4/7/02……… Todd Parrott Returns…… Todd Parrott is back in the pits calling the shots for Dale Jarrett in the No. 88 USP sponsored Robert Yates Racings' Ford. Yates promoted Parrott (Jarrett's brother-in-law) to team manager last December to allow the beleaguered crew chief to come on off of the road and be able to spend more time with his growing family. Parrott had been on the road traveling the weekly racing circuit for over 20 years.

Jimmy Elledge was hired to crew chief the No. 88 team in Parrott's absence. After six races this season, Jarrett found himself in 24th position in driver's points with only one top ten finish. Something had to be done. With Parrott as crew chief, Jarrett finished the season's driver's points in the top five for six straight years and recorded 24 wins. It may have been a little too soon in the season for them to throw in the towel on Elledge, but they did, and now Elledge is looking for work.

Six races with a new crew chief isn't giving the guy much of a chance to build anything. Elledge barely had enough time with Robert Yates Racing to learn the team's system. Look how long it took Jeff Gordon to come back after he lost his regular crew chief when Ray Evernham moved up to car owner. It sounds to me like Jarrett has found himself in a slump and Elledge ended up suffering the blame for it. We'll see how great he does now that he has his old crew chief calling the shots for him.

Texas……. All of the hype about Texas Motor Speedway being so fast and dangerous came to a head Friday, April 5th when the Cup teams settled into their normal qualifying routine. The track was indeed fast, but the speeds were down from the Busch Series qualifying attempts. Considering Jeff Green's 193.493 miles per hour Busch Series qualifying speed, speeds in the approaching 197 miles per hour had been prophesized for the Winston Cup cars, but that prophesy was soon dispelled as a myth. Finally, toward the end of the event, Bill Elliott broke the 194.223 miles per hour barrier and won the starting position. Second place qualifier Elliott Sadler in the No. 21 Motorcraft sponsored Wood Bros. Racing's Ford barely broke the 193 mark with a speed of 193.070. Ricky Rudd and Michael Waltrip both tied with a speed of 193.016 miles per hour with Rudd taking third because of his higher position in driver's points. Next in line were Dale Jarrett and Stacy Compton who both tied with a speed of 192.966 miles per hour with dale Jarrett taking the top position because of his higher position in driver's points.

4/9/02……. Samsung/Radio Shack 500 …… Todd Parrott celebrated his return to his crew chief duties by letting his driver run out of gas while challenging for the lead. Would Jimmy Elledge have done that? I don't think so, Elledge was no Parrott, but he keeps up with the particulars and has never been known to take chances. The same thing can't be said for Parrott. This isn't the first time Jarrett has ran out of gas while challenging for the lead.

Matt Kenseth took the checkers with the all powerful No. 17 DeWalt sponsored Roush racing Ford. Kenseth scored his second win of the season and the third win of his career in his 83rd Winston Cup start. He was also the sixth different winner in the six races that have been run at the Texas Motor Speedway. The Fords dominated the race from the onset. One would think that the Chevrolets would have put up a better showing after getting the inch and a quarter added to their front ends, but that wasn't the case. Jeff Gordon made the best showing for the Chevrolets by coming in second. He wasn't able to catch Kenseth, let alone attempt to make a pass. The Chevrolets remain winless for the 2002 season. Another Roush racing Ford driven by Mark Martin crossed the finish line in the third position. It was a great day for Jack Roush and Roush Racing!

Sterling Marlin is still the points' leader, but Matt Kenseth's win cut into his lead by 29 points. Kenseth now resides in second place to marlin -70 points. Rookie Jimmy Johnson, the surprise of the season, moved up one position to third, -119 points down from the top. Rusty Wallace dropped down one position to fourth, -132. Mark Martin's strong third place finish moved him up three positions in drivers' points to fifth, -144. Positions six thru ten are; +4 Jeff Gordon, -173; -2 Kurt Busch, -189; +4 Tony Stewart, -195; +5 Ricky Rudd, -235; and +3 Bill Elliott, -245.

Next Week ……… Race No. 7 on the Winston Cup schedule is the Virginia 500 from the Martinsville Speedway at Martinsville, Virginia. The event is scheduled to be broadcast live on the FX channel at 1 P.M. Eastern on Sunday, April 14th. Qualifying for the event is scheduled to be televised live on April 12th at 3 P.M. Eastern on the FOX Sports Networks.

Last season's winner of the Virginia 500 was Dale Jarrett. He was followed across the finish line by; Ricky Rudd, Jeff Burton, Bobby Hamilton, Sterling Marlin, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Jimmy Spencer, and Jerry Nadeau.

4/15/02……… Harvick Suspended………. A lot of us fans feel that NASCAR really blew it. Suspending Kevin Harvick from a Winston Cup race for an altercation he had in a Craftsman Truck Series race is downright stupid. These people need to separate their different series for penalties and driver retributions like they do for everything else.

To begin with, Harvick was fined and placed on five months probation for a post race altercation with Greg Biffle at Bristol following a Busch Grand National race in which the two had on-track altercations. The probation levied because of that altercation should have been limited to the Busch Grand National Series, and not all of the NASCAR series.

In last Saturdays Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville, Harvick got into a paint trading scuffle with Coy Gibbs. Both Gibbs and Harvick ended up spinning each other out on more than one occasion. It was reported that NASCAR listened in on a radio transmission in which Harvick claimed that he was "going after" Gibbs. Shortly after that, Gibbs had mechanical problems that caused him to slow up considerably in front of Harvick, causing Harvick to run into the back of him. Harvick was black flagged by NASCAR and subsequently "parked," not allowed by NASCAR to re-enter the race.

Harvick, feeling that he had done nothing wrong, parked his truck at the back of the NASCAR hauler and arrogantly proceeded to his motor home. He is reported to have sent a message to NASCAR officials that he would be in his motor home if they needed to talk with him. His arrogance with NASCAR is what got him suspended. After the race was over he relented and met with NASCAR officials at the NASCAR trailer. He denied that he had threatened to go after Gibbs on the radio. I would assume that there are recordings of the radio transmissions available for both Harvick and NASCAR to fall back on when possibly pleading their individual cases before a stock car racing tribunal.

The suspension that Harvick garnered because of the Craftsman Truck Series race carried over to Winston Cup, with NASCAR not allowing Harvick to race in the Virginia 500. I feel that this is a travesty that needs to be looked at very closely. Penalties for actions in a particular NASCAR racing series should remain in that series. Harvick should have been suspended from entering any future Craftsman Truck Series races during the remaining season. The same goes for the probationary period he garnered in the Busch Series. It should be limited to the rest of the season in the Busch Series. What a driver does one racing series should not be allowed to carry over into another one.

NASCAR's actions are sending a signal to other drivers. Those who regularly race in the Winston Cup Series may opt in the future to race exclusively in that series, and not bother to get involved with the Busch or Craftsman Truck Series. Of course, it's evident that it's too late for some of the drivers who are cemented in contracts within the other racing series, but it may send them a message when contracting obligations in the future. This would help to eliminate the Winston Cup drivers who tend to drop back down to the Busch Series, dominating the events. These drivers have been aptly labeled "Buschwhackers" by the FOX TV announcing crew.

Virginia 500 ……

When the bumping and banging was over at Martinsville, Bobby Labonte emerged the winner. The win was Labonte's first on a short track, and the 19th of his 11 year Winston Cup career. Last week's winner, Matt Kenseth, crossed the finish line in the second position. He was followed by Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Finishing in positions six thru ten were Terry Labonte, Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, and Kurt Busch.

The championship point's standings weren't changed too much this week. Sterling Marlin is still sitting atop of the roost with 1209 points. Matt Kenseth is still in the second position, although he caught up to Sterling some, and is now only -27 points down. Mark Martin moved up two positions and is now sitting in third, -129 down from the leader. Rusty Wallace is still in fourth place, -139. Tony Stewart was the big mover in the point's race, moving up three positions to fifth place, -147 with 1062 points. Positions six thru ten are: +1 Kurt Busch, -182; -4 rookie Jimmy Johnson, -188; -2 Jeff Gordon, -201; +2 Dale Earnhardt Jr., -216; and -1 Ricky Rudd, -216.

Driver's championship points positions third and fourth are really close, as are positions sixth and seventh. The ninth and tenth positions are tied. A lot of switching around can be expected again after next week's restrictor plate event. A really strong finish by Matt Kenseth over Sterling Marlin could easily give him the lead. Both drivers have won two races this season and are the two drivers to watch in an early bid for the championship.

Next Week……. Race No. 9 on the Winston Cup Schedule is the Talladega 500 from Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Alabama. The race is slated to be broadcast live by the FOX Network on Sunday, April 21st at 1:30 P.M. Eastern. Qualifying for the event is slated to be broadcast by the FOX Sports Networks at 3 P.M. Eastern on Friday, April 19th.

Last year's winner of the April Talladega race was Bobby Hamilton. Bobby was followed across the finish line by Tony Stewart, rookie Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte, Joe Nemechek, Johnny Benson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mike Wallace, and Jeff Burton.

4/22/02 ……… NASCAR's new "Bad Boy," Kevin Harvick, says he didn't do it. He claims that there was no intentional retaliation in his actions. Does that surprise anyone? If you caught some of those guys with their arms elbow deep in the cookie jar, they'd look you right in the eye and say they didn't do it. Regardless of whether he did it or not, the $35,000 fine has been levied, the probation extended to the end of the season, and the whole thing is a done deal.

I've heard a lot of comments in the last week or so concerning the fate of Kevin Harvick. The majority of fans that I've talked to about Harvick contend that he's a "Sitting duck." For the rest of the season, he's fair game for any driver who wants to knock him out of their way to take away his track position. Harvick is in no position to do anything about it. Is this what NASCAR wanted? Apparently so. Actually, if a driver knocks Harvick out of the way during a race, the crowd will probably cheer the perpetrator on. They all like to see the "Bad Boy" get his just deserts. So does NASCAR. The best thing Harvick can do for the rest of the season is to just stay out of everyone's way, especially Jimmy Spencer's! Even though Harvick is behind the eight ball, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see him win a race or two before the end of November.

There were a lot of upset executive types in the Talladega area after Saturday's big Busch Series wreck. These sponsors who spend millions of dollars a year supporting a race team expect to see their logos on the racecars during one of the biggest races of the year. What happened? The Busch Series drivers experienced the "Big One" only 14 laps into the 117 lap race. It was reported that 27 cars were taken out of action in one fell swoop.

Quite a few of the cars made it back out to run some laps to enhance their driver's and owner's points standings, but most of them did it for naught. It was difficult to maintain the 55 mile per hour minimum speed that was required by NASCAR in order for a car to stay out on the track. There were only a handful of those affected by the wreck who managed to stay out and finish the race.

So now they're all talking to NASCAR, inquiring as to what the sanctioning body plans to do to put a stop to this nonsense. I think they already know that answer to that one. NASCAR isn't going to do anything about it. Oh, they'll make some small aero tweaks here and there to put up a show that they're on top of the situation, but they have pulled that one too many times. It isn't going to work anymore, and if someone happens to be dumb enough to believe it, it won't be nearly as effective as it once was. There's only one viable solution, and that's to put a stop to restrictor plate racing. Reinforce the fences and walls, do away with the stupid horsepower stifling plates, and let them race!

Aarons 499 ……… The Winston Cup race was somewhat different than the Busch Talladega race. It appeared that there may be another caution free event in the making until toward the end, and then things turned ugly. There was a caution for debris on the track with somewhere around 50 laps left. The big wreck occurred with around 20 laps left. The actual cause of the melee wasn't actually apparent. There were reports that Kyle Petty crossed the track looking for an opening and car checked up behind him causing the pile-up. Constant replays of the wreck did not show Petty, all it showed was somebody crushing Tony Stewart up against the wall starting the wreck. For some reason or other, we are not getting any aerial race coverage this season so we can look down on the wrecks and tell exactly what happened.

The wreck took 24 cars out of contention for the win. When the green flag signaled the restart, more than half of the field was in the garage area. Some of the wrecked cars managed to get back out on the track to limp around in an effort to enhance their driver's point's positions. The wrecked No 6. Viagra Ford driven by Mark Martin lost its engine on the back stretch bringing out the caution with six laps to go. About the same time as that happened, Tony Stewart's wrecked No. 20 Home Depot Pontiac also lost its engine and put a lot of fluid down on the track. NASCAR red flagged the race in order to give the safety crews time to clean up the fluids so the race could end under green flag conditions.

When the green flag marked the final restart, there were four laps left. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who led 133 laps of the 188 lap race, managed to hold off charges by his teammate Michael Waltrip, Geoff Bodine, Dale Jarrett, Kenny Wallace and Sterling Marlin. Waltrip moved in behind Junior, and the rest of them ended up side by side, which let Junior and Waltrip pull away giving DEI another restrictor plate one-two finish.

The win was the sixth of Dale Jr.'s four year career, and his third restrictor plate win in a row. Kurt Busch finished third in the No. 97 Roush racing Ford, followed by Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 Dupont Chevrolet, and Kenny Wallace in the No. 198 Aarons Chevrolet. NASCAR took the fifth place finish away from Kenny Wallace because he was forced below the yellow line by Sterling Marlin, and moved him back to the 21st position, the last position on the lead lap. Wallace stated in a post-race interview that he knew where he finished and the fans knew where he finished. If NASCAR wanted to take it away from him, that was their problem.

Chevrolet finally won a race! Actually, if you discount NASCAR's stupid move of disallowing Kenny Wallace's finish, there were four Chevrolets in the top five. In the nine races run so far this season, Dodge has three wins, Ford has three wins, Pontiac has two wins, and now Chevrolet has one.

Next Week…… Race No. 10 on the Winston Cup schedule is the NAPA Auto Parts 500 from the California Speedway at Fontana, California. The event is scheduled to be televised live by FOX on Sunday, April 28th at 2:30 P.M. Eastern. Qualifying for the event is scheduled to be broadcast on the FX channel on Friday April 26th at 8 P.M. Eastern.

Last year's winner of the NAPA Auto Parts 500 was Rusty Wallace. He was followed across the finish line by Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jeremy Mayfield, Ricky Rudd, Jimmy Spencer, Jerry Nadeau, Sterling Marlin, and Robert Pressley.

4/29/02……… Harvick Wins IROC…… Kevin Harvick, still stinging some from his slap in the face at Martinsville, captured his first IROC victory in his rookie season in that series. Harvick managed to get under Dale Jarrett early on, and took the point to lead the most laps in the California IROC race. He was challenged by a hard charging Bobby Labonte on the last lap, but Labonte couldn't get by him for the win.

Winston Cup drivers Dale Jarrett and Sterling Marlin finished third and fourth respectively with Busch Series star Jack Sprague crossing the finish line in the fifth position. Harvick was the first IROC rookie to score a win since 1998 when Jeff Burton accomplished the feat at Michigan International Speedway. Last season's Busch Series Championship gave Harvick his position racing in IROC among the worlds best race drivers.

TRAC on Track……. TRAC (Team Racing Auto Circuit) is no doubt going to be one of the most exciting development in stock car racing that we've seen since Richard Petty was smoking the tracks of the Southland. The new racing series that is scheduled to begin racing in 2003 is right on schedule. You can be certain that there are a few Winston Cup drivers who will be racing in that series every chance that they get. To name a couple, Ken Schrader and Tony Stewart will race anything with wheels, and I expect they are chomping at the bit to climb into the driver's seat of a TRAC racecar.

Three prototype TRAC racecars were unveiled last week at Charlotte Speedway. There will be three different model types for different style racetracks. The body styles vaguely tend to resemble the Chevrolet Corvette, although they are of a unique design by Bill Riley of Riley & Scott Race Car Engineering.

The racecars will be powered by a 625 horsepower 7 liter fuel injected engine which will be sealed to insure parity among teams. Teams will not be able to make adjustments to the engine or body of the cars. Racecar adjustments allowed will be limited to shocks, springs, camber, sway bars, etc. All of the latest safety features have been integrated into the cars, including lift-off prevention systems to the driver's seat and roll bars. The cars are constructed of Kevlar composite bodies on tubular steel frames. One unique feature is the air-lift jacks installed into the cars (Formula 1 style) which will eliminate the need of a jackman during pit stops.

As I expected, TRAC has made a deal with Bruton Smith and will be racing on his five Speedway Motorsports Inc. racetracks at Atlanta, Charlotte, Texas, Las Vegas, and Bristol. I didn't expect that the 14 International Speedway Corp. racetracks owned by NASCAR chairman Bill France would welcome the new series. You can learn a lot more about TRAC and see their new racecars by visiting their TRACzone website.

NAPA 500……… It was a long boring race. The caution periods were few and far between. Of the most notable, Shauna Robinson whacked the wall with her No. 49 BAM Racing's un-sponsored Dodge early on and Ricky Craven also connected with the wall toward the end of the event. Also toward the end of the event came the unfortunate incident between Kevin Harvick in the No. 29 Goodwrench Chevrolet and Dale Earnhardt Jr. with the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet. Harvick cut down a left rear tire and was trying to get the car under control as it veered to the left down the track in Dale Jr.'s path. Dale Jr. was traveling full speed when he grazed off of Harvick's car, sending them both to the outside wall. Both drivers were somewhat shaken, and Dale Jr. sustained a sprained ankle out of the deal. He was reported to have left the infield care center on crutches, heading off toward his motorhome.

It's always great to see an up and coming rookie win a race, and watching Jimmy Johnson take his first checkered flag was no exception. The gutsy strategy call by crew chief Chad Knaus put Johnson in the lead with the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet. They had decided to forgo changing tires and opted for just enough of a splash of gas to get them to the finish line. This move gave them the best track position, which we all know is the lead. Kurt Busch tried to get the No. 97 Rubbermaid Ford to catch Johnson, but the feat wasn't in the cards on that particular Sunday afternoon.

It was a great day for Lowe's, and I was glad to finally see them get a win. We all know that Lowe's spent over five years devoted to Richard Childress Racing with Mike Skinner at the wheel, and ended up winless and unhappy. The sponsor made a move to Hendrick Motorsports with a new rookie driver and ended up in victory lane. Lowe's has invested nearly $80 million into Cup racing in the last five or six years via sponsorships and advertising and their victory is well deserved! Some of you may remember that they opted to purchase the name of Charlotte Speedway from Bruton Smith for $35 million a couple of years ago.

Sterling Marlin lengthened his driver's point's lead to 143 over second place Kurt Busch, who's second place finish in the NAPA 500 moved him up two spots. Matt Kenseth and Rusty Wallace both dropped down a peg with a -152 and -161 deficit respectively. Jimmy Johnson's win moved him up a spot into fifth with a -163 deficit from leader Marlin's 1515 points. Mark Martin moved up three spots to sixth, with Jeff Gordon remaining at seventh as Ricky Rudd moved up two spots to eighth. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s bad luck cost him four spots moving him down to ninth, as well as the mediocre finish by Tony Stewart which moved him down two spots to tenth place in the driver's point's standings.

Next Week……. Race no. 11 on the Winston Cup schedule is the Pontiac Excitement 400 from the Richmond International Raceway, at Richmond, Virginia. The event is scheduled to be broadcast live under the lights on the FX network at 7 P.M. Eastern on Saturday, May 4th.