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PAGE 4B FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Friday, April 30, 2004 OM)99i0 M )99i dSBb&SI&Wk 9 “We’ve run so good these past MBMM W 0 0 0MBw”&&& two years on these restrictor-plate j| w *0 00200 00 < 9 HUH a nttuHl we’re going to get a win." ar as » flff AvaW'WDfl |r fIvIBOOW yMrflwa* Mk 'S week’s Aamn ’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. ■WWBBWmWMMBMWWUX LIHMHII.I lIOItMIIIIWMWMMWMMF VM ■ Mll ■ FTP J LJI^I. ■. II ■JJf » HL flno 0000 0 0 M HRB Qualifying is 6:10 pm. Friday —i ■H 0 Mlflßß aBIJBIr * bJUBBSSi A HBI&O* Purse: $5,780,656. ■R**' W BH Last year's winner: Kurt |R <r”~< •'J| ' Arf& rules ■ bm*] ■SB Wff ■ Waltnp continues to lead the aMMBBBBwBDpuy ■ NASCAR Busch Series points Waltrin a* mM S »w ’ " ■BW ■■ Jb BB T B ■■ |B - Ul | |j| || Iff Bv | Hll .; Matt Kenseth has won three including AMBjiwaß't. * ' . last seas(,n David Green is the highest ranked %f,:. c . series "regular, "17 points behind Waltrip. The ■n| jf* ■■Ml ■ BB Bfl '". NASCAR Truck Senes is oft until May 6 Ur» U «Sl IIIU Q ; Wh > Mansfield. ()hio. ■ ■ ■ 5P ' NASCAR throw a red tlag Worth noting: Mark Martin has three top-10 Sunday to allow the field to finishes, including one victory, in seven races at AAmCsHAHAM*) ’ California, yet he is tied with Demke Cope as confusion? 00B| : •cWmT.-’- A-g.’ which it will not use the red flag and B ———————■ Kniw K,.:’..■■ • B V.*A* meeting Sunday at Talladega, that was ' ; Lap 183. Once the field had completed that TMIC; WPPk'C m IPCTIfIN When NASCAR announced last year lap. the red flag was no longer an option Bn- ’ nIS ™ CC *' « UUtb I IUN that it was changing the rules gos - an Vickers" spin happened on Lap 1 84. Should NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series eming caution flags. Nextel Cup Se- • 111 vontm' q. -p lere wasn - ( much stuff on the trac |. adopt the Truck Series rule nes Director John Darbv warned it the lights and who decides . vi,t>.rx' wm-k \ihi .smUn't itw -i..r> » « «• ■un might take time to get out "hen the flag is waved ’ ‘ ,ter v wreck Whv couldn t the) clean that assures a green-flag finish? nugni iciKc nine u gcri c\er>unnu ngurcu ui. it up and go back to racing without using a red *1 can assure you it is a work in progress. M. Nextel Cup Race Director David flag 9 Cast your vote at: Darby said in September at Dover, a week as- Hoots is most often the pei*on who says "put ‘ a. www.thatsracin.com ter Dale Jarrett spun and was in the middle ot it out over the radio when there s a problem. a ’ - 4 P ' eWct In the track at New Hampshire xs cars sped to- He's bilking to the flagman at the start-finish line. ' X 't*. °n.un as. ic ers wrecked ACTU/ppir'cniiPcnnM i. . ... ~ n t-v c c. i i i . . . ic. and the caution came out. The pace car nicked LAbl WttK b QUtbTION ward him racing tow ard the yellow flag. That Each track also has a set ot caution lights con- . , , f ' , situation triggered the rules changes that are trolled directly from the tower. When the com- le > ea cl s a ?, l . . . . Because ot ; DEI drivers Dale 57% still causing confusion, most recently the con- mand is given, a NASCAR official flips a switch scoring issues, i . .- tis year began clos- . Earnhardt Jr. and troversial finish of Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at to turn on these lights. Officials then radio the mg pi roa t e irst time sto sort t ings out Michael Waltrip have won SB Talladega Superspeedw ay. 0 dnvers. telling them to begm slow ing down. and for safety reasons. That that pit road the past five races ■w..\ . r ..;~ ...Cl i'll ... .|,„|| e- e could have opened on Lap 186 This would me pool nvc iaucs> rn -r. t m,Hm t\. m ™ O So ho " do tbc> de,crmine who ls have been a "quickie" yellow, so lead lap and at TaHadega- mcrcdi utjustabcute ery scenano and situa- what position when the yellow comes out? lapped cars could have pitted on that lap The Will a DEI driver extend tion that we can imagine. Darby said in an- A- ma er-so k hi r: i i ii k r i the stmak thk w/opkpnri? nouncmg the new rules. "But you can come to 0 A. NASCAR now has added held would have reformed j the streak this weekend? a thousand of these races and there’s always ■ electronic sconng locips . on Up 187 and could have Number of votes 6.M5 Yes No something new just around the comer We re ■ embedtk-d in each track s sur- BMO HH gottenthe "one-to-gosig- willing to adapt, tweak, change and modtfv as 0 to the one at the start-finish WH but as they completed we need to" hne when a caution is called. >.?> mat lap they were coming So where do things stand now. after Jeff 0 each car is scored based on the I |3 to the white flag. When ■ ,ll Gordon was judged by NASC AR to be barely 0 J^P« most recently passed. 1 f . they came back around the . ahead of Dale Eamha?dt Jr. when a caution ' 0 That gives officials a starting VW cars completed Up 188 A list of who s hot and who s not in Winston came out on Lap 184 of Sunday’s Talladega ■ t 0 P u ‘ the cap " l,l ,hc P n, P er 1 V r and ““ race Cup raC,ng race-a decision that ultimately gave Gordon 0 Video replays are then Q: Couldn’t they have I WHO’S HOT the victory? ' ■ checked to see if passes were “huined up " and given the »' ■ Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Gordon are Based on conversations held with NASCAR ■ made in the areas between those » field the green and white i the only dnvers with seven top-10 finishes this officials this week, here are some answers: ■ after the car passed onebut together’ sea !? n Q before the yellow came out. The • ■EamhardtJr.hasthreeconsecutivetop- .why is NASCAR now freezing the race control tower has access to A. Sure, but NASCAR ; five finishes, w hile Gordon and Jamie McMur- field at the moment the caution comes out \anous camera angles. would have been violating f ray each have four consecutive top-10 finishes. Al In the interest ot safety. Before the Qi Whv can't thev just use its own procedures. Fans ■ Jimmie Johnson has three consecutive changes made last year, cars were scored based the GPS stuff they have in each J sometimes say they w ant top-10s on how they came across the start-finish line un- car that television uses to eel “We’re willing to adapt, tweak, NASCAR to put down WHO’S NOT der the yellow flag. There was a "gentlemen’s ■ data for its broadcasts ’ ' change and modify as we need rules and procedures in . ■ Ward Burton has dropped from ninth to agreement' that supposedly prevented drivers M A. v . Qf ., p to ’ » ay s Nexte I Cup Senes black and white and stick 25th in points over the past seven races from racing for position once they knew the cau- ”■ AR says the GPS Director John Darby about the to them, but some of the • B p OK j ( a j] c j to ] ea j a | ap at Martinsville tion was out. But drivers desperate to make up systems aren t reliable enough rules governing caution flags, same fans then want them f ( j me one o f manu f acturers lost laps often sped up torn, to pass the leader ■ £ d^ nd up° n on ng It" to deviate from those rules was shut out in laps led this season, instead of slowing, defeating the purpose of the helicopters used to link all that technology in certain situations. You can t have it both * l n t three races Rusty Wallace has g endenien had ceased to agree. ■ ««' J* cause . of bad weather - f° r instance. ways. gone from tQ eighth bac ’ tQ , 3th in NASCAR stepped in and said the field would be ’ sys won wor\ Q I Why doesn't NASCAR extend Cup points. —JimUtter be frozen at the time the caution comes out. U! Whv not just revert back to the previ- races to ensure a green-flag finish? It does it Passes made after that point would be nullified. M ous lap’s official scoring? with a green-white-checkered in the Truck Se- Q: So when, exactly, does the field freeze? A: That’s been suggested, but NASCAR ries Is it when a wreck happens, when the caution M says and they’re probably right that that A: NASCAR has always answered that call comes from the tower or when the flag would bong up an equal number of issues that question by saying that Cup races are run to wa ' , c s would be difficult or contusing to sort out. Say. the distance given on the entry blank for each NEXTEL CUP POINTS LEADERS Al Well, there’s the real question. When for example, the second-place car has been race. Teams map pit strategies based on a 400- asked for a clarification of that this week. working on the leader for 20 laps at a short or 500-mile distance and NASCAR says it The top-40 drivers as of April 18: NASCAR worded its response as follows: track. He makes the pass coming off Turn 4 wouldn't be fair if, for instance, a car lost posi- Rank/Drlver Points Rank/Driver Points "The field is frozen w hen the caution flag is and a w reck happens in Turn 2 all the way be- tions because it had to make an extra pit stop I.D. Earnhardt Jr. (8) 1347 21. S. Wimmer (22) . 909 displayed AND/OR the caution lights are illu- hind them. If the caution comes out, his pass is for fuel only because a race was extended be- 2. J. Johnson (48).. 1253 22. R. Gordon (31). 906 minated. nullified. yond the advertised distance 3.J. Gordon (24).. 1236 23. J. Sauter (30).... 865 4. K. Busch (97)... 1222 24. T. Labonte (5).... 865 5. M. Kenseth (17). 1192 25. W. Burton (0).... 854 6. K. Harw* (29) .. 1173 26. B. Vickers (25) ... 845 ■ o i ur- 7.T.Stewart(2o)... 1169 27.BGaughan(77) .840 3. Jen Gordon (car No. 24): Karma 6. Kevin Harvick (car No. 29): This 9.Tony Stewart (car No. 20): His B.E Sadler(3B) .. 1153 28. J.Burton(99)Bl6 B came around at Talladega after near- team's beginning to look like it’s get- save after contact from Johnson at Tai- 9. R. Newman (12). 1129 29. K. Ratty (45)811 ruA-rc RfinM’CTAP misses of wins at Texas and Mar- ting it together Could be a threat this ladega shows exactly how good this 10. B. Labonte (18) . 1110 30. M. Waltrip (15) .. .809 IrtMl OrtHLin O iur KlLhb tmsville. Last week: 6. week. Last week: 12. guy is. Last week: 9. 11.J.McMurray(42) 1082 31.R.Rudd(21)... .792 1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (car No. 8): 4. Matt Kenseth (car No. 17): 7. Kasey Kahne (car No. 9): Took 10.RustyWallace(carNo.2): nßwSe®" ’ISS M J'g^S! 49 ’ S Showed a lot more class after conffo- Miraculously survived a scary spin but two wrecks to get Talladega KO. Team Martinsville ended streak. Good Cali- I^S.Marin(4o) . . .1030 MR.Craven(32) . . .722 versial loss than some of his Talladega couldn’t overcome engine woes at Tai- has done well despite getting few- fomia run would really show team im- 15. M. Martin (6).... 1005 35. S. Riggs (10)... .692 tans did. Last week: 1. ladega. Last week: 2. breaks. Last week: 3. provement. Last week: 7. 16. J.Mayfield (19) . . 980 36.D.C0pe(50)597 2. Jimmie Johnson (car No. 48): 5. Kurt Busch (car No. 97): De- 8. Jamie McMurray (car No. 42): 17.0. Jarrett(Bß)... .975 37,KLspage 426 Like the only team ahead of it in this fending California race champ a casu- Everybody races hard at Talladega, but HAH For the rest of the top-40 io ? to •Jal list, it keeps piling up evidence of ex- alty of sanctioned insanity that is Tai- this guv really seemed to get after it Bl ffW rankings, go online and visit "X? TX , ?****' r ,£'.' cellence. Last week: 5. ladega. Last week: 4 Sunday. Last week: 11. Bk J www.thatsracln.com. 20. G. Biffle (16)... 926 40. J. Benson (09)... 271 r—i r—\ [—| r—| / —v —\ r-j ALL MAKES & MODELS ®° <^ Kh / a VI Collision Center The means better. —— ggj AtlOHtß Hwy. Service Dept Hrs gg ORIGINAL gg COLLISION NF 84 “CM PARTS SPECIALIST Set 8-1 GM SERVICE gg WE WELCOME [ 770487-2820 PLUS INSURANCE (770)M7-2317 DEALER CLAIMS