Top Row Seat - New Hampshire

Dateline: 07/13/98

Comeback Craven

This weekend started off with a flash as Ricky Craven sent the press running to the phones to report that the comeback of the year was well under way. Craven, returning to the Rick Hendrick Budweiser #50 after a very serious head injury, took a late qualifying draw and that legendary Hendrick power and started his Winston Cup comeback from the pole.

Craven is one of those drivers who, for whatever reason, just never caught my interest. However, I must admit that his emotional interview after taking the pole ranks right up there with Darrell Waltrip's post-Pocono interview as one of the truly heartfelt tear-jerking moments of 1998.

The Big Show

Really not much to say here. Jeff Burton hit what Eli Gold referred to after the race as the NASCAR "tri-fecta." Burton lead the halfway point to claim the Gatorade money, he lead the most laps, and Jeff Burton brought home the big check as the winner of the race. In terms of a single NASCAR Winston Cup race weekend only the pole position kept him from having a perfect weekend.

Next Week

This coming weekend is the Winston Cup drivers' last chance to get the cars ready to go and get any remaining sponsor commitments out of the way before heading off on an unprecedented 16 consecutive week racing schedule which takes them right through the end of the season and on to Japan without another open weekend. NASCAR officials had better pray for dry, natural disaster free, conditions for the rest of the 1998 Winston Cup calendar because there is no more room for re-scheduling between now and Atlanta.

It's one final chance to double check everything before the 1998 Winston Cup Championship is going to be decided. Hold on, it's going to be a great ride from here to November.

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