Newspaper Page Text
C 2002 Charlotte Observer. Distributed by Knight Rldder/Tribune
Go online and check out www.thatsracin.com for the latest information and news on stock-car racing, updated daily.
Preparing for a Ng finish
For the first time, NASCAR’s top circuits will conclude
their seasons at the same track, on the same weekend
By Kevin Baxter
Knight Ridder Newspapers
n the world of big-time stock-car racing, little
happens by accident. Everything from spon
sorship deals to a car’s paint scheme is coolly
calculated to guarantee the biggest, most ben
eficial public relations boost possible.
I
And so it is with NASCAR’s four-day Cham
pionship Weekend, which begins Thursday at
Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead,
Fla. For the first time, all three of NASCAR’s
premier circuits the Winston Cup, Grand Na
tional and Truck series will end their seasons
at the same track.
The hope was that all three points titles would
be decided on the same weekend.
“That’s what we want,” says Kevin Triplett,
NASCAR’s managing director of business oper
ations. “It’s designed to go down to the last race.
Every sport does things to make its sport more
interesting. It’s not always going to be what we
want, but over the years the majority of times it
will go down to the last weekend.”
In two of the three series Grand National
driver Greg Biffle can relax after clinching the ti
tle at Phoenix last weekend that’s exactly
what will happen this year. Winston Cup driver
Tony Stewart leads Mark Martin by just 89
points coming into Homestead, where he’s won
two of the three races held there. If Stewart fin
ishes 22nd or better in Sunday’s race, the title is
his, no matter what Martin does.
Martin, who has never won a title but has fin
ished second three times, has avoided questions
about the points race recently, but car owner Jack
Roush said his driver is feeling the pressure.
“I’m just trying to keep Mark focused,” he
said. “Mark, from time to time, gets down on
himself to the point of destruction, to the point of
not being productive. It would be great if he
' Yr X t i
I l- - ' -
—'sr'-SSS
<■ ■' "*
Jiff rmfr-S ■ *-< zff ■
- isEmßl i $ '■' -> -
■/.x 1 ‘—
E& ■ ■
~ ■ ■■ . ' . V'-.... • .
. BILL ANDREWS/KRT
Tony Stewart, in the No. 20 Home Depot car, leads the pack on a restart en route to winning the 1999 Pennzoil 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
RANKINGS y
THAT’S RACIN’STOP PICKS
1 .Tony Stewart (car No. 20): Not
in the bam yet, but Homestead’s the
best place he could go to try to clinch
a title. Last week 1.
2. Mark Martin (car No. 6): There’d
be no justice if NASCAR’s question
able points penalty is the difference at
season’s end. Last week: 2.
/—\ r—\ r—| OH MB| ALL MAKES & MODELS
general motors corp
*7wd Collision Center
The means better. 527 Atlanta Hwy.
Sei vice Dept Hr s ggCOLUSIOH *S!W
M-FM ™GM MATS SPECIALIST
Sat 8-1 ®GM SERVICE WE WEIGGME Ls- 1
77M87-2320 HRS INSMMHCE (7N)«MtI7
DEALER CLAIMS
could win another race. It would be
great if he could close on Tony, but Tony
definitely has the edge.”
And Stewart, too, is feeling the pres
sure, says Jeff Gordon, a four-time Win
ston Cup champion.
“This week, if I were Tony, I would
n’t open a newspaper. I wouldn’t watch
a TV,” Gordon said. “I’d go away and
maybe spend some time with my team,
pump them up. And I’d just go to Home
stead and ran my race.”
That’s what Truck series driver Rick
Crawford plans to do. In that series, only
71 points separate three drivers
points leader Mike Bliss, Crawford and
Ted Musgrave.
“This race is probably the most im
portant race of my career so far,” says
Crawford, who has started 148 Truck se
ries races but made it to the winner’s cir
cle just once at Homestead-Miami in
1998.
“It’s been a good track for us. We’ve
been really competitive down there.
That (1998) race just happened to be a
perfect day for us. And I can’t wait to
win again.”
Close, pressure-packed finishes are
nothing new for NASCAR. This will the 19th
time since 1975 that the Winston Cup champi
onship will be determined on the final weekend.
The Truck series title has gone down to the last
race six times in its eight-year history, and four
of the last six Grand National championships
have been decided on the last weekend of the
season.
Drivers appear to support concluding all three
series at one spot on the same weekend.
“I think it’s good for NASCAR, and it’s good
for the fans.” says driver Jack Sprague, a three-
3. Kurt Busch
(car No. 97): Closing
with a flourish. If
there were five races
left, he’d be a cham
pionship threat. Last
week: 5.
4. (tie) Jimmie
Johnson (car No. 48) and Ryan New
man (car No. 12): Just be glad you’re
not on the panel trying to pick who’s
the best between these rookies. Last
week: tied for third.
n —t.
-J
Busch
6. Matt Kenseth (car No. 17): Fifth
win of the season at Phoenix means
nobody can catch him in that catego
ry. Last week: 8.
7. Jeff Gordon (car No. 24): After
all that has gone on this year, he could
still finish as high as third in the final
points standing. Last week: 3.
8. Rusty Wallace (car No. 2): Four
second-place runs but no victories
yet in 2002. His streak’s on the
line in Miami. Last week: 9.
Stewart
time Truck series winner who also has
raced on the Grand National and Winston
Cup circuits. “They get to see champions
crowned in all three series.”
And fans can expect more triplehead
ers next season.
Although staging three races at the
same track on the same weekend isn’t the
norm for NASCAR it has never hap
pened at Homestead, for instance
there have been nine tripleheaders this
season, and 12 are scheduled for 2003.
All of which should benefit the Truck
series.
“We’ve found that with the exposure
the Truck series gets, people are finding
out it often is the most exciting race of the
three series,” Gray says.
The crowds at Homestead have come
to expect big races, if not championships.
Two of the last three Winston Cup titles
were decided at the track, with Bobby
Labonte clinching in 2000 and Dale Jar
rett in 1999.
“It’s going to be a great week,” says
Curtis Gray, president of Homestead-Mi
ami Speedway. “But there’s a lot of re
sponsibility that goes with that.”
; * J
Biffle
' J 3
Crawford
Atlanta has been scheduled as the final
stop for the Winston Cup series the past 15 years,
but weather has been a frequent problem there.
Homestead, which has played host to the sec
ond-to-last event on the schedule since joining
the circuit in 1999, offered an alternate site that
required little change to the rest of the calendar.
The chief weather concern at Homestead
most years has been wind.
“The wind blows 40 mph at 6 in the morning,
it seems, and you have hurricane winds all day
long,” Stewart said.
But you can race in the wind.
9. Jamie McMurray/Sterling Mar
lin (car No. 40): McMurray didn’t
take his late-season magic with him to
the Arizona desert. Last week: 6.
10. Dale Jarrett (car No. 88): He
and Yates teammate Ricky Rudd will
both likely make the final top 10 in
points. Last week: 10.
For the rest of the top-40
R M rankings, go online and visit
Ml J www.thatsracin.com.
“There’s no doubt
there’s a lot on the plate.” MF _ 1 *
Rusty Wallace, on the pressures to extend ■ ." wjja
his streak of 16 race seasons with at least one win HX flErj
and to finish well in the final points standings.
THIS WEEK S RACE y
FORD 400
Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway, a 1.5-
mile paved flat oval in Homestead, Fla.
When: 1 p.m. Sunday (all times ET). Quali-
fying is 1:05 p.m. Friday.
TV: NBC.
Radio: Motor Racing Net
work.
Puree: $4,215,766.
Last year’s winner: Bill
Elliott.
Also this week: Homestead
hosts the season finale for all
three major NASCAR series
this weekend. Mike Bliss will attempt to wrap
up his first Truck series championship in Fri
day’s race, while clinging to a 32-point lead
over Rick Crawford. Greg Biffle has already
clinched the Grand National title but several
other positions in the top 10 in points remain up
for grabs in Saturday’s race.
Worth mentioning: Bobby Labonte has fin
ished eighth or better in all three Winston Cup
races at Homestead and is the only driver with
three top-10 finishes there. Labonte’s Joe Gibbs
Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, has won two
of the three Cup races at the track.
Ryan Newman has won the pole for three
consecutive qualifying sessions. Though not in
consecutive races (qualifying was rained out at
Atlanta), it is the first time a driver has won
three consecutive poles since Jeff Gordon in
1996 (Charlotte, Dover and Pocono).
POLL POSITION A
THIS WEEK’S QUESTION
If Mark Martin finishes fewer than 25 points be
hind Tony Stewart in the points chase, will you
consider him the 2002 Winston Cup champion?
Cast your vote at:
www. thatsracin. com
LASTWEEK’S 54.3%
QUESTION 45.7% I
Mark Martin has compared
his fine and 25-point penalty
for a violation at Rockingham
to getting a death sentence
for shoplifting. Was the
penalty fair?
Number of votes: 4,383 Yes No
A STOP N' GO
RANDOMTHOUGHTS
■ Should either Tony Stew
art or Mark Martin win the
Winston Cup title this season,
his victory will continue an un
usual trend. In the past three
seasons, the driver who has
won the championship the year
before has been unable to re
peat that performance. In 1999,
Dale Jarrett won his first tro-
phy, then finished fourth in 2000. Bobby
Labonte won the 2000 title and finished sixth
in last season’s standings. Jeff Gordon won last
season and sits sixth in points with one race re
maining. The last driver to repeat was Gordon,
who won titles in 1997 and 1998.
—Jim Utter
A BY THE NUMBERS A|
himhbrshibmhmM
The top-40 drivers as of Nov. 10:
Rank/Driver Points
1. Stewart (20)... 4691
2. M.Martin(6) ...4602
3. K. Busch (97).... 4461
4. J. Johnson (48).. 4453
5. R.Wallace(2) ..4453
6. J. Gordon (24).. 4452
7. R. Newman (12). 4438
8. M. Kenseth (17). 4389
9. D. Jarrett (88)... 4292
10. R.Rudd(2B) ...4217
11. Earnhardt Jr. (8)4165
12. J. Burton (99)... 4094
13. B.Elliott(9) ....4012
14. M. Waltrip (15).. 3945
15. R. Craven (32).. 3797
16. B. Labonte (18). 3734
17. S. Martin (40)... 3703
18. J. Green (30)... 3655
19. D. Blaney (77).. 3636
20. R. Gordon (31) .3547
Elliott
Martin
Rank/Driver Points '
21. K. Petty (45) 3431
22. K. Harvick (29) ..3398
23. T.Labonte(s) ..3338
24. E.Sadler(2l) ..3280
25. J. Mayfield (19). 3245
26. W. Burton (22).. 3235
27. J. Spencer (41).. 3150
28.. J. Andretti (43)... 3115
29. J. Benson (10).. 3008
30.
31. M. Skinner (4).. 2831
32. B. Hamilton (55). 2698
33. S. Park (1) 2582
34. C. Atwood (7)... 2569
35. J. Nemechek (25)2502
36. B. Bodine (11)... 2276
37. J. Nadeau (44) .2250
38. T.80dine(26)... 1987 ■
39. H. Stricklin (23). 1781 '
40. ..1774