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♦ FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2005
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► If you have a question or a comment, write: NASCAR This Week, c/o The Gaston Ga?etMPIIPISI9IIHSIHIIRPgPIII9PHBMHBM
A/I times Eastern
Mortal Cup 4k
Peps. 400.
7 p.m., Saturday NtH.
Busch Series
WktrvOtxie 250. W*
7:30 p.m„ Friday
Truck Series mom
O'Reilly Auto Parts
250,3 p.m.. Saturday
BURNiMO issues']
► Thirty-four cars, the most in
NASCAR history, finished on the
lead lap at Infineon Raceway. It’s
comparing apples to oranges,
though. Without the "lucky dog
rule." which inserts one car
back on the lead lap during
every caution flag, the record
wouldn't have been set.
► Tony Stewart may finally be
mounting a serious challenge to
the domination of the Roush
and Hendrick teams. He's fin
ished second and first in the
past two races.
► Transmission problems in
Sonoma diverted attention from
the tire controversies of Pocono
and Michigan. Even the winner.
Stewart, had trouble. His trans
mission was failing while he was
successfully tracking down Ricky
Rudd at the end.
► The victory was No. 20 for No
20. Stewart has used the num
ber throughout his career. His
birthday, by the way. is the 20th
of May
► Meanwhile, in Milwaukee. John
ny Sauter became the first Wis
consin native to win the annual
Busch Series race in his home
state.
► Jeff Gordon has one finish bet
ter than 30th in his past six
races. He was considered the
overwhelming favorite in Sono
ma, where he has won four
times, after he bettered his own
track record in qualifying.
► Gordon is now 14th in the
points standings. Dale Earn
hardt Jr. is 18th. If neither
makes the Chase, it will seem
like an NBA finals between
Memphis and Toronto.
► Gordon has won the past two
Cup races at Daytona. Earnhardt
Jr. won the one before that. Not
only would another victory be
big. It's almost a must at this
point.
► Ricky Rudd's runner up finish
was quite impressive. He also
had a second-place finish at
Kansas in 2004, but in the sea
son's first 15 races. Rudd could
do no better than seventh.
WHO S HOT -1
[ AND WHO S NOT •]
O
Stewart
► Who'* hot
Tony
Stewart led
the most
laps for the
fourth time
this season,
and this
time he
managed to
win the race.
... Rusty Wallace has been
running at the finish of the
past 29 races.
► Who's not Things went
from bad to worse for both Jeff
Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
They're 14th and 18th, respec
tively, in the points race.
[■ TOP ao IN POINTS^
Nextel Cup
1. Greg Biffle 2.250
8. Jimmie Johnson -22
g. Elliott Sadler -177
4. Tony Stewart -198
g. Mark Martin - 228
8. Rusty Wallace ' - 237
7. Ryan Newman 256
5. Kurt Busch -272
i. Carl Edwards -287
10. Jamie McMurray - 327
Busch Series
1. Martin True« Jr. 2,320
2. Reed Sorenson
3. Clint Bowyer -41
4. Carl Edwards -79
g. Kenny Wallace -187
g. Denny Hamlin - 288
7. Ashton Lewis • 337
g. Oeytd Stremme - 356
0. Jason Keller -443
10. David Green -481
Craftsman Truck Series
1. Dennis Setter 1,614
2. Bobby Hamilton -35
g. Ted Musgrave -44
4. Ron Homadav ■ 121
g. Ricky Craven -141
g. Jimmy Spencer -177
T. Jack Sprague JLB6
0. Terry Cook -198
8. MattCrafton -230
10. David Starr -242
THE MOST
POWERFUL |
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NfeXTfct. CUP Sfcß«fe S
Race: Pepsi 400
Where Daytona (Beach, Fla.i
International Speedway (2.5
miles), 160 laps/400 miles.
When Saturday. July 2
Last year's winner Jeff Gordon
Qualifying record: Bill Elliott.
Ford. 210.364 mph. Feb. 9.
1987.
Last week It had been 29
races since Tony Stewart s
last win, and 29 races is an
eternity for a man of Stewart's
temperament and desire. He
needed something to break
the ice. Stewart ended the dry
spell with a dominating victory
in the Dodge/Save Mart 350
at Infineon Raceway. After
starting seventh, Stewart
needed only three laps to
-WHAT’B UP NEXT
Jamie McMurray
TIGHTROPE
Once again, McMurray walking the edge in close battle for Chase
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
SONOMA, Calif. For the second
year in a row, Jamie McMurray is
walking the tightrope.
A year ago he was in contention for
a place in the Chase for the Nextel
Cup until the final regular-season
race in Richmond, Va., where he
failed to make it because another
Dodge driver, Jeremy Mayfield, won
the race.
This year's been the same, at least
so far. McMurray’s right on the bor
der 10 th place, 327 behind the new
points leader, Greg Bif
fle with 10 races to
go-
The 29-year-old Mc-
Murray’s career has
been successful but
frustrating. He won the
second Cup race in
which he competed, at
Lowe’s Motor Speed-
McMurray
way while substituting
for injured Sterling Marlin on Oct. 13,
2002. Incredibly, and in spite of 18 top
five finishes and 44 top-lOs, he hasn’t
won since.
“We haven't been very consistent,"
said the Joplin, Mo., native of his sea
son to date. “We run great one week
end and bad the next. We’re just hang
ing on. We’re ranked above some guys
who have won races this year, but we
want to win.”
In the span of just 94 Cup races,
McMurray has proven he can excel at
every kind of track. He’s finished in
the top five at road courses, short
tracks and superspeedways. By
virtue of a runner-up finish at Infi
neon Raceway in 2004, McMurray
came to the Sonoma, Calif., track con
fident this year. His subsequent 14 th
place finish was enough to move Mc-
Murray up from 11 th to 10 th in the
Cup points, but the race was damp
ened at the end by an on-track alter
cation between the cars of McMurray
and Robby Gordon.
It will still be the Nextel Cup Series, at least through 2006
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
SONOMA, Calif. - It will
still be the Nextel Cup Series in
2006, according to officials of
the telecommunications com
pany that sponsors NASCAR’s
premier series.
Pending the proposed merg
er with Sprint, that could
change in 2007. According to a
news release issued Thursday,
future plans will be unveiled in
December at the sport's
awards banquet in New York.
Could next year’s race-offs
at the end of the season be
known as the Sprint for the
Nextel Cup? Time will tell.
How about just “the Sprint”?
■
Pieces of history Dave
Blaney had an interesting no
tion about road-course racing.
“You’ve got all those turns,”
he noted. “Why not do a tribute
deal?”
Blaney was referring well,
perhaps to the golf courses
that include various holes rem
move up to second. And
though it was his first victory
of the season, it was the
fourth time he led the most
laps. Stewart's victory, even
after favorite Jeff Gordon fell
by the wayside, was not with
out its stressful moments He
had to track down and pass a
procession of drivers who
tned to stretch their fuel while
Stewart was opting for securi
ty. Stewart's orange No. 20
streaked into second place,
passing Rusty Wallace, on the
82nd of 110 laps, but the un
likely leader. Ricky Rudd, was
a much tougher nut to crack.
Stewart finally passed Rudd's
Ford on lap 100. and from
there he pulled away.
HE SPOTLIGH
Nextel Cup Series No. 42 Havoline Dodge
/ siMk / Inak
John Clark/NASCAR This Week
Jamie McMurray signs an autograph for a fan before the Daytona 500 In February.
That wasn’t the McMurray style.
“I think I’m pretty much a finesse
guy," he said. “I think you need to be
smooth here. A lot of it depends on
how the car's working. Sometimes you
iniscent of similar ones at St.
Andrews, Pinehurst, Pebble
Beach, etc.*
“Why not build one corner
like Talladega, a Bristol turn,
Darlington, and string them all
together?” suggested Blaney. “I
mean, you've got all those turns.
Why not use some imagination?”
Of course, then there’s the
problem of road courses run
ning clockwise while ovals run
counterclockwise.
An eternal question At
least in regard to stock cars,
there’s a mountain of evidence
to suggest that oval-track rac
ers adapt to road courses better
than road racers adapt to ovals.
“I'd say it’s more speed than
anything,” said Blaney. “It’s
easier for us to make 60-mph
turns than it is for them to
make 180-mph turns.”
Tony Stewart’s view was more
balanced. He said that the dif
ference in stock cars heavy
and unwieldy when compared
with sports prototypes and Indy
cars outweighed (no punt in-
busajm se rii j
Race Winn-Dixie 250
Where Daytona (Beach, Fla.)
International Speedway (2.5
miles). 100 laps/250 miles.
When Friday, July 1
last year's winner Mike
Wallace
Qualifying record: Tommy
Houston. Buick. 194.389
mph. Feb. 10. 1987
Race record: Geoffrey Bod
me. Pontiac. 157.137 mph,
Feb. 16.1985.
Last week: Johnny Sauter. in
a Dodge, won at the Milwau
kee Mile in West Allis. Wis.
NUTS AND BOLTS
tended) the difference between
ovals and road courses.
Hard-liner Don’t expect to
see any Michelin tires on any
vehicle Stewart drives. (Not
that anyone in NASCAR would
even consider anything but
Goodyear Eagles.)
Stewart, who reveres Indi
anapolis Motor Speedway,
could only have been more
ticked off about the U.S. Grand
Prix debacle had he been sit
ting in one of the cars yanked
off the starting grid by the
French tire manufacturer.
“If 1 were Bemie Ecclestone,
I’d ban Michelin forever,” said
Stewart. “From time to time,
we (in NASCAR) have tire is
sues, but we figure out how to
make it work. I can’t imagine a
sport that would allow its fans
to be treated that way.”
It might be instructive at
some point to note that B.F.
Goodrich is a subsidiary of
Michelin.
:RA^SWA^TRUC?^J
Race O'Reilly Auto Parts
250
Where Kansas Speedway.
Kansas City. Kan. (1.5 miles).
167 laps/250.5 miles.
When Saturday, July 2
Last year's winner Carl Ed
wards
Qualifying record: Chad
Chaffin. Dodge, 166.323
mph, July 4. 2003.
Race record: Ricky Hendnck,
Chevrolet, 125.094 mph.
July 7. 2001
Last week Dennis Setter, in
a Chevrolet, won at the Mil
waukee Mile in West Allis.
Wis.
might have to manhandle it, but the
smoother, the better, the faster."
Contact Monte Dutton at
hmduttonso@aol.com
Elsewhere Gillian Zucker,
a Daytona International Speed
way administrator who once
was assistant general manager
for the High Desert Mavericks
minor-league baseball club, has
been named president of Cali
fornia Speedway. Zucker, 36,
replaces William G. Miller, who
announced his resignation in
March. ... Max Jones has re
turned to Roush Racing to man
age its Busch and Craftsman
Truck series teams. He han
dled the same duties for sever
al years before leaving the
Roush operation in 2002.
Another track, another ferry
lnternational Speedway Cor
poration is on the march again.
Having eliminated two other
sites, ISC officials have begun
a process that would culminate
in the opening of a track in the
Northwest by about 2010.
The chosen site is in - honest
to gosh - Kitsap County, Wash.,
and there’s good news and bad
Town & Country
7H*ton&fwtto
NNromMNM nmr*
805 N. Davis Dr.
Warner Robins, GA 31093
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I across from The Audio Shop
OAVTONA ttATA
Daytona 500
Feb. 20
msm
m
0
Banking m
tnovai I
Distance: 2.5 mile oval
Length of frontstretch: 3,800 ft.
Length of backstretch: 3,400 ft
Miles/Laps: 500 ml. - 200 laps
FEUD OF THE WEEK
Jeff
Burton
Jeff Burton v*. Boris Said
Burton had a likely top-10 finish
go up in smoke when his Chevrolet
tangled with another driven by Bbris
Said. Burton was quite angry when
Said tried to apologize. "You know,"
said. uh. Said, "I feel bad about the
deal with Jeff Burton, and he came
over mad at me. and he should be
mad at Scott Pruett. Pruett turned
him around and went up through the
middle, and I was three-quarters of a
second faster than both those guys.
He came down on me, and I thought
he was giving it to me because he
was just getting going (again)."
NASCAR This Week's Monte
Dutton gives his take: "It almost al
ways causes bitterness when a driv
er running every week in the points
race tangles with another driver who
isn't. It's just human nature."
LEGENDSANDLO
Lee Petty’s victory in the first Day
tona 500 is a famous chapter in the
lore of stock car racing, but who won
the first summertime race at Daytona?
Another of the sport's all-time greats.
Fireball Roberts, won the 1959 Fire
cracker 250 in a Pontiac after starting
on the pole. Roberts averaged
140.581 mph, which was almost as
fast as Jeff Gordon's speed (145.117)
in last year's summertime classic.
FAN TIPS
Want to race Edwards?
Here’s your chance
Stonebridge Life Insurance Com
pany is giving Carl Edwards' fans the
chance to meet and race against him
through its VIP Racing Weekend with
Carl Edwards sweepstakes. The
sweepstakes' grand-prize winner will
receive a trip for
two to the Oct. 14
Busch Series race
at Lowe's Motor
Speedway in Con
cord, N.C., a be
hind-the-scenes
tour of the Roush
Racing facilities
hosted by Edwards,
the opportunity to
race against Ed
wards in the Stone-
bridge Life racing simulator, and the
thrill of becoming an honorary pit
crew member at the Nextel Cup race
at LMS on Oct. 15. Winners will be
picked in a random drawing. The
sweepstakes will run through Sept.
1, 2005 and will have a total of 99
winners. Official contest rules can be
found at www.stonebridgeracing.com.
news. The good news is it’s
about 20 miles from Seattle,
across Puget Sound. The bad is
that the 20 miles is all water.
ISC hopes to build a track of
between .8 and 1.2 miles with a
seating capacity of 80,000.
The much-celebrated “New
York City track” is planned for
Staten Island, which would also
apparently require many fans
to reach the track by taking fer
ries. A drive from Seattle to, uh,
Kitsap County would require a
trip through another city of con
siderable size, Tacoma, over a
distance of about 70 miles.
Settlemenmt reached The
lawsuit filed by Richard Chil
dress Racing against United of
Omaha has been settled. The
suit arose as a consequence of
Dale Earnhardt’s death at Day
tona on Feb. 18, 2001. The jury
trial began in Lexington, N.C.,
on May 23 and was settled in
mid-June after both parties
had presented all evidence.
The settlement terms weren’t
announced.
Moving Soon to
Carl Vinson Parkway
THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Pepsi 400
July 2
0
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Banking in
turns 1-4
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Boris
Said
Edwards
Choose trom
one incredible
selection of
cars, trucks, vans,
and SUVs 1
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Dixie
Communications
NEXTEL
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE 8|
202 C Highway 49 N„
Byron, GA
Phone:47B-956-6052
Fax:47B-956-6216
WIN 2
WEEKEND PASSES
TO THE RACE
IN DAYTONA
To prospective and
current Nextel customers:
You can win 2
completely FREE
weekend passes/tickets.
You will receive passes to
the qualifying, the
truck race, and the race
on Sat. July 3. The
drawing will be held June
25, 2005. The race is the
weekend of July 4.
There are 2 ways to win.
STEPS TO ENTER:
1. Refer a customer to
Dixie Communications to
purchase a Nextel phone.
If they activate a new line
of service anytime between
May 1 and June 25, your
name will be entered into
the drawing.
2. Activate a new line of
Nextel service anytime
between May 1 and June 25
at Dixie Communications,
your name will be entered
once for every activation.
Nextel’s coverage area is
growing very quickly and
your family and business
will benefit from
having Nextel. Listed
below are the nine new
towers and their
anticipated turn on dates
going up in and around
our area to enhance the
Nextel coverage in the
next few months.
•Kathleen 5/2/05
•Eatonton 5/16/05
•Lizella 6/8/05
•Cochran 6/9/05
•Hawkinsville 6/16/05
•Marshallville 6/26/05
•Andersonville 7/27/05
•Eastman 7/28/05
•Juliette 10/6/05
The drawing for the free
passes to each event
(Thursday- qualifying,
Friday- truck race,
Saturday-400 Race) will
be June 25. With every
activation you will also
receive a free car charger
and belt clip compliments
of Dixie Communications.
Winner seats are in the
Nextel Tower front row
beside the start/finish
flagman.
sftfa I
Chris Bozeman
Coniftisenmc and
huvingremßrieiice
"If we don't have what
you -want, then I’ll find
it for youl’
We hove
a wide
selection!