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Welcome to the Cup Scene Daily for
Vol. III,No.VIXII FINAL EDITION
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Quote Of The day: 7 DAY ARCHIVE SundayMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: Ward Burton hints at retirement after this season Blaney will standby for Edwards next week Childress will renew with AOL Craven's last ride Ivan spares Talladega Rookie program being tweaked Sprague scores another truck pole Martin having fun again From restrictor plate to fashion plate They're racing off, not playing off Drivers to watch at New Hampshire Cup Scene readers speak out
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Happy Birthday: Boris Said III, Damon Lusk, Tom Powers Thanks to the remants of hurricane Ivan, qualifying Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway was a washout. And that means points leader Jeff Gordon will start from the pole in the first event of the new 10-race playoff for the Nextel Cup championship.
Jamie McMurray was the big loser, again. Last weekend at Richmond, he lost a chance to be among the 10 in the Chase when the engine of his No. 42 Dodge lost a cylinder as he was running in the top five. He finished ninth. Friday, he had the fastest car among the 16 that qualified but saw the rain wash away that effort. He'll start 11th Sunday. The 10 drivers who qualified to compete under NASCAR's new championship format will start ahead of McMurray. Gordon and teammate and points runner-up Jimmie Johnson have the front row. "This is great because it allows us to pick a great pit stall and it gives us a great starting position," Gordon said of his gift pole. Gordon noted that a good start to the championship battle is important, but he doesn't plan on doing anything differently in the final 10 races than he has in the first 26 this season. "Every weekend, if I have the opportunity to lead a lap, then I try to lead a lap," Gordon said. "If I can lead the most laps, I try to lead the most laps. If I can win the race, I try to win the race. So I don't know how you do it any different." Gordon also said that while he plans to race Johnson as hard as any other competitor, he hopes one of them can come away with the title. ``Obviously, it's going to intensify as we get closer to the end and we're both battling for the championship,'' Gordon said. The rest of the top 10, all separated in increments of five points for the first race of the title chase, will line up behind the Hendrick Motorsports teammates. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start third, followed by Tony Stewart, reigning series champion Matt Kenseth, Elliott Sadler, July race winner Kurt Busch, Mark Martin, Jeremy Mayfield and Ryan Newman.
Gordon, who leads the series with six poles, doesn't get credit for this one. But that's fine with him because he gets to start the race up front and has a virtual lock on the five-point bonus for leading at least one lap and a good shot at the five-point bonus for leading the most laps. "I felt like we had a top-five car today, but we didn't have anything for Ryan Newman," Gordon said. "He's in a whole other category." While starting near the front is always beneficial, being there is particularly important on this tight and usually slick 1-mile oval track. Passing opportunities are few. Mid-pack contact is common. Danger looms everywhere. Gordon knows that. "Accidents happen," he said. "The line is always drawn when there's anything intentional." Gordon thinks it's also going to be beneficial having a teammate in the final 10 races. "Even though [Dale Jr.] doesn't have a teammate in the top 10, he's got teammates he can get information from," Gordon said. "I get that information from Jimmie. That's where it really pays off. If one of us is struggling on a particular race track or race weekend, maybe we can help one another out." Newman would have loved another pole here. He looked like the guy to beatin qualifying after he had the fastest car in Friday's practice with a lap of 133.464 mph. "We could have used this for sure," said Newman, the loudest critic of the new points system. "Track position is always more important at this track and Martinsville than it is anywhere else. It's all about being flat, and the flatter the track is the more important track position becomes. "Winning races and leading laps will be important things in these last 10 races. I think whoever does well here and at Dover (next week) will be in the driver's seat for the championship." Starting behind Gordon and Johnson will be off-track friends Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart in the second row, Ford drivers Matt Kenseth and Elliott Sadler in the third, Roush Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Mark Martin in the fourth and Dodge entries Jeremy Mayfield and Ryan Newman in the fifth. For the moment, each is separated by five points, with the spread between Gordon and 10th-place Newman standing at 45. With 190 points available in a race, the top 10 could have a totally different look after Sunday's race. Gordon wishes he had more than a mandated five-point lead on Johnson, but he's willing to play the system before asking to tweak it. It's been estimated that a driver can win the title by posting an average finish of eighth in the final 10 races. The difference between first and second place in a race is only five points. "If we're going to have a shootout like this, let's make it where it pays more points to win one of these things," Gordon said. Other drivers are just happy for the chance to compete for the title.
Martin said he's "on equal footing" with the other title contenders, something that wouldn't have happened under the former system. "I don't know if that will continue after a few races, but it's a nice situation to be in right now," he said. Martin is seeking his first championship in 22 seasons. He has finished in the top five 10 times. Among the three title contenders who did make qualifying runs Friday, Earnhardt was the best with a third-place run. "I'm real proud of the team and the efforts they've made," said Earnhardt, who needed relief here in July after being burned a week earlier in a non-NASCAR crash. "The car was real good in practice and we ran a lot of stuff and were able to get a good lap. I'm pretty happy with the car." Earnhardt Jr. said he isn't feeling any extra pressure this week. ``I get a kick out of just being competitive enough to be in the Chase and the points battle,'' he said. ``I think Tony Jr. and Tony Sr. [Eury, the car chief and crew chief] focus solely on that championship. But the fact that I'm even competitive enough to be here, I've reached a goal personally in life with that.'' Kenseth and Busch also were among the Friday qualifiers, and both were happy it rained. "That was terrible and definitely disappointing for me," said Kenseth, 10th-fastest among the 16 qualifiers. "I must not have driven it hard enough, I guess. "But qualifying bad is really nothing new for us. I sure wish we could do better than what we do, but I think we have a great race car here." Busch, who beat Gordon for the win here July 25 despite starting 32nd, said the rain was just fine with him, even though he was sixth-fastest. "We wouldn't have started any better than seventh with that lap," he said. "We were just slipping and sliding too much." Gordon is considered the favorite to win the championship, but he says he's just worried about not beating himself. "I don't know how you pick a favorite, it's so tight," Gordon said. "It's so close I think anybody can do it. Who knows what's going to happen. "But I do feel like our team is strong and the chemistry is there. "We're basically racing ourselves. I'm not thinking about what other guys we have to beat. I'm just making sure that we don't try to outdo ourselves and that we just keep doing what we're doing. "I think we've gotten better as the year has gone on and that we're really at the top of our game right now, which I'm excited about." Gordon also said any of the drivers can win the championship, but he's most worried about the drivers who have been left out of the much-anticipated battle. "I think there are some guys who have a little chip on their shoulders because they didn't get into the top 10," he said. "I think there are some who will try to make a mark and try to do certain things to stand out." Yet, Gordon has advice for the top-10 drivers, too. "(We) have to respect the fact that those guys are still out there racing their butts off and racing for wins," he said. "That shouldn't change." Drivers who hoped to qualify but didn't get into the race were Kevin Lepage, Martin Truex Jr., Johnny Sauter, Greg Sacks, Ryan McGlynn, Carl Long, Tony Raines and Sam Boyd. |
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