Almanac. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
2. "1999 Frontier @ the Glen". Racing Reference. Retrieved April 19, 2014.