folded, however two of their final three former drivers at the time were still entered in the race itself. Kenny Wallace was a replacement for an injured Steve Park at DEI, and Rick Mast replaced the fired Hut Stricklin at Donlavey Racing. This was the last race to feature less than 43 cars until the 2014 Kentucky race. Beginning with the 2016 Sprint Cup season, fields are now a max of 40 cars. The win was Robby Gordon's first career victory in the Cup Series and one of only 17 times he raced in 2001 due to having been unexpectedly fired from the Morgan-McClure team after just 5 races. This race was also notable for the battle between Robby and Jeff Gordon (no relation) that led to much bumping between the two and resulting in Jeff Gordon spinning out of the lead, causing the final caution. Jeff was black-flagged for retaliating and after being held a lap by officials, he ended up in 15th place. Robby Gordon held off Sterling Marlin for the win. It would be the No. 31 team's very first win in NASCAR. This was Robby's second oval win in his motorsports career (his first coming in an IndyCar race at Phoenix in 1995), and only oval victory in NASCAR. In victory lane, Robby, when asked about the incident with Jeff, said that it was an accident and that he was not embarrassed about his win since he saw Jeff Gordon do something similar to win at a previous race. Robby also donated all his prize money to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Robby Gordon became the 5th driver in 2001 to win his 1st ever Winston Cup race, a modern-era record (this record would later be matched 1 year later in 2002, in 2011, and most recently in 2022). He also became the 19th different driver to win a race in 2001, another modern-era record. As of 2021, Robby Gordon would become the 2nd driver in NASCAR to win a race after failing to qualify the previous week (Dale Jarrett was the 1st in 1994 when he failed to qualify at North Wilkesboro, and then won the following race at Charlotte). Last points race without Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson until the Pennzoil 400 and Brickyard 400 in 2020. Drivers' championship (key) Bold - Pole position awarded by time. Italics - Pole position set by