Join the Discussion "I loved his answer to the question 'Does the booing bother you?' Jeff said it right! He said 'Keep on booing at me...it is making me stronger and better!'" 24JEFFFAN

Related Resources • Looking Like A Champion • Power Rankings • Points System • 2001 Predictions

Dateline: June 18, 2001

It was just two months ago that Dale Jarrett was looking like a champion, winning races and staying out of trouble. He's still a strong contender, but Jeff Gordon has two wins and a second place finish in the last three races and has claimed the NASCAR Winston Cup points lead.

With only one more race left before the traditional halfway point is marked by the race under the lights in Daytona there are six drivers left with a realistic shot (within 300 points of the leader) at the title.

Currently in sixth place, Rusty Wallace's 43rd place finish in Vegas and his 41st place in Michigan have him scrambling to recover his consistency. His engines are strong and Rusty knows how to race for points but considering his current 293 point deficit he is going to need to have the leaders stumble if he is going to win this season's Cup.

Fifth place Tony Stewart is 239 points out of the lead and, like Wallace will need to have the leaders find some bad luck in order to get his first Winston Cup title. Stewart's worst finish of the season came after that spectacular crash in Daytona where he finished 36th but he has four other finishes of 23rd or worse. Stewart climb up into the top five based on his string of six consecutive top-ten finishes including his big win in Richmond, he'll need to keep those good finishes coming if he wants to sit at the head table in New York.

Sterling Marlin leads the Dodge charge by holding down a strong fourth place in the NASCAR Winston Cup points standings. His two worst races of the year came in Atlanta and Texas where he finished 35th and 34th respectively. Sterling has been remarkably consistent but he is the only driver in the top six without a win this season. Only 147 points behind, he is still within easy reach but neither he nor his team have ever been in the title hunt before, and that can be a lot to overcome.

Third place in the points finds a rejuvenated Ricky Rudd. After years of struggling as a team owner / driver he removed the slash after the 1999 season and is focused entirely on driving the car. Robert Yates Racing knows how to build fast cars, how to build strong engines and how to win championships. After winning in Pocono this team is energized and can easily make up 130 points to claim the big prize.

Dale Jarrett has only finished out of the top-twenty twice in 2001 as Daytona and California stung with 22nd and 24th place finishes. With eight top-five finishes including three wins so far this season Dale Jarrett is doing all the right things to win another championship, his only problem is that he's chasing another driver who has been just a touch better so far in 2001. 36 points is essentially a dead heat with so much racing left in the season. Can Jarrett do it? Certainly! His team has been there before, his equipment is some of the best available and Dale Himself is rock solid in the seat and knows how to race for points.

The current points leader has been either amazing or luck-struck. With four finishes outside the top 25 including a terrible 40th place finish in Darlington this has not been a typical Championship season for Gordon. But his current hot streak of two wins and three second place finishes in the last six races have him in the lead and looking very strong.

The current point standings really show off one of the features of the current NASCAR points system. Jeff Gordon currently leads by 36 points, however if you were to take away all bonus points scored by all drivers Gordon would instead be leading by one single point. Whether or not you like the way the current NASCAR points system works you have to admire a team that understands the rules and uses them to their maximum advantage.

The Championship fight is far from over. Certainly Gordon and Jarrett have the inside track but one of the other four could still win it. Who will it be? We will all have to wait a few more months for the Championship picture to become clearer.

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