The 2000 Mall.com 400 was the fifth stock car race of the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 44th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 19, 2000, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 293 laps to complete. At race's end, Bill Davis Racing's Ward Burton dominated the late laps of the race to take his second career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his only victory of the season, and his first victory in 131 races. To fill out the top three, Robert Yates Racing's Dale Jarrett and Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt finished second and third, respectively.
Background
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.
Entry list
(R) denotes rookie driver.
#DriverTeamMake1Steve ParkDale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet2Rusty WallacePenske-Kranefuss RacingFord3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4Bobby HamiltonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsChevrolet5Terry LabonteHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet6Mark MartinRoush RacingFord7Michael WaltripMattei MotorsportsChevrolet8Dale Earnhardt Jr. (R)Dale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet9Stacy Compton (R)Melling RacingFord10Johnny Benson Jr.Tyler Jet MotorsportsPontiac11Brett BodineBrett Bodine RacingFord12Jeremy MayfieldPenske-Kranefuss RacingFord13Robby GordonTeam MenardFord14Dick TrickleA. J. Foyt EnterprisesPontiac15Derrike CopeFenley-Moore MotorsportsFord16Kevin LepageRoush RacingFord17Matt Kenseth (R)Roush RacingFord18Bobby LabonteJoe Gibbs RacingPontiac20Tony StewartJoe Gibbs RacingPontiac21Elliott SadlerWood Brothers RacingFord22Ward BurtonBill Davis RacingPontiac24Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet25Jerry NadeauHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet26Jimmy SpencerHaas-Carter MotorsportsFord27Jeff FullerEel River RacingPontiac28Ricky RuddRobert Yates RacingFord31Mike SkinnerRichard Childress RacingChevrolet32Scott Pruett (R)PPI MotorsportsFord33Joe NemechekAndy Petree RacingChevrolet36Ken SchraderMB2 MotorsportsPontiac40Sterling MarlinTeam SABCOChevrolet41Rick MastLarry Hedrick MotorsportsChevrolet42Kenny Irwin Jr.Team SABCOChevrolet43John AndrettiPetty EnterprisesPontiac44Kyle PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac50Ricky CravenMidwest Transit RacingChevrolet55Kenny WallaceAndy Petree RacingChevrolet60Ted MusgraveJoe Bessey RacingChevrolet66Darrell WaltripHaas-Carter MotorsportsFord71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet75Wally Dallenbach Jr.Galaxy MotorsportsFord77Robert PressleyJasper MotorsportsFord88Dale JarrettRobert Yates RacingFord90Ed Berrier (R)Donlavey RacingFord93Dave Blaney (R)Bill Davis RacingPontiac94Bill ElliottBill Elliott RacingFord97Chad LittleRoush RacingFord99Jeff BurtonRoush RacingFordOfficial entry list
Practice
First practice The first practice session was held on Friday, March 17, at 11:00 AM EST. The session would last for one hour and 15 minutes. Roush Racing's Jeff Burton set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 28.923 and an average speed of . Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed199Jeff BurtonRoush RacingFord28.923170.02423Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet28.982169.67832Rusty WallacePenske-Kranefuss RacingFord29.025169.426Full first practice results
Second practice The second practice session was held on Friday, March 17, at 1:00 PM EST. The session would last for 45 minutes. Hendrick Motorsports's Jeff Gordon set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 28.747 and an average speed of . Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed124Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet28.747171.065228Ricky RuddRobert Yates RacingFord28.833170.555318Bobby LabonteJoe Gibbs RacingPontiac28.844170.490Full second practice results
Third practice The third practice session was held on Saturday, March 18, at 9:30 AM EST. The session would last for one hour and 30 minutes. Dale Earnhardt, Inc.'s Dale Earnhardt Jr. set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 29.611 and an average speed of . Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed18Dale Earnhardt Jr. (R)Dale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet29.611166.073218Bobby LabonteJoe Gibbs RacingPontiac29.648165.866322Ward BurtonBill Davis RacingPontiac29.712165.508Full third practice results
Final practice The final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Saturday, March 18, after the 2000 SunCom 200. The session would last for one hour. Roush Racing's Mark Martin set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 29.516 and an average speed of . Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed16Mark MartinRoush RacingFord29.516166.607222Ward BurtonBill Davis RacingPontiac29.565166.331312Jeremy MayfieldPenske-Kranefuss RacingFord29.571166.298Full final practice results
Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 17, at 3:30 PM EST. Each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, March 18, at 11:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. Positions 26–36 would be decided on time, while positions 37–43 would be based on provisionals. Six spots were awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The seventh was awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points was awarded a provisional.
Jeff Gordon, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 28.481 and an average speed of in the first round.
Five drivers failed to qualify.
Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed124Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet28.481172.662216Kevin LepageRoush RacingFord28.552172.233322Ward BurtonBill Davis RacingPontiac28.557172.20343Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet28.685171.43556Mark MartinRoush RacingFord28.729171.172621Elliott SadlerWood Brothers RacingFord28.739171.112718Bobby LabonteJoe Gibbs RacingPontiac28.792170.797894Bill ElliottBill Elliott RacingFord28.798170.762920Tony StewartJoe Gibbs RacingPontiac28.832170.560108Dale Earnhardt Jr. (R)Dale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet28.839170.5191143John AndrettiPetty EnterprisesPontiac28.855170.4251214Dick TrickleA. J. Foyt RacingPontiac28.863170.3771377Robert PressleyJasper MotorsportsFord28.866170.3601427Jeff FullerEel River RacingPontiac28.867170.3541593Dave Blaney (R)Bill Davis RacingPontiac28.874170.3121617Matt Kenseth (R)Roush RacingFord28.891170.2121788Dale JarrettRobert Yates RacingFord28.899170.1651842Kenny Irwin Jr.Team SABCOChevrolet28.902170.1471925Jerry NadeauHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet28.902170.147202Rusty WallacePenske-Kranefuss RacingFord28.915170.0712112Jeremy MayfieldPenske-Kranefuss RacingFord28.916170.0652228Ricky RuddRobert Yates RacingFord28.938169.9362331Mike SkinnerRichard Childress RacingChevrolet28.949169.8712426Jimmy SpencerHaas-Carter MotorsportsFord28.950169.8652555Kenny WallaceAndy Petree RacingChevrolet28.964169.783Failed to lock in the first round2671Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet28.977169.7072799Jeff BurtonRoush RacingFord28.980169.6892840Sterling MarlinTeam SABCOChevrolet28.988169.6432910Johnny Benson Jr.Tyler Jet MotorsportsPontiac28.988169.6433033Joe NemechekAndy Petree RacingChevrolet28.988169.643311Steve ParkDale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet28.996169.5963211Brett BodineBrett Bodine RacingFord29.000169.572334Bobby HamiltonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsChevrolet29.003169.555345Terry LabonteHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet29.008169.526357Michael WaltripMattei MotorsportsChevrolet29.020169.4563636Ken SchraderMB2 MotorsportsPontiac29.053169.263Provisionals3797Chad LittleRoush RacingFord -* -*3844Kyle PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac -* -*3960Ted MusgraveJoe Bessey RacingChevrolet -* -*4013Robby GordonTeam MenardFord -* -*4141Rick MastLarry Hedrick MotorsportsChevrolet -* -*429Stacy Compton (R)Melling RacingFord -* -*4366Darrell WaltripHaas-Carter MotorsportsFord -* -*Failed to qualify4415Derrike CopeFenley-Moore MotorsportsFord29.371167.4304550Ricky CravenMidwest Transit RacingChevrolet29.401167.2604632Scott Pruett (R)PPI MotorsportsFord29.494166.7324775Wally Dallenbach Jr.Galaxy MotorsportsFord29.680165.6874890Ed Berrier (R)Donlavey RacingFord29.806164.987Official first round qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup
Race results