The 2000 MBNA Platinum 400 was the 13th stock car race of the 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series and the 32nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 4, 2000, in Dover, Delaware at Dover International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. At race's end, Tony Stewart, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would complete a dominant performance on the final restart with six to go to win his fourth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series win and his first of the season. To fill out the podium, Matt Kenseth of Roush Racing and Bobby Labonte of Joe Gibbs Racing would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.

The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMake1Steve ParkDale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet2Rusty WallacePenske-Kranefuss RacingFord3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4Bobby HamiltonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsChevrolet5Terry LabonteHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet6Mark MartinRoush RacingFord7Michael WaltripMattei MotorsportsChevrolet8Dale Earnhardt Jr. (R)Dale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet9Stacy Compton (R)Melling RacingFord10Johnny Benson Jr.Tyler Jet MotorsportsPontiac11Brett BodineBrett Bodine RacingFord12Jeremy MayfieldPenske-Kranefuss RacingFord14Rick MastA. J. Foyt EnterprisesPontiac16Kevin LepageRoush RacingFord17Matt Kenseth (R)Roush RacingFord18Bobby LabonteJoe Gibbs RacingPontiac20Tony StewartJoe Gibbs RacingPontiac21Elliott SadlerWood Brothers RacingFord22Ward BurtonBill Davis RacingPontiac24Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet25Jerry NadeauHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet26Jimmy SpencerHaas-Carter MotorsportsFord27Mike Bliss (R)Eel River RacingPontiac28Ricky RuddRobert Yates RacingFord31Mike SkinnerRichard Childress RacingChevrolet32Scott Pruett (R)PPI MotorsportsFord33Joe NemechekAndy Petree RacingChevrolet36Ken SchraderMB2 MotorsportsPontiac40Sterling MarlinTeam SABCOChevrolet42Kenny Irwin Jr.Team SABCOChevrolet43John Andretti*Petty EnterprisesPontiac44Kyle PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac55Kenny WallaceAndy Petree RacingChevrolet60Geoff BodineJoe Bessey RacingChevrolet66Darrell WaltripHaas-Carter MotorsportsFord71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet75Wally Dallenbach Jr.Galaxy MotorsportsFord77Robert PressleyJasper MotorsportsFord85Carl LongMansion MotorsportsFord88Dale JarrettRobert Yates RacingFord90Ed Berrier (R)Donlavey RacingFord93Dave Blaney (R)Bill Davis RacingPontiac94Bill ElliottBill Elliott RacingFord97Chad LittleRoush RacingFord99Jeff BurtonRoush RacingFordOfficial entry list *During the race, Kyle Petty would replace Andretti due to Andretti's rib injuries sustained at the 2000 The Winston.

Practice

First practice The first practice session was held on Friday, June 2, at 11:30 AM EST, and would last for one hour and 30 minutes. Jeremy Mayfield of Penske-Kranefuss Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 22.749 and an average speed of . Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed112Jeremy MayfieldPenske-Kranefuss RacingFord22.749158.248233Joe NemechekAndy Petree RacingChevrolet22.953156.84236Mark MartinRoush RacingFord22.954156.835Full first practice results

Second practice The second practice session was held on Friday, June 2, at 1:20 PM EST, and would last for 40 minutes. Joe Nemechek of Andy Petree Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 22.796 and an average speed of . Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed133Joe NemechekAndy Petree RacingChevrolet22.796157.92222Rusty WallacePenske-Kranefuss RacingFord22.870157.41136Mark MartinRoush RacingFord22.896157.232Full second practice results

Third practice The third practice session was held on Saturday, June 3, at 9:30 AM EST, and would last for one hour and 15 minutes. Scott Pruett of PPI Motorsports would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 22.992 and an average speed of . Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed132Scott Pruett (R)PPI MotorsportsFord22.992156.576293Dave Blaney (R)Bill Davis RacingPontiac23.004156.494390Ed Berrier (R)Donlavey RacingFord23.009156.460Full third practice results

Fourth and final practice The fourth and final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Saturday, June 3, after the preliminary 2000 MBNA Platinum 200 Busch Series race, and lasted for up to an hour. Joe Nemechek of Andy Petree Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 23.386 and an average speed of . Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed133Joe NemechekAndy Petree RacingChevrolet23.386153.93825Terry LabonteHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet23.441153.577325Jerry NadeauHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet23.536152.957Full Happy Hour practice results

Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, June 2, at 3:30 PM EST. Each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, June 3, at 11:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. Positions 26-36 would be decided on time, while positions 37-43 would be based on provisionals. Six spots are awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The seventh is awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points will be awarded a provisional.

Rusty Wallace of Penske-Kranefuss Racing would win the pole, setting a time of 22.870 and an average speed of .

Two drivers would fail to qualify: Kyle Petty and Carl Long.

Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed12Rusty WallacePenske-Kranefuss RacingFord22.870157.411294Bill ElliottBill Elliott RacingFord22.880157.343355Kenny WallaceAndy Petree RacingChevrolet22.907157.15746Mark MartinRoush RacingFord22.909157.143512Jeremy MayfieldPenske-Kranefuss RacingFord22.934156.97268Dale Earnhardt Jr. (R)Dale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet22.953156.842728Ricky RuddRobert Yates RacingFord22.960156.794831Mike SkinnerRichard Childress RacingChevrolet22.964156.767918Bobby LabonteJoe Gibbs RacingPontiac22.965156.7601033Joe NemechekAndy Petree RacingChevrolet22.972156.7131142Kenny Irwin Jr.Team SABCOChevrolet22.980156.6581275Wally Dallenbach Jr.Galaxy MotorsportsFord22.982156.6441311Brett BodineBrett Bodine RacingFord22.997156.5421499Jeff BurtonRoush RacingFord23.022156.372157Michael WaltripMattei MotorsportsChevrolet23.059156.1211620Tony StewartJoe Gibbs RacingPontiac23.060156.114171Steve ParkDale Earnhardt, Inc.Chevrolet23.064156.0871888Dale JarrettRobert Yates RacingFord23.084155.9521924Jeff GordonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet23.095155.8782016Kevin LepageRoush RacingFord23.097155.864219Stacy Compton (R)Melling RacingFord23.103155.8242260Geoff BodineJoe Bessey RacingChevrolet23.106155.8042322Ward BurtonBill Davis RacingPontiac23.108155.7902477Robert PressleyJasper MotorsportsFord23.136155.6022540Sterling MarlinTeam SABCOChevrolet23.139155.5812617Matt Kenseth (R)Roush RacingFord23.052156.1692793Dave Blaney (R)Bill Davis RacingPontiac23.074156.0202814Rick MastA. J. Foyt EnterprisesPontiac23.078155.9932932Scott Pruett (R)PPI MotorsportsFord23.080155.979303Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet23.107155.7973136Ken SchraderMB2 MotorsportsPontiac23.158155.4543221Elliott SadlerWood Brothers RacingFord23.159155.4473343John AndrettiPetty EnterprisesPontiac23.160155.4403410Johnny Benson Jr.Tyler Jet MotorsportsPontiac23.181155.3003566Darrell WaltripHaas-Carter MotorsportsFord23.183155.2863625Jerry NadeauHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet23.191155.233Provisionals375Terry LabonteHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet - -3897Chad LittleRoush RacingFord - -3926Jimmy SpencerHaas-Carter MotorsportsFord - -404Bobby HamiltonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsChevrolet - -4127Mike Bliss (R)Eel River RacingPontiac - -4290Ed Berrier (R)Donlavey RacingFord - -4371Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet - -Failed to qualify4444Kyle PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac23.287154.5934585Carl LongMansion MotorsportsFord - -Official first-round resultsOfficial qualifying results

Race results