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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: Earnhardt Jr. anxious to see movie about late father Blaney entered in Busch race Kurt Busch Driver Diary: Seven down three to go Michael Waltrip drives hotel business TV ratings jump but still fall short of last year Busch Wins Bashas' Supermarket 200 Pole McMurray hurt more by penalty than Earnhardt Team's report card: Average marks this year Phoenix to mark Martin's 600th career start Bodine is back Top ten heading to Phoenix Cup Scene readers speak out
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Happy Birthday: Elton Sawyer Jr Nextel Cup drivers Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson know there is something precious waiting for the man leading the NASCAR Nextel Cup points race at the end of the season in three weeks. But their outlooks are totally different -- as different as the drivers' reputations.
``There is pressure that comes with leading. It's a burden, like that ring that kid carries the whole way to the end in The Lord of the Rings. Being the leader, it makes things happen.'' Even if Johnson hadn't seen the movie, he would know. He dominated the Nextel Cup season over the first 20 races, building a 232-point lead over his teammate, Jeff Gordon. But with six races to go to the cutoff for NASCAR's new postseason, things started to happen. Johnson and his team began experimenting with car setups to prepare for the final 10-race dash in which only the top 10 drivers in the standings or those within 400 points of the leader would qualify to pursue the title. By the time the 26th race came, Johnson was in second place and 15 drivers had pulled within breathing distance of that 400-point margin. Only the top 10 made it, but it wasn't because Johnson didn't open the door. Now on the hot seat is points leader Busch, but he doesn't seem to mind. ``To have this title wrapped up by the time we reach the last race at Homestead, it would be something to look forward to,'' said Busch. ``To have [an insurmountable] 160-point advantage going into Miami would definitely ease the tension and ease the pain, because these final 10 have tested every crew member's mind and everybody's decision-making.'' The maximum number of points a driver can earn in a single race is 156. Busch leads The Chase by 59 points over Johnson, and there are four others within 145 points. Johnson and Gordon, who is third, 72 points behind, drive for the Rick Hendrick organization, which was devastated two weeks ago by the crash of one of its small planes that killed all 10 people aboard -- among them Hendrick's son, brother, two nieces and other close friends and business associates. The tragedy has made Johnson and Gordon the sentimental favorites. But Busch, a love-him-or- hate-him kind of personality, has refused to fall by the wayside. Mention his name as the possible champion to Charlotte Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler and the initial reaction is laughter. ``Wouldn't that be something?'' Wheeler said. ``Kurt has always had a lot of talent.'' It would be something because everyone has been looking in other directions -- toward Johnson and Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- men who for the most part know how to handle their tempers, their reactions and their public personas. Mention Busch's possible title to Richard Childress, who owned the cars driven by the late seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt, and he cocks his head and ponders. ``They've done a good job to put themselves into position to win it,'' he said. ``But it would be a bit of a shock.'' And mention it to driver Jeff Burton, who worked alongside Busch at Roush Racing until about six weeks ago, and you get this: ``It would be huge for Roush Racing to win two championships in a row. Jimmy Fennig has been among the best crew chiefs in the garages for a long time. I'd love to see him win it.'' And what about Busch? ``Kurt Busch has more than enough talent to win it, and I'd be very happy for Jack Roush,'' said Burton. ``He deserves to win championships.'' Busch, who came in as a brash outsider from Las Vegas, has shown more arrogance than down-home sweetness. He speaks in stiff, sometimes awkward sentences and showed his immaturity more than once in confrontations with drivers such as Jimmie Spencer and Robby Gordon even before he won his first race in 2002. To be fair, Busch has calmed down and grown up a lot since last season. Even Burton said that. ``Kurt has always been fast,'' he said. ``But he lacked decision-making ability. I think he has bridged that gap between being fast and smart. It's the biggest part of the equation at this level. If he can continue to do what he's been doing, then he'll deserve to be the champ, but I don't know if he can.'' Busch, 26 and in his fourth full season, is not overly eager to talk about that growth. But he'll answer a persistent questioner this way: ``It's been a great deal of change from the bigger perspective. An understanding of what I have to do as a driver outside the seat, as well as maintaining the focus in the season and making changes to the car with the team. ``Working better with people and understanding that their input is just as valuable as mine, where before I thought it was just the crew chief and I.'' Busch appears fully prepared to make the most of this opportunity. He has shown brilliance down the stretch before. In 2002, he won three of the last five races of the season, coming from 12th to third over the final 10-race stretch. For most of this season, he was content to pace himself, holding just about every spot from one through nine. Going into the final 10-race chase, he was a respectable seventh, 293 points behind then- leader Jeff Gordon. But since then, he has six top 10 finishes, including five top fives and one victory. That run enabled him to hold onto first despite a 42nd-place finish last week. ``Whether things are good or bad, you still have to have that single mind-set,'' said Busch. ``You're living life, things are great, you're 26 years old and you're winning races.''
Busch was threatening to run away with the Chase for the Championship, rendering it a disappointment in its inaugural season. France, the second-year NASCAR CEO, championed and approved the playoff-style formula, and if it fails, he'll catch the criticism. Suddenly, though, the Chase is living up to its billing. Four drivers, including some of the biggest names in the sport, are bunched within 98 points of first place heading into Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, the third-to- last race of the season. The old system (1975-2003) never had so many drivers within 100 points of the lead at this point in the season. ``Man, it is playing out,'' said Jimmie Johnson, who has put together a three-race winning streak to climb from ninth place to second, just 59 points behind Busch. ``There is definitely drama and excitement [that should last] to the end.'' Chasing Busch and Johnson are four-time champion Jeff Gordon (72 back), gnarly veteran Mark Martin (81 back) and pop icon Dale Earnhardt Jr. (98 back). And, still with an outside shot, are Tony Stewart at 145 back and Ryan Newman at 186. Johnson, the first driver to win three straight in the same season since Jeff Gordon in 1998, says he'd rather not be leading the standings at this juncture. ``There is a huge burden that comes with being No. 1,'' he said. ``There is pressure. ... There is the same type of burden, and for any of you [reporters] who have seen `Lord of the Rings,' it is like that ring the kid carries the whole way. I don't know what it is, but it makes weird things happen.'' Phoenix, a relatively flat 1- mile tri-oval in the desert, is a good track for several of the Chase contenders. Earnhardt is the defending champion of Sunday's race. Busch has run well on the track not only in Winston/Nextel Cup, but also in the NASCAR Southwest Tour and in the Craftsman Truck series. Gordon has nine top-10 finishes at Phoenix, but it's one of the few tracks on which he hasn't won. Martin, who simply won't go away in this championship, has the best record of any of the Chase drivers at Phoenix. He is one of only six drivers to have competed in all 16 Cup races that have been run on the track, and in those, he has scored 13 top-10 finishes and one victory. Stewart, who has been relatively quiet in the Chase, has raced at Phoenix since 1993 - some six years before he came to NASCAR. He has raced USAC Silver Crown cars, midgets, Indy cars, Supermodifieds and, of course, NASCAR stock cars on the track. He won at Phoenix in his No. 20 car in 1999. Such experience should be a benefit, given Phoenix's unusual characteristics. ``Everybody calls Phoenix a flat track, but to me one end is flat and one end has banking in it,'' Stewart said. `It's a unique place because the radius of the corners are different on each end, the banking of the corners are different on each end, and then you have the dogleg on the backstretch.'' ORIGINAL STORY-Tampa Bay Tribune
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