2001 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500

2001 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500

Race details
Race 4 of 36 of in the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
2001 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 program cover
Date	March 11, 2001 (2001-03-11)
Location	Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Georgia
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.54 mi (2.48 km)
Distance	325 laps, 500.5 mi (805.4 km)
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 68 °F (20 °C); wind speeds up to 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h)[1]
Average speed	143.273 mph (230.576 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Dale Jarrett	Yates Racing
Time	28.763
Most laps led
Driver	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	118
Winner
No. 29	Kevin Harvick	Richard Childress Racing
Television in the United States
Network	Fox Broadcasting Network
Announcers	Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, Darrell Waltrip
Nielsen Ratings	5.7[2]

The 2001 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500 was the fourth stock car race of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It was held on March 11, 2001 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, in Hampton, Georgia. The 325-lap race was won by Kevin Harvick of the Richard Childress Racing team after starting from fifth position. Jeff Gordon finished second and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jerry Nadeau came in third.

Pole position driver Dale Jarrett maintained his lead for the first six laps of the race, but Harvick, who started fifth, passed him on the seventh lap. Gordon soon became the leader and would lead the race high of 118 laps. Five laps from the finish, Harvick took the lead after a five-car battle. On the final lap, Harvick won his first Winston Cup Series race from Gordon by .006 seconds in his third start.

There were 8 cautions and 25 lead changes among 11 different drivers. The result left Gordon in first position of the Drivers' Championship, thirty-seven ahead of second place driver Sterling Marlin and seventy-three ahead of Johnny Benson. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, fourteen points ahead of Ford and twenty ahead of Pontiac, with thirty-two races remaining in the season.