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AH times Eastern
Nextel Cup
Neighborhood I’iCV
Excellence 400,
1:30 p.m., Sunday
Busch Series
Stonebndgeßacing.con kSFX
200.3 p.m., Saturday
Truck Series #<MH
AAA Insurance 200, innnnm
8 pm, Friday
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► The Lowe's Motor Speedway
races were marred by controver
sy, but this time the actions of
NASCAR officials seemed non
sensical. First they required
smaller fuel tanks. Then, after
one test session had been com
pleted. Goodyear switched to
harder tire compounds that
negated the purpose of the
smaller tanks.
► The result? Tires that provided
insufficient grip for a fast new
paved surface. In short, there
was very little method to the
madness.
► Once the rigors of racing 600
miles took a physical toll on driv
ers. This time around, crewmen
were the ones who staggered
out of the track exhausted.
► Tony Stewart is having a spell
of bad luck ... and hard im
pacts. His car flipped in a
Busch Series crash at Tallade
ga. He crashed hard in the Nex
tel All-Star Challenge. On con
secutive nights at Lowe's Motor
Speedway, mechanical failures
sent cars driven by Stewart into
walls with brutal force. In both
cases, Stewart had to be exam
ined at a nearby hospital.
► As the interminable Coca-Cola
600 ran its weird, almost incom
prehensible course, an an
nouncement was made that
Stewart had been released from
a nearby hospital. There was.
however, no truth to the rumor
that by night's end Stewart was
competing in the "B main" at a
dirt track in Kokomo, Ind.
► Elliott Sadler escaped serious
injury when he tripped while ap
pearing on a TV show and
plunged off a stage in downtown
Charlotte two nights before the
Coke 600.
► With all the caution flags and
mysterious spins, the LMS race
was at times no easier to under
stand than Einstein's Theory of
Relativity.
► One of the always-joncise Lar
ry Mcßeynolds' shining sen
tences during the race: “Almost
everybody changed four tires for
the most part that we can pick
up on.”
Hwe-WHO^er-
► Who's hot Kasey Kahne
has won three times this sea
son. ... Matt Kenseth and
Mark Martin moved past Tony
Stewart in the points stand
ings.
► Who's not r3BBr ,i,E
--— Stewart
was hanged ■p*'"
up twice,
crashing in
both the . /*A ||
Busch and i "^kn
Cup races in
Charlotte....
Dale Jarrett's JARRETT
last-place fin
ish dropped him from 12th to
16th in the standings.
r-TOP-aiG-W-PeiNT»»]
Nextel Cup
1. Jimmie Johnson 1,861
2. Matt Kenseth -109
'3. Mark Martin - 209
4. Tony Stewart -231
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -271
8. Kasey Kahne -292
7. Jeff Gordon 410
8. Kevin Harvick - 411
9. We Busch -424
10. Jeff Burton -435
Busch Series
1. Kevin Harvick 2,092
2. Carl Edwards - 348
3. Clint Bowyer -439
4. Denny Hamlin -450
5. JJ.VWey : 490
6. Greg Biffle -496
7. Kyle Busch - 503
8. Paul Menard - 518
9. Jason lefflef I®§6
10. Johnny Sauter - 660
Craftsman Truck Series
X. Todd Bodine 1,017
2. Ted Musgave -17
3. David Reutimarm -121
4. Mark Martin -173
5. Terry Cook - 209
6. Johnny Benson - 229
7. David Starr - 234
9. Dennis Setter -241
9. Jack Sprague - 252
10. Matt Crafton -257
► If you have a question or a comment, write: NASCAR This Week, c/o The Gaston Gazette. PO. Box 1893, Gastonia, NC 28053
sew«es
■ Race: Neighborhood Excellence
400
■ Where: Dover (Del.) Internation
al Speedway (1.0 miles), 400
laps/miles,
■ When Sunday, June 4
■ Last year's winner: Greg Biffle
■ Qualifying record: Jeremy May
field. Dodge, 161.522 mph, June
4. 2004.
■ Race record: Mark Martin,
Ford. 132.719 mph, Sept. 21.
1997.
Last week: Kasey Kahne, the bril
liant young driver said to be too
impatient in the Nextel All-Star
Challenge, went out and proved
his detractors wrong by winning
the one NASCAR race that de
mands the most patience and en
durance, the Coca-Cola 600. A
huge crash had been touched off
—WH P 4M EXT
Elliot Sadler
He Needs A Hug
Slumping Sadler hopes changes
turn his season around soon
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
CONCORD, N.C. Elliott Sadler is hopeful a spat of re
cent managerial changes at Robert Yates Racing will help
get his No. 38 M&M’s Ford back up to speed.
Robert Yates and his son, co-owner Doug Yates, fired
general manager Eddie D’Hondt and made other moves de
signed to shore up the team’s overall effort. Sadler and
Dale Jarrett are the team’s Nextel Cup drivers.
Sadler, 31, has three career victories but hasn’t won since
the Sept. 5, 2004 race at California Speedway. Fifty-nine
races have passed since that triumph, and Sadler slumped
to 13 th last year in the points standings. The team has re
mained erratic this year with new crew chief Tommy Bald
win Jr. leading Sadler’s team.
“We just want to be more competitive,” said Sadler. “We
want to be more competitive when we show up at the race
track, and I think we’re looking at this as maybe a way to
make that happen.”
One of the changes is Sadler’s increasing involvement in
the Busch Series.
“By getting in the Busch car and running more laps, we’ll
be using it as a sister car for my ‘3B’ car more than just a
Busch car that we’re not using any notes off of,” said
Sadler.
Jarrett has already announced a move elsewhere in 2007.
He will join Michael Waltrip’s team when Toyota enters the
Cup Series.
Sadler wanted to put to rest rumors that he, too, is look
ing to move elsewhere.
“I’m not unhappy,” he said. “I’m just frustrated with the
way we’ve been running. That’s two different scenarios.
There’s a difference in being unhappy and being frustrat
ed. I’m frustrated just because I want to run well. I’m a
very competitive person. I feel like we’ve got a top-10
team. I feel like our sponsors deserve to be in the top 10, so
I’m frustrated with not giving it to them.
“No team has offered me any contract, any money, any
situation at all. I can look at anyone with a straight face and
tell them that.”
Sadler said he will miss Jarrett, however.
“I think the world of Dale Jarrett,” he said. “I wish him
well. I think he’s a great driver. He understands the race
car very well. He doesn’t tear up a lot of equipment. He’s
very consistent, and I can still see the fire in his eyes. I still
see it when he’s happy and when he’s unhappy. No matter
what his age or whatever, he’s a great competitor. I’m hap
py for him in the decision he’s made as a friend. I’m disap
pointed that I’ve lost a great teammate.”
Stewart responds to his critics as only he can
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
CONCORD Stewart under
stands his critics, but he also
feels compelled to give them
some understanding of how
overstated some of the criti
cism is.
A crash in the Nextel All-
Star Challenge revived the
popular notion of a feud be
tween Stewart and Matt
Kenseth, a feud which, accord
ing to both parties, doesn’t re
ally exist as a practical matter.
“Matt and I talked (May 25),
and we’re fine about it,” said
Stewart. “The thing is, every
body remember? the com
ments from last weekend.
Everybody takes everything
that's said to heart, and as
soon as it comes out of our
mouths, it’s set in stone. They
don’t have the common sense
to realize that we’ve had a
chance to look at it and think
about it.
“They think there has to be a
feud all the time, and the peo
ple who want that are people
who don’t like me anyway or
by Kahne eight days earlier, reviv
ing some old, discredited digs at
the 26-year-old driver from Enum
claw. Wash. Kahne s triumph in
NASCAR's longest race was the
first by a Dodge driver since
Richard Petty's 1977 victory in an
event then known as the World
600 and on a track then known
as Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The race was a muddled mess in
terms of competition, rife with
weird crashes and imprehensible
plot twists, but Kahne's victory
was well deserved, a point made
obvious when he streaked away
from Jimmie Johnson, the winner
of five of the six previous races
at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The
margin of victory was 2.115 sec
onds.
HN
Nextel Cup Series
they don’t like Matt. Get over
it, people. It’s a waste of time
to talk about it.”
By Kenseth’s own admission,
he didn’t realize Stewart had
pulled inside of him entering
turn one, and when Kenseth
drove into the corner, the two
collided. Kenseth criticized
Stewart before he’d had a
chance to look at replays of the
incident.
“We’re all human beings,”
said Stewart. “We’re not com
puters or machines. We’re hu
man beings with human emo
tions, and we all have tempers at
some point. We all find ways to
make up for it and make things
right going down the road.”
■
No sour grapes Once upon
a time, it was alleged that Jeff
Gordon got all of Hendrick Mo
torsports’ “best stuff.” One
consequence of Jimmie John
son’s rise is that it quieted all
the talk of a pecking order at
the multi-car team.
Gordon, to his credit, never
complained when the tables
SPORTS
■ Race Stonebridgeßac
ing.com 200
■ Where: Dover (Del.) In
ternational Speedway
(1.0 miles), 200
laps/miles.
■ When: Saturday. June 3
■ Last year's winner:
Martin Truex Jr.
■ Qualifying record:
David Green, Chevrolet,
157.916 mph. June 6,
2004.
■ Race record: Dale
Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet,
130.152 mph, May 30,
1998.
■ Last week: Ford driver
Carl Edwards won the
Carquest 300 at Lowe's
Motor Speedway.
■ jj]
John Clark/NASCAR This Week
Elliot Sadler hugs daughter Halie Dm after a practice run at Daytona
earlier this year.
But Sadler said he would stay put, emphasizing his loyal
ty to the Yateses.
“Robert (Yates) gave me a job when I needed one,” he
said, “and I’ve given him my promise that we’re going to
work our butts off the next couple of months to get this
race team back where it needs to be.
“I plan to come back. I think it’s my duty.”
Contact Monte Dutton at
hmduttonso@aol.com
* NUTS AND BOLTS
turned. He said the notion that
Johnson has some kind of extra
edge is an example of complex
issues being simplified. All four
Hendrick teams Johnson,
Gordon, Kyle Busch and Brian
Vickers compare notes and
cooperate with one another.
"But Jimmie drives so differ
ent than I do,” said Gordon. “He
uses a lot more brake, and if
you look at his data versus
mine, it’s just really hard to set
the cars up the same. There
have been times they’ve been
really close, but between him
and me, you can’t use the same
methods to make me comfort
able the way I drive this track.”
■
Thanks, but no Matt
Kenseth said he’s lost interest
in the various test sessions sur
rounding NASCAR’s so-called
“Car of Tomorrow." This week
NASCAR officials tested the
car again, but for now, Kenseth
said he’d just as soon let other
drivers do the research and de-
RAFTSMAN
■ Race: AAA Insurance
200
■ Where: Dover (Del.) In
ternational Speedway
(1.0 miles). 200
laps/miles.
■ When: Friday. June 2
■ Last year’s winner:
Kyle Busch
■ Qualifying record:
David Starr, Chevrolet,
157.577 mph, June 2.
2005.
■ Race record: Ted Mus
grave. Dodge, 104.545
mph. May 31. 2002.
■ Last week: Ron Horna
day, in a Chevrolet, won
at Mansfield (Ohio) Mo
torsports Park.
No. 38 M&M’s Ford
velopment. He said Roush Rac
ing didn’t have an up-to-date
prototype to test.
“We had one or two, and all
the rules changed," said
Kenseth. “I’m not sure we have
a current version.
“Do I want to test them? Not
really. If that’s for sure the pack
age we’re going to race, eventu
ally you’re going to have to test
it and try to work on it and get
used to it, but I don’t know
enough about it to know if the
rules are set in stone and this is
how we’re going to race, it’s for
sure, that’s it and that’s the end
of it or what.... I’m sure they’re
going to do a lot more tests.”
The design that supposedly
will be introduced next year
has been changed a number of
times, and Jack Roush, echoing
Kenseth’s remarks, said he’d
just as soon wait until
NASCAR’s R&D whiz kids
make up their minds.
“The car has morphed,” said
Roush.
“My understanding is that
they determined there’s an
aero imbalance in the car, that
it’s got more rear downforce
—•OOVER-OATA-
mx
Neighborhood Excellence 400
June 4
I i
%> MMn/BH M
INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
Distance: 1 mile oval
Length of frontstretch: ...1,076 ft.
Length of backstretch: ...1,076 ft
Miles/ Laps: 400 mi. - 400 laps
Bartkmg in
FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 2006
Dover 400
Sept 24
Wi
Banking m
turns 14
Mait*
Kenseth
Kasey
Kahne
V
E
R
S
U
s
Kasey Kahne
vs. Matt Kenseth
There's nothing personal, but
Kenseth went ballistic when he
heard that Kahne. who had been on
pit road when a yellow flag came
out, had actually been scored as
leader of the race.
NASCAR This Week's Monte
Dutton gives his take "According to
NASCAR, Kahne, his car still on pit
road, was slightly ahead of the
leader, who was on the track, when
the field was “frozen" electronically.
So. when everyone else pitted.
Kahne advanced to the front. While
that may be possible, it's also, as a
practical matter, ridiculous, and con
stitutes a flaw in the rules that
should be rectified. Besides,
NASCAR officials don't publicly pro
vide documentation of such rulings.
What's to keep them from judging
the races in a fashion as arbitrary as
before everything was allegedly mon
itored electronically?"
Chevrolet says Avalanche
is perfect tailgate vehicle
Chevrolet is touting its 2007
Avalanche as "the perfect tailgating
vehicle." and the manufacturer is
teaming with Richard Childress
Racing and driver Kevin Harvick for
a promotion called the No. 29 GM
Goodwrench Expertise Challenge. If
Harvick wins two out a selected 12
races, 29 fans will receive an
Avalanche and GM Goodwrench will
set up a $200,000 scholarship
fund to encourage careers as auto
motive technicians. One Avalanche
will be awarded even if Harvick
doesn't win any of the races. En
trants must visit a Chevy dealer
ship or display at NASCAR events
and get a promotion ticket with the
appropriate code, then go online to
enter. Entry may also be initiated
by going online to www.Good
wrench.com/expert to get a promo
tion code and complete the regis
tration process. The selected races
began with the Coca-Cola 600. Oth
ers are D.over, Del, June 4;
Chicagoland, July 9; New Hamp
shire, July 16; Michigan, Aug. 20;
Bristol. Aug. 26; Richmond, Sept.
9; Kansas, Oct. 1; Lowe’s (Char
lotte), Oct. 14; Texas, Nov. 5;
Phoenix, Nov. 12; and Homestead,
Nov. 19.
than it needs,” he added, “and
the next thing they’re going to
do is shorten the back end up
five or six inches, and if that’s
true and what I was told is true
... I don’t think there’s a car out
there that’s shortened up."
■
A team effort How much
does the selection of tire com
pounds rely on NASCAR’s com
petition goals? According to
Goodyear’s Stu Grant, there’s a
certain give and take.
“We try to work closely with
NASCAR for all rule issues,"
said Grant, “but in the end, it’s
our product, our engineering
expertise, and the tire com
pounds are based on data that
we’re gathering.
“Let’s step back for a mo
ment. In past years, when
NASCAR implemented a spoil
er reduction, NASCAR asked
us to provide additional grip
because the shorter spoilers
had taken downforce away.
That’s an example of the kind
of cooperative relationship
that’s in place.”
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