1. (1) Sterling Marlin, 2. (10) Jeff Gordon, 3. (12) Tony Stewart, 4. (6) Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+6), 5. (2) Matt Kenseth (+9), 6. (7) Ryan Newman (+6), 7. (5) Kurt Busch (+8), 8. (4) Jimmie Johnson (+10), 9. (16) Bobby LaBonte (-5), 10. (3) Rusty Wallace (-1), 11. (9) Jeff Burton (-6), 12. (11) Ward Burton (-6), 13. (20) Kevin Harvick, 14. (14) Ricky Rudd (-6), 15. (24) Dale Jarrett (-8), 16. (15) Ricky Craven (+1), 17. (23) Jimmy Spencer (NR), 18. (8) Mark Martin (-7), 19. (13) Bill Elliott (-3), 20. (19) Jerry Nadeau.

DROPPED OUT � Johnny Benson (was #19)

Notice the �young guns� charge to the top, overtaking many of the sports �old guard�. I will reset the situation this way�Tony Stewart from the class of �99 is ranked third. 2000 brought us Dale Jr. and Matt Kenseth, they are currently ranked fourth and fifth. Kevin Harvick (ranked 13th) arrived last year in Dale Sr.�s stead and emerged as an immediate star. Kurt Busch�s (ranked seventh) rookie campaign last year was not nearly as impressive but has made huge leaps since. And this year�s rookie class, although not big in numbers with only two, may be the most impressive yet with Ryan Newman now ranked sixth and Jimmy Johnson checking in at #8. That is six of the top eight drivers, and seven out of the top thirteen, with less than four years Cup experience under their belts. Also keep an eye out for current Busch series star Greg Biffle, who will debut in the Cup series later this month (look out Kevin Harvick), and races out of the Jack Roush stable. Fellow Busch driver Ricky Hendrick has also been groomed for the Cup circuit since birth and will be a rookie running under his dad next season.

Even though Gordon and Stewart are currently down in the standings, they still retain the #2 and #3 spots in the rankings. Stewart has been bogged down so far by the early engine failure in Daytona as well as the aftermath of the Darlington crash. Meanwhile Gordon could had the tools to win either or both of the past two races. Bad luck cost him in Darlington and was also the best car out there in Bristol before getting himself in the wall.

As far as the best teams are concerned, the Rosch clan has moved to the head of the line with all four drivers in the top nine in points. Veterans Jeff Burton (9th) and Mark Martin (8th) have not been spectacular, but Kenseth (2th) and Busch (5th) now have to be considered at least on the same level as the #6 and #99 cars. In fact, Mark Martin and Kurt Busch swapped crews in the offseason, so perhaps Busch (along with Kenseth) are Rosch�s �A� teams now. Chip Ganassi Racing has also been strong not only with point leader Sterling Marlin, but also with Jimmy Spencer (like him or not) rebounding after a shaky start. On the other side of the ledger, serious questions have to be asked about the Robert Yates program, considering the awful performances of both the #28 and #88 cars. Major questions have to also be asked concerning Kevin Harvick�s ride. Is the #29 car getting RCR�s �A� equipment over the #30 and #31???, as obviously the old #3 would get - although Jeff Green and Robby Gordon have been nothing to write home about neither. It seems only a matter of time before this dysfunctional camp implodes.

BRISTOL RECAP

The semi-annual fireworks at the roller derby track started on Saturday when Jeff Green led 188 of 250 laps to win the caution-filled Busch race. Green�s victory was merely a footnote though as the antics of Jimmy Spencer and Kevin Harvick reared their ugly heads again, and were shown on every sportscast in America. With nine laps to go series leader Greg Biffle gets into Harvick, knocking the #29 car out of the race and triggering the 14th caution of the day. In the ensuing TV interview Harvick says he�s had it with Biffle and was going to let his feelings known to him after the race. On the final lap Jimmy Spencer gets down on the track apron in a vain attempt to catch Green and turns around the lapped machine of One Track Jack Sprague in the process. Following the so-called cool down lap Sprague runs down pit road to Spencer�s parked car in an attempt to give him an earful before being restrained by officials. Spencer, who has never made a mistake in his racing career, took zero responsibility, while going into his usual tirade about lapped cars, and how they �should respect the leaders�. The circus gets even better when Biffle gets out of his machine and is greeted by a pissed-off Harvick, who has jumped pit wall as well as the top of Biffle�s hood en route to grabbing Biffle�s race suit, screaming in his face while FOX cameramen eagerly get a closeup. It was so WWF/Springer like that it was ridiculous. Then Harvick goes on to call Biffle an idiot in another interview. Is it any wonder by the way that Harvick hails from Riverside, CA. � he�s a great spokesman for that community.

The Cup race starts just after 1 PM ET on Sunday with outside Row 1 driver Robby Gordon falling victim to polesitter Jeff Gordon's deke slowup. That led to Robby commiting a violation for crossing the start line before the polesitter. The result is a stop-and-go penalty to the #31 car. Robby is able to stay on the lead lap though as Buckshot Jones brings out the first caution on lap 4. On the ensuing restart Jimmy Spencer is second pushing Jeff Gordon, as the two leaders ran into lapped traffic, Spencer grabs the lead before Stacy Compton brings out the second caution of the day. John Andretti would bring out another caution soon after and Ryan Newman also sustains some minor damage. During the ensuing restarts the lapped car of Hut Stricklin was reeking havoc with the leaders while a banged-up Tony Stewart moves his way into the top five. On the next caution, the first 15 cars pit, putting Dale Jr. in the lead until the #8 car pits on the next caution, cycling Gordon and Spencer back on top. Dale Jarrett also sustained damage hitting the wrecked car of Hermie Sadler. At the � mark of the race, we get an inkling of things to come when an aggressive Dale Jr. gets under Robby Gordon, knocking the #31 car out of position and hanging him out to dry. At this juncture Jimmie Johnson has fought his way from the back of the field up to eighth place. As lap 150 approached, Jeff Gordon would get the left sides down on the asphalt apron, getting the #24 car out of line and into the wall, causing major rear-end damage and ending his hopes of contending. Most cars would pit after that, causing a major traffic jam due to a new rule requiring cars to go through both the back and front pits, which Mark Martin predicted would cause trouble. Mike Skinner would be forced to speed to avoid getting into two other cars, forcing Skinner to go back to the end of the longest line. The next caution would be caused when Hut Stricklin got into Joe Nemechek, officially ending Joe�s career in the #26 car.

The race would settle down some after that, with Dale Jr. controlling things. Jeff Gordon returns to the track, but barely maintaining minimum mandated speed and would soon need an extended pit stay to get a new rear put on. Ward Burton recovered from an early one lap decifit and was now running fourth, with Ryan Newman up to third and Kurt Busch climbing into contention at fifth. The next caution would occur on Lap 209 when Tony Stewart gets into Newman, eventually sending the nose of the #12 car into the wall, wrecking the radiator among other damage. After the pit sequencing Stewart would take the restart in front. Jerry Nadeau, whose car was strong all weekend made it up to sixth. the next caution occurs when Jeff Burton gets into Newman, sending both the #12 and Dale Jarrett into their second accidents of the day. Most of the leaders pit at this point, with Stewart reporting that his back is getting painful. Matt Kenseth would get blocked in his pit, dropping the #17 from 6th to 20th. Soon after going green again, Sterling Marlin would cut a tire and would make a two-tire change, going a lap down. Ward Burton would fall off the pace while Kevin Harvick quietly moves into the top ten. Meanwhile Todd Bodine is backstage getting ready in case he needs to relieve Stewart.

The 11th caution of the day occurs on lap 343 when defending race champion Elliot Sadler wrecks, breaking the fuel line and ending his day. Steve Park would also get into Robby Gordon. Tony Stewart pits but is not relieved. Elsewhere on pit road, Jerry Nadeau would hit the reverse gear v. first, dropping him from 6th to 14th. Marlin is still stuck a lap behind in 22nd. The next caution occurs when Stewart spins in the backstretch, but does not make contact with other drivers or the wall. That is enough though for Bodine to get the call from the bullpen and Stewart comes back in to get relieved. A crewman picks up Bodine like a new bride and shoves him into the #20 machine. With only 53 seconds to work with, the car is able to remain on the lead lap. At this point Kurt Busch pits for the last time, a similar late race strategy to what got Elliot Sadler the win in '01, and is now running second to Dale Jr. On the next caution (Park, Compton) Dale Jr. comes in while Busch bluffs. This sets the stage for a late race showdown between Busch and Jimmy Spencer.

Busch looked like a million bucks late...

At this point FOX actually runs a decent instant internet poll, asking if Busch is going to win the race. Only 36% believe. Meanwhile, Dale's decision to pit already appears to have backfired as the #8 was stuck behind lapped traffic in seventh. The definitive moment of the race occurs on laps 443-444 when Spencer (with a staggering total of two Cup wins in his illustrious career) bumps Busch and takes the lead. That lasted about 10 seconds until Busch gets into the rear of Spencer, sending the #41 car into a hospital wobble but Jimmy is able to save it, but is now a second and a half behind. By the way, isn't Rubbermaid a perfect sponsor for a car at Bristol??? Jeff Burton heads to the pits during green with what turns out to be a steering problem. Meanwhile Nadeau taps out Jeremy Mayfield, setting up a final restart with 15 laps to go. The final laps are mostly uneventful as Busch pulls away from Spencer, with the lapped car of Sterling Marlin blocking the third place car of Ricky Rudd from making any headway. Meanwhile the lapped car of Robby Gordon is impeding Dale Jr. who is running fourth. Busch ends up winning his first career race and at age 22 has only one less career win than Jimmy Spencer, who is 45.

Busch puts his car to rest at the start/finish line and gets out and stands on the window saluting the fans then takes the checkered flag for an old fashioned short-track victory lap with it. And as Busch has successfully recreated Sadler's 160-some final lap run, Robby Gordon decides to recreate Tony Stewart's antics from last year and turns around Dale Jr. on pit road. Only problem is Robby does more damage to his own car than Dale's. Or as Gordon's spotter said, "Hey Rob, quit tearing our shit up!!!!! Then we get to the post-race interviews, which at Bristol take on wrestling proportions. As f-you's were flying between #8 and #31 crew members, Dale Jr. gets off this smack - "The lapped car wouldn't get out of the way, that why it takes him 3-4 times to get into Winston Cup". Meanwhile, Robby claims "he had a lot of fun" then blames Dale for costing him 20 positions early in the race. Then we get to the real fun, the Jimmy Spencer interview, where his first words were "he just smashed into the back of my Target Ford EEEERRRRRRRR!!!!, I mean car. This just in, Jimmy is driving a Dodge now. Spencer goes on to say that Kurt appearantly couldn't see his bullseye too good. Meanwhile in Victory Lane, Busch goes back to last falls race in Phoenix when Spencer bumped him around, and says that Spence appearantly forgot about that. Busch's stock has just gone up ten fold. Not only did he outbump the wily Spencer, he outsmacked him too. Beautiful stuff.

After Busch and Spencer, Rudd finished third, followed by Dale Jr. and Bobby LaBonte. Matt Kenseth fought back to sixth while Jimmy Johnson places seventh in his first ever short track race in the Cup series, the fourth straight top-ten for the rook. Jerry Nadeau, Rusty Wallace, and Kevin Harvick round out the top ten. Kyle Petty pulls out another quiet, strong run in 12th while Ricky Craven finishes 13th. Todd Bodine does a fantastic job in a relief role, and gets a 15th for Tony Stewart. Sterling Marlin finishes a lap down in 19th while Robby Gordon does end up in 20th. Robby better hope he can stay in his RCR ride through Sears Point and Watkins Glen, those are the only tracks where he is a factor. Drivers who crapped out include Ward Burton (25th), Jeff Green (27th), Dale Jarrett (29th), Jeff Gordon (31st), Ryan Newman (37th), and Elliot Sadler (41st).

TEXAS PREVIEW

This week will be a whole different kettle of fish from Bristol. I usually don't talk about what happens in the open-wheel world, but last year IRL drivers walked out and forced the cancellation of a scheduled IRL event at Texas Motor Speedway when practice speeds approached a staggering 240 MPH, with the resulting G-forces causing so much vertigo in the drivers that they declared it unsafe to race. After a repaving job during the winter at TMS, speed has also become a concern for NASCAR drivers, as practice speeds are going over the 200 MPH mark and causing dizziness with some drivers. Not to mention that new surfaces is always a recipe for a crash filled race, and Texas has not been exactly the safest track to begin with. Texas is also traditionally notorious on tires, and teams are also being warned not to underinflate or skimp on the camber. Is it possible we could see a driver walkout here??? If there's a scary crash in practice or qualifying don't rule it out. And you cannot blame drivers for being concerned about safety. Chukking a race is far better than losing a driver or two. TMS has been hounding NASCAR for years about getting a second date. These latest changes could steer NASCAR towards zero rather than two.

This is the sixth year for the Texas event, with it's sixth different sponsor. The corporate world changes by the minute. Look for a single groove on the new surface and not a lot of passing, and engines stressed to the limit over 500.5 grueling miles. Here's the drivers to watch for...

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - By far the best track record at TMS, with a win in his rookie year of 2000, followed by winning the pole, leading 107 laps, and finshing eighth last year. Everything points towards a big Earnhardt day again...

Jeff Burton - Could be Rosch's flavor of the week and is actually the early betting favorite. Won in Charlotte (similar track) as well as a tire-tricky surface in Phoenix last year.

Jimmy Johnson - After a couple of false starts, JJ has been Gordon-like the last month. And it looks like fast tracks are his cup of tea.

Jeff Gordon - Repeat after me, Gordon has gone 14 races without a top five. That only means one thing, Jeff is as due as Jeanne Zelasko. The #24 has had race winning performance stuff the last two races, so take him before he goes off.

Kurt Busch - Kurt had his then career-best fourth place finish here in '01, so don't be surprised if the #97 makes it two in a row.

Sterling Marlin - Hasn't crapped out of a race yet, a good bet to outlast the competition again.

Tony Stewart/Bobby LaBonte - Don't be surpised if this race has a Joe Gibbs feel to it.

LONGSHOTS

Steve Park - Qualified fifth and finished second in '01, leading 79 laps. But that was one career-altering crash ago. Let's hope he doesn't wreck at 200 MPH. By the way, Park has admitted responsibily for his Darlington mishap with Stacy Compton.

Dale Jarrett - The defending race winner, who also qualified third. To DJ it probably seems a lot longer that 12 months ago.

Mark Martin - Qualified eighth and finished ninth, and is eighth in the point standings. He'll be around quietly on Sunday.

Jerry Nadeau - Texas is a lot like Atlanta, so throw Jerry into the mix.

Expect the top ten to be something like this...1. Dale Jr., 2. Stewart, 3. B. LaBonte, 4. Marlin, 5. J. Burton, 6. J. Gordon, 7. Johnson, 8. Busch, 9. Newman, 10. Jarrett

For informational purposes only, the odds are as follows...

J. Burton 3-1, B. LaBonte 4-1, J. Gordon 9-2, Stewart 5-1, Dale Jr. 6-1, Wallace 7-1, Jarrett 8-1, Marlin 9-1, Newman 10-1, Busch 11-1, Harvick 12-1, Martin 13-1, Rudd 14-1, Johnson 15-1, Park 16-1, Spencer 17-1, Elliott 18-1, Kenseth 19-1, Mayfield 20-1, Hamilton 22-1, Benson 24-1, W. Burton 26-1, Schrader 28-1, Craven 30-1 (still getting no respect), Nadeau 32-1, Sadler 34-1, Skinner 36-1, T. LaBonte 38-1, Green 40-1, R. Gordon 42-1, Andretti 44-1, Waltrip 46-1, Petty 48-1, Atwood 50-1, Blaney 55-1, Bodine 60-1, Compton 65-1, Buckshot 70-1, Stricklin 75-1, Mast 80-1, Sauter (#71 car) 85-1, Hornaday (#57 car) 90-1, Shawna: as good as the Montreal Expos chances.

FINAL WORD

No one left the Bristol event especially early, so in place of an Andy Houston award I will close with some Drudge-like material. First off there was some potentially distressing news given out on TV when Todd Bodine stepped into the #20 car during the race. Appearantly Todd tested for Stewart late last year because Tony was going to his sister's wedding. I'm assuming it's the sister I saw on an NBC pre-race feature on Stewart last fall, she is a HOTTY!!!. Speaking of hotties, or maybe not, one of the American Media tabloids tackled the Jeff/Brooke Gordon divorce, with the "dirty secret" behind the divorce. So I took a look at the checkout line. Of course I had to page through all the way to the next-to-last page, and of course the store manager was lurking in the area the whole while.

The story itself really does not break a lot of new ground. The story started mentioning how the Gordon-haters are having a field day and are digging all the gay stories back out, but mentioned that insiders all insist that's not the case. They then explain that 'marital misconduct', which Brooke is charging Jeff with, almost always refers to some sort of extramarital affair. Then they mentioned the report that Jeff is living 'with a business associate', further fanning the "Gordon's gay" flames. But then the stories points that Brooke's reason for the breakup is that Jeff is like "a cold fish" in the bedroom. You mean Jeff hasn't heeded Mark Martin's advice yet???

Then the story points the most sensable theory behind the divorce. Brooke wanted kids while Jeff, concerned that the kids would have to 'grow up without a Dad' in the case of a racing fatality, was against it. More likely he's smart enough to be against having his life interrupted so he can change diapers every five minutes. And we all know about what racing wives have in the back of their minds about the death possibility (tounge-in-cheek)...insurance, CHA-CHING!!!!!!!

The story then goes back to where the Gordon gay rumors started in the first place. He's short, skinny, and has a squeaky voice (which does not automatically make someone Charles Nelson Riley), plus he's from Indiana and had the nerve to start beating the "good ol' boys" at their regional game. Then Charlotte Observer racing reporter David Poole explains about 1993, Gordon's rookie year, when Jeff and Brooke couldn't be seen together in the presence of another member of the NASCAR community, for that would had been a direct violation of Brooke's victory stand girl's rules. Poole then explains that since Jeff was never seen in public with a lady, the result was the speculation. The article closes with everything that Brooke is asking for, and shows a picture of the couple's $9 million dollar estate.

As far as the gossip is concerned, who really cares in the end??? And now a message for the Gordon-haters out there, get a clue. The "Gordon's gay" take sounds so third-gradish, kind of like whiny Steeler fans when Kordell Stewart (who I doubt is gay either) throws three interceptions in a game. Jeff Gordon is only one of the three best drivers in NASCAR history, and has gone a long way to make modern racing what it is today. As with Dale Earnhardt, would tragedy be the only possible way for Jeff Gordon to ever receive total acceptance in NASCAR nation??? Let's hope not.