The 2000 Goody's Body Pain 500 was the eighth stock car race of the

2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series file:MattKenseth&KevinHarvick.jpg, Matt Kenseth, (pictured in 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, 2007) was the NASCAR Rookie of the Year. The 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 52nd season of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, professional sto ...

and the 51st iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 9, 2000, before an audience of 84,000 in

Martinsville, Virginia Martinsville is an Political subdivisions of Virginia#Independent cities, independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 13, ...

Martinsville Speedway Martinsville Speedway is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Ridgeway, Virginia, United States, a community of Martinsville, Virginia. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1947, primarily events sanctione ...

, a permanent oval-shaped short track. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. Gambling on pit strategy, Roush Racing's

Mark Martin Mark Anthony Martin (born January 9, 1959), nicknamed "the Kid", is an American former stock car racing driver. He most notably drove the No. 6 Ford Motor Company, Ford for Roush Racing for the majority of his career. From 1989 to 2009, Martin wo ...

managed to defend the field on old tires, taking advantage of track position to take his 32nd career

NASCAR Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

victory and his only victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Roush Racing's Jeff Burton and Mattei Motorsports'

Michael Waltrip Michael Curtis Waltrip (born April 30, 1963) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, racing commentator, racing team owner, amateur ballroom dancing competitor and published author. He is the younger brother of three-time NASC ...

finished second and third, respectively.

Background

Martinsville Speedway is a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

-owned stock car racing track located in Henry County, in

Ridgeway, Virginia Ridgeway is a town in Henry County, Virginia, Henry County, Virginia, United States. The population was 742 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Martinsville, Virginia, Martinsville Martinsville micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area. ...

, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (0.847 km) in length, it is the shortest track in the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver.

Practice

Originally, three practice sessions were to be held, with one session on Friday and two sessions on Saturday. However, due to rain, the final session on Saturday was cancelled.

First practice

The first practice session was held on Friday, April 7, at 11:00 AM EST. The session lasted for two hours and 30 minutes. Robert Yates Racing's

Ricky Rudd Richard Lee Rudd (born September 12, 1956), nicknamed "the Rooster", is an American former racing driver and racing team owner. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and former NASCAR Busch Series driver Jason Rudd. He retired in 2007 with 23 ...

set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 19.977 and an average speed of .

Final practice

The final practice session was held on Saturday, April 8, at 10:00 AM EST. The session lasted for one hour and 45 minutes. Penske-Kranefuss Racing's Jeremy Mayfield set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 20.210 and an average speed of .

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, April 7, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver had two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two counted as their official qualifying lap. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round was 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, April 8, at 12:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver had two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. Positions 26–36 was decided on time, while positions 37–43 was 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.

Rusty Wallace Russell "Rusty" William Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series NASCAR Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup ...

, driving for Penske-Kranefuss Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 19.969 and an average speed of in the first round. Four drivers failed to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings * Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{NASCAR on ESPN 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series NASCAR races at Martinsville Speedway 2000 in sports in Virginia April 2000 sports events in the United States