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THE HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
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ONTHETOBE
All times Eastern
Nwxtwl Cap
Pepsi 400,
7:30 p.m„ Saturday
Busch Series
Winn-Dixie 250. QICY
7:30 p.m., Friday
Truck Series fflffJßf
O'Rellty Auto Parts 250, sunrumn
3 p.m., Saturday
[• BURNING ISSUES
► Guess what? The past two
Busch Series races have been
won by Busch Series drivers.
Paul Menard won at Milwaukee
one week after David Gilliland's
amazing upset in Kentucky. Nex
tel Cup drivers won the sea
son's first 15 races.
s While on the subject of Busch
Series coincidences, no Wiscon
sin native had ever won the an
nual race at The Milwaukee Mile
until 2005, when Johnny Sauter
won it. Menard made it two in a
row.
► In case you haven't noticed,
the greatest obstacle to Tony
Stewart's success is ... Tony
Stewart.
► The weather was unseason
ably hot in Sonoma, but the
biggest problem for the drivers
was the two race stoppages.
For some reason, the most ex
hausting experience a driver
can have on a hot day is sitting
still in the car.
+■ Some say there should be a
road race in The Chase. Jeff
Gordon thinks that's a great
idea. Most of his peers don't
share his enthusiasm.
► Brian Vickers abruptly blurted
out what everyone already
knew: He's driving a Toyota next
year for Team Red Bull.
► Scott Riggs suffered the freaki
est injury of recent times. While
unloading his jet ski at Myrtle
Beach, S.C. he stepped in an
oyster bed. You can't make that
stuff up.
► Kurt Busch apparently meant
to say he couldn't hold a candle
to predecessor Rusty Wallace
on a road course. What came
out was, "If I can drive half the
candle that Rusty held, we'll be
all right."
► Greg Zipadelli, Stewart's crew
chief, said the team's having all
the bad luck it avoided last year.
"For sure, it's been a rough road
this last month and a half," Zip
padelli said.
► Jamie McMurray, who started
on the front row at Sonoma,
crashed twice on the first lap.
That, as they say, says it all.
WHO'S HOT
.- AND WHO'S MOT ♦'
► Who'* hot
Jeff Gor
don has won
more road
races than
anyone in
NASCAR his
tory. ... Carl
Edwards fin
ished sixth,
Edwards
easily his
best showing on a road
course.
'w Who’s not Tony Stewart
has dropped from second to
seventh in the points stand
ings over five races.... Kevin
Harvick has fallen from fifth to
10th in six races.
Doping scandal strips lbar de France of its favorites
By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
STRASBOURG, France
- A doping scandal knocked
Tour de France favorites Jan
Ullrich and Ivan Basso out
of the race Friday and threw
the world’s most glamorous
cycling event into chaos.
The decision to prevent
Ullrich, Basso and likely doz
ens of others from competing
was made a day before the
Tour began. Tour director
Christian Prudhomme said
the organizers’ determi
nation to fight doping was
“total.”
Riders being excluded will
not be replaced, meaning a
smaller field than the 189
racers originally expected.
Basso, winner of the Giro
d’ltalia, and Ullrich - the
1997 Tour winner and a
five-time runner-up - were
among more than 50 cyclists
said to have been implicated
wm
■ Race: Pepsi 400
■ Where: Daytona (Beach, Fla.)
International Speedway (2.5
miles), 160 laps/400 miles.
■ When: Saturday, July 1
■ Last year * winner: Torry Stew
art
■ Qualifying record: Bill Elliott.
Ford. 210.364 mph, Feb. 9,
1987.
■ Race record: Bobby Allison,
Buick, 173.473 mph, July 4.
1980.
■ Last week: Jeff Gordon was
born near Infineon Raceway, and
his latest visit was notable even
by his lofty standards. He picked
up an engagement ring, some of
the fine wine he himself pro
duces in the Sonoma Valley, a
trophy, $325,661 and his first
Nextel Cup victory of the year.
WHAT"S UP NEXT
Kurt Busch
- ..-jliilk — —I
John Clark/NASCAR This Week
Kurt Busch, center, talks with members of his crew during qualifying for the Daytona 500 In February. Busch crashed and finished
38th in that race, but hopes to do better the second time through Daytona this weekend.
Second-half rally
Busch isn’t in The Chase yet, but he plans on getting there
By Monte Dutton
NASCAR This Week
SONOMA, Calif. Kurt Busch, who
won the Nextel Cup championship in
the first year of The Chase (2004), re
mains one of NASCAR’s more talented
and controversial drivers.
On March 26, at Bristol Motor
Speedway, Busch won for the 15 th
time in stock-car racing’s premier se
ries. At age 27 Busch turns 28 on
Aug. 4 he has already won more
races than Dick Hutcherson, Lee Roy
Yarbrough, Tim Richmond, Donnie Al
lison, Paul Goldsmith, Cotton Owens,
Tiny Lund and Ralph Moody won in
their careers.
But Busch’s new ride he moved
from Roush Racing to Penske Racing
South in the offseason has been a
bit slow coming to speed. As the regu
lar season enters its stretch drive,
Busch faces quite a challenge in im-
in a Spanish doping probe
that has rocked the sport for
weeks.
Basso and Ullrich’s teams
said Friday that because
their names had come up in
the probe they were being
withdrawn from the Tour.
Ullrich’s T-Mobile squad said
it also suspended rider Oscar
Sevilla and sporting direc
tor Rudi Pevenage because of
their involvement.
The team of Spanish racer
Francisco Mancebo, a top
rider who finished fourth at
the Tour last year, said it was
also barring him.
Tour officials did not imme
diately say how many other
riders were out of the race.
The Spanish scandal
erupted in May when police
there carried out arrests and
raids, seizing drugs and fro
zen blood thought to have
been readied for banned, per
formance-enhancing transfu
► If you have a question or a comment, write: NASCAR This Week, c/o The Gaston Gazette. PO. Box 1893, Gastonia, NC 28053
WEXTEI COP
Early on the morning of the
Dodge/Save Mart 350, Gordon
called his crew chief. Steve
Letarte. "It must've been 7:30 or
8," said Gordon. "I said I've got
two things for you. One. we're go
ing to win the race. Two. I'm en
gaged.’ " Yes. indeed. Gordon an
nounced that he will marry for
the second time, to Belgian mod
el Ingrid Vandebosch. Once the
race started, Gordon led the
most laps (44), but his domi
nance owed considerably to the
inability of those around him to
eliminate mistakes and curb their
tempers. It was altogether fitting,
of course, that Gordon won the
100th major NASCAR event ever
run on a road course since he
has won more (nine) than anyone
in history.
sions. Since then, the names
of riders said to have had
contacts with Eufemiano
Fuentes, a doctor among
those arrested, have leaked
in Spanish media.
Then, after more leaks on
Thursday, Spanish authori
sSiIdS3S
SPORTS
HN-T-HE^f»oTldGflT
Nextel Cup Series
proving his performance enough to
qualify for the Chase. He’s in 14 th
place after his fifth-place finish at In
fineon Raceway.
“We’re a bit surprised that it’s taken
some time to get to this point,” Busch
said after winning the pole for the
race in Sonoma, Calif. “Winning right
out of the gate (fifth race of the sea
son at Bristol) and winning the pole in
the second race of the year (California
Speedway) provided us with a lot of
adrenaline that added to that success.
... There’s still plenty of time, and I
think we’re in great position to be one
of the underdogs to work our way into
The Chase.”
Busch, from Las Vegas, has never
lacked confidence. It fueled his rise
from Craftsman Truck Series driver
to Nextel Cup contender in only two
years. He became a champion in his
fourth full season in Cup.
Busch insisted that he ish’t con
Green Magic
BUSCH SERIES
■ Race: Winn-Dixie 250
■ Where: Daytona
(Beach, Fla.) Internation
al Speedway (2.5 miles),
100 laps/250 miles.
■ When: Friday, June 30
■ Last year's winner:
Martin Truex Jr.
■ Qualifying record: Tom
my Houston, Buick,
194.389 mph, Feb. 10.
1987.
■ Race record: Dale
Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet,
153.715 mph, July 4,
2003.
■ Last week: Paul
Menard drove a Chevro
let to victory in the AT&T
250 at The Milwaukee
Mile.
ties released details from the
probe to Tour organizers and
other cycling bodies, showing
which riders were implicated
in the investigation. It was
on the basis of that official
information that Tour teams
decided to act.
~ Concrete ~
« •Driveways
1 •Foundations
| •Form Boards
? •Grading
ft •Refinishing
ij *New &
J Remodeled
F CRAFTSMAN TRUCK
■ Race: O'Reilly Auto
Parts 250
■ Where: Kansas Speed
way, Kansas City. Kan.
(1.5 miles), 167
laps/250.5 miles.
■ When: Saturday, July 1
■ Last year's winner:
Todd Bodine
■ Qualifying record: Bill
Lester, Toyota, 173.833
mph, July 1, 2005.
■ Race record: Ricky
Hendrick, Chevrolet.
125.094 mph. July 7,
2001.
■ Last week: Johnny
Benson, in a Toyota, won
his second straight race
at The Milwaukee Mile.
No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge
cerned about pressure in the coming
weeks.
"We know what the team needs to
do better, and we’re starting to turn
the corner and run more consistent
ly,” he said. “There’s a lot of time to
go, and a lot of things can happen, ei
ther way. We don’t feel any pressure
to do anything different. We just need
to stay at our own pace.”
“There’s nothing new about what
we’re doing,” added Roy McCauley,
Busch’s crew chief. “Kurt has done a
fantastic job of driving. ... The whole
team is really getting it done. The last
three or four weeks have been good.
The whole team has really pulled to
gether. We’re going to put our best
foot forward and see what happens.
“I think we’ve got a very reasonable
car with a superb driver.”
Contact Monte Dutton at
hmduttonso@aol.com
GOT
TINT?
Beat The Heat
This Summer
With Custom
Window Tint
By
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SATURDAY, JULY 1, 2006 ♦
•OAYTONA-OATA
BC Daytona 500 Pepsi 400 ki.
Feb. 19 July 1
ffnp:
f DAYTONA
INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
Distance: 2.5 mile oval
Length of frontstretch: 3,800 ft
Length of backstretch: 3,400 ft
Miles/Laps: 500 mi. - 200 laps
Banking in
trioval
rCU U C. C.C.f\ "
I r \
I **
H; • j
Tony Stewart
vs. Boris Said
Said, who is trying hard to be
come a Cup regular, expressed disil
lusionment with Stewart, whom he
called “the greatest driver in the
world.” The greatest driver shoved
Said out of the way a couple of times
and left him with a few well-known
gestures of derision to stew on. Said
took exception, but said they'd make
up once Stewart's temper cooled.
NASCAR This Week's Monte
Dutton gives his take: “Stewart may
have taken it out on Said, but what
caused him to boil over was a speed
ing ticket from NASCAR. Every time it
seems as if Stewart is maturing,
along comes a race like this one."
Z YOUR "FtJ RN Zm+
H.ETTEfIS-fROM’OUR-ftEAOEftS-*
Still waiting for those
other penalties on No. 48
I read recently where Dale Jarrett's
crew chief (was) suspended. I read
where the penalties “included a
loss of 25 driver points for Jarrett..."
After (Jimmie) Johnson's No. 48
crew chief was suspended, the penal
ty was given (fine/suspension) with
"likely further penalties." I'm still wait
ing to hear the number of points
Johnson will lose. (It's) a big joke;
politics.
Why don't we concede to NASCAR
being a branch of the Hendrick-
Lowe's dynasty?
Bill Moore
Lynden, Ont.
NASCAR officials are often accused
of being arbitrary in penalty assess
ments. There's merit in what you
wrote, but they reserve the right take
into account considerations that may
not be readily apparent. Similar
charges could be and are lev
eled against almost any body, includ
ing the courts, that passes judgment
on a wide variety of alleged violations.
' |M yf /Til
Jimmie Johnson
WINDOW FILM
592 Carl Vinson Pkwy
Warner Robins, GA
329-8100
Yf
Banking in
turns 1-4
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Boris
Said
Tony
Stewart
NTW file photo
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