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Always
a bridesmaid and never a bride, can Martin win his first
Championship this year.
Photo by Mike Veglia |
What else could
NASCAR ask for? The Winston Cup Championship battle is
tighter than any in recent memory, setting the stage for a
wild shootout to the end. And the top five drivers are a
cast of characters that attract cheers and jeers from
millions of race fans. Either the planets must be aligned
just right, or someone has been doing some serious praying
to the racing gods.
There’s no
question that 2002 has already been a good year for NASCAR’s
Winston Cup series. The level of competition has been
excellent. Four drivers are within 91 points of the leader,
and ten drivers are within 281 points. There have been 16
different drivers in Victory Lane, with only three drivers
winning more than two races. In terms of earnings, 28
drivers have earned over $2 million and 42 have earned $1
million or more. Even Steve Park, now currently in 37th
place in points, has earned $2,026,490!
There are many
factors that should attract sports fan interest over the
remaining weeks of the Winston Cup season. Major League
Baseball’s regular season is coming to a close, and it will
be the same Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees in the
playoffs once again. Did I just hear someone yawn, or was
that me? The football season has started up, but the NFL’s
golden-boy St. Louis Rams are winless in the first three
games. The Dallas Cowboys, America’s team, are so bad they
couldn’t even beat an expansion team in the first week of
the season. Maybe it’s already time for the two-minute
warning. NHL hockey and NBA basketball still have at least a
month before getting into full swing. Besides, they play
well into June, so who’s going to pay any attention in
October and November? The exciting IRL finale in Texas is in
the record books, the F-1 championship was sewn up seemingly
before the season started, and there are only a handful of
CART races left.
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Marlin
was snake bit at Richmond, as road courses and short
tracks are not to his liking.
Photo by Doug Belliveau |
What will really
pique fan interest is the hunt for the 2002 Winston Cup
Championship. This season has been a roller coaster ride for
many. Just when a driver is on a hot streak and becomes the
favorite, that driver inevitably stumbles and falls in the
standings. Earlier in the year, it was apparent that
Sterling Marlin’s No. 40 Coors Light Dodge was the car to
beat every week. Well, except for Sears Point and Watkins
Glen, of course. After the midway point, Marlin’s
consistency began to fade and his points lead started to
shrink like a stock profit. His point lead went from being
bullet proof to being full of bullet holes. Although
Sterling is now in fourth place, he is only 81 points down,
with many of his “good” tracks remaining on the schedule.
Don’t plan on the crafty veteran to roll over and capitulate
during the last eight weeks.
Enter Jeff
Gordon, in search of his fifth championship. His
back-to-back wins at Bristol and Darlington vaulted him to
within an easy grasp of the points lead. The success was
short lived, because in the three races to follow he
averaged only a 30th place finish, relegating him to fifth
place in the standings. However, he is still Jeff Gordon,
and with the resources of Hendrick Motorsports and DuPont
behind him, you just never know what he can pull off in the
remaining few weeks.
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Jeff
Gordon has been hot and cold this year, in Richmond he
was cold.
Photo by Doug Belliveau |
And then there
is Tony Stewart, the fabulously talented IRL champion who
has managed to creep up into the top-five. Stewart is the
anger management student who has been labeled with a “bad
boy” image by fans. I never thought I’d live to see Jeff
Gordon get out-booed by another driver, but Tony managed
that task during introductions at Dover last weekend.
Stewart is like a good baseball relief pitcher. He has
always been a good closer, performing well during the last
portion of the racing season. As a matter of fact, if his
car didn’t give out on him with four laps to go in Richmond,
Tony would probably be in first place now instead of third.
The fact that Tony will be in the thick of the championship
battle will help NASCAR put fannies in the seats and NBC put
viewers on the couch.
There is no
denying that there is a throng of Mark Martin fans. You see
his No. 6 on everything from shirts, to bumper stickers, to
seat cushions to flags waving above RVs in the infield area.
He has been around for a long time, and that alone helps to
build fan base. But it’s the fact that he has never won a
championship that will keep people involved with the race to
the finish line. Call it sympathy, call it empathy, call it
whatever you want to. What it means is that fans will be
interested to see whether the guy who finished second three
separate times can finally win it all. Mark Martin’s
performance has been known to fade towards the end of the
year. In 2002, he may just get that monkey off his back and
be the main guest of honor in New York City at the awards
dinner.
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Recently cleared of any wrong doing in the Bristol
incident, can Tony Stewart focus on the Championship.
Photo by Doug Belliveau |
And just when
you thought the race couldn’t get any more intriguing, into
pit lane walks a relatively unknown rookie driver hand
picked by Jeff Gordon. As Jimmie Johnson said after his
second win at Dover, his initial goal was to compete in as
many races this year as possible. Jimmie – I think you can
stick that modesty right in your back pocket – you’ve hit
the big time! All he’s done is managed to win three races
and finish with top-tens in 17 of 28 races. Is this guy
really a rookie?? Maybe the pressure will rattle the
good-looking California boy and his team down the stretch.
Then again, maybe he’ll be the only rookie in history to win
a championship.
Although it may
be a long shot for positions six through ten to come up with
the winner’s trophy, you can’t really count them out just
yet. These five drivers bring with them quite a few fans and
a ton of interest. Rusty Wallace is a two-time champion who
can cut a tire but can’t seem to cut a break. Ryan Newman is
another talented rookie who has come on like a firestorm the
past two months and has moved into seventh place. Matt
Kenseth has four wins, Bill Elliott has made a resurgence
this year with Dodge, and Ricky Rudd has all the
capabilities of bringing Robert Yates another title.
Well, as the
flight captain says, “remain in your seat, put your tray in
an upright position and buckle your seatbelt”. No matter the
outcome, the last eight weeks of the Winston Cup season are
sure to be a bumpy and enjoyable ride for millions of race
fans.
The author can be contacted nascar@autoracing1.com
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