Winston Cup points stand pat in finale

By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
November 23, 2001
6:13 PM EST (2313 GMT)

LOUDON, N.H. -- At the end of the day Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway, changes in the top-25 of the NASCAR Winston Cup driver point standings were minimal.

Tony Stewart finished the season in second place.

Of the 24 positions up for grabs (other than previously clinched champion Jeff Gordon’s) only six changed after Friday’s season finale New Hampshire 300.

Sterling Marlin made the most lucrative jump, despite moving up only one spot from fourth to third, by virtue of his second-place finish behind first-time winner Robby Gordon.

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Tony Stewart held onto second in the points by virtue of his fifth-place finish, and with it a point fund payoff of about $1.3 million. Marlin clawed his way to a check of nearly $1 million by getting past Ricky Rudd, who fell to fourth with his tire plagued run to 13th. That cost Rudd approximately $350,000.

The balance of the top-10 stayed in place, with Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton rounding out the top-10 in points after a day in which Jarrett was 10th and everyone else on that list was basically junk.

Dave Blaney used a going away present from Bill Davis to record an 11th-place finish and to move from 23rd to 22nd, dumping fruitless Terry Labonte back to 23rd after Labonte finished his year without leading single lap.

Casey Atwood didn’t have a bad day with a 16th-place run. But he still fell out of the top-25, which cost him an R.J. Reynolds bonus check, when Robert Pressley -- who is moving out of the Jasper Ford for Blaney -- used a seventh-place finish to move from 26th to 25th by 24 points.