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Nose to tail Common template will make differences less apparentPosted: Monday March 03, 2003 12:24 PM
Got a good question last week from John of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, who was wondering if it was safe to assume, as I did last week, that Chevys would continue to be outclassed by Fords at Vegas (as they have been since the race's inception) now that NASCAR has moved to a common template. His thinking was that any inherent advantage Ford had would have been legislated away. It's a very good question, and it's one that Sunday's race probably went a long way toward answering. A Ford won -- and a Jack Roush Ford, at that -- but Monte Carlos finished Nos. 2-5. So what does it mean? Well, to me, it means that no matter what kind of cars everyone is driving (be they totally identical or radically different), some people are just better than others at certain tracks. Roush obviously has Vegas figured out. And you can't attribute their past success at the track to some sort of Ford advantage, because not only were they better than all the Chevy teams, but they were better than all the other Fords as well. What is it about his cars at the track? You got me, and Roush and his crew chiefs aren't about to tell. But it's still there. However, the fact that the Chevys ran so well on the whole, after being virtual non-factors for years, shows that maybe the common template rules will, in fact, make differences in the cars less apparent, at least by looking at results. So my answer, John, is: Kind of. And keep in mind, one area where the cars differ is in the nose, a place where small differences go a long way. So I think we're still going to see different makes run better at different tracks --just not as blatantly as in years past. (We'll touch upon this later in our prediction for next week.)
First, a few quick responses. Jim (who inquired as to my heritage), no I'm of the Ohio Bechtels. Bryan in Illinois, thanks for the nice words. It is Johnson, so your pal owes you lunch. As for your battle royal scenarios, virtually all of them involved Stacker 2, which is getting all kinds of play in this column and probably should be paying me for all these mentions. The best response was from Dave from Cuyahoga Falls, who answered, "a race at Bristol." Clever. Dave, your assignment from here on in is to keep me posted on my beloved Indians and the Browns, and to perhaps explain why the latter cut their entire defense last week. No one speculated what would happen between Kurt Busch and Jimmy Spencer, so that's this week's topic: What happens if Kobe Bryant and Mr. Excitement step into the ring? Marquis of Queensbury rules, padded gloves, a ref, 12 rounds. Spencer obviously has the size advantage, but Bryant looks like he could be wiry. As for your queries, Christopher from Montgomery wants to know: "What is the deal with Sterling Marlin and the media? I know he is outspoken on NASCAR issues and not everyone likes him like the golden boys Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, but it seems to me the media should at least give him as much air time as everyone else. Several times last year he finished in the top 10 and they somehow found a way to run out of time before speaking to him. What gives?" Well, Christopher, you got me. Sterling is about as funny as they come, but NASCAR is moving away from the good ol' boy look. If it comes down to getting a quick soundbite, Gordon might be better. But if you want someone to tell a 10-minute story about accidentally setting a cow on fire, Sterling is your man. Unfortunately, there's not much demand for that, at least on FOX.
After coming up with a pretty solid pick at Rockingham (Ricky Craven, who finished 4th), I suffered some awful luck in Vegas. My pick, Mark Martin, blew up on lap 114 and finished last. Factor in my selection at Daytona (Junior), and my picks have an average finish of 28th, which means I am the forecasting equivalent of Jack Sprague, who is 28th in the points standings. So now we head to Atlanta, a big, fast track that isn't for the faint of heart, where qualifying means next to nothing. The last two times Bobby Labonte won here he started 39th and 37th. He and Gordon always run well here, and Labonte's teammate Stewart was good last year. Joe Gibbs in Atlanta is like Roush at Vegas. And as Matt Kenseth showed, even with the common templates, some teams are still going to run better than others at certain tracks. I like Stewart. (Which means he's going to have transmission problems on lap 78.)
Mark Bechtel covers NASCAR for Sports Illustrated and SI.com. Click here to send him a question.
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