A bottle of champagne sat at Eddie Wood's feet and tears sparkled in his eyes. His brother was too overcome with emotion to speak.
Elliott Sadler, their driver, was thrilled by his first victory, one that put a pioneer NASCAR team in the winner's circle for the first time in eight years.
Sadler outraced John Andretti on Sunday to win the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
"It's just a big day for me and a big day for the Wood Brothers," Sadler said. "We had a terrible year last year, and everybody knows that. Instead of making changes behind the wheel, they stuck with me. So this means more than anything in the world. It's hard to win these Winston Cup races."
The Wood Brothers, a racing family from Virginia who have run Fords since 1953, have struggled to win races over the last decade. The bottom almost fell out last season, when Sadler finished 29th in the points and CITGO Petroleum Corp. ended its sponsorship with the team after 16 years.
Eddie and Len Wood struggled to find new sponsorship, worried they'd have to close down the team their father, Glen, started with his brother, Leonard.
But Ford Motor Co. stepped in with sponsorship, allowing the brothers to keep the operation going. They were rewarded Sunday when Sadler gave the family its 97th victory and first since Morgan Shepherd won in 1993.
"Together we've had a lot of hard times the last couple of years and a lot of people doubted us," Eddie Wood said. "We just kept believing in ourselves and in Elliott. So this is a deal I can't really put into words what it means to me it's our biggest victory."
Driving a backup car because he wrecked his first one in practice on Friday, the 25-year-old Sadler came from the 38th starting position to win.
It marked the farthest back a driver has come to win a race at Bristol. The late Dale Earnhardt started 26th when he won the high-banked speedway's August race in 1999.
"I just wanted to lead a lap today," Sadler said. "That's all I wanted to do."
He became the third driver this year joining Michael Waltrip and Kevin Harvick to get his first Winston Cup victory. The record for first-time winners is four, set in 1988 and tied last season.
The finish seemed like a flashback to the 1970s, when David Pearson, driving the No. 21 car, so often battled Richard Petty and his No. 43.
"At 15 to go, that's when I realized 'Hey, that's the 43 behind us,' " Eddie Wood said. "Our history and heritage is the 21 and the 43 and the 43 and the 21. That made it a lot more special."
More often than not, the 43 beat the 21 in the old days.
Not on Sunday, though, as Sadler had no trouble holding off Andretti in the No. 43 Dodge owned by Petty Enterprises. Still, Andretti's finish was the best for Dodge, making its return to Winston Cup racing after a 17-year absence.
"I know about the history, but I think the order was wrong," Andretti joked. "I think Elliott should have respected history and let the 43 in front of him."
It became clear with 10 laps to go that Andretti would not catch Sadler, so the finish was anticlimactic.
Then a postrace inspection by NASCAR determined that Andretti's car failed to meet the minimum height requirement. The sanctioning body did not immediately announce a penalty.
Jeremy Mayfield was third in a Ford and Jeff Gordon, in a Chevrolet, finished fourth.
Ward Burton was fifth in a Dodge, and was followed by Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace and Bobby Hamilton. Steve Park and Ricky Rudd rounded out the top 10.
Tony Stewart, on his way to a fourth-place finish before a last-lap incident with Gordon, ended up 25th.
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