2/25/02 – The Winston Cup season eased into its second race at Rockingham’s North Carolina Speedway. As per usual, there were a couple of new aspects to the new season to keep all of the players on their toes. First of all, race number two begins the new one engine rule that NASCAR mandated. Secondly, the Winston Cup Series has a new sheriff this season to ride herd on the rules breakers and trouble maker.

Former Busch Series Director John Darby took over the role of Winston Cup Series Director from Gary Nelson when Gary was promoted to head up the new Research and Development facility at Conover, North Carolina. Darby was a technical inspector before he became director of the Busch Series, and still likes to keep into the technical side of the business. Because of his penchant, the inspection lines have moved ever so slowly in the Winston Cup garage area so far this season. He is reported to have his inspectors going over the Cup cars with the proverbial fine tooth combs.

Along with the new one engine rule change for this season, NASCAR has added new weight restrictions to engine parts. These parts now have to be weighed by the inspectors, adding to the time it takes for a Winston Cup car to go through the inspection process. Lighter engine parts were previously used in engines that were built solely for qualifying. These lightweight parts would not hold up under the stress that an engine goes through during a race.

As the Cup cars qualified Friday, I noticed that a lot of teams were still taping off the air intakes on the car’s noses to give them the aerodynamic ability to cut through the air will less drag. After running the two qualifying laps, a few of the cars were overheating, especially the Pontiacs. Water was seen exiting the overflow lines at the rear ends of several racecars. This heating and cooling process, which is labeled as “cycling,” is what engine builders fear the most with the new one engine rule. An engine can only go through the “cycle” so many times before it gives up the ghost.

Some of the engine builders feel that the Rockingham track will not be a problem for the engine because of the constant up and down cycle of the R. P. Ms. (revolutions per minute). The cars have to get off of the throttle and slow down for the corners at the 1.017 mile track, whereas if they were racing on a larger track where they maintained a high R.P.M. level for a long period of time, it would do more harm to the engine.

The Race……

The engine builders were right, the Rockingham track did not allow the one engine rule to become an issue. Yes, there were two or three engine failures, but that is common at all venues on the Winston Cup circuit. The main engine failure came at lap 149 when outside pole starter Dale Jarrett lost his engine. Yates engines are known for their high horsepower ratings, but they are also becoming known for biting the dust early, just like some of the high horsepower Penske engines of past seasons.

A blown engine right at the end of the race was partly responsible for Matt Kenseth’s win. Ken Schrader, driving the No. 36 M & M sponsored Pontiac blew his engine right in front of the leaders, causing Sterling Marlin and Bobby Labonte to get loose and drop off the pace. Kenseth took a lower line away from the oil and passed the leaders with less than 20 laps remaining. Then another caution brought out by Robbie Gordon in the No. 31 Cingular Wireless sponsored Richard Childress Racing’s Chevrolet running into Jimmy Johnson in the No. 48 Lowe’s sponsored Hendrick/Gordon Chevrolet. Gordon, his crew chief and owner Richard Childress were all called to the NASCAR trailer after the race. I will have an update on this as the news develops.

The win was Kenseth’s second career Winston Cup victory. Unfortunately, it was marred by his No. 17 DeWalt sponsored Roush Racing’s Fords failure to pass the post race inspection. The No. 17 Ford was found to be ¼ of an inch lower than the minimum height requirement of 51 inches. The win will stand, but it is likely that NASCAR will fine the teams’ crew chief, and may also possibly take some drivers points away from Kenseth. I will also update the results of NASCAR’s actions.

The event was marred with a record high 11 cautions periods. The premature tire wear due to the gritty track surface was partly responsible, along with a lot of rough driving. The Cup drivers seemed to be all wound up, like they were only two races away from the championship.

Update 2/26/02……. Matt Kenseth made out like a bandit this time, NASCAR let him skate free, his win stands and his driver’s points will stay intact. Kenseth’s his crew chief, Robby Reiser, got nailed with a 30k fine, taking the full brunt for the height infraction.

Update 2/26/02…… Robby Gordon or members of his team have not been fined by NASCAR. It was reported that they were called to the NASCAR trailer after the race, but the reason they were called in had to do with the teams failure to make a pit stop after Gordon’s’ spinout on lap 387. Gordon was running in the top ten at the time, and did not want to lose track position. His car eventually left debris on the track and a caution had to be called because of it. The team then admonished NASCAR for not throwing a caution flag due to the mishap. The discussion ended in a stalemate.

Next Week……

Race number three on the 2002 schedule is the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will be televised live by FOX on Sunday, March 3rd, at 3 P. M. Eastern. Qualifying will be televised live on Friday, March 1st, on the FOX Sports Networks at 5 P. M. Eastern.

Last season’s winner of the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 was Jeff Gordon. He was followed across the finish line by Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin, Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine, Mark Martin, Steve Park, Kevin Harvick (rookie), Ron Hornaday (rookie), and Jimmy Spencer.

2/18/02 -- There is always some sort of main topic or topics of discussion after The Great American Race. The Daytona hype and the grandstanding that begins with winter testing and Speedweeks is a thing of the past for another year.

One of the topics that is being discussed from coast to coast is Sterling Marlin’s gaffe of getting out of his racecar under a red flag conditions and attempting to pull out his right front fender from rubbing on the tire. The Sports radio talk shows are having a field day with that one. Anyone who knows anything about NASCAR racing, from fan to mechanic, knows that it’s against the rules to work on equipment during red flag conditions. Why he did it, or what was on his mind, is something that we will probably never know. He will never own up to it, and would probably just as soon forget about it. We all know that it will not be forgotten anytime soon. The video of him quickly climbing out of his car and scurrying around in front of it, then bending over and pulling on that fender will be shown a lot in the future, that’s one that you can take to the bank. The NASCAR official getting out of the pace car and going back to Marlin, tapping him on the shoulder and pointing to the car made it a comedy classic. Marlin then scurried back around to the driver’s side of the racecar and quickly climbed back in. It was priceless! It was part of the race, and we all saw it.

Another one of the topics that is being discussed is BLOCKING on the racetrack. NASCAR thinks that they should address what they feel has become a problem. Well, now just wait a minute here. What gives them that idea? Why are they complaining about blocking now? Dale Earnhardt got killed last year blocking the field so one of his DEI cars could win the Daytona 500, the same race, and no one from NASCAR mentioned blocking then. So why are they so concerned about it now? Does it have anything to do with who was involved in the blocking at this season’s Daytona 500? Makes one wonder, does it not?

They are talking about Geoff Bodine’s third place finish. He watched the Daytona 500 from his hospital bed two years ago, pumped up with morphine to help ease the pain in his bruised and battered body. It was close to a miracle that he managed to live through the devastating wreck he had in the 2000 season’s Daytona Craftsman Truck Series race. The word out now is, “Geoff’s back.” He hopes to race at Talladega in April if he can find a sponsor.

Another driver being talked about now is Shawna Robinson. The thirty-eight year old mother of two made a decent showing in what some has labeled “a wild and crazy race.” She started thirty-sixty and finished twenty-forth, thirteen laps down. One has to hand it to the lady for sticking to it. She ran out of gas, got tangled up in a wreck with Mike Skinner, broke a drive shaft, avoided the big one, and still managed to race her dodge across the finish line in the top twenty-five. Way to go Shawna!

Everyone knows that they are talking about race winner Ward Burton, and of course they are discussing the plight of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon. Not to mention the rotten luck of heavily favored Tony Stewart, losing an engine on the second lap. Joe Gibbs Racing started out last season with piston problems, and they are suffering the same plight this year? This was their third engine to go at Daytona. Live and learn……

2/09/02 -- As last season was winding down we got a glimpse of what the possibilities were of some major sponsors pulling their advertising dollars out of Winston Cup racing.

The big story affecting Winston Cup sponsorship at the present is Kmart. We all know that Kmart has had some serious financial problems during the last couple of years, and that it was at the brink of bankruptcy once before, but managed to pull itself up by its bootstraps and continue on. This time Kmart appears to be headed down the tubes as far as its continued participation in Cup racing is concerned. The company has even opted to cancel its associate race sponsorship of the Daytona 500, citing that it would be a waste of its cash resources at this time.

When the story first broke last month, Kmart stated that it thought that it would be able to continue its sponsorship with the Haas/Carter Motorsports teams on the No. 26 and 66 Fords thru the 2002 season. A little over a week later, Kmart made the announcement that it would only honor its commitment with Haas/Carter thru the Rockingham, North Carolina race on February 24th.

Needless to say, the Haas/Carter organization is shocked and deeply dismayed. Searching for sponsorship is not the way for a team to begin the season. This is putting the whole organization at a huge disadvantage. Instead of concentrating its entire efforts on the upcoming racing season, the organization now has to gear itself toward enticing corporate advertising executives to adjust their 2002 budgets. Unfortunately, this is not an undertaking that is likely to be successful at this point in time.

A lot of insider racing personnel are taking the lack of sponsorships of these teams in stride, and have labeled their loss as a foregone conclusion. What is bothering them the most at this time is the fear of losing more major sponsors as the season winds on. Government analysts have projected the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the industrial sector during 2002. What is this going to mean in terms of sponsorship dollars for race teams? Racing industry analysts predict that the Winston Cup Series is apt to get hit the hardest because of the amount of sponsorship money that it takes to keep the race teams running competitively. The cost has risen dramatically over the past four or five years, from in the neighborhood of six to seven million dollars to the present cost of ten to fifteen million dollars. That is a lot of money! Is the highest level of stock car racing in America pricing itself right out of business?

It is sad to say, but the death of stock car racing icon Dale Earnhardt in last season’s Daytona 500 tended to breathe new life into the sport. Last season saw a turn around in ticket and souvenir sales at racing venues across the country. That was last season, and last season is over. Will this new life and interest in the sport continue on throughout 2002?