By Zane Miller
First round
(8) #3 Dale Earnhardt v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon
(7) #99 Jeff Burton v. (2) #6 Mark Martin
(6) #12 Jeremy Mayfield v. (3) #88 Dale Jarrett
(5) #18 Bobby Labonte v. (4) #2 Rusty Wallace
The playoffs began at Richmond, where the most competitive series of the night was between teammates Jeff Burton and Mark Martin. Burton ultimately won the battle by claiming the race win, though Martin was not far behind in third. On the other end, Dale Earnhardt had a rough time in his first race against Jeff Gordon, suffering major damage in an early multi-car accident and spending many laps behind the wall to eventually finish 38th. In contrast, Gordon grabbed the runner-up spot after leading 30 laps. Dale Jarrett bested Jeremy Mayfield in the postseason opener despite neither driver running particularly well, with Jarrett finishing 16th and Mayfield taking 22nd. Rusty Wallace also claimed a solid seventh, as Bobby Labonte crashed out of the race in the waning laps.
Moving on to Dover, Martin was intent on not getting upset in the first round, winning convincingly at the Monster Mile after leading all but 21 laps in the event. This was absolutely overkill in this case, as Burton crashed out near the three-fourths mark. This was true in Gordon’s case as well, with him taking the second spot while Earnhardt bowed out of the playoffs with a 23rd-place run. However, the other two series would continue on into Martinsville, as Mayfield grabbed third to Jarrett’s seventh and Labonte held off Wallace with a fourth-place result with Wallace rounding out the top-five.
Martinsville would be a busy day as far as the playoffs were concerned, with the nearly 100-degree weather only serving to add even more pressure to the situation. The first to fall victim to the heat would be Jarrett, who broke a camshaft just past the halfway point, ending his title bid as Mayfield settled for 23rd. Also failing to get the job done was Wallace, as the normally strong short track racer ended up multiple laps down in 28th, with Labonte posting a 10th-place run to advance to the semifinal round. The clear winner in terms of excitement was the Martin-Burton series, as both drivers placed inside the top-five. It seemed that, as the final 100 laps counted down, Burton would have the upper hand as he took the lead from Sterling Marlin. However, his tires began to fade as the run went on, getting passed by eventual race winner Ricky Rudd with 95 laps to go. Martin got by his teammate shortly after a restart with 67 laps remaining and did not look back, capturing third while Burton was knocked out of the semifinals in fifth.
Semifinal
(6) #12 Jeremy Mayfield v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon
(4) #18 Bobby Labonte v. (2) #6 Mark Martin
At Charlotte, Martin was the class of the field and made a strong case for his second Cup Series championship, taking the race win with 215 laps led, while Labonte was nowhere in sight after crashing out after the halfway point. Also having a disappointing day was Mayfield, as he finished 25th after being caught up in the same accident as Labonte, while Gordon continued his relentless charge with a fifth-place run.
Moving on to Talladega, Gordon started up front and stayed there, nailing down a runner-up finish to race winner Dale Jarrett. Mayfield made a furious charge behind him in an effort to push the series into the rescheduled Daytona race, but he would come up just shy in fifth. Martin would not be so lucky, as he was bitten by the Big One with just over 50 laps to go. Although he was able to stay on track, he was well out of contention and finished 34th. The race went on without further incident and Labonte took the sixth spot to keep his title hopes alive.
The Pepsi 400 at Daytona, originally scheduled for July 4th, was pushed back to October due to major wildfires impacting the area, causing a massive shakeup in the postseason itinerary. Now with back-to-back restrictor plate races, both Martin and Labonte would need to be vigilant against the ever-looming Big One. On a wild, rainy night in Daytona Beach, there would actually be two Big Ones, claiming a combined 20 cars in the wreckage. However, both Martin and Labonte were ahead of each crash, and free to battle it out for the remaining spot in the finals. Labonte was able to keep Martin at an arm’s length throughout the final stretch, though a late caution came out for rain to set up a three-lap shootout. Just five cars behind Labonte, Martin looked for drafting help to close the gap. However, him and his Roush Racing teammates were unable to get linked up, and Labonte would have a chance to defend his title with a runner-up finish against Martin’s 16th.
Final
(5) #18 Bobby Labonte v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon
For the first time in Cup Series history, the final round would begin at Phoenix International Raceway (now Phoenix Raceway). Although neither Gordon nor Labonte had anything for eventual race winner Rusty Wallace, Gordon stayed inside the top-10 all race long and came home with a seventh-place finish when the event was concluded early due to rain. Meanwhile, Labonte, who had been forced from the rear of the field, did not make much headway and wound up two laps down in 23rd.
After being denied of a championship at the doorstep in 1996, that door would finally open this time at Rockingham. As Labonte was mostly a non-factor in the race, finishing 15th, Gordon grabbed the lead from Wallace with 10 laps to go and captured his dozenth race win of the season and, most importantly, his first Cup Series title.
Jeff Gordon’s stats for 1998 were 13 victories, 26 top-fives and 28 top-10s, easily taking the real-life championship as well.
1998 Cup Series standings in real life: https://scorum.com/en-us/nascar/@zmiller82/1998-nascar-cup-series-season-recap
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