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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
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All times Eastern
Nextel Cup
UAW-DaimlerChrysler
400, 2 p.m., March 13
Busch Series
Telcel Motorola 200,
3 p m., Sunday
Truck Series
World Financial Group
200. 9 p.m., March 18
, > BURNING ISSUES
► Jack Roush's Fords have pro
duced consecutive Nextel Cup
champions, and things are look
ing great for him after Greg Bif
fle's win in California. The points
standings have four Roush driv
ers in the top five, led by the in
cumbent champ, Kurt Busch..
► All five of Roush's drivers
Biffle, Busch, Mark Martin, Matt
Kenseth and Carl Edwards
led the race at some point.
► Engine troubles haunted Rick
Hendrick's Chevrolets in
Fontana. Only second-place Jim
mie Johnson had an engine run
ning at full speed at the end of
the Auto Club 500, and two oth
er cars using Hendrick engines,
driven by Joe Nemechek and
Scott Riggs, also fell out with
power failure.
► The new aerodynamic rules
which don't apply to races at
Daytona and Talladega are al
ready under fire. The leading
critic is none other than Dale
Earnhardt Jj., who had a
wretched 32nd-place finish in
California.
► Biffle had never finished in the
top 10 at California Speedway
prior to the victory. He gave
Roush Racing its 75th Cup victo
ry. Roush Fords have now won
at least one race in nine consec
utive seasons.
► Rusty Wallace has finished
10th in each of the season's
first two races. The other driver
retiring from Cup competition at
the end of the season, Martin,
is third in the points standings,
only 39 behind Busch and 34
behind Johnson.
► The attendance at California
Speedway was disappointing.
The estimated crowd was less
than 70,000 at a track that
seats 92,000. The race after
Daytona was previously run at
North Carolina Speedway, which
was dropped from the schedule
after a series of disappointing
attendance figures.
► For the second week in a row,
the pole winner fared poorly.
Rookie Kyle Busch, after becom
ing the youngest pole winner in
series history, finished 23rd.
- TOPdbO INHPQWTS*
Nextel Cup
1. Kurt Busch 340
2. Jimmie Johnson - 5
3. Mark Martin -39
4. Carl Edwards -53
5 Greg Biffle 67
6. Elliott Sadler -68
7. Tony Stewart -72
8. Rusty Wallace 72
9. Sterling
10. Jeff Gordon -82
Busch Series
1. Kevin Harvick 340
2. Reed Sorenson -47
3. Carl Edwards -51
4. ClintJßowyer -53
5. Tony Stewart •69
6. Ashton Lewis -86
7. Joe Nemecheck -92
8. Martin Truex Jr. -107
9. Paul Menard -120
10. David Green -122
Craftsman Truck Series
1. Bobby Hamilton 355
2. Ricky Craven -25
3. Jimmy Spencer 34
4. Ted Musgrave -45
5. Matt Crafton -75
6. Steve Park -76
7. Johnny Benson -84
8. David Reutimman -99
9. Dennis Setzer 101
10. Casey Atwood -104
WE GO THE EXTRA MILE
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Race: UAW-DaimlerChrysler
400
Where: Las Vegas Motor
Speedway (1.5 miles), 267
laps/400.5 miles
When: Sunday, March 13
Last year's winner: Matt
Kenseth
Qualifying record: Kasey
Kahne, Dodge, 174.904
mph, March 5, 2004
Race record: Mark Martin,
Ford, 146.554 mph, March
1,1998
Last week: Greg Biffle
served notice that his may
be the breakout story of the
2005 season by winning the
Auto Club 500 at California
Speedway in Fontana. Not
that Biffle s success should
be a surprise, by the way.
-WH EXT
L J
Richard Petty
' la \ H
Photos by John Clark/NASCAR This Week
NASCAR legend Richard Petty poses for photographers after being the first to be inaugurated into the new Goodyear Legends of Daytona
earlier this year at Daytona International Speedway.
Walking History
A talk with Petty is like taking a trip in a NASCAR time machine
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
Richard Petty is, of course, the most
successful driver in stock-car racing
history since he finished his career
with nearly twice as many victories
(200) as anyone else. Since Petty re
mains active in the sport as a team
owner, his career has spanned the en
tire history of NASCAR.
Petty’s late father, Lee, competed in
NASCAR’s first race in 1959. Richard
is the only seven-time winner of the
Daytona 500. He was even involved in
the discovery of a term that has be
come synonymous with racing at
tracks like Daytona and Talladega.
The “draft.”
“We ran a convertible race the first
time here in 1959,” Petty recalled. “I
was out running. There were three or
four of us guys on up, and we got
away from everybody. We didn’t know
nothing about drafting. We didn’t have
40,000 MILE
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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
WUf k CHARGER
Ff&ftf I PERFORMANCE
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HOOKS: MON-FRI, 7:30-5:30: SAT, 7:30-1:00
(RUSSELL PKWY SAT TIU 4:001
Counting the 2004 finale in
Homestead, Fla., he's won
two of the past three Cup
races. He was the only multi
ple winner not to finish in the
top 10 of the points stand
ings last year. Biffle and
Roush Racing teammate
Kurt Busch secured track po
sition by passing up a tire
change during the race’s fi
nal caution period. Biffle
then passed Busch, the
reigning champion, with 23
laps remaining. In the clos
ing laps, Biffle held on for
dear life as his Ford became
looser and looser. He held
off the fast-closing Chevrolet
of Jimmie Johnson, with
Busch settling for third and
taking the points lead.
-■USI Tl 11
any aerodynamics on the car we
just ran. About 130-135 miles per hour
is about all the cars would run, and
this one little group of four went all
the way around, and we lapped anoth
er group of about four or five. You fig
ured you’d pull out, you’d pass them
go on. Well, we did. We pulled out,
passed them and went on. The first
thing you know they’re back up there
passing us. I said, ‘Man, what in the
world is going on here?’ We kept run
ning and finally got away from that
crowd.
“Finally, I figured out that if I could
get back on in turns one and two, I
could get a run and start down the
backstretch and pass everybody. So,
that was the draft part of it. I didn’t
know what was causing it, but that
was it. So, sure enough on the last lap,
man I’m sitting back there, I’m get
ting back a little bit, maybe 20 or 30
yards. I get a running start, and I go
tearing up the backstretch and I pass
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SPORTS
wes_
Race: Telcel-Motorola 200
Where: Autodromo Her
manos Rodriguez, Mexico
City (2.518 miles), 80
laps/201.44 miles.
When: Sunday, March 6
Last year's winner: First
race
Qualifying record: This is the
first NASCAR race ever held
at the impressive Mexican
venue.
Race record: n/a
Last race: Mark Martin, in a
Ford, won the Stater Broth
ers 300 in Fontana, Calif.
Martin’s Busch Series victory
was the 47th of his career,
the record for that circuit.
SAFARJSUV
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Race: World Financial Group
200
Where: Atlanta Motor Speed
way, Hampton, Ga. (1.54
miles), 133 laps/204.82
miles
When: Friday, March 18
Last year's winner: Bobby
Hamilton
Qualifying record: David Re
utimann, Toyota, 179.452
mph, March 13, 2004.
Race record: Bobby Hamil
ton, Dodge, 123.675 mph,
March 13, 2004.
Last race: Steve Park, in a
Dodge, won the American
Racing Wheels 200 in
Fontana, Calif.
everybody going in the third corner,
leading the race, and I said, ‘Man, this
is easy.’ About that time, they came
back around me because of the draft.
Then I realized, hey man, something
was going on here. I didn't know what
it was nobody knew what it was,
and that was the first race, so we were
the first ones to get in on the draft.”
Loretta Lynn once sang, “When your
eyes are on me, you’re looking at
country.” Petty can make a similar
claim.
“When you look at me, you’re look
ing at NASCAR history,” he said. “I
was at the very first race that
NASCAR ever had as far as Cup rac
ing, called the Grand National (at the
time, it was actually called Strictly
Stock), in 1949 with my father in
Charlotte, and I’ve been to the majori
ty of races since then.”
Contact Monte Dutton at
hmdso@aol.com
Prices Good Thru
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Banking in
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FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2005 ♦
AS DATA"
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400
March 13_
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LAS VEEAS
MOTOR SPEEDWAY
K?
Distance: ....1.5 mile oval
Length of frontstretch: 2,275 fL
Length of backstretch: 1,572 ft
Miles/Laps: 400 mi. - 267 laps
FEUD OF THE WEEK -
Dale
Earnhardt Jr.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
vs. NASCAR
It was the first test of NASCAR's
new aerodynamic rules for non-re
strictor-plate tracks, and the chorus
of criticism is already at full song.
Rear spoilers have been lowered by
an inch (to 4 1/2), and that doesn’t
sit well with a number of drivers ac
customed to cars that are more sta
ble at speed. “Somebody has to turn
the light bulb on and figure this stuff
out,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr. "Taking
the spoiler off is definitely making it
harder to drive. The soft tires that
give up, that's OK, but they have got
to give us more downforce.”
NASCAR This Week's Monte
Dutton gives his take: “What
NASCAR needs to do right now is
stick by its guns, although that does
n't come naturally to control freaks.
In time, everyone wilt adjust to these
rules and move on. In the short run,
it's difficult to adapt.”
• J L£<SENPS AND lORE •
Rutherford won his first
race, never won again
The last driver to win his very first
NASCAR race was Johnny Rutherford,
who went on to win three Indianapo
lis 500 s. Rutherford's accomplish
ment wouldn't count today. On Feb.
22, 1963, Rutherford, driving a
Chevrolet prepared by Smokey Yu
nick, won the second of two 100-mile
qualifying races held to set the Day
tona 500 field. Until 1972, the quali
fying races awarded points that
counted for what was then known as
the Grand National championship.
Rutherford never again visited victory
lane in a major NASCAR event.
‘Full Throttle’ reveals
legend of Curtis Turner
"Full Throttle: The Life and Fast
Times of NASCAR Legend Curtis
Turner" (The Overlook Press) is now
available in bookstores. Rob Edel
stein's book details the life of Turner
from his mountain country begin
nings in Virginia in the 1920 s to his
violent and mysterious death in
1970 at the young age of 46 in a
mysterious plane crash.
Whitaker gives cooking
tips for NASCAR tailgating
Award-winning chef Kent Whitaker
has published “Checkered Flag Cook
ing: An Insider's Guide to Tailgating
American Stock Car Style” (Quail
Ridge Press), which includes the au
thor's weekend, race-day-party-at
home recipes and his tried-and-true,
on-site tailgate tricks. It includes
recipes from tracks across the coun
try and from racing industry insiders.
The cookbook will be available in
April.
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