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B W~ jflMI jMh fl JvflM| jr The comfort of having your father’s
W fIV SUiEtflK -SLS® r ’ letting you know what’s going on
< a®® v aSV* VwJWw SSs **R on the racetrack ’ 18 rea,ly n,ce ”
jw JB Busch series driver Kyle Busch, on father Tom
gg jfg j/g gp Hr WW being his spotter for the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports car.
C 2004 Charlotte Qbsarw Distributed by Knight Rkkterrftibune ■ '
RIDING
H A N| Fi F I
? Wfc»’ fl Vgßl Bfan increase the downforce on the back of
■■ HH the car during races to improve grip.
Las Vegas is the true test of the new tire and spoiler package I
By Jim Utter -
Knight Ridder Newspapers li ** ••> dency of race cars.
ug| 1 “There are a lot of unknowns. With the
Could politics be in the future of « I •] ™ new tire and new aero platform, there are a lot
Nextel Cup veteran Rusty A . F a .J o, t W s tba t everybtxiy is going to Vegas not
Wallace? V ’’•MF’ MP "'/■J <\ “Ji knowing.” said driver Jeff Burton.
Wallace has already proved « "Even though we tested, we’re still going
to be a master campaigner as Wallace Burton Roicer hack not knowing because it s a lot different
he successfully lobbied running out there all by yourself and then
NASCAR officials over the |i '■'■■ n j mg running out there with 42 other cars. From an
past year to cut rear spoiler standpoint, that changes everything.
height and "soften" tires this season. • ? |R| ' Most drivers and crew chiefs believe long
Since superspeedways have special rules green-flag runs —a tradition of sorts at Las
of their own and Rockingham chess sup tires Vegas ss ill remain, but the hope is ss hen
of anv kind, the first "true" test of kite-race cautions fly. race leaders won t hesj-
NASCAR's plan to improse Mfl**' tate to dash to pit road.
racing and reduce fuel-mileage strategy b s a sltua,lon now u here you re proba-
comes in Sundas \ L’AW-DaimletChrv sler flflv bl > g° in ß to wanl «> come in and get tires Ik-
400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. *" W fore y° u need ,uel " said Lance McGrew.
During a late January preseason test at Las Wil- crew c * llet ,or 1 8-year-old Kyle Busch, who
Vegas, teams concentrated on tire wear rates L wld attempt to make his Cup debut this week-
and perfecting setups with the three-quarters \ SflH cnd ;
of an inch change to the spoiler. The problem is. you re scared to come
Wallace, who has gone a careerlong I<M) fIK ■ down P " road Under ,he green ,lag ' becausc
races without a victory, came away pleased m fIMB “ ? > ° n “ you d °’. lhe . eau,l, ’ n w,l > come out
ss ith the results and confident he’ll soon I- JlHlsafli L y ° U ' C *° troub ' c '
make a return to Victors Lane . BunO . n bcl 'T’' mUCh °* what the neW " re
"The rule changes are monumental. It’s SP ° a con ’ b, f nalK 2 n wdl ? fier WOn ’‘ K ‘
somethme Ise been personalis campaignmg - IMB d,s^. ered unnl a,,er Sunday s race is over
u he said "Noss lt ’s
tune to eo out there and see d H makes racme IM ’l' C > '" C .
, , tl r , .. that we didn t hase in the test. Burton said
better, and I think it ss ill
... . . ... lesting d(K-s help slow those thmes
with the softer tires this season, it will be c
back to where sou’ll see mostly four-Ure T AI , , down, but when you go to a place like Vegas
stops and that w.ll put addmonal importance leamI eam ,n^ r Alan Gustafson and driver you re ven aero-dependent. When you put
,sn ... .k. •• Terry Labonte inspect wear on their tires more cars on the track, that makes it even
« vour tcdin tx.irm on their t<x.s in the pits. »»• ».*b * i * • u
> . • u i . i u after a momma practice at the Daytona harder to take advantage of ana easier to be
Goodyear s harder t.re compound over the |nternatjona| S 9 p^ dway in hun by n."
past couple seasons dramatically reduced the Robbie Reiser, crew chief for reigning
wear-rate of ns product, allowing teams to Nextel Cup champion Matt Kenseth, who
stay on older tires for extended periods of would force teams to make more pit stops for won last Ve gas race, is also
tlm £_ fresh rubbei. looking forward to race conditions.
The change provided teams the opportuni- NASC AR adapted the plan in the off-sea- • This is going to our first rdce a( one of
ty to try to win races on fuel-mileage as they son and added the reduction in rear-spoiler mile-and-a-half tracks so it’ll be pretty
could stay on tires longer without losing grip important to see how we perform in practice
or risk damage to the tire. r ’£ ;bt die bal " Reiser said.
Many veteran drivers, particularly jb-h 1 ” 1 * ' “I think we’ve got a whole winter’s
Walliice. ads ocateil a return to '*’**worth of work tied up in how
softer tires tires that these types of tracks will
showed more wear and - treat us"
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22GC DEALER CLAIMS
Go online and check out www.thatsracin.com for the latest information and news on stock-car racing, updated daily.
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Friday, March 5,2004
UAW-DAIMLERCHRYSLER 400
Where: Las Vegas Motor
Speedway, a 1 5-mile slightly
banked paved oval kKated in
Las Vegas.
When: Sunday at 3 p.m.
(all times ET). Qualifying is
6:10 p.m. Friday.
TV: Fox. .JMM
Radio: Performance LJ&u—
Racing Network. Kenseth
Purse: $5,980,118.
Last year’s winner: Matt Kenseth.
Also this week: The NASCAR Busch Series
returns to action this week with Saturday’s
Sain’s Town 300. Nextel Cup driver Kevin Har
vick leads the points after two races but is not
running the full schedule. Cup driver Joe Ne
mechek won last season's race.
THIS WEEK’S QUESTION
NASCAR visits Las Vegas this weekend.
Do you think a driver should be able
to bet on himself in a race?
Cast your vote at:
hhw. thatsracin. com
LAST WEEK’S QUESTION
With a win at Rockingham,
Matt Kenseth tied his victory total for his
2003 championship season. How many
races will Kenseth win in 2004?
Number of votes: 5,425
Three races 1.806 33%
Rockingham was his last 1,058 20%
Two races 1.044 19%
Four races 877 16%
Five races or more 640 12%
NEXTEL CUP POINTS LEADERS
The top-40 drivers as of Feb. 22:
Rank/Driver Points Rank/Driver Points
1.0. Earnhardt Jr(8). 340 21. K.Kahne(9) .... 210
2. M. Kenseth (17) . 333 22. B. Gaughan (77).. 209
3. K.Harvick(29)... .294 23.J.Sauter(30)... .206
4. S. Wimmer (22).. 288 24. J. Andretti (1)205
5. J. Gordon (24) ... 286 25. J. Johnson (48)... 200
6. T. Stewart (20).... 265 26. D. Jarrett (88).... 177
7. Busch(97) . .257 27. K. Lepage (4) .... 164
8. E. Sadler (38).... 255 28. M. Martin (6)161
9. W.8urt0n(22)...250 29.8.Veter5(25).... 161
10. Nemechek(ol) 241 30. R. Craven (32)... 152
11. J. McMurray (42) 225 31. K. Petty (45)151
12. R. Newman (12). .225 32. L. Fdyt (14)146
13. R. Wallace (2).... 222 33. D. Cope (50)146
14. G. Biffle (16)221 34. J. Green (43).... 143
15. C. Mears (41).... 221 35. S. Riggs (10).... 131
16. T. Labonte (5). ...220 36. K. Schrader (49). 125
17. B.Labonte(lß) .218 37.D.81aney(23) ...118
18. J.Mayfield(l9) . 218 38.R.G0rd0n(31)... 118
19. ....215 39. M. Waltrip (15)... 113
20. S. Martin (40) .... 212 40. M. Skinner (33)... 97
BUSCH SERIES POINTS LEADERS
The top-20 drivers as of Feb. 21:
Rank/Driver Points Rank/Driver Points
1. 335 11.A.Lewis239
2. J Sauter33o 12. K. Busch 237
3. Green 294 13.C.Atw00d224
4. R. Gordon29l 14. T. Fedewa224
5. R. Hornaday2Bs 15. S. Grissom2lß
6. M. Waltrip276 16. J. Leffler2o9
7. B. Hamilton Jr 266 17. R . Pressley2o6
8. J. Keller26s 18. D.Stremme2os
9. 264 19.M.8«55197
10. K.waiiace242 20. D. Luskl9l
NEXT RACE: Saturday. Sam's Town 300, Las Vegas
TRUCK SERIES POINTS LEADERS
The top-10 drivers as of Feb. 13:
Rank/Driver Points Rank/Driver Points
1. Edwardsl9o 6. D. Setzerlss
2. T. Kvapill7s 7. F. Kimmell47
3. Wallacel7o 8. J. W00d146
4. R. Crawford 160 9. D. Reutimannl43
5. T. Cookl6o 10. B. Hamiltonl3s
NEXT RACE: March 13, Easycare Vehicle Service
Contracts 200, Hampton, Ga
PAGE 5B