9/1/02……… Busch Racing changes its appearance for 2003 when Deborah Renshaw becomes the driver for the Team Bristol Motorsports No. 54 Chevrolet. She'll be taking over the ride from Kevin Grubb, who is scheduled to move up to the Winston Cup Series.

Renshaw has experience in Late Models, and limited experience in ARCA Racing. She was thrown into the national spotlight a few weeks ago when she was disqualified at the Nashville fairgrounds Speedway because of a minor motor violation. Her run had been protested by a group of drivers who felt that she was racing them with an unfair advantage.

TBM owner Rick Goodwin stated that she may even race in the season finale at Homestead if her testing in the Busch car proves successful. The crew chief for the team hasn't been named yet. Goodwin is furtively searching for the right crew chief match to couple with the young 25 year old woman driver to insure the proper chemistry that will produce winning team. Right, him and about 40 other Busch Series owners are all searching for the same dream.

There will be a lot of pressure on both Grubb and Renshaw to perform to the higher standards that they have been entered into. Grubb lost his previous job driving the No. 37 Timber Wolf Chevrolet in the Busch Series and was picked up by Goodwin for the fifth race of the 2002 season. He has two top five and six top ten finishes since, and is listed in the 20th position in driver's points.

It remains to be seen if this project will prove to be successful. Goodwin has a lot of high hopes, and is putting a lot of pressure on both drivers, Grubb especially. Goodwin hopes to see Grubb move up to the top 15 in points before the end of the season. Grubb's biggest problem in the Busch Series has been middle of the pack race starts that allows him to get caught up in the middle of the pack mishaps that end up putting him into the wall and subsequently out of the race. That was one of the reasons that he was let go from his ride in the Timber Wolf Chevrolet. He couldn't seem to break away from the middle of the pack, let's hope he keeps up his better performance with TBM.

Gatorade 200………. Qualifying for the event was rained out. As a result, the drivers were set up to start the race via owner's points. Where the top ten started and where they finished:

1. Greg Biffle – No. 60 Ford – finished 4th
2. Jason Keller – No. 57 Ford – finished 2nd
3. Jack Sprague – No. 24 Chevy – finished 5th
4. Scott Wimmer – No. 23 Chevy – finished 7th
5. Jeff Green – No. 21 Chevy – finished 3rd
6. Scott Riggs -- No. 10 Ford – finished 10th
7. Mike McLaughlin -- No. 18 Pont. – finished 8th
8. Kenny Wallace – No. 48 Chevy – finished 11th
9. Jamie McMurray – No. 27 Chevy – finished 32nd -- wreck
10. Bobby Hamilton Jr. – No. 25 Ford – finished 6th

Jeff Burton dominated the rain shortened race just like he did on the Darlington in the spring. It was Burton's third consecutive win at the track, tying Mark Martin, who has won three consecutive races at Darlington in two different time frames. The win was Burton's third in the Busch Series this season, having also won at Las Vegas in March. It was the third week in a row that Winston Cup drivers dominated Busch Series racing.

The start of the race was delayed by rain for nearly 4.5 hours, then when the track was almost dry, the racecars circulated the track for several laps helping with the track drying efforts. Once again it rained, then finally at 5:30 the track had dried enough to start the race. Half of the race had been completed by 6:20 when the rains returned to the area, stopping the event again. At 7:20 NASCAR made the decision to call it a race. Some thought that the race wasn't half over because the cars had been stopped a few hundred feet from the finish line that would have designated the halfway point. Technically, the race had been half over as the cars made their way down the back stretch, completing 73.5 laps.

Due to the inclement weather that postponed qualifying and practice sessions for the Busch Series, the Winston Cup "Buschwhackers" were the only drivers who had a chance to get in any practice laps on the tricky Darlington track. Some of the rookie drivers and newcomers that had entered the race didn't get a chance to turn a single lap on the track before the green flag finally flew. The Busch Series drivers were at a definite disadvantage compared to the Winston Cup drivers. The Cup had run two practice sessions with their Cup cars, and had a chance to get the feel of the track that had been cleaned off several times due to the continuous rains.

The Cup drivers domination over the last three races has kind of put the driver's point's standings in limbo. Greg Biffle still leads the standings with 3586 points over Jason Keller who still stands in second, now with a -78 point deficit. Actually, the first seven point's positions are unchanged with Jack Sprague still in third with a -307. Sprague remains out of the picture to make a play for the top spot. Scott Wimmer is in fourth with a -322 while rookie Scott Riggs remains in fifth with a -379. Mike McLaughlin and Kenny Wallace are sixth and seventh with a -439 and -491. Bobby Hamilton Jr. moved up one spot to eighth with a -533 while Jamie McMurray lost a spot down to ninth with a -573. Randy LaJoie remains in tenth and now has a -581 point deficit from the leader.

Next week the Busch Series will once again share a venue with the Cup series, this time at Richmond, Virginia. The Busch 200 will be televised by the TNT network on September 6th at 8 P.M. Eastern under the lights.

Last season's winner of the Richmond fall night race was up Cup driver Jimmy Spencer. He was followed across the finish line by Matt Kenseth, Kevin Grubb, Geoff Bodine, Johnny Sauter, Chad Little, Ryan Newman, Elton Sawyer, Jeff Burton, and Mike Wallace.

9/7/02……… Funai 250……. The Richmond fall night race was inundated with 11 Buschwhackers, the most prominent of which was Dale Earnhardt Jr. In only his third Busch Series outing this season, Dale Jr. made his second trip to victory lane. Some of you may remember that he also won the Busch Series season opener at Daytona. The Richmond victory was Jr.'s 15th in his Busch Series career.

The top ten starters, and how they finished:

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – No. 8 – Finished 1st
2. Greg Biffle – No. 60 – finished 6th
3. Kevin Lepage – No. 37 – finished 11th
4. Jeff Burton – No. 9 – finished 3rd
5. Jason Keller – No. 57 – finished 5th
6. Jeff Green – No. 21 – finished 12th
7. Casey Mears – No. 66 – finished 30th
8. Stacy Compton – No. 59 – finished 18th
9. Kerry Earnhardt – No. 12 – finished 27th
10. Shane Hmiel – No. 47 – finished 28th

The new No. 8 team owned equally by Dale Jr. and Teresa Earnhardt, was a huge success. The newly developed team is geared for the development of up and coming crew members and drivers, to hone their skills for Dale Earnhardt Inc. Earnhardt Jr. will drive the car in a few of the races next season along with Steve Park. In races where the Busch Series will be racing at a different venue, a young developmental driver will be piloting the No. 8. At this time, they are planning at least 15 starts with the new team in 2003.

The event marked the third in a row that was dominated by Winston Cup drivers. Dale Jr. shattered the track record while qualifying, then led 190 of the 250 lap race on the Ύ mile short track. Jamie McMurray finished a career best second with the No. 278 Williams Travel Chevy after leading 42 laps. He was followed across the finish line by Winston Cup regular Jeff Burton in the No. 9 Gain Ford. Tony Raines was fourth in the No. 33 Bayer Chevy with Jason Keller rounding out the top five in the No. 57 Albertson's Ford.

Point's leader Greg Biffle finished sixth in the No. 60 Grainger Ford followed by Hank Parker Jr. with the No. 36 GNC Dodge. Cup driver Michael Waltrip finished eighth in the No. 99 Aaron's Chevy ahead of Scott Wimmer in the No. 23 Siemen's Pontiac. The No. 99 was the last car to finish on the lead lap. Cup driver Kenny Wallace rounded out the top ten in the No. 48 Stacker II Chevy.

Out of the record tying 11 cautions due to mishaps and serious wrecks on the track, the most spectacular was the sudden hard impact of the No. 49 CITGO Ford driven by Derrike Cope. Cope appeared to have driven straight into the wall going into turn one at approximately 140 M.P.H. The car rode the wall all of the way through the corner and finally came to rest going out of turn two. It was speculated that the throttle stuck, causing the car to impact the wall at full speed. Cope was removed from the car and taken to a local hospital for x-rays on his right shoulder.

The Busch Series driver's point's standings don't vary much from last week. Greg Biffle still leads by 78 points over Jason Keller. Third place has moved farther away from the battle. Scott Wimmer moved up one spot to third and had a -339 deficit from the leader. Jack Sprague dropped down to fourth with a -398. Rookie Scott Riggs rounds out the top five in points with a -473. With just eight races remaining this season in the Busch Series, it's clearly evident that the race for the championship will be between Biffle and Keller. Wimmer and Sprague have an outside chance, but only for a couple of more races.

The Busch Series has a weekend off next week, then they share the Dover venue with the Winston Cup Series the following weekend. Don't be surprised if the Cup drivers dominate that race as well.

In other Busch Series news, Rockwell Automation is reported to be leaving the Richard Childress Racing organization at the end of the season. Childress has had the Rockwell sponsorship on the maroon colored No. 21 Chevy for quite some time.

Braun Racing will be fielding two cars in 2003 for Steadman marlin and Chad Blount. Both are rising stars in the ARCA Re/Max series. Braun Racing is now No. 2 in the ARCA Re/Max point standings. Moving up to the Busch Series will give them a higher level of competition to go along with their ARCA Re/Max operation. Steadman Marlin, son of Winston Cup point's leader Sterling Marlin, has already competed in several Busch Series Events.

The rumors are circulating that sponsor Rockwell Automation is moving to Hendrick Motorsports and will sponsor a Busch Series car driven by Ron Hornaday.

9/15/02…… With the weekend off I figured that it would be a good time to recap the rookie championship standings. There are eight rookies this season in Busch Series competition. Their Rookie of the Year driver's point's standings are as follows:

1. Scott Riggs -- No. 10 Ford – 282 points
2. Johnny Sauter -- No. 2 Chevy – 217 points
3. Shane Hmiel -- No. 47 Chevy – 198 points
4. Kerry Earnhardt -- No. 12 Chevy – 180 points
5. Casey Mears -- No. 66 Dodge – 175 points
6. Kasey Kahne -- No. 98 Ford – 117 points
7. Brian Vickers -- No. 40 Dodge – 105 points
8. Dan Pardus -- No. 132 Chevy – 69 Points

With only eight races left on this season's schedule, Scott Riggs seems to have a defined lead, but not as much as other drivers have in the past. Riggs has two wins, seven top five, and 12 top ten finishes to his credit in 26 starts. Johnny Sauter, down -65 points from Riggs, has one win, three top five and four top ten finishes is 25 starts.

Third place hopeful Shane Hmiel has no wins, two top five and five top ten finishes in 26 starts. Hmiel is currently -84 down from Riggs, and is still a possible championship winner. Both Sauter and Hmiel will have to step up to the plate, and do it really soon, if they have any chance of getting ahead of Riggs.

Honorable mention goes out to Kerry Earnhardt, who is in the fourth position with no wins, no top five, and two top ten finishes in 26 starts. Kerry is currently sitting with a -102 deficit from the leader, and has a really far off outside shot of gaining enough at this point to win the championship. Kerry can improve his standings quite a bit in the remaining eight races.

Fifth place driver Casey Mears is in practically the same boat as Earnhardt. Mears is down five points from Earnhardt, and has no wins, one top five, and two top ten finishes in 26 starts.

The Rookie of the Year award is based on the best 17 races in the season. One point is awarded for an attempt to make a race. Ten points are awarded to the highest finishing rookie of a race, following a descending order for the rest of the rookie finishers, second gets nine points, third gets eight, etc. The ten point system is also used for top ten finishes by rookies, beginning with the best top ten finish getting ten points, then the rest in descending order.

Additional points are awarded four times during the season. After the 11th, 22nd, 33rd, and final race of the season, ten points are awarded to the rookie who is highest in the standings. This award also is given in a descending order, with the second highest in the standings receiving nine points, third receiving eight, etc. There is also a 50 point bonus that can be added to a driver's points at the end of the season.

Next Week the Busch Series drivers compete in race No. 27 at Dover International Speedway. The MBNA 200 is scheduled for Saturday, September 21st at 1 P.M. Eastern and will be televised live on the TNT network.

Last year's winner of the Dover fall race was Jeff Green. He was followed across the finish line by Kenny Wallace, Jimmy Spencer, Chad Little, rookie Greg Biffle, Kevin Lepage, Tony Raines, Hank Parker Jr., Randy LaJoie, and Matt Kenseth.

The Winston Cup series will also be at Dover next weekend, so you can expect to see quite a few Cup competitors driving in the Busch race.

9/21/02 ……… Busch News Tidbits…… Veteran driver Shane Hall has graciously agreed to step aside, giving up his ride in the No. 63 Greased Lightning Chevrolet owned by Ken Alexander Racing. Hall is currently 27th in BGN driver's points, and has one top ten finishes along with 20 top twenty finishes in the 22 races that he has qualified for this season out of the 26 BGN race schedule.

Hall stepped aside in favor of Ron Young, who brought some much needed financial aid with him for the team. Without the switch and the financial funding, it is doubtful that Ken Alexander Racing would have been able to finish out the season. The driver change took place immediately; Young was piloting the No. 63 Chevy this weekend at Dover, he started the Dover race in the 38th position and finished 32nd.

Richard Childress Racing Rumor has it that Johnny Sauter will be looking for a ride next season. RCR is said to be evaluating its BGN program and is looking to improve drastically on its present situation. Childress is committed to fielding one Busch team next season with a full time driver. Drivers reported to be under consideration are Tony Raines and Ron Hornaday. Johnny Sauter just hasn't gotten the job done this season, but on the other hand, Jeff Green hasn't been doing too badly. Green is committed to the full time job of driving the No. 30 AOL sponsored Chevrolet in the Winston Cup Series and is not considered a full time Busch Series driver.

Johnny Sauter has 1 win, 3 top five, and 4 top ten finishes in 25 starts in 2002 up to the Dover race. Jeff Green has 2 wins, 10 top five, and 11 top ten finishes in 15 starts in 2002 up to the Dover race. Joe Gibbs Racing Speaking of Rockwell Automation, it has been reported that the company has signed a multi-year deal with JGR. Rockwell will sponsor a second BGN team to go along with the No. 18 MBNA car driven by Mike McLaughlin, who was sixth in driver's points previous to the Dover race.

MBNA 200………. Scott Wimmer won his first Busch Series Victory on the tricky concrete at Dover International Speedway Saturday on his 63rd Busch Series start. Wimmer came out of the pits first on a lap 140 caution stop and led the last 60 laps of the race with the black un-sponsored No. 23 Bill Davis Racing's Pontiac. Davis was considering shutting down the team after it lost sponsorship earlier in the summer, now he's glad he didn't Wimmer was the 16th different winner in Busch series competition this season.

Wimmer has had a pretty good season this year, and insiders figure that it was one of the reasons that Bill Davis decided to keep the team together at his own expense. In the 27 Busch races he has qualified for this season, Wimmer has 1 win, 8 top five, and 13 top ten finishes. With this win at Dover, I wouldn't be surprised if sponsorship for the No. 23 Pontiac team was right around the corner.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Kevin Lepage -- No. 37 Chevy – finished 24th
2. Tony Raines -- No. 33 Chevy – finished 11th
3. Jeff Green -- No. 21 Chevy – finished 4th
4. *Brian Vickers -- No. 40 Dodge -- finished 13th
5. Jason Keller -- No. 57 Ford – finished 5th
6. Mike McLaughlin -- No. 18 Pont. – finished 2nd
7. Ron Hornaday -- No. 26 Chevy -- finished 21st
8. Greg Biffle -- No. 60 Ford – finished 17th
9. Jimmy Spencer -- No. 1 Chevy – finished 6th
10. Bobby Hamilton Jr. -- No. 25 Ford – finished 30th

The drivers' point's standings are the same except for the small gain made by second place Jason Keller on first place Greg Biffle. Biffle now has 3853 points and leads Keller by a mere 35 points. Scott Wimmer is still in third with a -271 point deficit. Jack Sprague is still in fourth with a -345. Mike McLaughlin's second place finish moved him up one spot to fifth with a -425. The battle is between Biffle and Keller with just seven races remaining.

There was a lot of speculation as to what the results of Goodyear's bringing a softer compound tire to the Dover track would be. The softer compound caused a lot more rubber to be laid on the racing surface before the race due to Busch and Winston Cup practice. This abnormality for the Dover track created two and three abreast racing at the difficult concrete track.

Next Week…… Race No. 28 on Saturday, September 28, is the Mr. Goodcents 300 at the Kansas Speedway. It's scheduled to be telecast live by the TNT network at 2 P.M. Eastern.

Last season's winner of the Mr. Goodcents 300 was Jeff Green. He was followed across the finish line by Hank Parker Jr., rookie Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Jason Keller, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Raines, Buckshot Jones, Mark Green, and Mike McLaughlin.

9/28/02 ……… Mr. Goodcents 300 Once again, the Winston Cup Buschwhackers ran amok over the Busch Series. It's awfully easy for Jeff Burton to beat up on the lesser experienced Busch series drivers when he can't make any headway in the Winston Cup Series. I guess beating up on the Busch drivers strokes his ego enough so that he feels that he can get by with looking at himself in the mirror.

If you haven't guessed it by now, I'm definitely no Jeff Burton fan. The Busch Series romping Winston Cup driver has won four times in 11 Busch Series starts this season. This latest romp makes 19 Busch Series victories for Burton, the majority of them coming since he has moved up to the Cup series.

Kerry Earnhardt was leading the race until Burton passed him up with 29 laps remaining. Kudos to Kerry, driver of the No. 12 Fitz/Bradshaw Motorsports owned SuperCuts Chevy, who finished second to record his best Busch Series finish.

The top ten starters, and how they finished:

1. Michael Waltrip -- No. 99 Chevy – finished 33rd
2. Jeff Burton -- No. 9 Ford – finished 1 st
3. Todd Bodine -- No. 92 Chevy – finished 32nd
4. Jimmy Spencer -- No. 1 Chevy -- finished 6th
5. Jason Keller -- No. 57 Ford – finished 30th
6. Jeff Green -- No. 21 Chevy – finished 7th
7. Stacy Compton -- No. 59 Chevy – finished 12th
8. *Johnny Sauter -- No. 2 Chevy – finished 15th
9. *Shane Hmiel -- No. 47 Chevy – finished 14th
10. Ron Hornaday -- No. 26 Chevy – finished 34th

Following Burton and Earnhardt across the finish line were Joe Nemechek, point leader Greg Biffle, Tony Raines, Jimmy Spencer, Jeff Green, Bobby Hamilton jr., Lyndon Amick, and Jamie McMurray. Six of the top ten will be racing in the Kansas Winston Cup event and we're supposed to believe them when they stated that they didn't learn anything in the Busch race that will help them in the Cup race? Sure, and I've got some ocean front property in Tennessee that I'm selling really cheap.

Greg Biffle still sits atop of the driver's point's standings. Biffle lucked out when his nemesis, Jason Keller, lost an engine and ended up out of contention. He now has a 127 point lead over Keller with only six races remaining. The top eight positions remain the same. Scott Wimmer in third place is now a -345, with fourth place driver Jack Sprague sitting with a -407 deficit. Fifth place Mike McLaughlin is now holding a -520 point position from the leader. The championship is Biffle's to win, this is one of the best leads he's ever had.

Next week the Busch Series will enjoy a weekend off. Then they will join the Cup series at Charlotte on October 12th.