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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
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► Everfor* seems to he straight
' now on the so-called "gentle
man's agreement" on racing
bach to the line under caution.
In short, everyone agrees that
no one knows what it means.
► Highlight of the New Hamp
shire drivers' meeting: NASCAR
officials have conclusively deter
mined that drivers should not
race the emergency vehicles
back to the start-finish tine.
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Winston Cup
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8. Michael Waitrio .-.415
7.. Keysnmryifik. 3H2
m. KurtitoeH - aas
»■ Tom Stewart _ - 622
AO. Jeff Burton -648
Bosch Series
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2 _ Sseajßjggs ..-.36
3.. Brian Vickers 66
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5. Jason Keller -91
6. Bobby Hamilton Jr. L 164
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9. Johnny Saute r - 363
10. Shane Hmlel - 390
Craftsman Truck
1. Travis Kvapfl 1,849
Zs Brendan Gaughan -34
3. Ted Musgrave -55
4. Dennis Setzer -70
5. Rick Crawford -86
6. Bobby Hamilton -115
7; Jon Wood -128
8. Jason Leffter -162
9. Terry Cook - 233
10. Carl Edwards - 322
► HOT: Jeff Burton has scored
top-10 finishes in the past three
races. The last time he did that
was at the end of 2001.
► NOT: Johnny Benson has fin
ished 18th or worse in the past
six races.
Roof hatches will make a difference, veteran Schrader predicts
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
Ken Schrader recently took a
look at the roof hatch NASCAR
officials are testing and plan
ning to implement to help driv
ers get out of stricken cars.
“To me it’s a wonderful im
provement, looks fairly easy to
implement, and it's not com
plex," Schrader said after try
ing the equipment out. “Person
ally 1 can't see any drawbacks.
"It's going to make a big dif
ference, especially after an ac
cident that ends with the dri
ver’s side up against the wall.
Now, you can’t get out of the
driver's side in that situation,
because a lot of these walls are
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► If you have a question or a comment, write: NASCAR This Week, c/o The Gaston Gazette, PO. Box 1893, Gastonia, NC 28053
What: Pennsylvania 500
Where: Pocono Raceway.
Long Pond. Pa. (2.5 miles).
200 laps/500 miles
When: Green flag drops at 1
p.m. Sunday
Last year’s winner: Bill Elliott
Qualifying record: Tony Stew
art. Pontiac. 172.391 mph,
July 21. 2000
Race record: Rusty Wallace.
Ford. 144.892 mph. July 21.
1996
Most recent race: The New
England 300 was a tale of
two teammates. One (Jim
mie Johnson) made all the
right moves and won. and
the other (Jeff Gordon) made
all the right moves except
the ones that counted. John
son won for the second time
Greg Biffle, Winston Cup Series
ROUSH’S ROOKIE
Daytona victory finally gave Biffie’s team the jolt it needed
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
Greg Bif fie, the rookie driver
from Vancouver, Wash., is
still digesting the effects of
the 2003 season’s biggest upset to
date. Biffle, 33, surprised virtually
everyone by driving his Ford to victo
ry in the July 5 Pepsi 400 at Daytona
International Raceway.
“It’s given us a lot of momentum,”
Biffle said. “The team is excited be
cause we know we’re capable of win
ning races. It seems like you see a
team do a lot better after they win a
race, and it's not because you didn’t
know you could, but because you kind
of proved that you can.
“I’m pretty excited about it because
I thought this team was capable of
winning a race or two this season and
didn't really think we’d win at a re
strictor-plate track.”
No one is overly surprised that
Biffle, who drives for Roush Racing,
is leading the race for Raybestos
Rookie of the Year. He has already
won championships in both the
Craftsman Truck and Busch series.
Now he's looking forward to racing
at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for
the first time Aug. 3.
"It was pretty neat to go around
there for the first time," Biffle said,
referring to a recent test session. "It
was a lot of fun. I’m really looking
forward to going back. I know I prob
ably don’t stand a chance of winning
my first time there, but I think we’ve
got a good opportunity to run up in
the top 10."
With his first victory behind him,
Biffle expects the hard work by his
team during the first half of the sea
son to kick in.
“It just so happens that we’ve got
ten to the point where we're getting
higher than the top of the car.
With the escape hatch, you can
get out just as quickly as any
other situation. It’s also easier
for emergency workers to get
to the driver in that situation."
■
Mutual decision? Could it be
that Jack Sprague's ouster as
driver of the No. 0 Haas CNC
Pontiac was partly at his be
quest?
That's what Sprague said in
the obligatory “mutual agree
ment" announcement.
“After eight years of winning
races and championships, this
year’s been very frustrating
for me, and I'm sure it has
this season and. in the
process, handed Chevrolet
its 400th victory of
NASCAR's modern era
(1972 present). Gordon,
who led 133 of the 300
laps, pitted on lap 196,
meaning that his Chevy did
not have enough fuel to go
the remaining 104 laps.
What ignited Johnson's vic
tory was the fact that his
Chevrolet managed to make
it to lap 208 before stopping
for fuel. Gordon eventually
made his final pit stop under
a yellow flag at lap 235, but
at that point, track position
was gone forever. Johnson
won and moved up from
sixth to fifth in the points
standings.
MM THE SPOTLIGHT
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John Clark/NASCAR This Week
Greg Biffle, a former champion of the Busch and Craftsman Truck series,
won his first Winston Cup race in the July 5 Pepsi 400 at Daytona.
Rookie of the year race
Driver Starts Points Wins Top 5 Top 10
1. Greg Biffle 18 201 1 2 3
2. Jamie McMurray 19 190 0 2 4
3. Casey Mears 19 162 0 0 0
4. Jack Sprague 18 152 0 0 0
5. Tony Raines 18 148 0 0 0
6. Larry Foyt 12 91 0 0 0
better race cars to bring to the track
every week,” Biffle said. “We're
starting to turn that corner right now.
... You need really good race cars to
be competitive today.
"I like to use Bobby Labonte as an
example. He was running 18th in
points (he actually finished 16 ,h ) last
been equally as frustrating for
them,” Sprague said. “That
said, we decided to part ways
and try to find success apart.”
"Jack Sprague is a talented
racecar driver, but we thought
it would be in everybody’s best
interest to make a change at
this stage of the game,” gener
al manager Joe Custer said.
“We feel confident we can con
tinue to build this race team
into a winning organization.”
Custer promptly hired John
Andretti for the races at New
Hampshire and Pocono. An
dretti and the team's crew
chief, Tony Furr, have worked
together in the past.
SPORTS
What: Trim Spa Dream Body
250
Where: Pikes Peak Interna
tional Raceway, Fountain,
Colo. (1 mile), 250
laps/250 miles
When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday
Last year's winner: Hank
Parker Jr.
Track qualifying record: Jeff
Purvis, Pontiac, 135.629
mph. July 21, 2000
Race record: Jeff Purvis,
Chevrolet. 120.160 mph.
July 28. 2001
Most recent race: Former se
ries champion David Green,
in a Pontiac, won Saturday's
New England 200. Green
was forced to fend off a
hard charging Kevin Harvick,
who finished second.
■
The book tossed again: The
NASCAR points fund might not
need corporate sponsorship if
every week was like the last
one.
Fines are supposedly ear
marked for end-of-year
awards, and NASCAR officials
docked another crew chief
$25,000 for a Chicagoland
Speedway violation.
Todd Berrier, who directs
Kevin Harvick’s efforts, took
this hit for “an unapproved
travel-limiting device.”
Harvick and owner Richard
Childress had 25 points deduct
ed in the respective points
standings.
What: Sears 200
Where: Michigan Internation
al Speedway, Brooklyn (2
miles). 100 laps/200 miles
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
Last year’s winner: Robert
Pressley
Track qualifying record:
Jamie McMurray, Dodge,
177.414 mph, July 21.
2000
Race record: Robert Press
ley. Dodge, 142.208 mph.
July 27, 2002
Most recent race: Brendan
Gaughan, in a Dodge, won
Saturday night's race in
Madison, 111. He beat Jason
Leffler by half of a truck
length. Travis Kvapil was
third, followed by Carl Ed
wards and Rick Crawford.
year, and they didn’t run real strong.
They haven't changed anything this
year, and they’ve got a couple of poles
and a win and he’s running really
well. What we’re driving means so
much to our success, and our team is
working hard to get that.”
Contact Monte Dutton at tugso@aol.com.
■
The real deal: Ricky Craven
brought special significance to
the role he played at Fenway
Park in Boston on Monday night,
when he threw out the ceremo
nial first pitch for a game be
tween the Red Sox and Detroit
Tigers. The Maine native is a
genuine, die-hard Red Sox fan.
“I remember listening to the
Sox games when I was a little
kid, sitting on the porch with
my grandfather,” Craven said.
“Fve followed the Sox reli
giously ever since, so this is a
big deal for my family and me.
To get to go to Fenway Park
and step out on that field is go
ing to be a huge thrill.”
ESI Pocono 500 Pennsylvania 500 ™ T
June 8.. „ July 27
FEUD OF THE WEEK
n
Contact from Jimmy Spencer's
Dodge sent John Andretti’s Pontiac
spinning into the wall on the eighth
lap of Sunday's New England 300 at
New Hampshire International Speed
way in Loudon.
"It drives me nuts to think that
another guy would do that." Andretti
said. "The last time he hit me. it was
like it was to get me out of the way.
We had a good car and got taken out
for no reason. It’s not right. The way I
feel. I think it was real intentional."
Andretti ended up 41st. Spencer
finished a respectable 15th.
NASCAR This Week’s Monte
Dutton gives his take: “One can cer
tainly sympathize with Andretti's frus
tration. He lost his longtime ride with
Petty Enterprises and is running two
races with Haas CNC Racing as the
replacement for Jack Sprague. The
race had barely started when Andret
ti was out of it."
Coke or Pepsi?
I have been a NASCAR fan since the
'6os. I'm 80 years old but still nev
er miss a race on TV. I used to go
to Daytona and miss the live races,
but there's no way to get tickets now.
It turns my stomach to see the
winner of the Pepsi 400 (Greg Biffle)
drinking a Coke.
I remember Jeff Gordon doing the
same thing when he won before.
That is about as insulting to a spon
sor as you can get. If they (the win
ners) don't want to drink Pepsi, then
give them water.
Where do they think their winning
money comes from 7 Pepsi should
wake up and put it in their NASCAR
contract no free advertising for
Coca Cola.
Janice N. Dudley
Evansville. Ind.
Thank s for your comments. The
sponsorship wars and the large
amount of money involved is what
keeps NASCAR going.
NASCAR's Green brothers Jeff,
David and Mark will host their
fourth annual charity golf tournament
in their hometown of Owensboro, Ky..
on July 30 at Summit Country Club.
The tournament has raised
$250,000 in its first three years and
will feature celebrity players such as
Darrell Waltrip. Larry Mcßeynolds.
Jeff Hammond, Michael Waltrip and
others.
The Waltrips also are natives of
Owensboro.
In the summer of 2002, no one
expected Bill Elliott to win the sec
ond race of the season at Pocono
Raceway, but Elliott did much more
than that.
Elliott's stirring victories at both
Pocono and Indianapolis Motor
Speedway became the feel good sto
ry of the season. They did not signal
a long term return to prominence for
Elliott, who wound up 13th in the
points standings and is now 19th in
2003.
■
Sounds familiar: Singer
songwriter John Mellencamp
had this to say in an AOL inter
view when asked about the ef
fect of Clear Channel Commu
nications on the radio-and-con
cert business.
“I’m not going to single out
Clear Channel, but I just think
that when you control so much
... When a person owns the
horse, the track and the other
horses in the race, it’s probably
not going to be a fair race,”
Mellencamp said.
Hmm. Now what does that
sound like?
Contact Monte Dutton
at tugso@aol.com.
1
V
E
R
S
U
s
Jimmy
Spencer
John
Andretti
FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2003 ♦
3B