Rookie Class – 2004……

Coming soon, at a racetrack near you, the 2004 rookie class! Yep, it’ll be sooner than you think. The first thing you know it’ll be time for the banquet and then we’ll all be waiting in anticipation for Daytona Speed Weeks to begin after January testing.

Silly Season, for all practical purposes, has gotten underway full swing as it usually does after the first of September. Hendrick Motorsports has promoted their young Busch Series superstar Brian Vickers to a Cup ride in the No. 25 Chevrolet for 2004, making him for first rookie to enter the 2004 rookie class.

This isn’t any surprise to me as Joe Nemechek has been taking on more of an owner role than a driver in the last couple of seasons. Let’s face it; Front Row Joe’s no young gun. According to the facts related in NASCAR’s Preview and Press Guide, Joe will be 40 on September 26th. We’ve talked about his partnership he has in the Busch Series with the No. 7 Evans Motorsports Chevrolet, and he has his own No. 87 Nemco Motorsports entry that he can always drive in Busch or Cup, whichever he desires. It remains to be seen if Joe will seek employment driving for another team.

Kyle Busch, who has been driving the No. 87 Nemeco Motorsports Chevy with Hendrick Motorsports backing in the Busch Series to get some seat time, will move into Vickers old Busch Series ride in the No. 5 Chevrolet for the 2004 season.

There’s been lots of speculation that Dale Earnhardt Inc. will put a rookie in the No. 1 Chevy for 2004. John Andretti is only driving the entry for the rest of this season. DEI is in the same boat with its No. 1 entry as Hendrick is with the No. 5; they both need to acquire sponsorship. When you have two successful organizations like DEI and Hendrick, the prospect of gain sponsorship is much better than that of a lot of the lesser teams. Still, haunting at the back of my mind is the problems Roush Racing has had with trying to find sponsors for its many entries in all three of NASCAR’s major series. The No. 99 with driver Jeff Burton is still without sponsorship for 2004. They couldn’t find a sponsor for Burton in Busch with the No. 9 entry when he was winning races with it. They’ve told Greg Biffle that they are going to start up a Busch Series program for him, but have failed to do so. It appears now that Biffle is trying to set up his own Busch Series team by himself. He needs to get over the sponsorship obstacle first, then the obstacle of finding a race shop and hiring employees. I’ve often thought that Roush’s sponsorship problems have something to do with an internal problem within its organization.

Crash Skinner……

Is anyone really surprised that Mike Skinner crashed two cars before the Richmond race even began? It appears that Skinner is destined to crash anytime he’s near a racetrack. For some reason or other, that malady seems to follow a few drivers around, and Skinner just happens to be one of them. I can’t tell exactly why this is so, I assume it has something to do with attitude and/or driving style. If a driver gets tries too hard and keeps his racecar constantly on the edge, he’s apt to crash more than the average racer. He may also be saddled with a devil-may-care attitude that could cause him to take more chances than the more successful refined race drivers in the Cup series that crash once in a while, but not constantly.

Skinners team unloaded the No. 01 MB2 Motorsports Pontiac, only to have him tear it up in practice Friday. They brought out a back-up car and Skinner won the pole with it, then claimed he got into his teammates oil and ended up in the wall in late practice Friday night. They had to send for a third car to be brought up to Richmond from their Charlotte, North Carolina race shop. His sixth career pole became void because the car he qualified in was wrecked, so Skinner had to start from the back of the field with the third car.

SAFER Barrier……

Probably all of you know by now that SAFER stands for Steel and Foam Energy Reduction. The SAFER system installation was finished at Richmond in August. It was actually tested the first time when the Craftsman Truck Series practiced, but I can’t find the story that was on the Internet concerning it. The media has let that pass and instead are claiming that the Cup drivers were the first to test the new system, which is a lie, and a lot of media hype.

There has been a lot of talk about the SAFER system since it was installed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last summer. There was a lot of complaining because it has taken NASCAR so long to okay the system for use at the tracks where they sanction their events.

Recently, Gary Nelson, director of research and development for NASCAR and former Cup director, explained why the system has been under scrutiny. A lot of people in the media, including yours truly, have been critical of NASCAR for dragging its feet on the installation of the system. Nelson explained that the system offers a safety hazard that a lot of people don’t realize.

When a racecar hits the concrete wall, it tends to stay on or near the wall as it bounces into it while moving down the track until the racecar slows down and stops. The wall acts as kind of a conduit that keeps the car moving along make a usual gradual slow down. The Safer Barrier, on the other hand, while softer and more resilient for the racecars to crash into, tend to “bounce” the car back onto the track. This was initially seen as a dangerous phenomenon. The racecar bouncing back into the paths of speeding racecars could cause tremendous collisions and more serious injury. Plus, the bouncing effect could also cause more injury to the driver from the bouncing action.

The system had to be studied and designed so that the cars wouldn’t bounce so hard and would kind of stay into or near the barrier after they crashed into it. Hopefully, this has been accomplished. The system was tested by Christian Fittipaldi and Steve Park during practice. Both drivers reported that the barrier was worth its weight in gold and that it saved a lot of damage that would have present on the cars otherwise, not to mention their enhanced personal safety.

Chevy Rock & Roll 400…..

Ryan Newman somehow managed to prevail through the altercations at the Richmond short track demolition derby to take his sixth win of the season. Six poles, six wins, sixth place in points, on the sixth of September.

The new SAFER barrier certainly got a workout from all of the spinouts and wrecks. A friend of mine made the comment about “too many cars on such a small track.” I think he’s onto something there. I enjoy short track racing, but there would be better racing for all involved if NASCAR would restrict the field for the short track races and only let a certain number of cars in the event. This could be done by setting higher standards in qualifying. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to raise the bar for short track events by cutting the field down to 15 rows (30 cars). It might also take away some of the complacency that the drivers and teams seem to have with short track racing.

Those who favor changes to the current Cup Championship points system will no doubt grab onto this scenario. Here you have a top driver in Ryan Newman with six Bud pole wins, a series high six race wins, and he’s only sixth in the driver’s points. The problem with Newman’s point’s standings arise from the fact that out of the 26 races run this season, there are six of them where he has finished 38th, 39th (two races), 41st, 42nd, and 43rd. Although the current point’s leader Matt Kenseth has only won one race and one Bud pole, he only has six finishes out of the top ten, and his worst finish is 22nd, along with a 20th, two 14th place finishes, and a 13th and 12th place finish. The current points system rewards consistency, as well it should.

The usual short track racing altercations have provided post-race entertainment in the form of harsh words between Ricky Rudd and Kevin Harvick. It was reported that Harvick threw something at Rudd on pit road for spinning him out. Naturally, Rudd says it wasn’t his fault. The two had an altercation at Richmond a couple of seasons ago. Harvick will probably be fined for throwing of an object at Rudd, which was believed to be his head and neck safety device. Robby Gordon left the facility harboring angry thoughts toward Jeff Burton. Burton claims that he got into the back of Gordon by accident, it was entirely his fault and he doesn’t blame Gordon for being angry. Now that’s a different approach!

Newman was followed across the finish line by Jeremy Mayfield, Ricky Rudd, Jeff Burton, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth, Terry Labonte, Johnny Benson, and Jeff Gordon. It’s good to see Texas Terry rack up another top ten finish, this has certainly been a stellar season and a great “come back” for him. The point’s leader added another top ten to his impressive standings, and Rusty Wallace added a top five to his season’s standings, along with Mayfield, Rudd, and Jeff Burton, who all have had a sour 2003 season up to this point.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Mike Skinner -- No. 01 Pontiac—finished 18th
2. Greg Biffle -- No. 16 Ford – finished 20th
3. Mark Martin -- No. 6 Ford – finished 13th
4. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge -- finished 1st
5. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy – finished 10th
6. Sterling Marlin -- No. 40 Dodge – finished 22nd
7. Jeff Burton -- No. 99 Ford – finished 4th
8. Ward Burton -- No. 22 Dodge – finished 15th
9. Johnny Benson -- No. 10 Pontiac – finished 9th
10. Kyle Petty -- No. 45 Dodge – finished 34th

Matt Kenseth’s seventh place finish added to his point’s lead, giving him a total of 3864 points with a 418 point lead over second place driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. With only ten races remaining, it will be more than difficult for any driver to surpass the odds against Matt Kenseth winning the final Winston Cup. The top five point’s positions remain the same with Kevin Harvick in third listed with a -441 followed by Jimmie Johnson with a -501, with Jeff Gordon rounding it off with a -593. Ryan Newman and Bobby Labonte each moved up one spot to sixth and seventh with a -609 and a -656. Kurt Busch dropped down two spots to eighth because of his 22nd place finish and is now listed with a -659, followed by Terry Labonte who moved up two spots into the top ten with a -782. Michael Waltrip dropped down one spot to round out the top ten with a -785 while current champion Tony Stewart dropped out of the top ten to eleventh with a -846.

Next Week…..

Race No. 27 on the 36 race Cup schedule is the 300 mile event at the New Hampshire International Speedway. The TNT channel will broadcast the event live on Sunday, September 14th, at 12:30 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised by the TNT channel on Friday, September 12th at 3 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the New Hampshire 300 was rookie Ryan Newman. He was followed across the finish line by Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, Johnny Benson, Bobby Labonte, Ricky Craven, Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip, rookie Jimmie Johnson, and Matt Kenseth.

Rookie Ryan Newman won the Bud pole award with a speed of 132.241 miles per hour. There were only three caution periods for a total of 24 laps out of the 207 lap rain shortened race on the 1.058 mile track.

Fair Haired Boys…...

I’m really amused these days with how NASCAR tries to control the media. I guess they are trying to take the lead from big brother as to the way the administrations in power has the media tied around its finger, hiding the news they don’t want you to hear, and shoving news down your throat that they want you to believe, whether its true or not.

Last winter, it was all Jeff Gordon. He was and apparently will always be NASCAR’s No. 1 fair haired boy. Regardless of the fact if he’s an adulterer or not, or that his moral standards may be in question. He certainly wouldn’t have spend a small fortune trying to hide the facts of his divorce if he didn’t have something to hide, now would he? Fair-haired boy? Yeah right. Well, regardless of his shortcomings, he did win the championship four times, and it’s kind of like the late Dale Earnhardt said, “No one got into that car and did it for him.” But is he the best NASCAR has to offer? NASCAR may think so, but there are hundreds of thousands of race fans who know different and just snicker at NASCAR’s holier than thou attitude where Gordon is concerned.

Just recently, and at other different times during the season, NASCAR has paraded Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the big stars of the Series. While both of the dynamic drivers are in the top five in points, they haven’t been setting the track on fire this season, not like Ryan Newman or Jimmie Johnson have, or even Kurt Busch, for that matter. The young guns are going to overshadow NASCAR’s big dreams where its controllable stars are concerned.

That’s the keyword here folks, “controllable.” Take Kevin Harvick for instance, or even the above mentioned Kurt Busch. I wouldn’t call either one of them “controllable” to the extent that Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt Jr. can be controlled to do NASCAR’s bidding. Yet, both drivers are certainly stars, and are more controversial and exciting than either Gordon or Earnhardt this season. Robby Gordon? There’s another star that NASCAR has no control over, and never will.

I mentioned above how NASCAR praised Jeff Gordon during the winter off season months. What happened to the current Cup Champion Tony Stewart? You hardly heard anything about the champion from NASCAR, it was all Jeff Gordon, whether he won the championship or not. They even published copies of the Preview and Press Guide with Gordon’s mug on the cover. That was sickening; the champion’s picture has always dominated the cover of the Preview and Press Guide. NASCAR’s powers that be certainly know how to make fools of themselves. Gordon was the favored driver to take control of the field in 2003, but NASCAR’s fair haired boy fizzled, as per usual.

Don’t be surprised if Gordon doesn’t get the opportunity to win his fifth championship. There are too many young guns out there winning races and raining on Gordon’s parade. He’s learning the hard way that he isn’t going to be allowed to run roughshod over drivers on the racetrack just out of the respect that he tends to demand for his previous accomplishments. Every February starts a new season; fair haired boys from last season are nothing but fair game once the drivers take to the track for the new season. Actually, they’ll do anything they can to beat him.

A lot of you will remember when Dale Earnhardt was trying to win his eighth championship and along came a young upstart by the name of Jeff Gordon and rained Earnhardt’s parade. Earnhardt was stymied; Gordon was winning the races and taking the media away from him. It was very frustrating for Earnhardt, and at first he lashed out at Gordon, calling him “the kid” among certain other things, but later on he became resigned to the fact that the new kid on the block was going to prevail, and if he got another championship, he was going to have to fight for it harder than ever.

As the newer young guns have followed Gordon into Cup, they will now put a crimp into his future championship plans. Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson are two of the latest hot pistols to hit the track, and next season, we’ve got the Busch Series sensation Brian Vickers coming into Cup driving for Hendrick Motorsports. At this point there’s no telling who’ll join Vickers in the 2004 rookie class, but to be sure, it’ll be an interesting season, with Kenseth, Stewart, Newman, Busch, Johnson, Harvick, both Gordon’s and all of the other stars of the circuit trying to jockey for position.

New-man to Beat

Ryan Newman continues to shake the NASCAR world of Cup racing. Winning his seventh pole in the 2003 season at New Hampshire, he topped last season’s series high six poles, and also leads the Cup series with six wins. The sophomore driver Newman has won 14 poles in 71 races.

The really interesting part of this whole scenario is that the season still has nine races to go before the finale at Homestead-Miami for the Ford 400. Newman could very easily win a couple more poles and maybe even a race or two by then, moving him further up the driver’s point’s scale. He was sixth in points coming into the New Hampshire race.

With 26 races in his column for the 2003 season, Newman had suffered 5 DNF’s (did not finish) which put him so far back in the points. He started out the season with a DNF at Daytona from that horrendous accident that gave him a 43rd position finish in the season’s first race. He also suffered last spring with accidents at Talladega and California and brake failure at Martinsville. His last DNF was due to engine failure at Michigan in June.

Even with all of that bad luck, Newman still has an impressive record of 10 top five and 14 top ten finishes along with six wins and the seven Bud poles in 26 races. At this juncture in the season, it’s not logical for Newman to have the opportunity to win the championship. With just a quarter of the season left with Kenseth holding a lead of over 400 driver’s championship points, it’s doubtful that anyone can unseat him. Barring any more bad luck, and with his average of decent finishes, Newman will probably end up with a top five finish in the driver’s point’s standings.

Changing of the Guard…..

Speaking of fair-haired boys…….. No, I guess Brian France isn’t what one would call a fair-haired boy, If I’m not mistaken, I read somewhere that he’s 41 years old. It’s really no surprise to see him taking over the helm as Chairman of the Board and CEO of NASCAR. I assume we all knew it would eventually happen one of these days as long as he managed to stay on the good side of his father.

Bill France contends that he will still have an office and will be keeping up with corporate activities. He will share the position of vice-chairman along with his younger brother Jim France.

It was kind of a shocker to see it happen so suddenly, but I feel that with the upcoming changes in the sponsorship of the sport, the it’s fitting to head into the Nextel era of Cup racing with new leadership behind the sanctioning body. Brian France isn’t any stranger to the sport, as we all know he’s spent his life in NASCAR, and is probably the only man that can appropriately handle the job of running the France family’s racing empire.

While the changes are being made, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see other changes made before the beginning of the next season. I’m thinking that where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and that NASCAR President Mike Helton is on his way out. I’m thinking that as soon as the season and all of the championship festivities at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City are completed, Helton will be replaced. I’m thinking that Jim Hunter will be his replacement. There has to be some reason why Hunter’s mug has been demanding camera time from the media this season, and that’s just as good as any, given the constant rumors about Helton leaving. Hunter has been seen in the company of Bill France several times, and that’s a pretty good indication to me that he’s being groomed for the top spot.

Sylvania 300……

Jimmie Johnson managed to beat the adversity of having team owner Jeff Gordon pull a pit road boner that was responsible for putting him back in the 26th position, to prevail in the end by garnering the checkered flag at New Hampshire for the second time this season. The victory was the third of the sophomore season for Johnson, and the sixth of his career.

Gordon’s boner wasn’t the only major boner of the race; it seemed that a lot of the veterans were acting like rookies. The subject of passing on pit road was brought up again because of Gordon’s actions. He tired to cut on the inside of Michael Waltrip, not realizing that he was pulling into the pit box that Waltrip was pulling into for service. Waltrip pitted, causing Gordon to hit two of Jimmie Johnson’s crewmen who were coming out to service his car. Gordon stupidly ended up nosed into the pit boxes between the cars of Johnson and Waltrip while they were making their pit stops. And this is one of NASCAR’s fair haired boys? Ooooookay.

The age old subject of racing back to the caution flag came into play when Dale Jarrett was whacked into the wall by Jimmy Spencer. Jarrett’s car was disabled in the middle of the track coming off of turn four when race leader Bill Elliott slowed before reaching him to let lapped cars get their laps back. This allowed lots of cars to speed by the disabled race car to reach the finish line before the race leader. The main reason Elliott slowed was because of a deal previously made with Bobby Labonte to allow him to get his lap back.

Regardless of any deals made, or whatever, it was a dangerous situation, one that NASCAR has failed to address since the inception of Cup racing. TV announcer Benny Parsons stated that it was a hot topic of discussion when he started racing in 1970. That was over 33 years ago, and the sanctioning body still hasn’t realized the intelligence to address the problem of racing back to a caution flag. One would think that they would take the lead of the IRL, Formula 1, or some of the other major racing leagues that solved the problem years ago.

Johnson was followed across the finish line by Ricky Rudd, Joe Nemechek, Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Rusty Wallace, Matt Kenseth, Elliott Sadler, Ryan Newman, and rookie Jamie McMurray. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge – finished 9th
2. Terry Labonte -- No. 5 Chevy – finished 18th
3. Jamie McMurray* -- No. 42 Dodge – finished 10th
4. Greg Biffle* -- No. 16 Ford -- finished 43rd
5. Michael Waltrip -- No. 15 Chevy – finished 26th
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- No. 8 Chevy – finished 5th
7. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy – finished 19th
8. Jimmie Johnson -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 1st
9. Sterling Marlin -- No. 40 Dodge – finished 29th
10. Jeremy Mayfield -- No. 19 Dodge – finished 11th

Matt Kenseth lost a little of his championship point’s lead over second place Dale Earnhardt Jr. Junior is now 404 points in back of Kenseth’s 4015 points. Kevin Harvick is still in third listed with a -463, followed by Jimmie Johnson listed with a -472. Ryan Newman moved up one spot to fifth with a -617 followed by Jeff Gordon who dropped down one spot to sixth listed with a -633. Kurt Busch moved up one spot to seventh listed with a -692, as Bobby Labonte dropped down one spot to eighth with a -692. Terry Labonte and Michael Waltrip remain in ninth and tenth listed with a –824 and a -846.

Next week…..

The Cup Series travels to Dover International Speedway for race No. 28, the MBNA America 400. The event will be televised by the NBC channel on Sunday, September 21st at 12:30 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised with a short time delay by the SPEED channel at 2:30 p.m. eastern on Friday, September 19th.

Last season’s winner of the September Dover event was rookie Jimmie Johnson. He became the first rookie in NASCAR history to sweep both races in one season on the Dover track. Johnson was followed across the finish line by Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, rookie Ryan Newman, Ricky Craven, and Johnny Benson.

Rusty Wallace won the Bud pole award with the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford with a speed of 156.822 miles per hour. There were 6 caution periods for a total of 37 laps out of the 400 lap race on the one mile concrete oval.

Lemme Outta Here…..

That’s what I’d be hollering if my Cup car been involved a wreck and my window area was blocked so I couldn’t get through it. It’s happened several times in past seasons to several drivers. They have to sit there helplessly, until someone arrives at the scene with brains enough to know what’s going on, that can figure out how to get them out.

In stating that, I’m thinking about the recent problem Ryan Newman had at Watkins Glen this summer. His car had bounced off the tire barrier and landed on its side with the driver’s window covered by the ground where he couldn’t make an exit. If the car had caught fire, he would have been in dire straits. When the so called safety crew arrived at the scene they didn’t know what to do. Newman had to holler instructions for them to upright the car so he could get out. If he had been knocked unconscious, there’s no telling how long it would have taken the inexperienced volunteers to get him out of the disabled vehicle.

NASCAR officials have announced the emergence of the “alternate exit” or the escape hatch, as it’s commonly being called. The newly designed and approved apparatus has been cleared for use in the upcoming Talladega race on September 28th for the Cup Series and on October 4th at Kansas for the Busch Series.

This alternate exit is located in the roof over the driver’s cage. It measures 24 inches square and can be opened by the driver with a pull cable at either the front, near the windshield, or at the back above the driver’s seat. If both cables are pulled at once, the hatch will come loose to be removed entirely. The system is also set up to be quickly removed from outside of the racecar so safety workers can extract a driver through the roof.

This new system, developed and tested by NASCAR’s Research and Development Center at Concord, North Carolina, isn’t yet mandatory. Teams have the option of whether they want to incorporate the new system or not. Although, I suspect that by the time the 2004 season arrives, the system will be mandatory for all three of NASCAR’s top divisions.

New Rules….

It came to light Thursday, as Hurricane Isabel wrecked havoc on the south land, that the sanctioning body had finally gotten off its duff and decided that something other than the age old “gentlemen’s agreement” was needed to address the problems involved with racing back to the yellow caution flag.

Naturally, they had to be prissy about it and not release all of the information to the media until after the meeting with the drivers at Dover. They did state initially however that there would be no more passing after the yellow flag was flown, and they also stated that new rules for pit road would also be incorporated at Dover for the Cup and Busch Series and at California for the Truck Series. The new rules for caution periods includes all three of NASCAR’s major series.

When a statement was issued Saturday at Dover after the big meeting, it became clear why the secrecy until the drivers were notified. The rule calls for all drivers to immediately reduce speed when the caution period is announced either by flag or lights where ever the drivers may be on the track to be apprised of the situation. The drivers will then line up behind the leader. The sticking point is that NASCAR is allowing the first car a lap down, position wise, to regain a lap every time a caution period is called. It makes no difference where the driver of the first lapped car is on the track in relation to the race leader.

This part of the new caution flag rule has confused some drivers on the Cup circuit. A couple of them have reacted negatively to the changes stating that they can’t figure out what NASCAR is doing. The most outspoken, Jeff Gordon, clearly isn’t the brightest light bulb in the box. It certainly doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that the first car one lap down gets a lap back at each caution unless the race is within ten laps of the finish. If the race is within ten laps of the finish, the lap back rule doesn’t apply.

The way I explained it in my Busch Series article is like this: Lets say there are 20 cars on the lead lap when a caution flag is waved. The car in the 21st position becomes the first car one lap down, it’s as simple as that. After pit stops are made, and while the cars are lining up for the restart behind the pace car, the car that was in the 21st position when the caution came out gets to circumvent the track ahead of the pace car and takes its place at the back end of the line of cars on the lead lap, thus becoming the last car on the lead lap. It makes no difference where the car that was in the 21st position at the time the caution was called comes out of the pits after his stop under caution. The position is set before pit stops are made and the position changes after pit stops have nothing to do with it.

Another complainer is whining about the leaders losing the opportunity to deal with the lapped cars to let them have the first corner on restarts. This practice has been going on for many years. The lapped cars let the leader have the inside line for the first corner allowing him to get a few car lengths ahead of the number two car and the rest of the pack. The leader then assured the lap car that he would allow him to regain his lap when the next caution period came out. Dale Jarrett says that now they will have to race harder to get that position going into the corner because the deal can’t be made anymore. The poor guy, now he’s going to have to work a little harder to make his million dollars plus annual salary that he isn’t really earning this season to begin with. My heart goes out to Dale Jarrett.

The new pit road rules should help to create a safer atmosphere during pit stops under caution. All cars must now come down pit road in single file. Passing on the pit box side of the line of cars is not allowed. Drivers are not allowed to pass by another car unless it is in the process of entering it’s pit stall. I’ve stated pit box side because of the road racing tracks at Watkins Glen and Infineon. The rule, according to the way the TNT TV announcers explained it, states that passing to the left is not allowed, and that passing to the right will only be allowed if the car being passed is in the process of entering its pit box. At the road coarse tracks, the direction of travel is reversed, turning to the right, both on the track and on pit road, so passing on the right would allow passing into the pit boxes which would defeat the purpose of the rule.

MBNA America 400.....

The Monster Mile race, fall version 2003 was quite an event. Ryan Newman won his seventh race of the season, once again fooling the gas mileage wizards. Newman raced 106 laps on one tank of fuel, and had enough left for a long burnout and a trip around the track before making his way into the victory circle.

The win in the MBNA America 400 gave Newman a sweep of both Dover races this season. Newman had a right front tire go flat on lap 46 that put him nearly two laps down. NASCAR’s new rule allowing the lap down car in the highest position to regain a lap allowed Newman to work his way back on the lead lap and work his way back to the front to finally prevail.

The NBC/TNT television announcers had a good time with the new lap back rule, calling it the “lucky dog” rule. There was a lot of controversy surrounding the lap back deal, and a lot of confusion concerning the way it would work out, but as the race waned on, it proved not to be any problem at all.

The end of the race proved to make the long wait worthwhile as Jeremy Mayfield fought Newman hard for the win during the last 25 or so laps. Mayfield masterfully raced Newman clean, and was clearly disappointed with his second place finish during a post-race interview. Following Mayfield were Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, rookie Jamie McMurray, rookie Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, and Rusty Wallace.

I’m sure that it goes without saying, but I’ll reiterate the fact that qualifying was cancelled due to hurricane/tropical storm Isabel and the starting lineup was set via owner’s points. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Matt Kenseth -- No. 17 Ford – finished 9th
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- No. 8 Chevy – finished 37th
3. Kevin Harvick -- No. 29 Chevy – finished 4th
4. Jimmie Johnson -- No. 48 Chevy -- finished 8th
5. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge – finished 1st
6. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy – finished 5th
7. Bobby Labonte -- No. 18 Chevy – finished 31st
8. Kurt Busch -- No. 97 Ford – finished 38th
9. Terry Labonte -- No. 5 Chevy – finished 20th
10. Michael Waltrip -- No. 15 Chevy – finished 42nd

Matt Kenseth is still the point’s leader, now listed with 4158 points. Kevin Harvick moved up one spot into second place listed with a -436, while Jimmy Johnson moved up one spot into third listed with a -473. Dale Earnhardt Jr. went wide into a corner to let leader Ryan Newman pass and lost control of the No. 8 Bud Chevy and whacked wall hard enough to obtain a concussion and had to go to a local hospital to be checked out. He dropped two places in the points to fourth and is now listed with a -490. Ryan Newman remains in fifth, and is now listed with a -580. Positions six thru ten are: Jeff Gordon, -616; +1 Bobby Labonte, -765; -1 Kurt Busch, 786; Terry Labonte, -864; +1 Tony Stewart, -867.

Next Week ……

Race 29 out of the 36 race 2003 Cup schedule takes the series to the Talladega Superspeedway for the last restrictor plate race of the season. The EA Sports 500 is slated to be televised by the NBC channel on Sunday, September 28th at 1:30 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event is scheduled to be televised by the SPEED channel at 8 p.m. eastern on Friday September 26th.

Last season’s winner of the fall Talladega race was Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Jr. has won the last three races at the track, and between him and his late father they have won the fall races at Talladega since the 1999 season. The rest of the top ten were Tony Stewart, Ricky Rudd, Kurt Busch, Jeff Green, Steve Park, rookie Ryan Newman, Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, and Ward Burton.

There was no Bud pole award last season, qualifying was rained out and the field was lined up according to owner’s points with rookie Jimmie Johnson on the pole. There were no caution periods in the 188 lap 500 mile race on the 2.66 mile tri-oval.

Busch Series Revenge…….

9/27/03…. The day after qualifying was the setting for lots of talk around the track. It seems that some of the Busch Series drivers qualified and got into the race sending some of the Cup regulars home.

There have been press releases over the past few weeks concerning Busch drivers who were being entered into the Talladega race by some teams who were fielding extra cars for them. I decided to stay away from this news because of the fact that there wasn’t any guarantee that these select few drivers would get a chance to qualify for the race. This has happened dozens of time in the past. Drivers have been set up for a ride in a Cup race only to have rain cancel qualifying and their chances to make the race. When the field is set by cup team owner points, the new comers don’t have an opportunity to try out on their time. They don’t have any provisional starts saved up so getting in the race on time is their only chance.

Actually, there were only two Busch Series frontrunners that made the race, David Green, and Jason Keller. Green qualified in the 21st position while Keller was relegated to the back of the pack after failing post-qualifying inspection. Keller was piloting the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevy for Dale Earnhardt Inc. and crew chief Tony Eury had set the car up too low in the rear. He admitted doing the same thing to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car, causing Junior to also fail post-qualifying inspection and relegating him to a 38th starting position. I’ve said all along that Junior needs a crew chief, but he is destined to stick to his family ties, which has crippled his chances for the championship this season. The Eury’s need to go!

The other non-regular Cup drivers who displaced some of the regulars were Buckshot Jones, who started in the 16th position in the No. 00 Chevy; Jeff Green starting in the 13th position with the No. 43 Cheerios Dodge; Mike Wallace, starting in the 23rd position in the No. 09 Miccosukee Gaming Dodge; John Andretti, starting in the 24th position with the No. 190 AOL Chevy.

The regular Cup drivers who didn’t make the race were: Kyle Petty, Mike Bliss, Steve Park, Todd Bodine, and Jason Leffler. Kevin Lepage, not a Cup regular, had been hired by Morgan McClure Racing to pilot the No. 4 Kodak Pontiac, but he too failed to make the race.

Rookie Roundup …….

With the 2003 season gearing down to the last few races, I figure its time to check out the rookies progress in their battle to attain the coveted Raybestos Rookie of the Year title.

At the onset of the season, Roush Racings Greg Biffle was the rookie to beat in the No. 16 Grainger sponsored Ford, with Chip Ganassi Racings Jamie McMurray right on his bumper in the No. 42 Havoline sponsored Dodge. The long summer of racing saw McMurray scoot past Biffle to hold a scant 19 point lead going into the Talladega race. According to Jayski’s Rookie of the Year page McMurray is listed with 257 points while Biffle is listed with the lesser amount of 238 points.

Casey Mears is listed in third just one or two points ahead of Tony Raines. Mears, the driver of the No. 41 Target sponsored Chip Ganassi Dodge is listed with 186 points on Jayski’s page, although NASCAR has him listed at 185. I’ll go with Jayski on this one, he’s usually correct, and if he isn’t, he finds out why! Mears, driver of the No. 74 BACE Motorsports Staff America sponsored Chevy is listed with 184 points. Jack Sprague lost his ride in the No. 0 NetZero Pontiac and is listed in fifth place with 158 points. Larry Foyt, driver of the A. J. Foyt Racings No, 14 Harrah’s sponsored Dodge is listed in sixth with 126 points and will probably overtake Sprague to move up to fifth if he has a little bit of luck, but I wouldn’t place any bets on it.

EA Sports 500 …….

Another restrictor plate race, another Dale Earnhardt Inc win, ho hum……. Why watch the races if you already know who’s going to win? Well, it’s as plain as day that if it weren’t for restrictor plate racing Michael Waltrip wouldn’t have any wins at all!

As far as the Busch Series drivers getting revenge, they didn’t fair so well. David Green failed to finish the race, and Jason Keller finished 26th as one of three cars who were one lap down.

It’s no surprise to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. finish second, followed by Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Craven, Rusty Wallace, and Mike Wallace.

The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Elliott Sadler -- No. 38 Ford – finished 30th
2. Jamie McMurray -- No. 42 Dodge – finished 16th
3. Jimmie Johnson -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 34th
4. Sterling Marlin -- No. 40 Dodge -- finished 39th
5. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy – finished 5th
6. Dale Jarrett -- No. 88 Ford – finished 19th
7. Ken Schrader -- No. 49 Dodge – finished 21st
8. Casey Mears -- No. 41 Dodge – finished 37th
9. Bill Elliott -- No. 9 Dodge – finished 13th
10. Bobby Labonte -- No. 18 Chevy – finished 11th

The points leader took a big hit. Matt Kenseth’s engine blew up on lap 158, giving him his first DNF of the season and his worst finish of the season in the 33rd position. His points lead was cut down to 354 points over second place driver Kevin Harvick. Dale Earnhardt Jr. moved up one spot to the third position and is now listed with a -348. Jimmy Johnson was taken out of the race when Earnhardt and Waltrip got together causing Earnhardt’s car to hit Johnson. He lost one spot in the points and is now listed in the fourth position with a -476. Ryan Newman still rounds out the top five with a -489. Positions six thru ten are: Jeff Gordon, -520; Bobby Labonte, -699; Kurt Busch, -700; +1 Tony Stewart. -771; -1 Terry Labonte, -831.

Next Week ……

The Cup Series travels to Kansas Speedway for race No. 30 on its 36 race schedule to join the Busch Series for a double header weekend. The Banquet 400 is slated to be aired by the NBC channel on Sunday, October 5th at 12:30 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised by the SPEED channel on Friday, October 3rd, at 4 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the Kansas race was Jeff Gordon. He was followed across the finish line by rookie Ryan Newman, Rusty Wallace, Joe Nemechek, Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Jeremy Mayfield, and rookie Jimmie Johnson.