1999: Rainbow on a sunny day

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It sometimes takes a big gamble to win a big race.

Jeff Gordon's move in the 41st annual Daytona 500 was daring and dangerous, the type of gamble that either pays off big-time or starts a big-time wreck.

With 11 laps remaining, Gordon decided the only way around leader Rusty Wallace was to take the low road.

ALSO  1999 Daytona 500 Results  1999 Season Recap

Driving onto the apron heading towards Turn 1, Gordon dodged the slower car of Ricky Rudd, made the pass, then slid back up onto the track just barely in front of Wallace's car -- and just barely in time to avoid losing control of his own car.

Wallace, who has experienced more than his share of big Daytona crashes, didn't like the odds and gave Gordon the room he needed to get back in line.

"Gordon just got me on the apron down there," Wallace said. "I couldn't block him off enough. I thought he was going to run right in the back of Rudd on the apron. I had him pinned down there, but I wasn't going to try to wreck a bunch of cars. I pulled up and he got me, but I just didn't think I'd get freight-trained that badly."

Instead of winning, Wallace watched helplessly as his Ford lost momentum and the lead pack roared by. Instead of breaking his Daytona 500 jinx, Wallace finished a disappointing eighth as Chevrolets snagged five of the top six spots.

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"This one probably hurts the most because I thought I had the best car," Wallace said. "I'm just so heart-broken that happened. I can't believe it happened."

Surprisingly, Gordon's pass for the lead was assisted by Chevy rival Dale Earnhardt. Having to decide whether to draft with Wallace, teammate Mike Skinner or Gordon, the No. 3 went with the No. 24, giving him the needed push.

"I thought he would have gone with the other two long before he went with me," Gordon said. "But I think he knew he had a fast race car and he could race with anybody. Maybe he wanted to race me for the finish."

The black No. 3 in the rear-view mirror is a daunting sight to most drivers, but Gordon wasn't intimidated on this day.

"At Daytona on the last lap, that's not the kind of black you want to see," Gordon said. "That black race car can flat get around here.

"Dale really had a very strong car all day. Keeping him behind me was one of the toughest things I've had to do in a race car."

Over the final 10 laps, Earnhardt never was able to put together a strong run on Gordon. Earnhardt's last-gasp chance, a slingshot off the final turn, was blocked by Gordon, who won by .128 seconds.

"I couldn't really muster much on Jeff," Earnhardt said. "His car was stronger from the center of the corner than mine was.

"I just never could get to him. If I could have got to him, I could have got a bumper under him."

Earnhardt could only give Gordon a parting shot on the cool-down lap.

"He drove into the side of me," Gordon said. "I guess he was saying, 'If they're going to put your car into Daytona USA, I'm going to leave my mark on it."

A number of other cars ended up with more than tire marks on the sides of their cars. A 12-car wreck eliminated Dale Jarrett, Terry Labonte, Jeff Burton and Mark Martin. Jarrett's car ended up upside down but he was more angry than injured.

"It's just unfortunate," Jarrett said. "You get cars bunched up like that and things are going to happen. I had to check up over in (Turn) 2 and the guy went to the inside of me. I just tried to hold my line but got tapped a little bit going into 3."

The tap may have come from Yates teammate Kenny Irwin, who missed most of the melee and finished third.

"I don't know if we actually touched or if the air just got off his spoiler and he spun," Irwin said. "I have no idea, but I feel very, very sorry about it, if it was my fault."

Jeff Burton said "the big one" was inevitable.

"I actually thought we had it cleared but there were a bunch of cars in the same place going for the same hole," he said. "We'd been racing so clean all day, you knew it was coming."

Tony Stewart finished 28th in his first Daytona 500, 19 laps down, while Elliott Sadler wound up 40th after being involved in the big wreck.

This is one in a series of articles counting down to the 2003 Daytona 500.