When the NASCAR Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) Series rolled into Thunder Valley for the fifth race of the 2000 season, the year was already shaping up to be one heck of a battle. In five races there were five different winners - Dale Jarrett earned his third victory in the Daytona 500, Bobby Labonte won at Rockingham, Jeff Burton in Las Vegas, Dale Earnhardt Sr. narrowly took the win at Atlanta and Ward Burton dominated in Darlington. Bobby Labonte in his Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac led the way in the series standings.

Steve Park in his Dale Earnhardt Inc. No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet led the filed to the green flag for the start of the Food City 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway that March afternoon.  Kenny Wallace started to his outside, while Jeff Gordon, Mike Skinner and Ward Burton rounded out the top-5. Rusty Wallace, the defending race winner, started just outside the top-5 in sixth-spot.

It didn't take long for the Bristol action to heat up, as Dale Earnhardt Sr. moved Elliott Sadler out of the way going into Turn 2 on the second lap.  Sadler spun his Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford into the outside wall as Joe Nemechek turned Dale Earnhardt Jr. into Darrell Waltrip.

Taking the lead for the first time on Lap 54, Jeff Gordon looked to be the man to beat. Looking for his first top-5 of the year, Gordon took his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet to the front in dominant fashion. Giving the lead up only once, Gordon took command of the field for the next 153 laps.

With Gordon out front, Dale Earnhardt made his way through the field. After an incident with Bobby Labonte earlier in the event, Earnhardt brought the black No. 3 in for repairs and adjustments. In typical "Intimidator" fashion, Earnhardt charged through traffic to challenge Gordon for the lead.

As the No. 24 hit heavy lapped traffic, Earnhardt closed in on Gordon's rear bumper. Racing hard for a number of laps, Earnhardt got a great run off the top and dove under Gordon to take the lead for the first time on Lap 206.

Unfortunately for the "Man in Black" just a lap later Kenny Irwin spun his No. 42 Pontiac in Turn 4. Despite going low on the track, Earnhardt could do little as Irwin's wrecked machine slid down the track hard into his right rear quarter panel. The No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet spun into the outside wall. With the entire rear end housing knocked out, Earnhardt took his car behind the wall and out of contention.

Earnhardt's bad luck gave Gordon the lead once again, with the Penske teammates in his mirror. A hard-charging Jeremy Mayfield powered his No. 12 car under Gordon for the lead after the restart on Lap 208, with Wallace following by. The three drivers swapped positions as they worked through traffic for the next two hundred laps.

Pitting under caution on Lap 387, Gordon hit a tire on pit road, damaging the left front fender of his No. 24 Chevrolet. Gordon was forced to come back down pit road for repairs, miring him deep in the pack and forcing him to deal with lapped traffic.

The Penske teammates led the field to the restart with just over one hundred laps remaining in the event. With his teammate out front, Rusty Wallace decided he was tired of looking at the rear of the No. 12 car. Racing hard with Mayfield, Wallace show he was clearly faster and wanted to get by. Mayfield pointed his teammate by as Wallace took the lead on Lap 405.

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. crashed hard on Lap 413, the leaders hit pit road with Wallace in command. Late in the race, a number of teams used pit strategy to gain track position and take a shot at the win. Ward Burton, winner at Darlington the week before, took only two tires to gain the lead, with Dale Jarrett's team making the same call to get him out in second. Wallace restarted third, followed by Bobby and Terry Labonte.

Stuck behind the lapped car of Robert Pressley, Burton struggled on the start, allowing Jarrett and Wallace to get by.  Refusing to give his lap up, Pressley continued to race hard against the leaders, jamming up those chasing the win. Wallace was able to take advantage of Jarrett's frustrations, forcing him to drive with one eye on the track and the other in the mirror.

With seventy-five laps to go Wallace made his move under Jarrett and refused to look back. Weathering two more caution flags, the 1989 Cup Series champion set his sights on victory.

While Wallace pulled away, working through lapped traffic, the rest of the field battled for position. Jarrett fell back through the field, eventually being lapped by the leaders. After making adjustments on the final stop of the day, Terry Labonte began picking cars off one by one as the laps wore down. Labonte was able to make his way through the field and up into the fifth-spot at the fall of the checkered flag.

Jeremy Mayfield lost a number of spots on the final round of pit stops, but was able to work his way up to fourth, while Ward Burton came home third.

Johnny Benson in the No. 10 Lycos Tim Beverley owned Pontiac impressed many by staying patient, avoiding trouble and finishing in the runner-up spot - a career best for the fifth-year driver.

Pulling away to a 2.622 second lead, Wallace took the fiftieth checkered flag of his career. Turning his No. 2 Miller Lite Ford around for a Polish Victory Lap, Wallace saluted the fans and honored his late friend and fellow competitor Alan Kulwicki after leading 86 of the 500 laps.

Climbing out of his car, an elated Rusty Wallace enjoyed his first victory in exactly one year. "I've waited so long to get my 50th and I got it at my favorite track," Wallace pointed out.

By earning his 50th career victory, Wallace further solidified his name in the NASCAR history books. Joining NASCAR legends Richard Petty, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, Lee Petty, Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson as the only drivers to have fifty career wins.

Going into that weekend's race, Wallace and crew chief Robin Pemberton were starting to feel the pressure of not winning. With this victory, both Wallace and Pemberton were able to breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate the moment. The No. 2 Miller Lite team found their chemistry after this weekend and went on to win again in 2000 at Pocono, Michigan and again at Bristol.