SPENCER REACHES A PLACE ATWOOD NEVER SAW...

You don�t believe me, read the Dodge Motorsport propaganda page, trumpeting Spencer for placing the highest of the 14 Dodge�s entered. If it wasn�t for those cheating Chevy�s (just ask Rusty), Jimmy would had been in the hunt for that long-awaited first non restrictor-plate win.

Of course, this doesn�t spell well for Dodge�s fortunes, and it bodes even worse for Casey Atwood � who had zero top tens with the #7 in 2002. Has anyone ever been washed up at 22??? Atwood is giving it a hell of a run. Just call him the young gun that crashed.

Other stories from the Atlanta weekend are as follows�

MATT KENSETH � I said the #17 typically doesn�t execute its gameplan successfully two weekends in a row, but came very close in Atlanta. Again, it was a typical Kenseth race � starting mid-pack and slowly gaining towards the front (staying on lead lap during the crucial opening green-flag run) with each pit-stop, all of which were exceptional. Crew rips off a 13.4 on his last stop, with the team getting the final tire on in just 2.5 seconds. The crews of Bobby LaBonte and Jeff Gordon rose to the occasion as well, and had just too much horsepower for the #17. Still Kenseth comes out with a 49-point lead over Tony Stewart.

Kenseth's day is even more impressive considering that Rosch obviously got a bad set of motors, which claimed Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and Kurt Busch, as well as Ricky Rudd who had a Rosch motor as well. There were reports that the #17 engine was about to go as well, butt Kenseth managed to milk it till the end. Remember that come the end of the year. Stewart pulled off the title with an outdated Pontiac, could Matt emerge with his now-outdated Ford in the long run in a season where Chevy�s are simply dominating??? By the way, Kenseth and Stewart are the only drivers to score top ten�s in three of four faces, Johnny Benson is sixth in the standings without recording a single top-ten.

DALE JR � This was a different script. Had to take a provisional and the setup looked far off during Happy Hour. But the #8 took off like a rocketship at the start and Jr. would soon find himself in the top five, where he remained for the rest of the day. That�s two straight races that Jr. finds himself a factor from start to finish, and now finds himself 10th in the standings. What if his season ever got off to a decent start. Don�t think he�s rooting for Rockingham to get contracted from the schedule.

MICHAEL WALTRIP � Now here�s a ride that was great in qualifying/practice, but completely missed the race-day setup. Not a good time to do that when there�s hammer-down racing for the first 140 laps, by at the end of which the #15 found himself three laps in arrears before rebounding somewhat for a 27th place finish.

RYAN NEWMAN � For all the talk of Junior dominating qualifying/practice, only to tank in the race � it is the #12 car that now seems to have the market cornered on this trick. Newman easily took qualifying with a 191+ MPH clocking and also looked good in the practice sessions. Then Newman proceeded to smoke the field in the first fifteen laps of the race itself. Only one problem, the race was 325 laps, and the car suddenly went away and it would be a struggle for Newman from that point on. Among other things the power steering went out, and although Newman would be one of the few to remain on the lead lap he would not be a real factor finishing tenth.

JOE NEMECHECK � Getting 19 out of 20 is good in most things, except for getting lugnuts on � a deficiency that kept Joe from being a serious contender on this Sunday. Crewman does a great job identifying and fixing the lug on what may had been the fastest pit stop ever, and Joe did a great job managing to hold off Junior and company to remain on the lead lap before catching a break with the next caution. The damage was still done however, as Joe would remain back in the dirty air for the rest of the day, eventually finishing ninth � a disappointment considering this is clearly the #25�s best track.

THE GREEN (210) MILES � This clearly separated the pretenders from the contenders, and even bit some of the pre-race contenders. Cars that were .25 of a second off the leader per lap would find themselves a lap down at that point. .45 seconds off a pace (per lap) saw those cars go a quick two laps behind. And being just two-thirds of a second slow per lap (hello Michael) found those machines down three laps. Good thing Hideo was not running this week.

DARLINGTON PREVIEW

This week�s venue is the so-called Lambeau Field of the sport, except we�re dealing with a sandpaper-like racing surface. �Frozen Tundra� probably would be an improvement for the drivers and teams. Long Green flag runs will not be a problem for the next two weeks, as this is the �March Madness� portion of the schedule � with Darlington this week followed the Bristol demolition derby. Unlike the Labor Day weekend event, the Spring race is only 400 miles so it will actually get done in 3 � hours.

Also, provisionals will be awarded based on this years owners points, so fans of Greg Biffle or Jamie McMurray need not worry from this point forward. Not that anyone will need to worry anyways, as of midweek there were less than 43 drivers in the field. Be assured that the likes of Frank Kimmel and Carl Long are being contacted as I speak (actually it turned out to be Brett Bodine) to fill out the field and to run a handful of laps at the outset.

Be leery of taking Rosch drivers this week, Jack himself feels that last weeks problems were purely coincidental. All I know is I wouldn't want to be the one interviewing Mark Martin if he blows up for a third consecutive week.

This week, instead of ranking my top 30 drivers for the week, I will have my rundown consisting of four eight-driver �Regionals�. And be assured that just like in racing�s hardcourt counterpart, there will be plenty of top seeds going home early. Due to all the automatic bids we must give out, I begin with the �play-in� race involving the 32nd/33rd ranked drivers � which are�

Terry LaBonte v. Jeff Green � Green�s season was going just great, until they took the green flag at Daytona. Meanwhile Texas Terry has managed 16th and 20th place showing over the past two weeks.

As is the case with the NCAA's, I avoid early-round matchups including conference rivals, or in this case - drivers from the same teams. The pairings are as follows, so fill out those pool sheets...

DICK TRICKLE BRACKET

#1 Dale Jr. v. Race-in Winner � Notice that something called �Cincinnati� was one of his sponsors last year, and that the #8�s colors are red and black. Those are the colors of the Cincinnati Bearcats, one of the most over-hyped college hoop teams in recent memory. They ball as bad and nasty as anyone in the regular season, but are an early out once the tournament comes. They might as well whack Tony Eury and put Bob Huggins on top of the war wagon. Junior did stick a fourth-place finish in this race last year.

#4 Jeff Burton v. #5 Jimmy Spencer � Burton has become Rosch�s answer to North Carolina State on Tobacco Road. Third fiddle at best, to Duke or even North Carolina. Meanwhile Spencer is your classic Mid-major driver who simply wasn�t comfortable in a power conference (Ganassi Racing) last year.

#3 Elliott Sadler v. #6 Ricky Craven � Sadler gets a high seeding based on nearly winning this race last year. Craven sat on the pole here last March but was an early casualty, but rebounded somewhat with a 14th place showing in the Fall race.

#2 Jimmie Johnson v. #7 Bill Elliott � We have another ranging controversy in the state of Georgia, as a KACSPORTS investigation reveals that an interm for Evernham Racing has been sponging off a credit card with the name of none other than one of Bill�s kids. Our snooping also reveals Bill being linked to illegal payments during his days with the McDonald�s car, as well as with Junior Johnson. Meanwhile, #48 Crew Chief Chad Knaus is currently raising hell in Mike Helton�s office, for not only being denied a #1 seed, but being placed in Junior�s bracket. This despite 6th and 9th place finishes at this venue last year.

REGIONAL FINAL: The yellow brick road has been paved for a Junior v. Johnson final. Look for the #48 to advance to the Final Four by a whisper.

CARL LONG BRACKET

#1 Jeff Gordon v. #8 Robby Gordon � Entertaining matchup between two drivers who simply don�t like each other. The #24 is a near-lock here as this is one of his best track and is coming off a Southern 500 win last fall.

#4 Michael Waltrip v. #5 Ricky Rudd � Notice that the #15 is the same colors as the Marquette Golden Eagles (or is that Warriors??? Or Golden Avalanche??? Or Hiltoppers???) They�ve been doing pretty well lately but were a first-round upset victim last year. Like Mikie you don�t know what you�re going to get. Rudd has been middle-of-the pack this year, but will be driving the car Sadler took to second place last year.

#3 Mark Martin v. #6 Ward Burton � Driver who�s run into bad luck this year v. driver who ran into bad luck in 2002. Ward is the 2001 Southern 500 winner.

#2 Ryan Newman v. #7 Jamie McMurray � Dangerous situation for the #2 seed, struggling with car set-up while McMurray is very capable of pouncing.

REGIONAL FINAL: Look for Rudd, Ward Burton, and McMurray to pull first round upsets, with JamieMac advancing to the final before falling to Jeff Gordon.

SHAWNA ROBINSON BRACKET

#1 Matt Kenseth v. #8 Casey Mears � We go live to Bakersfield, where a wild party breaks out at the Mears compound when Casey's name appears on this pairing. Despite his #1 seeding, Kenseth has the same identity problem as the Wisky Badgers just up the road, who recently won their first outright Conference Championship in most people�s lifetime. In the minds of many, this is proof positive that this is a down year for the Big Ten as well as NASCAR.

#4 Johnny Benson v. #5 Joe Nemecheck � A meeting between two drivers who inspire next to no one. And the winner of this gets Captain Boring!!!!!

#3 Dale Jarrett v. #6 Jeremy Mayfield � �93 Octane� is a respectable 24th so far this year, and finished 16th and 20th at Darlington last year. DJ is a perennial threat here, and got yet another top five in the fall race.

#2 Bobby LaBonte v. #7 Greg Biffle � Biffle showed he should be a threat to contend in races this year with a solid 13th place showing in Atlanta. Meanwhile Bobby won what was the equivalent of holding a conference tournament on your home floor. It�s going to take a few more solid outings to convince me that he�s truly back. This week will be a true test, as he was only 21st and 15th at Darlington last year.

REGIONAL FINAL: Jarrett squeezes past LaBonte (if not ambushed by Biffle first) in the round of 16, then gets past Kenseth to advance to the Final Four.

HIDEO FUKUYAMA BRACKET

#1 Tony Stewart v. #8 Kyle Petty � A potentially dangerous opening round tilt that Smoke cannot look past. You may remember that last year�s race resulted in injuries that would hamper Stewart for weeks afterward. Kyle is only 35th in points, but had very solid runs of 14th and 13th here last year.

#4 Kevin Havick v. #5 Rusty Wallace � Harvick is off to a much more consistent start, 7th in points despite only having one top ten. Had one of his few good early season runs in this race last year, placing third. Meanwhile, Rusty sits 22nd in points, not off to a good start since pulling his Phil Mickelson stunt down in Daytona.

#3 Sterling Marlin v. #6 Steve Park � Isn�t Park from the St. Bonaventure area??? Shouldn't be a problem, recruits with Associate Welding degrees are welcome in most fab shops. Park�s coming off back-to-back good finishes (10th/16th), even if he�s pissed off several competitors in the process Sterling gets high seed based on a win along with a fourth place finish last year, he should be one of the top drivers this week.

#2 Kurt Busch v. #7 Dave Blaney � Blaney gets all the respect of the Horizon Conference champ, which is next to none. Was not much here last year, placing 29th and 30th. On the other side, KB has beeen Kansas Jayhawk like the past two weeks, one of the top threats but getting eliminated early.

REGIONAL FINAL: Marlin has another great Darlington run, defeating Smoke in the final.

FINAL FOUR: As it is in hoops, all four #1 seeds never make it through � and usually more than one meets an early demise. In this case, we�re left with a pair of #3�s (Marlin/Jarrett) in the early game, while #1 Gordon gets teammate Johnson in the nightcap. Marlin and Gordon advance to the final, with the #24 ultimately prevailing.

NIT DRIVERS: Todd Bodine, Brett Bodine, Jerry Nadeau, Kenny Wallace, Jack Sprague, John Andretti, Tony Raines, Mike Skinner, Ken Schroeder, Larry Foyt. Nadeau beats Todd Bodine in an all-military final of that before countless dozens at Madison Square Garden.