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“When we came off Turn 2, he went to the inside and let me go to the outside and I knew what was going to happen when I got to Turn 3,' Elliott said. “I tried to stay square with him instead of giving him the opportunity to get into my left rear. I knew he was going to spin me when I got to Turn 3. He didn't pull over and let you by for any good reason.”
Elliott stayed even with Earnhardt and in Turns 3 and 4 Earnhardt carried Elliott to the wall. Elliott's Ford suffered a cut left-rear tire. Earnhardt maintained he never touched Elliott, but Elliott contended it was that maneuver that crumpled his left fender, causing the cut tire. A lap later, Elliott had to pit for a new tire and that left him 14th in the rundown. Earnhardt went on to win, but the confrontations weren't over.
On the cool-down lap, Bodine slammed into Earnhardt.
After Bodine's run-in with Earnhardt, Elliott blocked Earnhardt as they exited Turn 1. On the backstretch, Elliott turned into Earnhardt on the outside, forcing him to hit his brakes so hard that smoke billowed from his car's tires. Elliott then cut off Earnhardt
at the pit road entrance and at the garage entrance he again turned toward Earnhardt, forcing him to move to the outside of pit road. This occurred in front of Earnhardt's crew, which had pitted just one space away from Elliott's. Fists were shaken and words exchanged, but no one came to blows.
“Ernie (Elliott, Bill’s brother) walked right up to me and said, ‘That’s really chicken s—t,” said Childress. “I told him if he wanted to keep his face looking the way it did now, he better get the hell out of my pit stall.”
“This whole deal is between me and Bill, and it has nothing to do with our teams,” Earnhardt said. “We knocked each other around, but it’s all over now as far as I am concerned. But if Bill still wants to do something about it, then I’ll stand flat-footed with him any day.”
“It was probably the maddest I've ever been in my career,” Elliott said. “I told (Winston Cup Director Dick) Beaty that he (Earnhardt) had just stolen $200,000 from my race team and that's why I was so mad about it.”
