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2002 RACE 4 PREVIEW (ATLANTA) - WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Marlin overtakes Gordon at #1...



Controversy tends to surround all of his finishes, but one fact is not controversial at all. Sterling Marlin has supplanted Jeff Gordon, at least for the moment, as NASCAR�s #1 driver. Dating back to the final three races of the 2001 season, Marlin has now gone fifth, second, second, eighth, second, and first in his past six races. That�s a win, three top two�s, and five top fives in six outings. As far as the controversies of the past three races are concerned, there really is none. Sterling wouldn�t had been able to survive the last five laps at Daytona with the sheet metal rubbing on the tire. Had the Rockingham race been red flagged, odds would had been against Marlin overtaking Kenseth on the restart. And as far as this past Sunday was concerned, had Marlin been assessed the 15-second penalty on pit road, it was still early in the race, so the #40 car�s strong performance would had gained the track position necessary to win the race late. Bottom line is, even by getting only one break out of three, Marlin is on top of the points standings at this point. A dark horse contender (as DW said)??? Try prime contender. My top twenty driver rankings going into this week are as follows�

1. Marlin, 2. J. Gordon, 3. Stewart, 4. B. LaBonte, 5. J. Burton, 6. W. Burton, 7. Jarrett, 8. Rudd, 9. R. Wallace, 10. Dale Jr., 11. Martin, 12. Newman, 13. Harvick, 14. Kenseth, 15. Busch, 16. Elliott, 17. Craven, 18. Johnson, 19. Benson, 20. Nadeau

VEGAS RECAP

ROBBY WRECKS KYLE'S DAY
Robby ruins Kyle's run late...
An uneventful race from an attrition standpoint. Only two cars retired from the race early, Shawna Robinson of course being one of them. Heard a couple of great crackbacks on Shawna on the syndicated LTN radio program. One of them being that Shawna being on the Cup Cirucuit is a stunt similar to �Bill Veeck sending the midget up to pinch-hit�. Same commentator on hearing DW during a Busch race refer to Shawna being �the best female driver I�ve ever seen� quipped, �that�s like saying the midget was the best midget shortstop in the history of baseball�. Getting back to the race, 14 different drivers led at least one lap of the race, a record for Vegas. Jeremy Mayfield finished second, one of the best efforts in quite a while � either for Mayfield or the #19 car. Mark Martin continued a strong early-season run finishing third. Ryan Newman qualified second, was a factor all day and placed fourth. Tony Stewart, one of the five drivers chasing the million-dollar bonus, led much of the afternoon but a bad late pit stop relegated the #20 car to fifth. Marlin, Mayfield, Martin, Newman, and Stewart will be racing for the next million-dollar bonus in Charlotte come May. Jimmy Johnson had by far his best career run, placing sixth despite a bad late pit-stop that cost him five seconds as well as being a lap down for much of the race after pitting just before a yellow flag. Jeff Burton, one of the pre-race favorites, battled up the filed all day after starting 39th and ended up in ninth. Jimmy Spencer finally had a positive outing and rounded out the top ten. Kurt Busch had a top-five car for the first three-quarters of the day but a failing engine relegated KB to 20th, the final car on the lead lap. Watch Busch, Johnson, Newman, and Johnny Benson break into the win column this year though. Other disappointing drivers this week included Dale Jr. (16th), Jeff Gordon (17th), and Kevin Harvick (25th). Kyle Petty actually had a strong top 15 run going for most of the day but was spun out by Robby Gordon (who else) in the final laps and finished 30th. What is uglier anyway, Robby�s driving or his paint scheme.

ATLANTA PREVIEW

Since MBNA, Cracker Barrell, or anyone else sponsoring this race would not put up any money to advertise on this site, I will refer to this simply as the Atlanta 500. Sorry to go Humpy Wheeler on you guys. Anyways, Atlanta has provided three dramatic finishes in its last four races. The last two Spring races produced photo finishes with the Goodwrench car prevailing, Dale Sr. over Bobby LaBonte in 2000, and Harvick edging out Jeff Gordon last year. Jerry Nadeau appeared to have the Fall 2001 race locked up but ran out of gas with half a lap to go. Expect some long green-flag runs, but also some yellows and a lot of attrition and a few blown engines over 500 miles. Mike Wallace and Todd Bodine will not be making the trip. However Shawna Robinson, Dick Trickle, Ron Hornaday and Carl Long will show up to fill the field � oh joy.

WHO TO WATCH

Sterling Marlin � Just can�t bet against him right now.

Jeff Gordon � Qualified second and finished second in the 2001 Spring race.

Bobby LaBonte � Three wins and six top fives in the last eight Atlanta races. The Pontiacs may also get an adjustment in time for Sunday�s race.

Kevin Harvick � Harvick is 27th in the point standings right now. Keep in mind though Harvick finished first and third here last year. In 2000, the #3 car placed first and second.

Jarry Nadeau - Placed third in the Spring race and had the Fall race in his hip pocket before running out of gas.

Dale Jr. � Was on the pole in the fall and finished 7th, leading a race high 171 laps.

Ryan Newman - Ran the fastest laps in Atlanta practice last week.

Ward Burton � Started fourth and finished fifth in the fall race.

Dale Jarrett � Won the pole and finished fourth in the Spring race, finished eighth in the fall.

Bill Elliott � Currently sixth in points plus Dodge is the hot manufacturer right now.

LONG SHOTS

Terry LaBonte � Always runs well here, finished fifth in the Spring last year.

Kurt Busch � Beware though about engines that have been an issue in his last two races.

Jimmy Johnson � Are you ready to contend??? Last week he was, and has run a race at this track.

My projected top-ten finish looks like this�

1. Marlin, 2. B. LaBonte, 3. Nadeau, 4. Harvick, 5. J. Gordon, 6. Dale Jr. 7. Stewart, 8. Newman, 9. W. Burton, 10. Elliott

The current odds (for informational purposes) are as follows: B. Labonte 3-1, J. Gordon 4-1, Nadeau 9-2, Harvick 5-1, Marlin 6-1, W. Burton 7-1, Jarrett 8-1, Rudd 9-1, Stewart 10-1, Dale Jr. 11-1, Mayfield 12-1, Newman 13-1, J. Burton 14-1, R. Wallace 15-1, Kenseth 16-1, Martin 17-1, Busch 18-1, Elliott 19-1, Spencer 20-1, Craven 22-1, Benson 24-1, K. Wallace 26-1, Hamilton 28-1, Nemechek 30-1, Schrader 32-1, T. Bodine 34-1, J. Green 36-1, Johnson 38-1, Andretti 40-1, R. Gordon 42-1, Waltrip 44-1, Blaney 46-1, Sadler 48-1, T. LaBonte 50-1, B. Bodine 55-1, Petty 60-1, Buckshot 65-1, Atwood 70-1, Stricklin 75-1, Skinner 80-1, Compton 85-1, Mast 90-1, Shawna 100-1.

OTHER SCUTTLEBUTT

The big rumbling in the garage area has Joe Gibbs abandoning Pontiac and moving the #18 and #20 cars to Chevrolet, perhaps in the next few weeks. I don�t see them doing that smack in the middle of a season, but perhaps in time for 2003. If Gibbs does leave Pontiac, that would leave them with three Cup rides. Toyota is also rumored to make inroads into NASCAR in the next few years. That would give a new logo for Calvin to piss on.

ANDY HOUSTON AWARD

A 40 race streak without a DNF ended for Bobby Hamilton when he cut a tire and hit the Turn 3 wall very hard on lap 10, ending his day. As for Andy Houston himself, he may be losing his #92 Busch ride. Pretty soon you�ll be seeing Houston on the ASA circuit.




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