In a restart with five laps to go, 1997 and 1999 winner Jeff Gordon led 1994 and 1995 winner Sterling Marlin. A chain reaction began between the eighth and ninth positions after one driver missed a gear. Five cars were damaged, including the defending Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, who spun into the pits and nearly hit the pace car being driven by Jay Leno. Up front, Marlin came through the gears a bit quicker than Gordon, and took his momentum to the inside. Gordon went to block only to turn himself. The two incidents brought out the caution flag, but under the rules at the time the field continued racing at full speed back to the start/finish line, and Ward Burton pulled alongside of Marlin on the outside. Marlin, his car smoking from damage to the right front fender, beat Burton to the line by a nose, only for the red flag come out. Rather than have the race finish under caution, the officials stopped the field on the backstretch so the track could be cleared by course officials and the drivers could race to the finish. Concerned about damage on his right front fender, Marlin got out of his car and tried to pull the fender away from the tire while the cars waited, and was told to stop by pace car driver Buster Auton. Because NASCAR rules forbid working on the car under a red flag except for non-points events, he was penalized before the restart and was sent to the rear of the field. Burton (a resident of South Boston) and Elliott Sadler (from Emporia) were first and second for the state of Virginia. 1986 race winner Geoffrey Bodine was the feel-good story of the day, as he finished third just two years after a crash that nearly took his life in the Craftsman Truck Series' Daytona 250 at the same racetrack.