Illegal Carburetor?..........

Not hardly, it was rather apparent that NASCAR’s move to confiscate the carburetor off of Michael Waltrip’s No. 15 DEI Chevy was just a move to allow the sanctioning body to try to save face. Not to worry, most of us can easily see through their charade, making it look even worse for them.

Another report that appeared on the AP wire stated that the holes in the carburetor were “not legal.” How can a hole be not legal? The only thing I can think of is that the holes in the four barrel carburetor were too large, possibly allowing too much air or fuel to reach the restrictor plate beneath it causing more elements to pass through the plate than what is normal. The AP article by Jenna Fryer stated that NASCAR would probably levy a fine against DEI nest week for the infraction.

If there was something found to be amiss during inspection of the carburetor and it was then confiscated, that would have been another matter. To just up and take it without finding a problem with it was just plain asinine on NASCAR’s part, which is also nothing new. It’s no secret that DEI has dominated restrictor plate racing and that Michael Waltrip has won his share of the booty from it, including this season’s opener at Daytona. There has been all kinds of speculation and accusations of cheating leveled at the DEI organization over the past couple of seasons because of their domination on tracks where drivers don’t have an edge. Allegations have also been leveled at NASCAR by several crew chiefs and mechanics in the garage area because of the way the sanctioning body distributes the restrictor plates to the teams. NASCAR hands them out to the teams specifically, and has stated that all plates are the same. I don’t believe them, and neither do half of the people in the garage area that aren’t winning. If all of the plates are exactly the same, why then aren’t they chosen at random by each team from a common stack of restrictor plates? This is what the teams have been asking for now over the past several seasons, but NASCAR will not allow the plates to be distributed randomly, leading to the speculation that NASCAR is handing out different sized plates to different teams, controlling the competition and setting up the field for the winner of their choice.

Petty Enterprises………

It appears that Petty missed it at Daytona. The Dodge people can’t be very happy with them. Petty hasn’t done anything with the Dodges to write home to mother about, they’ve just been able to barely hold their own as far as qualifying and finishing races is concerned.

Busch Series driver Shane Hmiel’s much ballyhooed foray into Cup racing bit the dust as he failed to qualify the No. 43 car, along with Christian Fittipaldi who failed to qualify the No. 44 car. Hey, someone needs to get a life here. All you have to do at Daytona is hold the gas pedal to the floor and steer the damn thing so it goes around the track at some fashion or other in the same direction. A ten year old kid could qualify a car at Daytona! Apparently Petty doesn’t have any equipment? Isn’t Dodge supporting the Pettys?

in an article at NASCAR.com King Richard stated that their problem was with their engine program. Well, of course, they’d place the blame somewhere on someone. Are we supposed to believe that they have just discovered that they need a better engine program? Maybe they’ve forgotten about racing and have just decided to “take the money and run.”

It’s really amusing that Bill Davis Racing can get their two Dodges into the race without any factory backing or technical help what-so-ever, and Petty can only manage to get one car out of three in at the 42nd position with a provisional. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Petty has become an insult to stock car racing. It must be quite a let down to King Richard………………. To see his families racing legacy squandered into the dust……… If it weren’t for the Victory Junction Gang Camp and the Kyle Petty Charity Motorcycle Ride, Petty wouldn’t even have a place in NASCAR, because that’s about all that they have been doing since switching to Dodge three seasons ago. John Andretti should be happy to be shut of them. Hey Petty fans, be upset if you want to be, but I have to call it like I see it……. Maybe Petty ought to sell out to Bret Bodine?

Pepsi 400……….

It pleasantly turned out to be a case of “domination termination” as the powerful DEI favorites were shuffled out of the lead for fuel stops during the waning laps of the race. Rookie Greg Biffle survived the gas mileage wars to take the checkered flag, winning his first Cup race in only his 23rd start. We’ll have to label the Pepsi 400 as “the one that got away……” The 13.5 gallon fuel cells that are now used in Cup restrictor plate racing, instead of the regular 22.5 gallon fuel cells that used to be used in Cup and are still used in the Busch and truck series, played a major part in the way the teams fuel mileage strategies were played out.

DEI didn’t take kindly to being ousted out of their restrictor plate domination role. Vice President Ty Norris was very smug and cocky during post race interviews, claiming that they still dominated and fell short just because of a fuel mileage deal that was brought about by a caution. Norris claimed that the fuel mileage deal didn’t have anything to do with race strategy and that the DEI cars still dominated the race, which was an idiotic bald-faced lie. Kevin Harvick led the most laps (54) with the No. 29 Goodwrench sponsored Richard Childress Racing’s Chevy. Earnhardt Jr. and Waltrip’s combined lap total added up to only 52 laps. How could anyone in their right mind claim that DEI dominated the race? DEI dominated nothing but their yaps, uttering excuses as to why they failed to keep their streak going. Has anyone ever heard of the term “sour grapes?”

Biffle’s main threat for the win ran out of gas as the white flag was thrown, allowing Biffle to ease off of his throttle some on his way to the checkered flag. Bobby Labonte coasted across the finish line in the fifth position after running second and posing serious threat for the win. Biffle thanked teammate Matt Kenseth, who had to pit for fuel with only three laps remaining, for keeping Labonte at bay for several laps. Kenseth knew he couldn’t win and had to stop for fuel, and also knew that Biffle had a chance for the victory, so he selflessly played the role of protecting his teammate.

The “big one” never did occur this time, although there was a major wreck that involved seven cars, caused by a blown tire on Kurt Busch’s No. 97 Ford. Robby Gordon’s car suffered major damage in that altercation and spent several laps in the garage getting repaired. Gordon came back to the track during the waning laps of the race to run for points. At some point during the races end, his hood is reported to have come off of the car, sailing into the grandstand seating area injuring a fan. The extent of the female fan’s injuries was not made public, but it was reported that she was immediately transported to a local hospital. NASCAR has impounded Gordon’s car and is investigating the incident. Hoods are supposed to be tethered to the car, according to rules mandated by NASCAR. If the tether was somehow removed or found to be altered during repairs in the garage area, Gordon and his team can expect a heavy fine.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Steve Park -- No. 30 Chevy – finished 39th
2. Kevin Harvick -- No. 29 Chevy – finished 9th
3. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy – finished 14th
4. Sterling Marlin -- No. 40 Dodge -- finished 19th
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- No. 8 Chevy – finished 7th
6. Michael Waltrip -- No. 15 Chevy – finished 11th
7. Ken Schrader -- No. 49 Dodge – finished 41st
8. Jamie McMurray* -- No. 42 Dodge – finished 37th
9. Elliott Sadler -- No. 38 Ford – finished 24th
10. Jeremy Mayfield -- No. 19 Dodge – finished 8th

You’ll notice that there were three rookies qualified in the top ten. This is really great for the future of our sport, I’m always happy to see the rookies qualify and especially finish in the top ten. Our rookies are the future of our sport, there’s no doubt about it. There’s also no doubt that you’ll find the best rookie coverage on the Internet at Jayski’s Rookie of the Year page. While you’re at the site check out all of the latest up to date news on Jay’s Silly Season Site main page.

Matt Kenseth is still the man to beat when it comes to the driver’s point’s standings. He is now listed with 2551 points with a 180 point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. who moved up one spot because he finished ahead of Jeff Gordon. Gordon was relegated back to third and is now listed with a -203. Bobby Labonte and Michael Waltrip are still fourth and fifth with a -255 and a -392. Jimmie Johnson moved up one spot to sixth and is listed with a -472, followed by Kurt Busch who dropped down one spot to seventh with a -484. Kevin Harvick moved up one spot to eighth with a -502 while Rusty Wallace dropped down one spot to ninth with a -532. Sterling Marlin still rounds out the top ten in the driver’s point’s standings and is now listed with a -553.

All I can say about NBC’s coverage of the event is this: I already miss FOX. Hey, if you want an easy job, get hired on as a race announcer for NBC’s NASCAR events. Those guys are only on the air for a little less than 40 minutes out of a three hour race! Easy money!

Next week the Cup Series travels to Chicagoland Speedway for race No. 18, the Tropicana 400. The event is scheduled to be broadcast on the NBC network on Sunday, July 13th at 2:30 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event is slated to be broadcast by the SPEED channel on Friday, July 11th at 4 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the Tropicana event was Kevin Harvick. As a matter of fact, Harvick is the only cup driver to have won the event in the two years that it has been run. Harvick was followed across the finish line last season by Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, rookie Jimmie Johnson, rookie Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Bill Elliott, Robby Gordon, Mark Martin, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Rookie driver Ryan Newman won the Bud pole with a speed of 183.051 miles per hour. There were seven caution periods for a total of 35 laps out of the 400 mile 267 lap race on the 1.5 mile oval.

Cheaters Galore……..

The recent fines levied on DEI and the No. 15 teams driver and crew chief kind of bolsters what everyone in the garage area has been thinking for the past few seasons, they’ve been cheating!

I’m sure heads are bobbing up and down and words are being uttered around the garage area to the effect that it’s high time that NASCAR caught them at it. Lots of folks think that the unapproved carburetor and the bogus roof strip on the No. 15 was just a plant to draw NASCAR’s attention away from something else. “Give the dog a bone and he’ll go away and behave himself.”

The total domination of the restrictor plate tracks by DEI has had competitors reeling in disbelief. There are only so many legal things that you can do to approved aerodynamics and engines to gain an advantage. The problem with the restrictor plate racing program is that it bunches the cars up together because they all have to follow the same rules. The cars can’t pull away in a burst of power because everyone is supposed to have the same thing. Then, along comes DEI and blows all of that out of the water…… When everyone else is putting along and behaving like good little puppies, the big dogs at DEI are running all over top of them, leaving them in the dust. If this was happening to you wouldn’t you think there was something wrong? Wouldn’t you think that someone was breaking the rules somewhere, whether it is NASCAR or DEI?

the problem with the DEI success on restrictor plate tracks is amplified by Michael Waltrip’s performance on other tracks. He is and always had been just a mediocre driver in the Cup Series, not what one would call a top contender like Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon. The driver’s points over the same period of time that DEI has been dominating restrictor plate racing reflect this. When Waltrip gets on a non-restrictor plate track he doesn’t have the competitive edge to compete with the front runners on a regular basis like he does on restrictor plate tracks. Where is he getting that competitive edge?

At any rate, the fines levied by NASCAR were harsh this trip around the track. The struggling team of Morgan McClure ended up getting nailed just as bad as did DEI, $25k and the loss of 25 points for driver and owner. It appeared as if the No. 4 Morgan McClure Pontiac was looking to beat the field on fuel mileage because they had an unapproved fuel cell which probably was bigger than the 13.5 gallons allowed at Daytona and Talladega. On top of that, to rub salt into open wounds, NASCAR whacked Petty Enterprises with the same set of fines for having an unapproved jacking bolt, like it would have done them any good to begin with.

Retirements ……

The Scene Daily reported last week that Ken Schrader is considering retirement at the end of the season. The 48 year old driver claims he’s the oldest regular driver in the Cup series and the weekly grind just isn’t fun anymore. There is speculation that he may turn his attention to the Truck Series, as did Bonny Hamilton. There is also the newly formed TRAC series emerging in 2004 that has to be considered. Schrader may consider that it might be fun to enter the new racing series.

Another driver that has been the subject of lots of rumors this season is Tony Stewart. Lots of folks think that this will be his last season in Cup racing. I’ve heard lots of variables that involve Stewart. He’s been noted to have said that he’s like to win a championship in all of the racing series. He’s already won one in Cup, and he may also be a leading candidate for the upcoming TRAC Series. It would be befitting the champion racer to enter the new series and try to be its inaugural champion. It remains yet to be seen who will be driving for TRAC, and there are a few former Cup drivers on the quick list who are now out of a job. Add these drivers to the list of former Cup drivers from past seasons who are still trying plying their trade racing wherever and whenever they can.

Recently fired Cup driver Mike Skinner competed in the Kentucky truck this past weekend, and may be a regular in that series next season. The future of recently fired John Andretti is also still up in the air, and he may be a leading candidate for the upcoming multifaceted TRAC Series competition.

Tropicana 400……..

Ryan Newman has won his third race of the season in fine fettle by taking the checkered flag at Chicagoland Speedway. Kevin Harvick was trying to gain his third win at the track and set an all-time NASCAR record, but it didn’t happen. He was running second with just a few laps to go but couldn’t catch Newman. Then, he ran out of gas with only three laps remaining, finally finishing 17th.

Robby Gordon has to be snickering at his nemesis Jeff Gordon. Jeff carped and moaned when Robby passed his teammate Kevin Harvick coming back to a caution flag at the road course race at Infineon. Jeff Gordon made a big stink about it and made several derogatory comments against Robby all week long. Jeff Gordon made statements concerning the driver’s respect for Robby Gordon and how it’s going to hurt him in the future.

It came to pass that Jimmie Johnson passed Michael Waltrip racing back to the caution flag at Chicagoland. Johnson drives the car that is co-owned by Jeff Gordon and Rick Hendrick. Jeff Gordon’s driver passed a competitor racing back to the caution flag, so now we’ll see how much he carps and moans about it. What goes around comes around, and now it’s Jeff Gordon’s turn to eat crow. When Robby Gordon was interviewed after the race he stated that it will be interesting to see how much Jeff Gordon will holler and complain about his driver passing under caution, finishing his statement with, “Think about it.”

Jimmie Johnson quickly sought out Michael Waltrip to try to make what he did right. He claimed in a interview that he had a run on Waltrip when the caution came out, just like Robby Gordon had a run on Kevin Harvick. Of course, everyone will contend that golden boy Johnson did nothing wrong while Robbie Gordon is an un-gentlemanly driver….. Yeah right…….. We’re not blind!

Now that golden boy Johnson has made his owner Jeff Gordon look stupid and has drawn the ire of some of the drivers on the circuit, the sanctioning body may very well take the so-called gentlemen’s agreement out of racing. The agreement is useless anyway, and it’s high time that NASCAR stepped in and made a decisive rule to govern the situation.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Tony Stewart -- No. 20 Chevy – finished 2nd
2. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy – finished 4th
3. Bill Elliott -- No. 9 Dodge – finished 11th
4. Casey Mears* -- No. 41 Dodge -- finished 34th
5. Jeremy Mayfield -- No. 19 Dodge – finished 10th
6. Jimmie Johnson -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 3rd
7. Greg Biffle* -- No. 16 Ford – finished 20th
8. Elliott Sadler -- No. 38 Ford – finished 9th
9. Dave Blaney -- No. 77 Ford – finished 31st
10. Jamie McMurray* -- No. 42 Dodge – finished 8th

Matt Kenseth still sits on top of the point’s standings with a total of 2678 points. Jeff Gordon moved up one spot to second and is listed with a -165, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr, dropping down to third with a -258. Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip, and Jimmie Johnson still hold down spots four thru six with a -327 , -384, and -429. Kevin Harvick moved up one spot to seventh and is now listed with a -512, followed by Tony Stewart who moved up three spots to eighth with a -549. Kurt Busch dropped down two spots to ninth with a -565 while Sterling Marlin remains in tenth and is now listed with a -580.

Next Week………

The Cup Series travels to New Hampshire next weekend for compete in race No. 19, the New England 300 at the New Hampshire International Speedway. The event will be aired by the TNT channel on Sunday, July 20th at 1:30 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event will be aired on the SPEED channel on Friday, July 18th at 3 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the event was Ward Burton. He was followed across the finish line by Jeff Green, Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, rookie Ryan Newman, Todd Bodine, Robby Gordon, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Elliott Sadler.

Bill Elliott won the Bud pole award with a speed of 131.469 miles per hour. There were 14 caution periods for a total of 77 laps out of the 300 lap race on the 1.058 mile paperclip oval track.

7/17/03……….. I got an email the other day from a Mark Martin fan. First of all, my privacy policy prohibits me from even mentioning if the fan was a male or female, so I’ll just refer to them as “this person.” At any rate, they informed me that they had the Track Pass function offered through NASCAR.com and Real One Media.

This person listens to the radio traffic during the races between Mark Martin and his crew chief, Ben Leslie. They reported that there has been increasing friction between Martin and Leslie during the last couple of races. To say there was a breakdown in chemistry between the two would be an understatement!

This explained a lot to me, especially as to why Martin was so upset that his teammate Matt Kenseth passed him. Actually, this person reminded me that Martin is co-owner of the No. 17 that Kenseth drives, which only makes it much more of an oddity that Martin would feel this way toward Kenseth’s move. After all, Kenseth is racing for a championship, and God only knows what Martin is racing for these days…..

When it comes right down to it, Martin hasn’t been his old self since Roush made the crew chief switch a couple of years ago and took away Jimmy Fennig and put him on Kurt Busch’s team. On the other hand, you can’t say that there has never been good chemistry between Martin and Leslie because Martin almost won the championship with Leslie last season. Although Martin only had one win, his consistency is what got him so close to the top spot. Although in reality, it may have been Martin calling the shots with the car set-ups and pit decisions instead of Leslie.

There have been a lot of major problems at Roush Racing, this is just one of them. I’ve heard comments from friends alluding that Roush Racing has spread itself too thin. These comments may be correct, especially given the economic climate that is clouding the business world these days.

First of all, Martin certainly isn’t competing for the championship this year. The four-time runner-up for the championship has only five top five and seven to ten finishes this season in 18 races. He is currently listed as twelfth in the Cup driver’s point’s standings. At over six hundred points down, it’s doubtful that he will be a runner-up this season, let alone a champion. Jeff Burton, the other veteran in the Roush stable has an even worse record than that this season. Burton has only two top five and five top ten finishes and is listed at thirteenth in the Cup driver’s point’s standings. What’s the point?

Roush Racing needs to restructure for Cup in 2004. It needs to poll its recourses behind its best teams, the No. 17 DeWalt team with Matt Kenseth and the No. 97 Rubbermaid team with Kurt Busch. The No. 16 team with rookie Greg Biffle is on the upswing at this point, but the No. 6 and No. 99 teams need to either be sold or shut down completely for all of the good that they are doing.

I’m not writing this with the express intentions of upsetting Mark Martin and Jeff Burton fans. Both drivers would probably do better if they were in a different environment. Lots of times veterans get too complacent within the teams that they’ve been with for a number of years. A change is usually a welcome one, and a challenge to bring about success within a new organization could be just what both drivers need at this point in time.

Show Us the Money………

7/19/03…… The R.J. Reynolds sponsored “Leader Bonus” hasn’t been won this season. New Hampshire is the 19th race which makes the bonus equal to the highest it’s ever been at $190k. The bonus starts off fresh every season at $10k per race and builds up until the driver’s point’s leader wins the race.

If Matt Kenseth doesn’t win this weekend at New Hampshire; the bonus will be $200k next weekend going into Pocono for the point’s leader. The last one to win the bonus was Sterling Marlin, who took the money and ran after winning $50k for the fifth race at Darlington last season on March 17th.

It remains to be seen if Nextel will have the same type of bonus program for the drivers next season. BUT, what about us fans? Hey, we like money too! They should have the equal amount set aside to be won in a drawing for a fan when a driver wins. They’re always saying that they’re strive for fan participation in the sport, so if they want us to participate, then they should show us some of that big money!

The Two Faces of NASCAR ………

I didn’t know exactly how I was going to go about writing this, and I still don’t. We’ll just have to see how it shakes out. I don’t have a favorite driver or team in NASCAR. I always try to call it like I see it, without pulling any punches. Truth and honesty is by far the best policy.

With all of that out of the way, what sticks in my craw is the absence of statements involving the pass to the yellow flag initiated by Jimmie Johnson at Chicagoland Speedway. Johnson passed Michael Waltrip while racing to the yellow flag. He knew that he did wrong because he immediately sought out Waltrip and apologized after the race, coming up with a ton of excuses for his actions like a little boy with his hand caught in the cookie jar. Waltrip is powerless to say or do anything about Jeff Gordon’s driver and NASCAR’s golden boy for fear of future reprisal from the powers that be.

We all read the terse disapproving words of Jeff Gordon the week after Robby Gordon passed Kevin Harvick before taking the yellow flag at Infineon. What we didn’t hear were any comments out of Jeff Gordon’s nasty mouth after his driver did the same thing at Chicago.

It appears that what spurred Jeff Gordon’s ire was the blatantly crooked yellow flag that was thrown because of Hideo Fukuyama’s disabled car on pit road. Which by the way, mysteriously started up and drove off like a streak of lightning after the caution flag was thrown to allow Jeff Gordon to catch up to Robby Gordon so he could bump him off the track and win the race. Robby Gordon had one coming from Jeff Gordon because of the bump Robby gave Jeff at New Hampshire last season to get Jeff out of the way so he could win the race.

Problem is, it didn’t work at Infineon the way NASCAR set it up because Jeff couldn’t catch Robby to bump him out of the way. Hence, Jeff didn’t get to win the race and that’s mainly what he was upset about if the truth be known.

Be that as it may, it’s very disheartening that NASCAR chose not to address the issue of racing back to the caution. I would have thought that a controversy involving their golden boy Johnson would have sparked some kind of movement, but as per usual NASCAR has chosen to ignore it completely. Although, I did hear a buzz during Saturday’s Busch Series race that something would be said about the incident during the NBC pre-race show before the Loudon race.

As the pre-race show got underway there were some comments from drivers about how the act of passing while racing to a caution flag is taboo, unacceptable, etc., but they basically all said that they would do it if they had to. The ones interviewed also said that they didn’t want NASCAR to set a rule. The drivers who were interviewed were not top ten drivers, just drivers who like to speak out and get their mugs on the TV. Top ten drivers all declined to be interviewed on the subject with the exception of Michael Waltrip, who said that it was wrong to do, but that he’d probably do it anyway. Go figure…..

During the New England 300, the TNT crew put up a poll that asked if NASCAR should get involved and set a rule on racing back to the caution or should they let them race. The poll answers were 75% to let them race as opposed to the 25% who wants NASCAR to set a rule on racing back to the caution flag.

New England 300……

Jimmie Johnson ended up winning his second race of the season, holding off Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, and Robby Gordon. The 300 lap event, which was riddled with cautions, ended up being a fuel mileage event. Several drivers ran out of fuel during the last few laps of the race, with most of them slowing on the last lap.

The one mile flat track that has been the center of lots of heated controversy over the past few seasons was in great shape for the Cup event. Last season there were a lot of problems resulting from a paving job that didn’t have time to cure. This season, the track owners tore up the track and paved it during the first part of April, giving it plenty of time to harden before the NASCAR events in July.

There were a lot of on-track altercations and a lot of heated tempers flaring during the race. The drivers acted as though they were on a short track with all of the bumping and banging going on for position. Greg Biffle, his crew chief, and owner Jack Roush, were invited to the NASCAR trailer after the race for consultation regarding Biffle’s altercation with race leader Jeff Gordon while Biffle was trying to get the ahead of Gordon to regain a lap. Actually, Biffle was angry with Gordon because Gordon wouldn’t allow him to get his lap back while running back to the caution flag, and purposely bumped Gordon on the restart to show his displeasure.
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Update 7/21/03 …… The word has hit the streets concerning the altercation between Jeff Gordon and Greg Biffle. Biffle, his crew chief, and owner Jack Roush, were called to the NASCAR trailer after the race to explain why Biffle drove up the track and ran into the side of Gordon’s car during a restart.

When asked in the NASCAR trailer why he did this, Biffle explained to Cup Director John Darby that Gordon had made a deal with Biffle and crew to let him have the inside line on a previous restart. In payment for this deal, Gordon was supposed to let Biffle have his lap back when a caution came out. Gordon reneged on the deal, and raced back to the flag preventing Biffle from getting back on the lead lap. In retaliation, Biffle purposely hit Gordon on the next restart to show his displeasure for Gordon’s going back on his word. Darby is reported to have said to Biffle that he “done good.” In other words, he didn’t wreck Gordon, like he should have done, but just rammed him some to show his displeasure with the superhero driver that everyone is supposed to respect, because he didn’t keep his word.

I have to add this in defense of Gordon, because it’s a scenario that very well may have been factual. It’s very possible that Gordon was unaware of the deal that was made in the pits, or even if he was previously aware of it, he may have forgotten the deal in the heat of the moment, until it was too late. When you are racing at high speeds, remembering too late doesn’t do you much good because the damage has already been done. I’m sure the drivers have a lot more to concern themselves with while racing in hot pursuit of the lead, other than deals made in the pits.
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The top ten starters set by owner’s points and how they finished:

1. Matt Kenseth -- No. 17 Ford – finished 3rd
2. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy – finished 24th
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- No. 8 Chevy – finished 6th
4. Bobby Labonte -- No. 18 Chevy -- finished 14th
5. Michael Waltrip -- No. 15 Chevy – finished 28th
6. Jimmie Johnson -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 1st
7. Kevin Harvick -- No. 29 Chevy – finished 2nd
8. Tony Stewart -- No. 20 Chevy – finished 22nd
9. Kurt Busch -- No. 97 Ford – finished 11th
10. Sterling Marlin -- No. 40 Dodge – finished 39th

The first four positions in the driver’s points standings remain the same, but the points are a lot different. Matt Kenseth is still the leader, now with 2848 points, but due to Jeff Gordon’s poor finish, Kenseth now has a 234 point lead on second place Gordon. It will take more than one race now to unseat leader Kenseth from the top spot as 185 points are the maximum that are allotted to a driver at any given race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is now listed with a -273 while fourth place Bobby Labonte is listed with a -376. Jimmie Johnson’s win moved him up one spot to round out the top five with a -419. This is the best lead a points leader has had this season, and the largest spread between the top five point’s leaders.

Michael Waltrip dropped down one spot to sixth and is now listed with a -475. Kevin Harvick is still in seventh place, listed with a -532. Kurt Busch moved up one spot to eighth with a -605, followed by Tony Stewart who dropped down one spot to ninth with a -622. Jeff Burton moved up three spots to round out the top ten in driver’s points with a -648 down from leader Kenseth.

Next Week………

Race No. 20 on the 2003 schedule is the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The event is slated to be broadcast by the TNT channel at 12:30 p.p. eastern on Sunday, July 27th. Qualifying for the event is scheduled to be broadcast by the TNT channel on Friday, July 25th at 3 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the July Pocono event was Bill Elliott. He was followed across the finish line by Kurt Busch, Sterling Marlin, Dale Jarrett, rookie Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Terry Labonte, and Ricky Rudd.

Bill Elliott won the Bud pole award with a speed of 170.568 miles per hour. There were five caution periods for a total of 29 laps out of the 175 laps on the 2.5 mile triangle shaped racetrack.

Another One Bites the Dust…..

That’s the first thing that came to mind when I read the news about Sirius Radio sponsorship leaving the No. 7 Ultra Motorsports Dodge team. If NBC can use some sort of rock music as an intro to its racing programming, then I can certainly refer to the old Queen song without any fear of reprisal.

It seems like Roush Racing isn’t the only team that’s having problems with sponsors. I’m referring to CITGO leaving the No. 99 Ford, and we all know that Roush can’t keep sponsorship for his Truck and Busch Series programs.

Then there’s been rumors concerning Pennzoil leaving the No. 1 DEI Chevy at year’s end that have now been substantiated as being true. Pennzoil made their announcement at Pocono this past weekend. The wording of the announcement allows one to speculate that there may be a possibility that the company could be back in 2004 as a major or associate sponsor with another team. Pennzoil was Dale Earnhardt’s first sponsor when he started the first DEI team six years ago with Steve Park piloting the No. 1 Chevrolet.

Of course we all know about A T&T’s sponsorship plans for 2004 getting squashed by NASCAR and Nextel, and we all know about Hooters leaving the No. 11 Ford team of owner/driver Bret Bodine. There is also increasing speculation that the UAW won’t be returning as the primary sponsor on the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy driven by Joe Nemechek. It may come to pass that there will be ample drivers to go around next season because there will be quite a few Cup teams shutting down.

It seems that Ultra Motorsports owner Jim Smith isn’t worried about losing the Sirius sponsorship. He claims that he has already been contacted by corporations that are willing to put their logos on the skin of the No. 7 Dodge Intrepid racecar. With Driver Jimmy Spencer having a good year (for him) and crew Chief Tommy Baldwin calling the shots, Smith feels that the No. 7 is a package that any corporation would be glad to be associated with.

While we’re talking about sponsors leaving, NASCAR may be heading in the direction of banning some sponsorships. NASCAR President Mike Helton was in Washington, D. C. this past answering questions for Congress concerning the use of the Ephedra laced Stacker II in the sport and also the fact that the NASCAR Cup and Busch teams of Bill Davis Racing were advertising Stacker II, which had been deemed by the government as dangerous. It looks like another one might bite the dust for Bill Davis Racing. NASCAR is also on track to ban all tobacco products. Now that Winston is leaving the sport, they feel that this may be the opportune time to make the move. Hard liquor sponsorship was banned by NASCAR a few years ago.

I’m wondering if the problem has more to do with the money that the teams are demanding than it does with the economy, or maybe both? It’s no secret that the cost of racing has been raised to unbelievable heights over the past few seasons. I’ve been wondering when it was all going to come to a screeching halt, and now maybe it is.

Considering the sponsors that took a hike last season and, also during the off season, it appears that NASCAR is taking a hit with the current economic situation just like everyone else is. This season is a little more than half over, and it remains to be seen which sponsor will be the next one to bite the dust, and when. You can rest assured though, it’s going to happen. It may come to pass that the big expected NEXTEL Cup Series season may very well end up being the NEXTEL Thimble Series.

An Ironman Milestone…..

Ricky Rudd hasn’t missed a Cup race since the 1980 season. Rudd started his 700th consecutive race Sunday at Pocono, keeping a streak going that he started January 11th, 1981 at Riverside International Speedway at Ontario, California. To say that this is less than something special in any type of sport would be a travesty. All sports have their iron men, and some outdo others. This 700 straight races streak that Rudd has accomplished has outdone records in any other sport, besting all athletes worldwide.

Actually, according to the Daily Scene mailings, there aren’t very many NASCAR drivers who have even made 700 starts, let along having them consecutive. Of course, Richard Petty leads all starts with the unbelievable number of 1,177 starts. Dave Marcis has 882, followed by Darrell Waltrip with 809. Rudd now has 787 after starting at Pocono, with Bobby Allison and Terry Labonte each having over 700 total career starts. Going into the Pocono race, Rudd had 189 top five finishes, 358 top ten finishes, 23 wins, 28 poles, and has won over $30 million in purse money since he first began in Cup racing in the 1975 season.

I didn’t Do It…..

Is anyone surprised that Jeff Gordon claims that he didn’t have a deal with Greg Biffle? As per usual, Gordon took the back door, the easy way out, by claiming that he knew nothing of a deal and that no one on his crew wouldn’t make a deal with anyone without first consulting with him.

So what does this mean? Is Greg Biffle a liar? One of them is certainly lying through their teeth. The people who listen to the radio traffic between drivers, crew chiefs, and spotters know the truth. If I remember right, Benny Parsons, the TV announcer, stated “Way to go Biffle” when Biffle drove up and rammed Gordon’s car on the restart. Parsons knew what was going on, because he had heard the radio traffic stipulating the deal that the 24 team had made with the 16 team. Gordon may one day get a surprise and Biffle may very well be the one who dishes it out. What goes around comes around!

Pennsylvania 500……

Ryan Newman has won again, and from the pole starting position. Newman became one of the youngest drivers to have won at the difficult track that us usually only kind to veteran drivers. That wasn’t the case this time around, as the veterans didn’t fare so well.

This was Newman’s fourth win of the season, making him the top winner on the Cup circuit. The 2003 Raybestos Rookie of the Year winner had one win in his rookie year, and certainly isn’t having any problems with the infamous sophomore slump that has plagued many top young drivers in the past.

The race ended without any major controversies or hurt feelings. Mark Martin was taken out early in the race when Dale Earnhardt Jr. wiggled some and bumped into him. After Martin glanced off of the wall he was tagged in the rear by Earnhardt’s teammate Michael Waltrip. Martin wasn’t happy with Dale Jr. or his teammate, but the wily veteran didn’t elaborate on it. There sere some drivers who weren’t too happy with their crews, the most upset seemed to be point’s leader Matt Kenseth, who claimed he had a top five car but was relegated back to a thirteenth place finish due to a bad call from his crew Robbie Riser.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge – finished 1st
2. Jimmie Johnson -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 15th
3. Elliot Sadler -- No. 38 Ford – finished 14th
4. Bobby Labonte -- No. 18 Chevy -- finished 30th
5. John Andretti -- No. 0 Pontiac – finished 33rd
6. Terry Labonte-- No. 5 Chevy – finished 5th
7. Rusty Wallace -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 32nd
8. Dale Jarrett -- No. 88 Ford – finished 24th
9. Matt Kenseth -- No. 17 Ford – finished 13th
10. Casey Mears -- No. 41 Dodge – finished 35th

Matt Kenseth is still sitting atop of the Cup Series driver’s points with 2977. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s third place finish moved him up one spot to second place with a -232 while Jeff Gordon’s bad luck dropped him down one spot to third with a -308. Some cars checked up in front of Gordon and he had to check up also, and got tagged by Dave Blaney, which sent his car careening into the wall taking it out of contention for the win. Jimmy Johnson moved up one spot to fourth and is now listed with a -430. Bobby Labonte lost an engine and also one spot in the points and is now rounding out the top five with a -432.

Points positions six thru eight remain the same with Michael Waltrip now listed with a -439, Kevin Harvick with a -534, and Kurt Busch with a -559. Ryan Newman’s win moved him up four spots into the top ten to the ninth position with a -614. Jeff Burton remains in the tenth spot and is now listed with a -622.

Next Week …….

The Cup Series travels to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for race No. 21, The Brickyard 400. The event is scheduled to be televised live by the NBC channel at 2 p.m. eastern on Sunday, August 2nd. Qualifying for the event will be televised by the TNT channel on Saturday, August 2nd at 11 a.m. eastern.

Last season’s Brickyard 400 was won by Bill Elliott. He was followed across the finish line by Rusty Wallace, Matt Kenseth, rookie Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Steve Park, Robby Gordon, rookie Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Jarrett.