2001 NASCAR Cup Series Head-to-Head Playoff Results

Originally published on Jan. 11, 2025

By Zane Miller

First round

(8) #2 Rusty Wallace v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon

(7) #29 Kevin Harvick v. (2) #28 Ricky Rudd

(6) #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. v. (3) #20 Tony Stewart

(5) #40 Sterling Marlin v. (4) #88 Dale Jarrett

The playoffs began on an unpredictable note, as the opening race of the first round would also be the inaugural race at Kansas Speedway. However, far less unpredictably, Jeff Gordon scored the win at the mile-and-a-half oval after leading the final 22 circuits. Rusty Wallace put up a strong fight by leading the most laps with 117, but failed to catch Gordon and settled for fourth. Meanwhile, rookie Kevin Harvick’s postseason got off to a rough start, finishing as the last car on the lead lap in 16^th while Ricky Rudd claimed an impressive third-place run. Tony Stewart went unchallenged in eighth following a crash from Dale Earnhardt Jr., with Sterling Marlin rounding out the victors in fifth as Dale Jarrett was also caught up in a crash shortly after Earnhardt Jr.’s.

Moving on to the 500-miler at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Marlin swiftly ended Jarrett’s chance at back-to-back titles, grabbing the race win after leading the final 38 laps before Jarrett came home in sixth. Also on the outside looking in was Earnhardt Jr., as his playoff debut concluded with Stewart scoring the runner-up spot despite a solid fourth-place finish by the #8 ride. However, Harvick was successfully able to continue his postseason run, claiming the eighth spot as Rudd struggled to finish 21^st, three laps down. Gordon was also unable to put away Wallace, who managed a seventh-place result with Gordon coming in 16^th.

The opening round would be decided on a Monday afternoon at Martinsville after a rainstorm, but no one could rain on the parade of Gordon and Harvick, with both drivers advancing to the semifinals. Gordon finished a respectable ninth after leading 58 laps as Wallace, normally a strong short track racer, uncharacteristically finished well outside the top-10 in 15^th. Harvick took 22^nd after being handed a late reckless driving penalty, though this was of little consequence as Rudd had already exited the race due to a blown motor.

Semifinal

(7) #29 Kevin Harvick v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon

(5) #40 Sterling Marlin v. (3) #20 Tony Stewart

The semifinal round started off with a bang at Talladega, as Gordon slipped through a wild last lap Big One to finish seventh, though Harvick was not so fortunate and ended up in 32^nd. Despite teammate Bobby Labonte flipping over onto his lid in the last lap wreck, Stewart was ahead of the carnage and scored the runner-up spot while Marlin slid sideways and into the outside wall, culminating in his falling behind the 8-ball in 17^th.

Neither Marlin nor Harvick could bounce back at Phoenix, as both would up well out of contention in the Arizona desert. Marlin fell multiple laps down and finished 34^th, while Stewart clinched his first-ever championship finals appearance with a fifth-place run. While not having as bad of a day as Marlin, Harvick still never found the handle and took 17^th in the final running order as Gordon put together another solid race in sixth. With that, the two drivers who had a post-race altercation on pit road in Bristol earlier in the year would be battling it out for the title.

Final

(3) #20 Tony Stewart v. (1) #24 Jeff Gordon

Both Gordon and Stewart stumbled out of the gate at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as Stewart was mired in 19^th despite leading 72 laps on the day. Fortunately for the #20 crew, Gordon suffered an even greater setback, as the 1998 champ finished a lap down in 28^th place. In what was originally intended to be the season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Gordon returned to form with a sixth-place run, while Stewart came up just short with a ninth-place effort. For the first and only time in Cup Series history, the champion would be decided at New Hampshire.

While New Hampshire was intended to be run in mid-September as usual, safety concerns following the September 11 terrorist attacks led to the event being moved to the end of the season calendar. Late in the going, a second championship looked to be calling in the crisp New England air for Gordon, as he was leading the race with just 16 laps remaining. Despite Stewart being relatively out of title contention in fifth considering the difficulty of passing at the Magic Mile, Gordon opted to fight for the lead against an unrelated driver with the same last name, as Robby Gordon was hot on his heels and hungry for his first career win. Robby moved Jeff up the track and into an unsuspecting Mike Wallace, who spun to bring out the caution and left Jeff Gordon with minor damage. Despite still being in pretty good shape to hold off Stewart, Gordon pulled what would be known as one of the most boneheaded moves in NASCAR history, as he hit Robby’s car under caution in retaliation for the incident. As a result, Gordon was penalized a lap, thus throwing away any chance at winning the title. No doubt astounded at what had just transpired in front of him, Stewart went on to score a fifth-place finish to earn his first career Cup Series title as Gordon ended the day in 15^th after leading 257 of the race’s 300 laps.

Tony Stewart’s stats for 2001 were three victories, 15 top-fives and 22 top-10s, finishing second in points to real-life champ Jeff Gordon.