They were all in this thrilling chase for a while, the old suspects racing nose-to-tail like old times.
"Awesome" Bill Elliott was awesome again, and Dale Earnhardt was intimidating as ever.In the end, Ernie Irvan fought off all the former champions and the haunting reminders of his near-fatal crash to win the Miller 400 Sunday.
"The thoughts of what's happened at this race track were going through my mind," said Irvan, who was left in a coma with massive head injuries after the 1994 crash at Michigan Speedway. "It's probably not the best thing to do, because I was getting a little teary-eyed. It's pretty hard to drive a race car with tears in your eyes."
Dizzied by the second turn, where tragedy had struck, Irvan gripped the wheel and willed himself to hold on.
"The last five laps, my mind was going in all kind of circles," Irvan said. "I kept going through turn two and was like, `Man, this is where the wreck happened.' "
Irvan, who underwent 14 months of grueling rehabilitation to get back behind the wheel, has no recollection of the crash. Instead, on the way to victory, he was left only with a mysterious feeling that danger lurked here.
"I don't remember anything from that day," Irvan said. "There's no TV footage of the wreck, and I'm glad. I think I'm better off not knowing."
Irvan, Elliott, Mark Martin and Ted Musgrave pulled away in a phalanx of Fords during the final half of the race. With 37 laps to go, Irvan charged past Elliott, the 1988 Winston Cup champion, in a bold move that evoked memories of the "Swervin' Irvan" of old.
On the two-mile, high-banked oval where fuel mileage is usually decisive, the leaders started entering the pits with about 25 laps left.
Musgrave, seeking his first Winston Cup victory, took gas only on the last stop, while Irvan took gas and tires. When it was all sorted out, Irvan was in front with 20 laps to go and never lost the lead.
"That last pit stop was a phenomenal thing," Irvan said.
Elliott, who held a five-second lead nearing the halfway point in a bid to recapture his own past glory, was second, nearly three seconds back, for his best finish since his April 1996 crash at Talladega.
Martin was third and Musgrave completed Ford's sweep of the top four spots.
Jeff Gordon, forced to start at the rear of the field in a backup car due to a crash in practice Saturday, moved all the way up to fifth. Polesitter Dale Jarrett, Irvan's Robert Yates Racing teammate, was sixth.
In an outstanding race with 26 lead changes, Gordon and seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt provided some of the best battles - but not for the lead.
Despite glimpses of greatness, Earnhardt finished seventh and had his winless streak extended to a career-worst 41 races.
"Seventh place is good, but it ain't great," Earnhardt said. "It's time to win a race."
Gordon took the series lead by 46 points over Martin. Defending Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte had been tied with Gordon, but ran over a piece of tire and later brushed the wall to finish 39th.
It was Labonte's worst showing since July 6, 1991, in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, and left him third in the standings. In 101 caution periods this season, the steady Labonte has been involved in only two.
"I had to stay out there and try to get a caution flag so we could fix it," Labonte said. "We ended up being the caution."
Irvan got his first career victory at Michigan in his third race back since the crash. He led 33 of the 200 laps, weaving from 20th to eighth in the first 25 laps. Irvan was right in the middle of the three- and four-wide battles - stubborn, headstrong, never giving an inch.