Tony Furr anticipated the floodgates opening when his Hendrick Motorsports driver, Jerry Nadeau, won his first race. Nadeau and Furr accomplished that feat in the 2000 season finale and had high hopes that breakthrough would lead to a realization in 2001 of the potential that led team owner Rick Hendrick to sign the former road racer following the 1999 season. It was the second breakthrough win Furr had engineered in the last four years, after he led John Andretti to Victory Lane at Daytona in 1997.