A TUMS MOMENT
(For each of the 36 races during the 2011 Sprint Cup season, TUMS will provide a glimpse of a previous event at that track, one that could easily be described as A TUMS Moment. This week, the focus is “The Great American Race”, the Daytona 500).
DALE EARNHARDT SHREDS A TIRE, LOSES THE DAYTONA 500
The date was Feb. 18, 1990. Seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt dominated the 32ndrunning of the Daytona 500, leading 155 of the race’s 200 laps in the No. 3 Chevrolet from Richard Childress Racing.
NOTE: TUMS is the sponsor of the TUMS Fast Relief 500, the seventh race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, at Martinsville Speedway on October 30.
He was the leader on the final lap, but hit a piece of debris from another car and shredded the right-rear tire entering turn three. His black Chevrolet drifted high, giving way for Derrike Cope to take his first-career win. Earnhardt finished fifth, nursing his car across the start-finish line behind Cope, Terry Labonte, Bill Elliott and Ricky Rudd. Now, that was a TUMS moment.
After two decades of coming close, Earnhardt finally won “The Great American Race” in 1998 with another dominating performance.
