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Tough call Everyone's a contender for the 600
By Stephen Thomas, CNNSI.com CONCORD, N.C. -- Jeff Gordon knows from winning, as his 53 career wins will attest. He also knows from winning at Lowe's Motor Speedway, as his four career wins will attest. But get him to pick a dark horse for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600? He's no dummy. "I don't know," Gordon said Saturday morning. "There are so many guys, the competition is so close these days, you really can't just pick one or two. You really have to go off things like who's run well here in the past and who's got a strong team for a 600 mile race." In other words ... maybe somebody like you, Mr. Gordon? "I'm throwing us in there too of course," Gordon admitted, "'cause I feel like we're capable of that, but, man, it's anybody's race." Still, on the assumption that any normal person's definition of "dark horse" would not include Gordon, it begs the question: who else could make himself a contender Sunday. Moreover, on the assumption that any normal person's definition of "dark horse" does not contain any of the additional candidates cited by Gordon and a few other drivers -- namely, Double Duty Stewart and Dale Jarrett -- the question remains ... While Ryan Newman might be something of a cop-out -- he's the pole sitter, for God's sake -- he is your leading and perhaps most likely candidate. Though the 23-year-old is making just his third Winston Cup start, his recent performances have forced other drivers to sit up and take notice. In addition to his star turn in The Winston Open last Saturday, Newman was the fastest in Saturday morning's second practice session, more than 1/2 a mile-per-hour better than Gordon. "This is a handling track and the best handling car is going to win the race," Sterling Marlin said. "But the 02 [Newman] looks real good. He's impressed a lot of people, if he can get out front like he did in The Open and keep his nose clean, he might be hard to beat." Rusty Wallace, Newman's teammate at Penske Racing and another driver mentioned as a potential winner by Gordon, echoed Marlin's assessment, though he did offer an illuminating qualification. "I know what's under the car," Wallace said when he assessed Newman's chances. "I think it's real fast. But it's pretty well up in the air, there's a lot of cars that have won this year I would've never thought would have won, a lot of cars that shouldn't have won." Under normal circumstances, Dale Jarrett isn't a driver seen as a dark horse, but a freak injury late Saturday morning would seem to relegate him into that class of driver that shouldn't win: He was diagnosed as having suffered a cracked rib on his right side. "I was going into turn three and I just felt a pop," Jarrett said. "I don't know if it's from a previous injury or something from the other night [Jarrett crashed in qualifying]. I had no indication. I worked out [Friday] and lifted weights and ran like I normally would and had no problems." Be that as it may, any race, let alone the longest race of the year, simply invites problems. "This is a long race," Gordon said. "No matter who is the favorite or who is the car to beat, there's still a lot that has to happen. I remember when I won my first race and it was here in the 600. I don't think too many people picked us to win that day and Rusty had us beat. But we threw a two-tire stop in there and won the race, so a lot of neat things can happen." But a word to the wise to anyone who thinks he knows who will win the Coca-Cola 600: Gordon went on to say that the car he has here this week is much better than the car that carried him to the win in last Saturday's Winston.
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