Top Row Seat - Dover
Dateline: 06/03/97Ricky Rudd extended his remarkable string of seasons in which he has won at least one Winston Cup event to 15. This is an impressive record considering the fact that he only has 18 wins in his entire career. I guess he hasn't exactly had many hot streaks.
Losers Outnumber Winners
The real story of this race was who didn't win. Bobby Labonte was running strong early in the race when Kyle Petty unintentionally took him out. Kyle made a mistake. After the incident Bobby Labonte was understandably quite frustrated on the scanner. I was impressed that he was able to give such a restrained interview to the press.
Next up was the incident between Dale Jarrett and PosterBoy. This wreck was the spotter's fault. Jarrett's spotter told him about the second spin and DJ slowed down. PosterBoy's spotter never said a word about the second spin and as a result #24 never had a chance to slow down and avoid Jarrett. (all you Dupont Defenders take note that I'm not blaming this incident on the driver)
The final leader who removed himself from competition was Ernie Irvan. It looked like Ernie just plain lost it in turn one. However, in his defense, Ernie said on the scanner that he felt something in turn three and when he got to turn one it just got out from under him.
The rumor from the race track this week is that Texaco wants to put Sterling Marlin in the car and Robert Yates wants to stick with Ernie. This is an interesting test to see who really does control the race team. Will the team owner win out or does the money control the driver's seat?
Great Quotes
Unfortunately, most of the great quotes from this weekend are scanner bytes which contain language not appropriate for a family sport (or a family column). This weekend I heard more foul language on the scanner than I heard in all of 1996 combined.
My favorite quote of the week that I can repeat is from Eli Gold. Upon returning from commercial they show an arial shot of Jeff Green's Cartoon Network car sitting on pit road as a result of a brush with the wall. Eli's lead in, "As Scooby Doo would say 'Rut Roh.'" You've just got to love that.
Next Up On The Schedule
This week the boys return to Pocono for 500 miles on the unique triangle shaped racetrack. Some of the rumors are that Pocono is a leading candidate to lose one of it's Winston Cup dates to new tracks looking to get on the schedule. With Pocono historically paying the lowest purse, and considering the relatively weak attendance figures. It should be no surprise that new tracks near large television markets in St. Louis, Chicago and Las Vegas have all been rumored at one time or another to be getting one of Pocono's dates.
For some reason this track has seen a number of first time winners over the years. However, after a frustrating week at Dover look for the top guns to be in top form in Pocono. This week's race will be won by somebody in the top five in points.
Go Fast, Turn Left, Stay Safe!
Send your tips, rumors and comments to me at nascar.guide@miningco.com.
