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PAGE 4B FORSYTH COUNTY N6WB Friday, April 23, 2004 B-fhai's Batin’ © 2004 Chartotte Observer Distributed by Knight Rtoder/Thbune Go online and check out www.thatsracin.com for the latest information and news on stock-car racing, updated daily. I I IR AIIFIIT AARON’S 499 BBBH■■U BHBBU 9 Hal B B Where: Talladega Superspeedway, a 2.66- / 9 B 9 RBWB 888 9 mile highly banked paved tri-oval located in . >-111111■ ivi mi Tai wi-s- > a,, :W p J „. _____ 9' JUUIrMivILI 11 *~^ ali,,ine,s KB Radio: Motor Racing Net 1/ 1 ■ I ■ "purse: 85.7! 1.245. I Bl 1 99R9 9 9 9 9 Last year's winner: Dale BL- I R RB 9k Earnhardt Jr. t °MBBI / B 9 9 9 Also this week: Earnhardt r o ■, / 9mUl 9 9 Jr. will be going for his fifth Earnhardt Jr. : ~ Jr K K Rm NASCAR Busch Series in Saturday’s Aaron’s 9 9 - KRT season and won the season opener at Daytona this season. Michael Waltrip, fresh oft his win at VdMVI“ mUIUwIIiIcJO Green in P° ints The NASCAR Truck Series is oft until May 16. f * ■ * o Worth noting: The last non-Dale Earnhardt * j M «1 f\ tJ Inc. driver to win at Talladega was Bobby ’ I " VX»»I 1 Hamilton in the spring race in 2001. Knigh't Ridder .Vent spapers officials to make /■EUZSZEM-: Ball or strike ’Charge or block- . THIS WEEK’S QUESTION ,ng JuTgment calls have always been a tOUgH 0601810118 H part of sports and NASCAR is no excep- ** Michael al _ r, P have "° n P ast ,lve ( ion races at Talladega. Will a DEI driver Throughout N ASC \R rule books are l~ 49k “ You a,M ’ know that if you’re still speeding extend the streak this weekend? clauses containing the phrase “in the 9f BK when the caution comes out, (NASCAR offi- Cast your vote at' judgment of NASCAR officials ’’And those are f 9 just the rules that are written. L [ WK fE KL gH penalize dnvets more positions than they would MWM.thatsracin.com There are plenty of issues in NASCAR not [■■ . ■ BtfMbSß W^V : ‘ IfTl* naturally lose. iactwccvc clear-cut enough for the rule book. Lit' . ] BBBk ‘dM Advanced scoring methods might help reduce LAblWttKb The rule which prohibits drivers from going K . A the umes NASCAR must rely on its judgment to QUESTION below the yellow line on superspeedway sto ad- HBhMB JBBku make calls, but until then competitors are learn- Qf the current top 10 in the Nextel Cup vance their position is one such example. It is Knau* I nnmi« ing to accept their existence. standings, which driver do you think spelled out in prerace drivers meetings at Day- u k. i ,TO k a t the big picture. You have to is least likely to make the cut and be part tona International Speedwav and Talladega. Ala.. U P several l!tnes - particularly in NASCAR Busch believe that a call might not go your way and of the Chase for ChamD ionshto site of Sunday’s Aaron’s 499. ” Senes races at Las Vegas; Bristol. Tenn ; and take away a win. a championship or just a posi- in the season’s final 10 NASCAR's decision late in "’(KJ3 to prohibit Nashville. Tenn., and the Nextel Cup race at tion on the track, but in the long run things pretty racing back to the caution ;ind its rules setting the North Carolina Speedway. much even out for everyone.” said Robbie ‘ Number of votes: 10.555 ' “commitment line" on pit stops -the point on Since the running order is "frozen" w hen the Loomis, crew chief for four-time Cup champion the track after which drivers cannot change their caution ,s now. NASCAR finds itself Jeff Gordon. [ ’ mind to pit have added more opportunities to hav ‘ n £ to determine where all 43 cars are at that "At the time the incident happens, you are ril»-|llß play umpire given moment. looking at jusl what is in front of you what 11,01 baaier 5 969 57 /« ’There are always going to be judgment calls Without a sophisticated Global Positioning you lost. That's hard to look past, but you have to Kasey Kahne 1710 16% in sports. There is no way around it."'said Chad System. NASCAR relies on TV replays, official if you are going to stay in this sport. jTe’T 874 8% Knaus. crew chief for driver Jimmie Johnson. scorers and its eyes to make final determinations. "Again, the big picture is to look at why rules ale amhardt Jr. 517 “Somebody has to make the final decision. e \ e always had judgment calls in the 1 ike not racing back to the caution were made USC “There can be review s and different things to sport, but it seems like there is a little bit more at- and that's to improve safety .I w ill always sup- e r<^on help in the process, but the problem a lot ofcom- tention on them now," Johnson said. "It seems pon that goal." ' Tony Stewart 223 2% pe».« s tavei„he y won„„„beN«:k a ndwh ll e. hke •hen, lhal goes by. .be n», re mles K„a u , su,d,hg- b ,g p,«„ re -pbil„s„phy is But there is no black and white period. • NAVAR S hat " the best way to put judgment calls in perspective. JimmaJotrnson im tv Before NASCAR stopped racing back to the Our fate is in NASCAR s hands. Jimmie Johnson .04 1% , . a ' ■ i j Manv drivers like Flliott Sadler believe I definitely used to be a moment-tvpe guy. L - caution, its biggest and most controversial ludg- naany uovcrs. nire c.mou .-sauier, oeneve -a ment calls came from enforcing the vellow line m nas ns nanus iun. u. ■ at Davtona and Talladega. "I think they’re doing a grxKi job." he said my way nght now. he said. It’s most famous no-call call came a year ago “ it ’ s J ust that ifs one PW of minds tr y> n g lo " If y° u ’ re to win 1110 Nextel Cu P cham - —■ in the spring race at Talladega, when eventual control 43 differenl mmds. We’re making it hard pionship, you cannot focus on the week-to-wcek TALLADEGA MILESTONES winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. dipped below the vel- on them " a,des You have ,o ,ocus on ,he yearlong bat- exnecteri to make his low line late in the race while comnletinp a nass Sadler said drivers often face conflicting is- ties. * ICKy HUGO is expected to make his low nnc late in me race wniic completing a pass in ,.„i„ n , v 725th consecutive Nextel Cup start at Tallade- and received no penalty. sues in late-race inciuents. stephen m dowell krt Rudd’s consecutive record is an ill time The iudument in that call came under enor “ It means a lot to a race car driver coming „ , „ con secutive record is an all time mous entici^from iton aJd dow " the '> nal laps w hat you should or Da,e Earnhardt Jr., who drives car No. 8. was NASC AR record which he has contmued to ex- V A D . ..u 11 should not do "he said "You know deen down the center of controversy last year due to a no- ‘end each week or strike" call in baseball one that can be de- mside you should not let guys pass you when the deg . 575th Cup career start this weekend bated even when dififerent people watch the same S’ 0 ” ‘ 7“ ~ " Bot ’ by Labonte 1S cx P ected t 0 P ay _. or noi L C 375th Cup career start this weekend. This season. NASCAR appears to have taken or not. m Jim Utter on a larger role as umpire, perhaps unintentional- ' >y- SWBBk ■».! j. im u.,i,j.^,- Bclotc pr-•hibitinc r.Kinc b.i3. r-tire • NASCAR President Mike Helton repeatedly warned drivers to adhere to the "gentlemen's ■ agreement" not to race back, or they would not i NEXTEL CUP POINTS LEADERS like it w hen NASCAR "got involved " ... 77)r top-40dnvers as ofAprtl 18: Fhes don't W *IMS TSp^^^9999® a s=3Sk. — Rank/Drlver Points Rank/Drtvsr Pointe End-ot-the-race scoring issues have cropped I.D Earnhardt Jr. (8) 1167 21. G. Biffle (16)803 2. K. Busch (97) ... 1162 22. S. Wimmer (22).. 795 3.M.Kenseth(l7). 1155 23.T.Lab0nte(5)....772 ""■■■■■■■ 4. J. Johnson (48).. 1088 24. B. Vickers (25).... 758 - s.E.Sadler(3B) .1069 25.R.G0rd0n(31)...746 3. Kasey Kahne (car No. 9): Noth- 6. Jeff Gordon (car No. 24): Drain- success? Last week: 7. 6. T. Stewart (20) ...1067 26. J. Sauter (30).... 744 ing unusual about a rookie having a ing battery at Texas, and then flying .. 7. J. Gordon (24) 1051 27. K. Petty (45)720 TUATen*rMkPnT rtn tough go of it at Martinsville. Even concrete at Martinsville The bad 9. (tie) Ryan Newman (car No. 8. R. Wallace (2) ...1010 28. B. Gaughan (77).. 716 THAT SRACIN STOP PICKS this one. Last week: 1. breaks just keep on coming. Last 12) and Tony Stewart (car No. 20): < n-i e -ux i , wppk 6 So far. neither of these teams has lO.KHarvick(29) .1003 30. R. Rudd (21) ....680 1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (car No. 8): 4. Kurt Busch (car No. 97): As w eeK.o. raced up to its potential, but they both 11. R-Newman (12).. 994 31. M Waltrip (15)... 677 learn keeps looking more and more ti- good as this team has done, it still be- 7. Rusty Wallace (car No. 2): are in OK shape in the standings 12. B. Labonte (18). 971 32. K Schrader (49) .673 lieves it’s not quite clicking yet. That’s Breakshis 105-race drought for anoth- Still, we keep waiting on the break- : Talladega. L», week: 2. soiy Las, week: 4. e ; d„„k 1 „,„,V,« ? U„'e s a,„ « Las, Newman. 4: S,ewan. Jg 2. Matt Kenseth (car No. 17):As 5. Jimmie Johnson (car No. 48): °t youth. Last week. 12. 8. . 16.J.Nemechek(01) 858 36.D.C0pe(50)548 solid as ever. Top-10 finish at Mar- This team knew it had messed up not 8. Elliott Sadler (car No. 38): Can For the rest of the top-40 17 D. Jarrett (88). ...855 37 K Lepage(4) . ..426 tinsville isjust another notch in this pitting at Martinsville, and then it had he break DEl's grip on Talladega and 99 rankings, go online and visit ' S , team s belt. Last week: 3. the integrity to admit it. Last week: 5. return Robert Yates Racing to plate 9 J www.thatsracin.com. 20 C MearT(4l) 804 40 l Foyt(l4) '2W FA Qi PE3T A n all makes & models '■ ■ /hi? D ) A ‘\ “S® : Go^s* h / Collision Confer JTte meam better 527 MOOtO Blwy > Sanrict Dept Bn EgISBISIIIM ggCOLUSIOII J™? 1 - M-FBS GMMBTS SPECUUST 2LX Sat D-l S&GM SERVICE WE WELCSME 1 ' 7704187-2320 HUS INSURANCE (170)8874017 J: DEALER CIAIMS — ; “I got really sick of hearing, ‘Why aren’t you winning?’ but It made me look at the pit crew, myself, my driving style.” Rusty Wallace, after ending his 105-race winless streak at the Advance Auto Parts 500.