6/6/04…….. It was good to see Jeremy Mayfield win the pole position at Dover. It was also good to see Mayfield portrayed in the NASCAR 360 program during the rain delayed Busch Series race on Saturday. Mayfield is a serious contender who is fighting tooth and nail to keep one of the coveted 43 driving positions in the Cup Series.

If you don't think it's a serious business, do the names John Andretti, Mike Skinner, Bobby Hamilton, Johnny Benson, and Steve Park mean anything to you? These are drivers who had raced in the Cup Series for a number of years and were replaced, largely due to their mediocrity. Mayfield is fighting hard to keep his name off of that list.

I well remember Mayfield's first win in the 1998 June Pocono race. It was a breakthrough that had been long overdue. Mayfield showed a lot of promise in the #12 Mobile 1 Ford for Penske Racing. If I remember correctly, he wasn't pleased with the prospect of playing second fiddle to Rusty Wallace and didn't take any gruff from Wallace in that respect. It turned out that Wallace thought he needed a better teammate, one that would work with him. As far as that went, Ryan Newman came along, and now rusty is tagging along in Newman's shadow, which is poetic justice if there ever was any!

Mayfield's tenure with Evernham Motorsports really hasn't been anything to write home to mother about, that's why a placement in the win column would mean a great deal to him and his team. Last season Mayfield scored four top five, 12 top ten finishes, won one pole position, and finished 19th in the driver's point's standings. Going into the June Dover race this season, Mayfield was 14th in points and just 48 points out of the Chase for the Championship. You can rest assured that the veteran driver who hails from Owensboro, Kentucky will be doing his best every week to improve his position.

Mark Martin won the MBNA 400, his first victory since winning the Coca-Cola 600 in 2002. The win was the 34th for the 45 year old veteran in his 22nd year in Cup racing. Martin won by evading the many wrecks in the event that proved to be bad luck for the majority of the competitors. The demolition derby type race reminded me of a Kris Kristofferson song sung by Johnny Cash, "Sunday Morning Coming Down."

Jeremy Mayfield and his teammate Kasey Kahne both led the race and had race winning cars but both were victims of the fallacies of others, relegating Kahne out of race when he seemed to have it won with only 17 laps remaining. Mayfield brought his crippled car across the finish line in the eighth position, one lap down. As the checkered flag flew, there were only four cars left on the lead lap.

Following Martin across the finish line were Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Burton, rookie Scott Riggs, Michael Waltrip, Terry Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield, rookie Scott Wimmer, and Kevin Harvick. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Jeremy Mayfield -- #19 Dodge -- finished 8th
2. Ryan Newman -- #12 Dodge -- finished 24th
3. Brian Vickers* -- #25 Chevy -- finished 23rd
4. Rusty Wallace -- #2 Dodge -- finished 13th
5. Brendan Gaughan* -- #77 Dodge -- finished 27th
6. Elliott Sadler -- #38 Ford -- finished 18th
7. Mark Martin -- #6 Ford – finished 1st
8. Michael Waltrip -- #15 Chevy – finished 6th
9. Jamie McMurray -- #42 Dodge -- finished 15th
10. Tony Stewart -- #20 Chevy – finished 2nd

The top three positions in the driver's point's standings remain the same. Dale Earnhardt Jr. now leads second place driver Jimmie Johnson by 98 points, with third place driver Matt Kenseth showing a deficit of -179. Tony Stewart moved up one spot to fourth listed with a -196, while Jeff Gordon dropped down one spot to round out the top five with a -254.

Kurt Busch moved up two spots to sixth listed with a -315 followed by Elliott Sadler who remains in seventh listed with a -317. Bobby Labonte dropped down two spots to eighth listed with a -321, followed by Kevin Harvick who is listed in ninth with a -331. Ryan Newman dropped down one spot to round out the top ten with a -367, and is the last one on the Chase for the Championship list. Those drivers who are in the 400 point range and are possible contenders are #11 Jamie McMurray (-431), #12 rookie Kasey Kahne (-438), #13 Mark Martin (-442), #14 Rusty Wallace (-458), and #15 Jeremy Mayfield (-466).

Next week the Cup Series travels a little farther up the pike to the Pocono Mountains at Long Pond, Pennsylvania for the Pocono 500. The event is scheduled to be televised live by the FOX network on Sunday, June 13th at 1 pm eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised by the SPEED channel on Friday, June 11th at 3 pm eastern.

Last season's winner of the event was Tony Stewart, followed by Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Sterling Marlin, Terry Labonte, Ward Burton, Elliott Sadler, and Ricky Craven.

Jimmie Johnson won the Bud Pole Award with a speed of 180.645 miles per hour. There were five caution periods for a total of 25 laps out of the 200 lap event on the 2.5 mile triangle shaped track.

6/13/04…….. NASCAR President Mike Helton stated this past week that the 24 lap caution period at Dover last week was unacceptable. Race officials became confused when Ryan Newman spun out entering pit road, bringing out a caution period while a lot of competitors were on pit road making green flag pit stops. It took quite a while to sort out competitors positions, and when they thought they had it right and restarted the race, another caution occurred on the first restarted lap.

When cars get caught on pit road making green flag pit stops as a caution flag is thrown, they usually go a lap down. When the race restarts, the cars that were caught on pit road that have been relegated a lap down are allowed to start at the head of the field in front of the race leader. As a result, the leader may actually be starting the race in as far back as the 12th position as far as the lineup of the cars on the track is concerned.

This fiasco usually causes another caution, as some of the cars who are starting ahead of the leaders are usually much slower and are in the way of the race leaders. This was the situation at Dover, when the race leader was caught up behind a slower car and was passed by the second place driver. Then, the cars that had started ahead of the leaders somehow got into a wreck that took out a lot of the leaders in the ensuing melee. A devastating fiasco indeed! NASCAR needs to address this problem, and start the cars caught on pit road at the end of the shortest line, on the lead lap to give them a chance to work their way back up through the field. Starting them in from of the race leaders only causes more problems, as has been observed by most of us over the years on dozens of occasions.

At any rate, Helton's main message was that the long caution periods caused by trying to sort out the field positions are a thing of the past. From now on, track positions when caution flags are thrown will be determined by electronic "loops" located at different area's around the track. The human factor will no longer be allowed at NASCAR events. The number of "loops" that electronically determine track positions will be determined by the size of each facilities track. Hence, a larger track two miles or more in length will have more "loops" than a track of lesser distance. If a driver's track position changes between the loops after a caution has been called, they will not be recorded. Track positions will be determined by the position each driver is recorded at passing the last "loop" before the time that the caution flag is thrown.

Jimmie Johnson survived to win the event in the #48 Chevy among a sea of controversy which once again caused long cautions due to NASCAR's indecision. Their first and foremost explanation was human error by the pit road flagman. They failed to address the issue of the pace car failing to pick up the race leader after a caution period was called, which also added to the confusion. At any rate, using the words of television annalist Darrel Waltrip, "NASCAR still has a ways to go!" In NASCAR's defense, it always takes time for the enacting of new rules to be understood by all concerned. There are dozens of NASCAR officials at each event, and apparently they weren't all on the same page. The event ended up with a record number of 57 caution laps for the Pocono facility.

Johnson's win was the third of the season for the 28 year old California native, and the ninth win in the third full year of his Cup racing career. Following Johnson across the finish line under caution were Jeremy Mayfield (#19 Dodge), Bobby Labonte (#18 Chevy), Jeff Gordon (#24 Chevy), Kurt Busch (#97 Ford), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (#8 Chevy), Terry Labonte (#5 Chevy), Robby Gordon (#31 Chevy), Jamie McMurray (#42 Dodge), and Kevin Harvick (#29 Chevy). The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Kasey Kahne* -- #9 Dodge -- finished 15th
2. Brian Vickers* -- #25 Chevy – finished 14th
3. Joe Nemechek -- #01 Chevy -- finished 19th
4. Mark Martin -- #6 Ford -- finished 36th
5. Jimmie Johnson -- #48 Chevy – finished 1st
6. Jeff Gordon -- #24 Chevy -- finished 4th
7. Jeremy Mayfield -- #19 Dodge – finished 2nd
8. Tony Stewart -- #20 Chevy – finished 27th
9. Greg Biffle -- #16 Ford – finished 12th
10. Dale Jarrett -- #88 Ford – finished 26th

The driver's point's standings didn't change much at the top with Dale Earnhardt Jr. still holding a slim lead of 58 points over second place driver Jimmie Johnson. Matt Kenseth remains in third with a -224, followed by Jeff Gordon who moved up one spot to fourth listed with a -239. Tony Stewart dropped down one spot to round out the top five listed with a -259. Bobby Labonte moved up two spots to sixth listed with a -301 followed by Kurt Busch who dropped down one spot to seventh listed with a -310. Elliott Sadler dropped down one spot to eighth listed now with a -340 while Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman remain in ninth and tenth listed with a -378 and a -439. There are no eligible drivers outside of the top ten for the Chase for the Championship within 400 points of the leader.

The finishing positions and driver's standings for a couple of drivers could change due to their behavior on the track. Defending Winston Cup Champion Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick got mixed up in a disagreement and took it out on each other with their cars during a caution period. Both drivers were called to the NASCAR trailer for consultation after the event. You can look for both of them to be fined heavily with a possible reduction in driver's points when NASCAR hands down its edicts in a couple of days. Robby Gordon was also called to the trailer for rough driving, but it's doubtful if any fines or points reduction will be levied against him.

Next week the Cup Series travels north to Michigan International Speedway for the DHL 400. The event is scheduled to be televised on the FOX channel Sunday, June 20th at 1 pm eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised late by the SPEED channel on Friday, June 18th at 9:30 pm eastern.

Last season's winner of the June Michigan event was Kurt Busch. He was followed across the finish line by Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Michael Waltrip, Sterling Marlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, and Terry Labonte.

Bobby Labonte won the Bud Pole Award in the #18 Chevy with a speed of 190.365 miles per hour. There were nine caution periods for a total of 41 laps out of the 200 lap event on the 2 mile D-Shaped oval.

6/21/04…….. Joe Gibbs's move to the head coaching position with the Washington Redskins has produced some unexpected results for his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) organization. The Redskins use the FedEx Field at Landover, Maryland for their home field, and Gibbs has contracted with FedEx to sponsor a third team for the Cup Series next season. There's nothing like keeping it in the family!

Although no financial information was released, it has been rumored that the Robert Yates contract with the UPS package carrier is in the neighborhood of $16m and that the Gibbs contract with FedEx is at least comparable. FedEx made the announcement about its sponsorship for the #11 FedEx JGR Chevy at a corporate meeting in Orlando, Florida. It appears at this time that J. J. Yeley, the Busch Series development driver for JGR, will be the driver to start out the new team in 2005.

The two bumper car culprits from the Pocono race got taken down a peg or two by NASCAR this past week. Both were positioned at the end of the lead lap at the conclusion of the Pocono event, which cost them both valuable points and purse money. They were then fined $25k each and put on suspension for eight races, spanning into August. NASCAR usually hands down its penalties on the Tuesday following a Sunday event, so the two culprits had been tensely waiting for the hammer to fall.

Even though they all say that these problems are behind them when the next event comes up the following weekend, this may not be the case with these two. They both alluded at Michigan on Friday that they thought they got a raw deal and that the other one was at fault. Although Harvick was sporting a Kenseth T-shirt under his driving uniform, Kenseth didn't seem to be that amicable. Interviews with the media portrayed them both to still be upset with the situation. This is being written before the Michigan event, so we'll see if the feud carries into today's race.

Although NASCAR always jumps in with both feet and does its best to put a stop to these driver's feuds, its always good for the sport to have this type of unsportsmanlike like conduct. The majority of racing fans love feuds between drivers; they always have and always will. Harvick has been known for his bad boy image for a couple of season's now, and that is one thing that NASCAR claimed to have taken into consideration when assessing the fine. Kenseth, on the other hand, hasn't had that type of image. He has mostly always seemed to be the calm and collected one, taking the solid advice from mentor Mark Martin to race people like you would like to have them race you.

Ryan Newman won his first race of the 2004 season by holding off Dale Jarrett and a hard charging Kasey Kahne. The DHL 400 event had about the same amount of cautions as previous races at Dover and Pocono, but the caution laps were half of what was suffered in the other events.

Kasey Kahne was in a position to make a charge for a possible win over Newman when a caution was called on the last lap. By the new rules, the cars are allowed to race back to the flag on the last lap, but there was instant confusion and most drivers shut it down on the run to the checkered flag. NASCAR has changed the rules so much in the past few weeks, and has had problems enforcing and making correct decisions on them, that the drivers didn't really understand what they were supposed to do.

NASCAR President Mike Helton seemed to be stern when he addressed the drivers meeting before the Michigan race with the theme, "We're still in charge." Lots of competitors and fans alike are kind of wondering what is so great about being in charge of mass confusion. Apparently Helton wasn't received very well and caused a long drawn out driver's meeting in which Tony Stewart became bored and left. This caused him to be relegated to the rear end of the field for the start of the race, which is really no surprise. When it comes down to simple things like blatant infractions, NASCAR is right on the ball, but given some of the more complex problems facing the sport this season, they are falling miserably short. The past three races have finished under caution, and like TV commentator Larry McReynolds stated, something needs to be done to correct this. A recent poll at NASCAR.com asked about races finishing under caution, and most fans agreed that caution laps shouldn't count, as is the case in the truck series. Like D W said last week, "NASCAR still has a ways to go to get things right!"

This was the fourth race this season that Kasey Kahne finished second, which no doubt makes him the top rookie. Following Newman and Kahne across the finish line were: Dale Jarrett, Jimmie Johnson, Elliott Sadler, Sterling Marlin, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, rookie Brian Vickers, and Michael Waltrip. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Jeff Gordon -- #24 Chevy – finished 38th
2. Brian Vickers* -- #25 Chevy -- finished 9th
3. Jimmie Johnson -- #48 Chevy – finished 4th
4. Ryan Newman -- #12 Dodge -- finished 1st
5. Robby Gordon -- #31 Chevy -- finished 33rd
6. Brendan Gaughan* -- #77 Dodge -- finished 16th
7. Kurt Busch -- #97 Ford – finished 11th
8. Jeremy Mayfield -- #19 Dodge -- finished 19th
9. Casey Mears -- #41 Dodge -- finished 31st
10. Rusty Wallace -- #2 Dodge – finished 22nd

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s paltry finish cost him the driver's point's lead. Jimmy Johnson is now in the number one spot just seven points ahead of Earnhardt. Matt Kenseth remains in third now listed with a -180. Bobby Labonte moved up two spots to fourth listed with a -266 while teammate Tony Stewart remains in fifth listed with a -275. Jeff Gordon dropped down two spots to sixth listed with a -287 tied with Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch who are listed in seventh and eighth with the same -287 deficit. Ryan Newman moved up one spot to ninth listed with a -361 with Kevin Harvick rounding out the top ten with a -373. Rookie Kasey Kahne moved up two spots to 11th listed with a -399, and is the last driver eligible for the Chase for the Championship.

Next week the Cup series moves out west to their first road race at Sonoma, California. The Dodge Save Mart 350 is scheduled to be televised by the FOX network on Sunday, June 27th at 4 pm eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised by the SPEED channel on Friday, June 25th at 6 pm eastern. You can be sure of seeing a few road course drivers interloping into the Cup Series at the Sonoma event. Lots of us fans don't think its right for interloping specialists to be brought in for road courses, if Cup drivers can't drive road courses, then they shouldn't be Cup drivers!

Last season's winner at Sonoma was Robby Gordon in the #31 Cellular 1 Chevrolet. He was followed across the finish line by Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Bill Elliott, Ryan Newman, interloper Boris Said, interloper Ron Fellows, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Labonte, and Jeremy Mayfield.

Interloper Boris Said won the Bud Pole Award in the #01 Pontiac with a speed of 93.620 miles per hour. There were six caution periods for a total of 16 laps out of the 110 lap event on the 1.99 mile ten turn road course.

NASCAR claims it has clarified the new pit road rules as to when the pit road is opened for service to the race cars after a caution period is called.

NASCAR spokesman Mike Zizzo stated during a press release in California Friday that pit road would open the second time the leader approached the entrance regardless of how many times the pace car had reached that entrance. There was some question about whether the pace car had to be in front of the leader in order for the lap to apply as one of the two counted laps.

Zizzo stated that the leader can make a lap without the pace car and it will still count, however, the pace car has to be in front of the leader in order for pit road to open. So, as a result, if the leader makes a lap around the track before the pace car driver wakes up, it will count as one of the two laps required before the pit area is opened to competitors.

NASCAR has denied Roush Racing's bid to have the #99 Ford driven by Jeff Burton sponsored by a hard liquor sponsorship.

This is no real surprise to anyone. NASCAR began the policy in its infancy mainly because a lot of counties in the southern states prohibited the sales of liquor. They instituted the ban to appease these dry counties in order to continue to draw the main southern fan base that it enjoyed for decades. As time progressed and a lot of the counties overturned the ban on hard liquor, NASCAR has still kept the ban.

NASCAR also maintains that the television networks have also maintained a ban on hard liquor, bolstering their stance. Until internal discussion brings about changes that may be economically driven, the hard liquor ban for NASCAR sponsorship will continue to stay intact.

Roush Racing had set up a deal with British liquor corporation Diageo to be the primary sponsor for the #99. Diageo manufactures several liquor brands including J&B, Jose Cuervo, and Johnny Walker. They also manufacture the Smirnoff Ice malt beverage which is an associate sponsor on Roush Racing's #17 Ford driven by Matt Kenseth. A lot of team owners are hoping that the ban will eventually be lifted by NASCAR so they can glean sponsorship from these successful corporations. Jim Beam sponsors an Indy Racing team, and Crown Royal is the series sponsor of the IROC Series which includes some NASCAR competitors.

Jeff Gordon was back to his road racing form of old, winning his eighth road race and his 67th career victory. It was the fourth victory at the Sonoma facility for the four-time Winston Cup Champion, who is positioning himself to vie for the first Nextel Cup Championship. Love him or hate him, Jeff Gordon flawlessly drove a great dominating race, leading over 80 of the 109 laps.

Fuel mileage was an apprehensive factor at the end of the event, but it proved not to be a bother to the #24 Chevy's Dupont crew. Not so for the #2 Dodge's Miller Lite\Penske South crew, as Rusty Wallace lost a top five and a lead lap finish by running out of gas on the last lap. Two of the road racing interlopers were a major factor in the event with both Scott Pruitt driving the #39 Ganassi Racing's Target sponsored Dodge and Boris Said driving the #36 Centrix sponsored Chevy finishing in the top ten.

Following Gordon across the finish line were Jamie McMurray, Scott Pruitt, Michael Waltrip, Jimmie Johnson, Boris Said, Casey Mears, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, and Elliott Sadler. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Jeff Gordon -- #24 Chevy – finished 1st
2. Rusty Wallace -- #2 Dodge -- finished 28th
3. Kurt Busch -- #97 Ford -- finished 36th
4. Mark Martin -- #6 Ford -- finished 8th
5. Matt Kenseth -- #17 Ford – finished 20th
6. Scott Pruitt -- #39 Dodge – finished 3rd
7. Greg Biffle -- #16 Ford – finished 13th
8. Kevin Harvick -- #29 Chevy – finished 12th
9. Joe Nemechek -- #01 Chevy – finished 29th
10. Bobby Labonte -- #18 Chevy – finished 33rd

Jimmie Johnson strengthened his driver's point's lead a little over second place driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. Johnson is now listed with 2375 points, with just a mere 27 point spread over Earnhardt. The spread to third also widened with Matt Kenseth now listed with a -232, although when the points are reset for the Chase for the Championship later on in the season, the spread won't mean a thing in the Cup Series. Jeff Gordon's win moved him up two spots to fourth listed now with a -252, while Tony Stewart remains in fifth listed now with a -307. Elliott Sadler moved up one spot to sixth listed with a -308, followed by Bobby Labonte who dropped three spots to a -357 due to a bad finish with brake problems. Positions eight, nine, and ten remain the same with Kurt Busch showing a -382, Ryan Newman showing a -398, and Kevin Harvick showing a -401. Jamie McMurray's second place finish moved him up two spots to 11th, with a -483, while rookie Kasey Kahne dropped down one spot to 12th with a -484. They are both just a stones throw from the 400 point limit to compete for the brass ring.

As a side note, while one Gordon flourished at Infineon, the defending champion Robby Gordon was racked with bad luck. He suffered three blown tires, and had a crew member throw a tire rim on his air hose breaking it during a pit stop. It kind of reminded me of the bad luck he had at Watkins Gen a couple of years ago when a television transponder caught fire in the cockpit of his car taking him out of the lead and out of contention for the win.

Next week the Cup Series travels back across the country to the Daytona International Speedway for the Pepsi 400 night race. This will be the last time we'll hear D. W. holler "Boogity, Boogity, Boggity, Lets go racin' boys" on the FOX network this season. The NBC network will take over after the Daytona event. The event is scheduled to be televised live on Saturday, July 3rd, at 7 pm eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised by the SPEED channel on Thursday, July 1st at 7:30 pm eastern.

Last season's winner of the Pepsi 400 Daytona night race was rookie Greg Biffle. He was followed across the finish line by Jeff Burton, Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte, Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeremy Mayfield, Kevin Harvick, and Dale Jarrett.