HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- With 20 laps remaining, the next-to-last event of the 1999 Winston Cup season is boiling down to a two-horse race. Problem is, both horses eat from the same trough. Tony Stewart, who entered the pits in first place, rumbles from his stop, bringing his orange Pontiac up through the gearbox. As he reaches pit road's long backstretch, he looks at the track to his right and spies traffic in the form of teammate Bobby Labonte rolling off of Turn 2 at full speed. A drag race ensues, as the patch of grass that separates pit road from the track tapers into an arrow pointing deep into Turn 3.
Joe Gibbs, who owns both cars, watches uneasily from a TV booth about 300 feet above the action. Normally, he could control the situation from the pits with a push of a button, radioing both drivers to take it easy. But behind the mike for NBC's first NASCAR telecast, all he can do is try not to swear on air.
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