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SPORTS/tEtie ClisrUitte $ot
Thursday, March 9, 2006
IT’S CHARLOTTE!
After months of speculation,
NASCAR Monday announced
Charlotte will be the home of
the new hall of fame.
THIS WEEK
Race: UAW'DaimlerChrysler 400
Where: Las Vegas Motor Speed’
When: Sunday, 4 p,m ET
Tetevision: Fox
Defending race winner: Jimmie Johnson
Beatin’
the odds
Vegas performance
an indicator of
how season will go
ByRICKMINTER
Cox News Service
Atlanta
N ASCAR’s nationwide
road show heads to Las
Vegas this week for the
2006 UAW-DainilerChrysler
400, and odds are that when
the circuit hits the mecca of
gambling, the talk will turn
to, well, the odds.
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
officials say oddsmaker Micah
Roberts of Station Casinos is
favoring Jimmie Johnson and
G]^ Biffle in Sunday’s 400-
mile race, putting the odds
that theyTl win at 10-to-l.
But the two can hardly be
called clear favorites because
Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards
and Jamie McMurray are at
11-to-l, and Tbny Stewart,
Matt Kenseth and Mark
Martin are 12-to-l. The home
town Busch brothers, K>4e
and Kurt, are at 14-to-l.
The way Edwards talked
last week, he’s figuring he’s
got a good chance of making a
few bucks for those who bet on
him — and a lot of cash for
himself,
“I feel real good going to
Vegas,” he said. “We have a
better car than we had at
California and we tested good
[at Las Vegas].”
Edwards, in his second full
year on the Cup circuit, has
exceeded all expectations, es
pecially when it comes to rac
ing on 1.5-mile tracks like Las
Vegas He has won twice at
Atlanta and once at Tbxas.
“These track are different in
that they combine every
thing,” he said, “As a driver,
you get to do a little bit of driv
ing, and the car’s really im
portant. The speeds you run
are just spectacular. They’re a
lot of fun.”
The UAW-DaimlerChrysler
400 at Las Vegas, like the
Jimmie
Johnson
crosses the
finish line to win
last year's
DaimlerChrysler
400 at Las
Vegas Motor
Speedway.
Auto Club 500 at California
Speedway, requires a car with
good downforce, plenty of
horsepower and a chassis
combination that allows
teams to take advantage of
the aerodynamic forces and
the horsepower under the
hood.
Las Vegas is a half-mile
shorter than Cahfomia,
which means tighter turns
and more emphasis on han
dling.
Therefore, success — or the
lack of it — at Las V^as this
week will be a good indicator
of how teams will perform for
much of the rest of the season.
“If your cars are good, you’ll
run well at Cahfomia, Vegas,
Atlanta, Tbxas and so on,” de
fending Nextel Cup champion
Tbny Stewart said in his
team’s weekly release.
“Everybody wants to know
where they stack up and
shake up right now. If you can
get off to a good start, it shows
that your program is really
where it ne^ to be.
“This is a huge week.”
Carl Edwards suffered a
disappointing season-opener
at Daytona (above), finishing
43rd, but he rebounded with a
third-place finish at California.
Now. Edwards looks for
success at Las
Vegas, one
of the 1.5-
mile tracks
that
Edwards
describes
as “a lot of
fun.”
NUMERICALLY SPEAKING
Nextel Cup races that have been won fiom a top-10
starting position at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Mark Martin won from seventh in 1998 and Jimmie
Johnson won from ninth last year.
Tbp-10 finishes by Denny Hamlin
(at left, after wanning Sunday’s
Busch race) in nine career Nextel
Cup starts.
Cup races won by Jack
Roush-owned cars at Las
Vegas. Jeff Burton won two,
Matt Kenseth won two and
Mark Martin won one.
Cox News Service
LAS VEGAS
MOTOR
Track length: 15 miles
Race length; 400 miles (267
laps)
Grandstand seating: 137,000
First race: March 1. 1998
(Las Vegas 400)
Banking in corners: 12
degrees
Banking on frontstretch: 9
degrees
Banking on backstretch: 3
degrees
Frontstretch: 2,275
feet
Backstretch:
1.572 feet
Race record:
Mark Martin,
Ford;
146,554
mph; March
1, 1998
'NASCAR
221
Laps led at Las Vegas by Matt
Kenseth That tops all other Cup
drivers.
Jack Roush Is
the winningest
owner at Las
Vegas Motor
Speedway. Roush
drivers include
(from left) Mark
Martin, Matt
Kenseth and Greg
Biffle.
Rick Minter’s
OBSERVATIONS
A weekly State of the Union as NASCAR heads to Las Vegas.
THE STORYLINES
A few things that have develo|x,'d since NASCAR
opened the season Feb. 19 at Daytona:
• Deimy Hamlin takes control: Just a yeai* and a half re
moved fix)m the Late Model tj*acks of has native Viiginia,
Denny Hamlin. 25, beat NASCAR’s best restiictor-plate rac-
ei’s to win the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International
Speedway last montli, Tlien on Simday at Mexico City he
defeated a host of Ameiica’s — and Mexico’s — best road rac
ers to will tlie Tfelcel Motorola 200 at Autodromo Hermanos
Rodriguez.
It was his first Busch Series victory in 39 starts ~ just
three of tliem on road courses — and it put liim tliird in
points, 22 behind leader Kevin Harvick. Hamlin has finish
es of 30th at Daytona and 12th at California in tlie Cup se-
• What goes aroimd ... : It could be allied quite effective
ly that Matt Kenseth’s victory at California Speedway, cou
pled with Tbny Stewart’s blown engine, proves tliat wliat
goes aroimd comes aiuimd. At Daytona International
Speedway the previous week, Kenseth led 28 laps early and
had a car capable of contending for the victory only to be run
c4r the ti*ack by Stewart on Lap 107.
Kenseth, in his weekly news release, soimds like he’s
among those who beUeve lus suiprise victory at California
was one he had coming.
“Sometimes it feels like tliere is justice in tlie world,”
Kenseth said. “It feels good because I felt [at Daytona] we
had a car that could have won.
“We’ve had those days where we were the dominant car,
but it didn’t work out, so it feels good to pop out and win this
one when we maybe didn’t have tlie most dominant car.”
His victory at California came at the expense of Roush
Racing teammate Greg Biffle, who blew an engine after
dominating the race.
• Same driver, differ
ent series: The Tbyota
T\mdra contingent like
ly would be dominating
the Craftsman THick
Series if not for the
driving skills of Mark
Martin (right). Martin,
driving a Jack Roush-
owned Ford F150, has
dominated the first two
truck races at Daytona and Caliibmia, leading
a train of Tbyotas to the finish line both times.
Martin’s teammate Carl Edwards said there’s no doubt in
his mind that Martin’s superior driving skills have been the
difference in the first two races.
“You could put Mark Martin in a NASCAR-type vehicle —
a Cup car, Busch or truck — and have him run 10 laps on
any track, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who
could better his time,” Eldwards said. “He’s just that good,”
IL.'
NASCAR
• Earnhardt Jr. off to a good start: Dale Earnhardt Jr. has
n’t raced his way into the headlines, but he and his cousin
and crew chief, TbnyEuryJr, are off to a solid start, He was
in the top five late in the Daytona 500 and still liad designs
on a victory until a last-lap shuffle dixopped him to eighth.
And in the second race of the season, he finished 11th at
California %)eedway on a track where he has been known to
be a backmarker.
His average finish in the three previous races at California
was 34.6.
After missing the Chase for the Nextel Cup last season,
he’s now fifth in points, 68 behind leader Jimmie Jolmson
and eig^t behind fourth-place Kasey Kahne.
“I think we’re headed in the right direction at these types
of tracks,” he told reporters after the Auto Club 500. “We’re
not where we need to be, but we’re getting there. I’m just
proud of my team, proud of my pit crew.”
• Stewart, Biffle struggle: The top two drivers in the 2005
final standings are far from those lofty spots after the first
two races of2006,
Defending series champion Tbny Stewart is 22nd in the
standings, largely because he blew an engine and finished
43rd at California after taking fifth at Daytona in the season
opener. Last year’s runner-up, Greg Biffle, also blew an en
gine at California, finishing 42nd, Biffle didn’t fare much
better at Daytona, where he was Slat due to a last-lap spin.
He’s 38th in points.
But neither driver appears to be in panic mode just yet.
“This is how we won a championship last year,” a cool and
calm Stewart told reporters after coasting into the pits at
Califcarda. “The good thing is that the guys will leave here
excited about the performance of how we ran. They’re not
going to be excited by how we finished, obviously, but well
look past that and see the big picture.”
What ever
happened to...
Cotton
Owens
Cotton Owens’
1964 Dodge.
By Rick Minter / Cox News Service
The 81-year-old former driver and car owner on
NASCAR’s top circuit lives in Spartanbui^, S.C.,
and still drives in a vintage-car series in the
Carolinas.
He won nine times as a Ciq) driver and 38 times
as an owner. Some of the sport’s top drivers, includ
ing David Pearson, Bobby Alhson, Buddy Baker,
Charlie Glotzbach and Pete Hamilton, won races
while driving Owens’ cars. His NASCAR career
began in 1950 and ended in 1973.
• On his biggest driving victory: “I came out of re
tirement in 1964 and won a 300-lai^r at
Richmond, Va. I hadn’t been in a race car in more
than two years. That was a big accomplishment for
me, because I was teaching Pearson how to win
races. That’s what it amounted to.”
• On his biggest owner victory “That would be
the Southern 500 in 1970 with Buddy Baker. That
same weekend they inducted me into the hall of
fame.”
• On NASCAR’s growth; “It sure has grown, and
I don’t know where it will be stopping. It’s gotten to
the point now where it’s all about money”
• On how an 81-year-old can drive competitively
“You don’t ever lose the touch. You might get a httle
slower with it, but you don’t ever lose the touch.”
Catching up with ...
Casey MEARS
Casey Mears, the nephew of four-time
Indy 500 winner Rick Mears and son of off- .
road legend Rc^er Mears, opened the
Nextel Cup season with a career-best sec
ond in the Daytona 500. Entering his fourth
year in NASCAR’s premier series, the 27-
year-old Mears is the senior driver in the
Chip Ganassi Racing stable, which also
fields Dodges for 20(^ Rookie of the Year
candidates Reed Sorenson and David
Stremme. He sat down with Cox. News
Service writer Jeff Hood to discus^ life and
racing:
Q: Whafs it like carrying the Mears
name?
A “I don’t think about what type of lega
cy I want to have. I’m so focused on the fol
lowing weekend, I don’t know if I can even
think that far down the road. I think what
ever you’re left with at the end, is what
you’re left with. Hopefully the biggest thing
I hope I’m left with is, Tley that guy was a
good, hard race-car driver and he was a nice
guy at the same time.’ ”
Q; What about your former teammates,
Jamie McMurray and Sterling Marlin?
A “The whofo ordeal that Jamie was
causing and the fact we knew Sterling was
n’t going to be back this year was a lot big
ger distraction than I realized it was to tl^
vsdiole team and organization. The team has
so much of a comfortable feel now. They’re
all excited about the year.”
Q: What are your thoughts about the
large erx^ of Nextel CHip rookie drivers?
A: “One thing I’ve b€^ told by guys who
have been involved in this sport for quite a
while is that every 10 years you see some
thing like this. But this is the biggest
chaiige we’ve ever seen, with the driver
changes, different spemsors and new guys
coming in. I think it’s
kind of all in cycles.
Now we’re kind of get
ting that new group,
and they’re going to be
around ior ^ next 10
years.”
Q; How do you feel
about the 40-plus-
years-old veteran
drivers in the sport?
A “I didn’t feel wor
thy to sign autographs
at all. Those guys
have been around for
so long, and everybody
has so much respect
for them for what
they’ve done.”
STANDINGS
NEXTEL CUP
Following the Auto Club 500
1. Jimmie Johnson
355; previous: 1
2. Casey Mears
316; previous: 2
3. Matt Kenseth
308; previous: 15
4. Kasey Kahne
295; previous; 12
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
287; previous; 6
6. Mark Marlin
275; previous; 11
7. Ryan Newman
273, previous; 3
8. Clint Bowyer
271, previous: 8
9 Brian Vickers
260, previous 7
10. Elliott Sadler
259; previous 4
A victory at
California
Speedway
on Feb 26
lifted Matt
Kenseth to
third in the
Cup
standings.
Cup next up: UAW-
DaimlerChrysler 400. Las Vegas
Motor Speedway
TV: 4 p m ET, Sunday. Fox
Busch next up: Sam's Town 300;
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
TV: 6 p.m ET, Saturday, FX
Truck next up: John Deere 200,
Atlanta Motor Speedway, TV: 9
p m ET, March 17,
Speed Channel
BUSCH SERIES
1 Kevin Harvick
467; previous: 1
2. J J Yeley
453, previous: 2
3 Denny Hamlin
445, previous 10
4 Jamie McMurray
409: previous 4
5, Clint Bowyer
400: previous: 3
TRUCK SERIES
1 Mark Martin
380, previous; 1
2 Todd Bodine
350; previous 2
3 Ted Musgrave
335, previous: 3
4 Jack Sprague
320, previous: 5
5 David Reutimann
303, previous: 9