NASCAR

By Zane Miller First round (8) #30 Michael Waltrip v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon (7) #2 Rusty Wallace v. (2) #4 Sterling Marlin (6) #5 Terry Labonte v. (3) #3 Dale Earnhardt (5) #16 Ted Musgrave v. (4) #6 Mark Martin As the first round of the playoffs got underway at Darlington, Jeff Gordon continued his breakout year with a race win after leading the final 35 laps, with the eighth-seeded Michael Waltrip putting up a strong fight in fifth. However, an early upset would be had by Rusty Wallace as he grabbed a third-place spot, as Sterling Marlin brought it home 10th. Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt led the most laps and ended up with the runner-up spot, in contrast to Terry Labonte who finished multiple laps down in 19th. The battle of the teammates taking place between Mark Martin and Ted Musgrave saw Musgrave take the early lead, as Martin went over 50 laps down due to mechanical issues before Musgrave blew his engine with just 15 laps to go. Many hopes for winning the 1995 championship title would come to an end at Richmond International Raceway, starting with Wallace leading the final 102 laps on the way to his fifth race win in the Virginia state capital to handily knock out Marlin, while Gordon took a solid sixth-place run to eliminate Waltrip after a dismal 28th-place finish. In the same vein, Musgrave earned the final spot in the top-10, while Martin could only muster a 15th-place run to bring his title hunt to a premature end. This left the Labonte-Earnhardt series as the only one still up in the air, as Labonte held off a furious late charge to hang onto the runner-up position, forcing Earnhardt to settle for third. However, at Dover, the Intimidator would prove to be too much to handle for the Iceman, as Earnhardt secured a fifth-place result while Labonte finished five laps down in 15th. Semifinal (7) #2 Rusty Wallace v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon (5) #16 Ted Musgrave v. (3) #3 Dale Earnhardt The semifinal round kicked off at Martinsville, which proved beneficial for Earnhardt as he claimed his sixth race win at the track after leading over half of the event while Musgrave was a non-factor. The closer struggle came between Wallace and Gordon, as both drivers led laps during the event, though it would be Wallace coming out on top as the checkered flag fell, taking the third spot with Gordon not far behind in seventh. Although it initially looked as though Musgrave could turn his luck around at North Wilkesboro after scoring the pole during the race weekend, it was not meant to be as he lost the lead early on and began dropping through the field, eventually coming home 20th while Earnhardt maintained a steady ninth-place run to punch his ticket to the championship finals. However, he would not be alone in this regard as Wallace was able to stave off a valiant effort from Gordon to finish runner-up ahead of Gordon’s third. With that, Earnhardt and Wallace would be duking it out in a rematch of the 1993 championship battle. Final (7) #2 Rusty Wallace v. (3) #3 Dale Earnhardt Both drivers came out swinging at Rockingham, with the duo each leading a significant chunk of laps during the event. However, despite Earnhardt being gifted a late caution after officials falsely penalized the driver of the #3 a lap for not tightening all lug nuts on the final pit stop of the day when they were in fact secured, he could only get back up to seventh after being granted his lap back while Wallace held the second spot to deal an early blow to the three-time champ. However, at Phoenix, Earnhardt would prove that he was still on top of his game. Once again, both Wallace and Earnhardt would bring their best pieces to the track, both starting inside the top-10 and taking lengthy stints at the front of the field. After a late caution set up a six-lap dash to the finish, Earnhardt started just one spot behind Wallace, but he wouldn’t be there for long. He pulled his black-and-silver Chevrolet to the inside of Wallace before the restart lap was even over, and cleared his rival with five laps to go. Wallace had nothing left for Earnhardt, who took the third spot to tie the series while Wallace trailed in fourth. Atlanta Motor Speedway would again be site for lifting the championship trophy, but, unlike in ’93, Earnhardt would have the upper hand as the clearly dominant. Unwilling to go down without a fight, Wallace and crew tried desperately to keep up with Earnhardt, making adjustments to ultimately get the #2 Ford solidly inside the top-five. However, this would simply not be enough, as Earnhardt led 268 of the race’s 328 laps to score the race win and, most importantly, his fourth Cup Series championship, as Wallace ended up in third. Dale Earnhardt’s stats for 1995 included five victories, 19 top-fives and 23 top-10s, scoring the runner-up spot in the standings to real-life champion Jeff Gordon. 1995 Cup Series standings in real life: https://scorum.com/en-us/nascar/@zmiller82/1995-nascar-cup-series-season-recap