Geoff Bodine couldn't believe he was in Victory Circle. Dale Earnhardt could hardly believe he wasn't.
Sunday at Watkins Glen International, Bodine wrested the spotlight from Earnhardt with a two-stop pit strategy that gave him a victory in the Bud at the Glen, his first Winston Cup win in nearly two years.Earnhardt, starting from the pole in the 90-lap race on the fast and demanding 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course, surprisingly left relief driver David Green standing in the pits all day, withstanding the pain from a fractured collar bone and sternum on the way to a sixth-place finish.
The record crowd, estimated at more than 140,000, appeared happy enough with the win by Bodine, from nearby Chemung, N.Y., but was also disappointed that Earnhardt, who led three times for 54 laps, was unable to pull off one of the most shocking wins ever.
"I really felt like staying in the car was the best call I could make," said Earnhardt, who was injured on July 28 in a race crash at Talladega, Ala., and required relief at the race in Indianapolis the following week.
"I used the brakes pretty hard all day, and maybe I was trying to be too careful. They sort of went away there at the end. I had a better car than a sixth-place finish.
"I don't feel too good right now," Earnhardt added. "I'm ready to go home. But, if I get over this soreness this week, I'll be OK next week at Michigan."
Green, though disappointed not to get into the car, said: "Dale did what he had to do. ... I saw the look in his eyes. He's determined, and this whole race team is determined. Dale was racing. He was up front, and that's where every driver dreams to be. You couldn't have pulled him out of there with a wrecker."
It would have been equally difficult to dislodge Bodine from the seat in his Ford Thunderbird, considering this was one of the few times he has been truly competitive since his last win 54 races ago on Oct. 2, 1994, at North Wilkesboro, N.C.
"At Indy last week, we kicked ourselves because we made a big mistake up there," said owner-driver Bodine. "We spent too much time in the pits, got way behind and ruined any chance we had at a good finish or win at Indy.
"But we learned from that. On Monday, I talked to (crew chief) Paul Andrews and some other guys on our team and we decided to make this a two-stop race, no matter what."
The strategy worked to perfection as Bodine easily held off a late challenge from series point leader Terry Labonte to win his 18th Winston Cup race and first on his home track.
Bodine, who started 13th in the 39-car field, averaged 92.304 mph and won $88,740.
He was running just outside the top 10 until a caution flag came out on lap 54 when Rusty Wallace slid through oil and hit a tire barrier.
All of the other leaders pitted, but Bodine remained on the track and moved into the lead, gambling that the others would have to make one more gas stop and that he could make his last scheduled stop under green and still stay up front.
"We thought more cars would do that," Bodine said. "I was really surprised when that caution came out and everybody pitted. I bet they were surprised I didn't pit."