But such is the beauty of NASCAR. It is in effect, an All-Star game every Sunday with everyone involved. And the next �rivalry� to break out can come with the next inadvertent tap on someone else�s quarter-panel � and good luck predicting which two drivers will throw at each other next. Over the course of a year, or sometimes even just one race � you can stage a wrestling card of feuding drivers that would make Vince McMahon envious.

This past Sunday at Dover added a few more episodes of drivers being upset at each other. Recent Monster Mile races had brought us Rusty Wallace/Ricky Rudd and Dale Jarrett/Tony Stewart. This time around it was�

Ryan Newman/Tony Stewart � Actually the history of these two go all the way back to their Indiana short-track days. More recently though were the allegations of Newman that Stewart punted him in the All-Star race when there in fact was nothing close to contact involved. And then came Sunday, when Stewart clearly had the strongest car all day. Unfortunately, the #20 was assessed a one-lap penalty in what was strictly a judgment call for being slightly out of the pit box. Stewart would make a valiant attempt to chase down race leader Newman during the next green flag run, but Newman raced the #20 to the line at the next yellow, not allowing Stewart to get his lap back � and would catch the wrath of the temperamental driver. Stewart would eventually get his lap back while Newman would eventually lose his power steering. Stewart would work his way back into contention in the waning laps, but could not get the needed track position and would wind up finishing fourth behind Newman, Jeff Gordon, and Bobby LaBonte.

MY TAKE: When drivers should or should not allow others to get a lap back is a judgment call based on a number of variables. Often it is an acceptable practice, with the reward being the favor being returned at a later time. In this instance however, Newman would had been crazy to let Stewart back on the lead lap. The class of the field the entire afternoon was clearly Newman and Stewart. Had Stewart gotten back on the lead lap at that point the chances are good that Stewart would have eventually gotten past Gordon and then overpower Newman sans the power steering. Stewart should have realized that, just as Newman should had realized that the All-Star wreck was he getting loose on his own. Tony was still irate after the race, and left the track without comment. What is common between these two is that they�re top drivers who have had awful luck recently, and they�re taking the frustration out on each other � expect them to bump heads again.

Jeff Gordon/Sterling Marlin � You constantly hear the old saying about �give and take�. Problems start happening when one does the taking from the other, as was the case after Gordon punted Marlin out of the race for the second time in three weeks. Considering that no one has been involved in as many nasty crashes in the last twelve months as Marlin, you can definitely understand his frustration. Of course Gordon is a rival of just about anyone (Rusty Wallace, Tony Stewart etc.) � but the relationship over the years with Marlin has reportedly been non-existent at best.

Both Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joe Nemechek were forced to start from the rear due to separate accidents sustained in Happy Hour. Both then sustained damage in an opening-lap wreck involving Tony Raines/Casey Mears/Ward Burton/Jeff Green. Junior was helped by the many yellow-flag laps due to rain in the early going and was able to stay on the lead lap all day, eventually placing 11th while Nemechek would salvage a 24th. Johnny Benson rounded out the top five with his first top-ten finish, which brings him all the way up to 27th in the standings. The fortunes of Yates Racing continue to take a tumble as both Elliott Sadler (33rd) and Dale Jarrett (39th) wound up behind the wall. Jarrett has now tumbled clear down to 24th in points. Robbie Loomis (#24 car) wins the Pit Strategy award for the race � what did he do, make the order to nail the #40 in the rear panel??? Jimmie Johnson saw the momentum of recent weeks end with a Lap 277 crash � he finished 38th. Another multi-car wreck on Lap 212 involved Jack Sprague (7th at the time), along with Kurt Busch, Brett Bodine, Ward Burton, Mark Martin, John Andretti, Ken Schrader, and Kyle Petty.

Welcome to where anything is liable to jump across the track and become part of the action. That not only includes deer but even a crazed fan who crossed the backstretch in 1993 before escaping into the woods where he set a small fire. This starts the Summer big-track version of the schedule (Pocono, Michigan, Sonoma, Daytona, Chicago, New Hampshire, Pocono again, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, Michigan). Both Pocono races go 500 miles (I wouldn't be surprised to see it shortened to 400 eventually) make engine durability a must in this event. Qualifying well is also more important than normal - eight of the last 11 winners have qualified fourth or better. Dale Jarrett (win/fourth), and Sterling Marlin (4th/3rd) were the drivers who scored top fives in the two Pocono races last year. As bad as Jarrett has been recently, he could easily turn it around at the two tracks he won at last year. This should be a good weekend for Kenseth, who has three top-tens in his last five races here. Meanwhile Dale Jr. has not had success, with a second-place showing being his lone top-ten in six career races. Jeff Gordon has three career wins and is 15-20 in top-tens. Bobby LaBonte has three wins and six top-tens in his nine most recent Pocono events. Kurt Busch finished second in the July 2002 event, and very easily could had won had the race not been shortened due to rain/darkness. Bill Elliott should be a nice play over this stretch, considering his Pocono/Indy double from last year, and is also always a huge factor in Michigan � that accounts for five of the next nine races. This Sunday Elliott will be in the same car he won the two races last year, as well as his 2001 Homestead win. Jimmie Johnson had strong qualifying runs along with good finishes last year, and will be using the car in which he won last month�s All-Star race. Rusty Wallace is riding a current streak of four consecutive top-tens, completing all but one of 1,818 laps in his last five outings. Robby Gordon has improved from 27th at this time last year to 10th and this is one of his stronger tracks which it�s semi-road course characteristics. Sterling Marlin will be using the chassis that netted the #40 three victories in 2002 (Vegas, Darlington, Charlotte w/McMurray). Mark Martin has 17 top-fives along with 24 top-tens in 32 career Pocono races. Another driver with a good batting average is Tony Stewart who is 7-8 in top-tens. Look for Newman to be strong again, with an engine he will push to nearly 10,000 RPM�s going into Turn 1 on the tri-angular track. If looking for a huge longshot, Casey Atwood will be in the glucola-orange Mountain Dew #91 Evernham car for this week only. Atwood scored a season-best 11th place finish in this race last year. Of course he's going to have to qualify in the top-36 first to ensure even making the show.