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Greetings from Pit Road
Posted: Friday February 18, 2000 03:05 PM
Sports Illustrated motorsports writer Mark Bechtel will answer your questions every Friday on CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question. Well, my face is sunburned and my hearing is shot, which means one of two things: I passed out at Lollapalooza (again), or they are racing in Daytona. The big news down here is the Ford-Chevy bickering, which has reached nearly comic levels. It's nothing new, of course, but to hear the Chevy guys talk you'd think they were being asked to race something as aerodynamically unsound as the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, a giant motorized sausage that has, for some reason, been parked outside my hotel for the past four days. The other day I left the hotel at the same time as the OMWM and -- swear to god -- it outran me on the interstate. And come to think of it, my rental is a Chevy.
Was the car that Ricky Rudd crashed during the Bud Shootout the same car in which he qualified the second for the 500? I'm curious if he will have to use a backup and therefore start at the rear for the Daytona 500. Ricky's car was not the same one he will race in the 500, so he doesn't have to give up his starting position. Most of the drivers brought along separate cars for the Shootout and the big race. Doing so means a fair amount of extra work for the crews involved, but if they can afford it, most teams would rather have the insurance policy in place.
Mark, who has the best chance to win NASCAR rookie of the year and who do you think will be the Winston Cup champion? Most rookie of the year talk is centered around Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth , but don't overlook Scott Pruett . Like Tony Stewart , he has plenty of experience in virtually every type of car. Plus, he's 39, so calling him a rookie is a bit of a stretch. The thing that trips up most rookies is DNFs, and a veteran driver like Pruett isn't going to be as prone to big trouble as one of the kids. Dave Blaney has also looked good down here, but he underscored my point about kids finding trouble when he cut a tire and tapped the wall in practice on Wednesday. I'd go with Pruett, and I like Junior by a nose ahead of Kenseth for second. As for the Winston Cup, based on what we've seen so far, Dale Jarrett looks like a real champ. He'll be tough to beat, but this early in the season any prediction is little more than a hunch. My gut tells me a healthy Mark Martin is going to have a big season.
If the top two starting spots are locked in for the Daytona 500, why do the top two have to race in the qualifiers? The two fastest guys in the time trials are required to run at least one lap in the qualifiers, but Rudd and Jarrett are anxious to race in the qualifiers. For starters, there's money on the line (as well as pride). Second, these guys haven't really had a chance to see what their new cars can do under race conditions. The Bud Shootout gave them a taste of what to expect, but those were different cars and the field was a whole lot smaller. In practice this week, the biggest drafting packs have been in the 15-18 car range, so the 125s are the first-time drivers getting to see what happens when you get a bunch of cars out there for more than 15 minutes at a time. After watching the Daytona qualifying and the Bud Shootout, and keeping in mind I'm a fan of Dale Jarrett, I find it exciting and disturbing, the performance I witnessed. I'm obviously excited for the Yates driver, but I can't help think that something is amiss. How can a driver go almost two miles an hour faster in qualifying and drive draft-unassisted and gain 3/10ths to .5 second per lap in the first round of the Shootout on drafting competition? I hope nothing has been fudged in the preparation of the vehicle, or was the competition simply just totally off their game? It even makes it more confusing knowing these are restrictor plate cars with NASCAR taking some of the setup out of the rear by relegating the competitors to all the same shocks!
Do you think something is wrong with this picture? Craig, there are about 50 teams down here wondering the same thing. But after Bill Elliott beat him in the first qualifier on Thursday, Jarrett doesn't look quite as unbeatable. I think Jeff Gordon put it best the other day when he said that Jarrett is the only guy down here who has a car that can give him both speed and handling. But before we launch a full-fledged investigation into what's going on in his garage, we need to keep a few things in mind. In qualifying, the second-fastest car was his teammate's, so that should tell you that the Yates guys are a step ahead of the pack. Then in the Bud Shootout qualifier, DJ was racing against guys who were the fastest in second-round qualifying last year. It's sort of a fluke that he was even in that race (it's not very often that a guy can win a Winston Cup title without winning a single pole). Going in it was pretty obvious that, barring a wreck, he was going to win handily. And as for the Shootout itself, Jarrett won that thanks largely to a great tactical move. You'll remember there was a mandatory green-flag pit stop between laps 10 and 12. Just about every driver pitted at the first opportunity, which made for a pretty crowded pit road. (Things got even more confused when Mark Martin hit his jack man.) Jarrett, however, stayed on the track and waited to pit on the next lap. He had pit road almost to himself, and the former Rainbow Warriors got him in and out in no time. By the time the pack got back to him as he was coming out of the pits, he was almost up to speed and he only dropped to about third place. By staying on the track an extra lap, he picked up eight or so spots, which put him in position to make a move at the end. So I think we can attribute the 88's success so far to good work on the part the crew chief, driver and pit crew. I don't think there's anything more to it than that. Mark, in your opinion which driver will be NASCAR's next golden boy? It is and should be very obvious that NASCAR selects a driver that they feel is very marketable to the public. It is almost too obvious that Earnhardt and Gordon were the last two to receive preferential treatment from NASCAR.
In a sport where there are supposed to be such constraints put on making the competition even, how do you explain one driver being so dominating without the help of NASCAR? I don't think it's fair to attribute Gordon's on-track success to preferential treatment from NASCAR. Love him or hate him, the fact remains that the guy can drive. And he'll be the first to tell you that his team plays a huge role in his success. Rick Hendrick doesn't leave his drivers wanting for much, and Gordon's crew is top-notch. We've got to give credit where credit is due. I will agree with you that NASCAR realizes how important it is to have marketable drivers. The more personable, talented, interesting drivers on the circuit, the more popular the sport will be. So you can expect to hear a lot from guys like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth in the coming years. And I wouldn't be surprised if Tony Stewart becomes popular among fans looking for a new, younger Intimidator. He's got some spunk, to say the least, and he's not going to back down from anyone -- on or off the track (witness his shoving match with Robby Gordon on Wednesday).
Will you be including coverage of World of Outlaws any time soon?
Greg, We're going to do our best to cover everything on four wheels.
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