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Welcome to the Cup Scene Daily for
Vol. III,No.VIXII RACE DAY EDITION
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Quote Of The Day: 7 DAY ARCHIVE SundayMonday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: Kahne running out of chances for first win Smith & Wesson to sponsor Busch effort in '05 McMurray wins Busch race in Phoenix Robby Gordon paces happy hour, Waltrip to backup Waste Management signs with Kenseth, Lester One fan has a lot riding on a McMurray win Junior recalls flasher from last year Gordon inspired by surprise visit by Rick Hendrick Wallace wants to keep it all in the family Earnhardt, Gordon feel pressure as championship race nears end Drivers to watch at Phoenix Cup Scene readers speak out
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Happy Birthday: Andy Houston, Dick May, Matthew Bodine A bad day today in Phoenix could turn into a hangover sized headache on Monday morning, one that could linger for the rest of the Nextel cup season. Because there are no more mulligans. When current Nextel Cup leader Kurt Busch was hit by engine failure at Atlanta Motor Speedway and finished 42nd last Sunday, the mishap tightened NASCAR's new 10-race championship format.
"That about evens things up," said Busch, who had not finished worse than sixth since the championship format began. "Now everybody has had at least one big problem. But, with three races to go, you can't afford any more." "It's much easier to be the points leader," he said. "After three wins in a row by Jimmie and our failure to finish at Atlanta, we still have a 59-point advantage. He and the rest of those guys still have a lot of work to do." Contender Dale Earnhardt Junior agrees. "For us to win (the championship), or have an opportunity to win, we need to win one or two of these races convincingly," he said. Noting that leading a lap earns a five-point bonus and leading the most laps in a race adds another five points, Earnhardt added, "We need to lead a lot of laps, lead in all three races. If we can finish in the top three in these last three races, I would consider that the best we could have put forth." Earnhardt could have been closer to Busch if he hadn't gotten into a late-race crash last Sunday with rookie Carl Edwards as the two battled for third place. Junior wound up 33rd. "If I could go back and do it again, I'm sure me and Carl would both have different ways we'd want it to end out," Earnhardt said. "But it wasn't his fault. We were racing hard and should have been racing maybe not so hard. "I was just doing what I thought I needed to do and got myself in trouble there." Earnhardt remains confident he can catch Busch, but he isn't planning to spend a lot of time studying possible championship scenarios. "I've been around," said Junior, the son of a seven-time Cup champion. "Shoot, I watched Daddy deal with championships and I've counted points a million times for him. That just wears you out. It's not much fun." Heading into Today's Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, the top five drivers in the championship are separated by just 98 points. Jimmie Johnson is second, followed by four-time champion Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Earnhardt Jr. Johnson trails Busch by 59 points and has made up six places and 188 points by winning three races in a row. That streak has given hope to the drivers trying to catch Busch Gordon, the favorite heading into the championship race, has four top-10 finishes in the last seven races, including a second and a third, and is coming off a 34th-place finish. "It's just been frustrating," said Gordon, who is 72 points behind the leader. "I know we're better than this. We just haven't gotten the cars comfortable. ... We've just been having a hard time keeping up with the pace. "When Kurt had his problems last week, we were really focused on getting that top 10. Then we had our problems and we came out of there really not gaining anything." Does that make Today's race a must-win? "Well, in a lot of ways, yeah," Gordon said. "I don't know if we have to win, but we do if those other guys are going to finish in the top 10. It would be a huge benefit for us to get some momentum back and get up on top and get back to Victory Lane." "It doesn't matter whether there are 10 people in it (the championship hunt) or two," said Gordon, who starts eighth, but never has won a Cup race at PIR. "We have to do the same thing. We just have to go out there and put our best effort forward and try to get the best finish and performance that we can, and not really pay much attention to what other guys are doing."
Over the past 10 years, only one other driver has put together such a streak, teammate Jeff Gordon. What should be a joyful and hopeful time for Johnson has instead been bittersweet. While Johnson has won three straight races and moved back into contention for the Nextel Cup championship, he can't ignore the sadness that wells up each time he thinks about the friends he lost in the crash of a Hendrick Motorsports plane two weeks ago. "It's been a weird experience to win races and to feel the emotional highs of winning and then the lowest of lows knowing we've lost our close friends and families," Johnson said. Johnson trails series leader Kurt Busch by just 59 points with three races left in the season. Not bad for a driver who was 247 points behind before his winning streak began in Charlotte. A week later, on Oct. 24, a plane crashed en route from Concord, N.C., to Martinsville Speedway, killing all 10 people on board. Among them were the son, brother and two nieces of team owner Rick Hendrick, as well as the team's general manager and chief engine builder. None of the Hendrick drivers were told about the crash until after the race; Johnson skipped Victory Lane ceremonies. Last Sunday, he won again at Atlanta and was greeted in Victory Lane by teammates Gordon, Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers and most of their crewmen for an emotional, if muted, celebration. "I hope I don't have to go through it again. It's really been a tough few weeks," Johnson said. Even with his string of wins, Johnson would not be within striking distance of the lead except for the first slip by Busch since NASCAR's new 10-man, 10-race Chase for the Cup championship began. And he's somewhat happy that he isn't currently in the top spot in the points. "There is a huge burden that comes with being No. 1," Johnson said. "There is a pressure. There is some type of burden, and for any of you who have seen 'Lord of the Rings,' it is like that ring that kid carries the whole way. I don't know what it is, but it makes weird things happen." Johnson seems to race better from behind. His No. 48 Chevrolet has regained its early season luster that evaporated after assuming a season-high 232-point lead at Pocono on Aug. 1. Since falling 247 points behind four races into the Chase, Johnson has jumped seven spots in the standings during his three-race surge. "You always want to be the guy in second because you're the one going for blood," said Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief. "That's the position we want to be in. Whenever we're behind the eight-ball, we always do our best." There is a pattern of pressure for points leaders in NASCAR's premier series. Matt Kenseth felt the strain last season when he led the standings for 33 consecutive races - a record for a champion since NASCAR introduced the current points system in 1975. In the final three months of his title campaign, a season-high 436-point lead was chopped in half, and the laid-back native of Cambridge, Wis., was gripped by angst. Sensing Kenseth's jittery demeanor, Tony Stewart, who felt the heat in taking the 2002 title after a nip-and-tuck battle with Mark Martin, called Kenseth and offered advice to relax. When he clinched the crown in the penultimate race at Rockingham, N.C., Kenseth said he felt "like the world has been lifted off my shoulders." "There's a feeling when you're leading a race, and it's getting toward the end," he said. "You're looking in your mirror and see a car behind you. You get this empty feeling in the pit of your stomach. I've had that for about three months." Jeff Gordon endured similar emotions while winning two of his four championships. In 1995, he staved off an inspired charge by Dale Earnhardt, who made up nearly 300 points in the last four races. In 1997, Gordon nearly squandered a 125-point edge to Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett in the final two events. "It was a burden and you have a lot of pressure put on you," Gordon said. "But I'd rather have that pressure than be the guy chasing, anytime. I'd much rather be the guy with the bull's eye." Busch believes Johnson would, too. "If they were in this position, I'm sure they would say that it's tougher to be in second," he said. "There's that game they think they've got to challenge us with. We know that on the racetrack is where the points are added up." Johnson swears he isn't points racing though. In fact anywhere near Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet, there is what team members call the `C' word, and it makes these racers cringe. Johnson even jokes that there is even a penalty for saying "championship" aloud. "Is there a championship out there?" Johnson said when the subject was brought to his attention. Then he smiled. "I didn't even know we were racing for points." "People were asking where did Jimmie Johnson go," he said. "We'll, we're back. People that have been in this sport long enough know that you have your ups and downs. The timing of our downs wasn't the best. Now we're in the middle of it." "I'm just going to keep the mentality that we've had for the past three weeks," Johnson added. "These guys have made some mistakes and allowed us to catch up. We were racing without even thinking about the championship and had great things happen." Next up is Darlington, where Johnson won in the spring. He'll also test next week at Homestead for the season's final race. Can he win it, put the `C' word back in his vocabulary? That's a good question," Johnson said, "but I don't even want to think about it." |
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