Top Row Seat - Pocono - Pennsylvania 500
Dateline: 07/22/97Championship Roundup
When it's all said and done in November and the Winston Cup Championship has been awarded we all may well look back at this weekend in Pocono as a key point in the Championship chase.
First of all defending champion and current points leader Terry Labonte got a little love tap from his brother that caused Terry to finish deep in the pack. Terry's 35th place finish dropped him from a 3 point lead all the way back to third place 114 points behind the leader. This may prove to be too much for Terry to overcome.
As a result of Terry's bad luck his teammate in the Dupont #24 has regained the points lead. This weekend could prove to be critical in his quest for a second championship. After having two disappointing finishes back-to-back in Daytona and Loudon this week's strong second place finish may well have put PosterBoy back on track to collect the big check from Winston at the end of the year.
The other big points story from this weekend was Mark Martin's remarkable recovery from his early troubles. Early in the race Mark had a tire problem and pitted, losing a lap and falling to 40th place. But Mark hung in there all day long and finally, with just 72 laps remaining got his lap back. He then started climbing through the lead lap cars to finish fifth. If Mark should go on to win his first Winston Cup this year, he can credit part of it to avoiding this potential disaster.
So now the Championship is looking very much like a 6 horse race PosterBoy, Martin, Terry Labonte, Jarrett, Jeff Burton and Earnhardt are all still in contention. Bobby Labonte is in seventh place now some 428 points out of the lead which is just too much to overcome considering the consistency of the drivers in front of him.
I'm not going to try to pick a winner but I will say it sure would be nice to see somebody besides Rick Hendrick pick up the Championship Car Owners award.
Go Fast, Turn Left, Stay Safe!
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