[Raceboy]

1. 1987: Ten laps remained in a tense sprint to the finish between Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt and Geoffrey Bodine. Though the debate is still open to this day as to who banged into whom, Earnhardt made a trademark bold move to bypass Elliott and Bodine.

Elliott pushed to catch Earnhardt, and bumped "The Intimidator" into the grass on the frontstretch. Undaunted, Earnhardt stayed on the throttle and kept control of his car, scrambled back onto the track and stayed there for the win.

Dubbed "The Pass in the Grass," there was actually no pass at all as Earnhardt never lost the lead despite

Following his win, Earnhardt was bumped by both Elliott and Bodine, and NASCAR doled out fines to each driver. Georgia Gov. Frank Harris and thousands of irate Elliott fans offered to pay Elliott's portion of the penalty.

2. 2002: For only the second time in the history of The Winston, a rookie won the event as Ryan Newman successfully transferred from The Winston Open to win The Winston. Ironically, the only other rookie to win The Winston, Dale Earnhardt Jr., got Newman loose during a final lap dogfight, but Newman kept control and took the win.

3. 1992: The first running of The Winston under the lights lives up to its "One Hot Night" slogan as Kyle Petty spun Dale Earnhardt, the leader at the time, but was unable to lose hard-charging Davey Allison, who won by inches. Allison's furious bid for victory resulted in an accident after he crossed the finish line.

4. 1996: Michael Waltrip managed to grab the fifth and final transfer spot in The Winston Open, then capitalized on a mishap between Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte to pass them for the win. At that point, Waltrip had yet to win a NASCAR Winston Cup race.

5. 1989: Rusty Wallace won after Darrell Waltrip spun following contact with Wallace with only two laps to go. The incident between the drivers touched off a post-race brawl between the crews.

6. 2000: With driving reminiscent of his father, Dale Earnhardt Jr. fought from the back of the pack during the final eight laps to win, becoming the first rookie to do so. He passed Dale Jarrett with two laps remaining after taking a late gamble to pit for four fresh tires.

7. 1993: Officials ordered a second restart with two laps to go after Dale Earnhardt jumped early on leader Mark Martin during the first restart. No penalty was issued to Earnhardt, who admitted after the race he "jumped to rattle Mark." The victory was Earnhardt's third at The Winston, at the time an event record since tied by Jeff Gordon.


8. 2001: In a finish delayed until almost 1 a.m. because of rain, Jeff Gordon won in a backup car after being forced to make the switch: along with others: after an accident coming to the green flag at the start.

9. 1998: Despite being in the pits 10 laps earlier, but inexplicably getting no fuel, Jeff Gordon ran out of gas on the last lap, allowing Mark Martin to win.

10. 1985: Harry Gant's 3.1-second lead with 10 laps to go in The Winston inaugural race was chipped away by Darrell Waltrip and eventually overcome. Waltrip's engine blew as he took the checkered flag, prompting protests that 'ol D.W. intentionally blew the motor so it couldn't be inspected following his tremendous comeback.

11. 1994: Geoffrey Bodine overcame an early spin and held off Sterling Marlin by .26 seconds to become the first owner/driver to win The Winston.

12. 1988: Terry Labonte won by nearly a second after coming back from a lap down.

13. 1999: Eleven years to the day, Terry Labonte again wins, managing to stay away from a myriad of accidents that cut down the field.

14. 1995: Jeff Gordon avoided accidents that took out a good deal of the field en route to winning all three segments and The Winston for the second time.

15. 1990: Saying he wanted "no rifts: to make up for '87," and that "No one can claim I won by hitting somebody," Dale Earnhardt lead from the pole to the finish to win The Winston.

16. 1991: Davey Allison gave himself more breathing room than in his first victory at The Winston the year before, winning by nearly three seconds. Allison was the first driver to win The Winston back-to-back.

17. 1997: Jeff Gordon won The Winston for the third time, tying Dale Earnhardt for most victories in the prestigious event.

18. 1986: Bill Elliott won The Winston in front of his home state crowd at Atlanta Motor Speedway. However, the race was run on "Mother's Day Eve," and drew a crowd of approximately 20,000. NASCAR decided, following that event, not to schedule another NASCAR Winston Cup event against Mother's Day weekend.