the mountain dew 250 was held on october 4 at talladega superspeedway. erik darnell won the pole. the points race had tightened with johnny benson only a single point ahead of defending champion ron hornaday. like daytona, darnell dominated the race, leading 48 laps with teammates colin braun and john wes townley close behind. townley would later be spun unintentionally by defending race winner todd bodine while on pit road at lap 50. alabama native rick crawford earned a speeding penalty during the series of pit stops, ending his chances at a home state victory. after another series of green flag pit stops, john andretti, braun, kyle busch, and brian scott took turns leading until 14 to go when busch, hornaday, and bodine all pulled away. with 1 to go braun was pushed into the lead by t. j. bell, but was later passed by busch on the backstretch. however, bodine pulled the "bump and run" on busch, loosening him and eventually passing him for the win, with new points leader hornaday in tow.