|| *Comments on the 1998 TranSouth Financial 400:* View the most recent comment <#22> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Darrell posted: 11.25.2005 - 7:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell Waltrip's last race as an owner/driver. He wrote in his autobiography that he drove the Tim Flock Special just so he wouldn't be depressed about running a blank racecar since he figured it would be his final start. Also, Ron Hornaday DNQ's subbing for Steve Park. 2. myself posted: 02.19.2007 - 6:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) The last Darlington race I attended. I noticed something VERY stange before the race. About 2 hrs. before the race, I noticed the great Dale Earnhardt through my binoculars sitting in front of a camper popping the top on & drinking a can of Busch beer. It GREATLY surprised me that a driver would drink a beer before a race. Jeff Burton was dominant, but the car faded late. A great last lap duel between Jarrett & Gordon! 3. Destiny posted: 09.05.2007 - 8:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) You see Darrell, Tim Flock was a nice driver. However, DW had his last race as a owner and driver and shut down for himself. In just 9 days later, Tim Flock passed on. 4. RaceFanX posted: 11.28.2007 - 3:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was Darrel Waltrip's last race in a car #17 on the Cup tour. Also, I think this will forever be the last time anyone tried to run a car with a three digit number. Darrel originally showed up with his car numbered as 300 as part of the tribute to Flock but NASCAR put the brakes on that idea and he drove his usual 17 instead in the race. Waltrip did practice with the 300 though so I guess it still counts as being run a little bit. 5. Mark O posted: 12.26.2007 - 1:10 pm Rate this comment: (2) (1) The same NASCAR that allows teams to trade their owners' points off to make races wouldn't allow a three-digit-car to run. Wonderful, ain't it? 6. Anonymous posted: 04.08.2008 - 10:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Jarrett won and this race was Benson's third top-ten in a row. This season would be good to Johnny B. early on but more challenging towards the end of the season. THank goodness Jeff Gordon didn't win. 7. Darrell posted: 05.31.2008 - 12:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Morgan Shepherd relieved the ailing Mike Skinner early in this race. 8. James W. Mclaughlin posted: 01.15.2009 - 3:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) When was the last time that NASCAR allowed triple-digit car numbers? Anyone know? 9. Sébastien posted: 03.06.2010 - 5:46 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Lepage #91 lone sponsor was Pionite (TV panel only). 10. 18fan posted: 05.12.2010 - 2:11 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mayfield appeared to have this race won when he passed Burton for the lead and driving away from Jeff. Jeremy was pitting on the backstretch, though, so he lost a bunch of track position on his final pit stop under caution. 11. Schroeder51 posted: 11.06.2010 - 10:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Geoff Bodine made his way all the way up to 6th place in the early laps, but made contact with Ward Burton off of turn 4 and spun into the inside wall hard. 12. Rob posted: 01.13.2011 - 1:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Ford lead every single lap of this race. On time it looked like Jeff Gordon was going to lead on a restart but Jeremy Mayfield was pitting on the backstretch stayed out. After this race Chevy and Pontiac cried foul and there were some changes made. 13. CBASS posted: 05.14.2012 - 9:48 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Some sponsor corrections using CIA Stock Photography's photos #17 NASCAR 50th Anneversary/ Tim Flock Special 14. RedChevy14 posted: 10.18.2012 - 10:00 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) Dale got the halfway leader money (I believe it was something like $10 grand at the time) and very quietly gave the entire prize to Tim Flock and his family to try to help with all their medical costs. Races like this and Dover (which Dale also won) put Jeff Gordon's 1998 season into better perspective than the races he won. One bobble by Dale and Jeff would've won here. If Dover hadn't come down to fuel mileage, he'da won there. That would have been 15 wins. And there are others that you can argue he maybe should have won (he was moving out front when Rusty dumped him at Richmond, and remember he came up half a car short of Burton in the September Richmond race in probably the best duel of 1998). Ray Evernham had the aero package for those '98 cars figured out and no one (with a lick of sense) denies Gordon is one of our sport's all-time great wheelmen. It's the most dominant season I've ever seen (my first memories of racing are 1990), and I don't think we'll ever see anyone come close to that. With all that being said, thank goodness Dale won here and Dover and Rusty spun him and Jeff held him off because if Gordon had won 17 races or more, that year woulda been that much worse. I like the guy now but back then, argh. Haha. 15. 18fan posted: 05.11.2013 - 11:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Benson had 3 top 5s and 7 top 10s in his first 10 races, but his best finish the rest of the season was 9th, which he did 3 times. 16. Evan posted: 01.02.2014 - 1:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dale Jarrett wins this one and I recall listening to the radio broadcast of this race in my grandparents truck. Very competitive race and DW's last run as an owner driver who I think should have ended his career as an onwer after 1997 because he had trouble making races and finishing even though he'd get an occasional top 10 or top 5. Subbing for Steve Park helped Darrell though, helped him realize he could still do it, but Darrell needed a competitive car because he sure used the Past Champion Provisional a lot. 17. Burton22Fan posted: 01.29.2017 - 11:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Randy Lajoie's first race for Hendrick. 18. Josh posted: 03.17.2018 - 2:17 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) I believe this was the final Cup start for Gary Bechtel's team. 19. TeamDCR fan posted: 03.17.2018 - 2:28 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^^^^^^ Nope. Elliott Sadler gave the team its final start at Bristol in August 20. CJ posted: 04.18.2018 - 10:14 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Final start for Darrell Waltrip as an owner/driver. First start for Randy Lajoie in the 50. Final start for Jeff Green in the 29. 21. Not Sure posted: 09.04.2018 - 10:43 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @8 - Apparently the 1971 Motor Trend 500 at Riverside was the last race to have cars with three-digit numbers on them, and there were three in that race - 107, 148, and 177. It doesn't appear to have had anything to do with scoring like you see today (for instance how cars numbered 00 to 09 are actually scored as 100, 101, etc.) since there were also cars numbered 07, 48, and 77 in that race. 22. Rich posted: 12.26.2020 - 7:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons were the commentators. Dr. Jerry Punch, John Kernan and Bill Weber were the pit road reporters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: