You could hear nothing but camera shutters has Elliott made his way to the podium and announced�The formation of Elliott Championship Products LLC, a new company which will bear the likeness of the driver on a variety of products including beef jerky, sausages, a spicy meat stick, kippered beef steak along with three different flavors of pork rinds � to be arriving in grocery stores all throughout the Southeast in the very near future. Darn, the sport really knows how to get their advertising dollars � at least we now know the sponsor for his limited schedule in 2004�

Even with Elliott keeping us hanging with his retirement plans, there is plenty of Silly Season maneuvering going on in the waning weeks of this season. Just this weekend along four drivers will be changing rides � Ward Burton moves from the #22 to the #0, Joe Nemechek goes from the #25 to the #01 (Jerry Nadeau�s car), while Scott Wimmer moves to the #22. In addition, Scott Riggs was named to replace Johnny Benson in the #10 � since Riggs is in a battle for the Busch Series championship that change will not take until the end of the year. Although Riggs drives the #10 in the BGN, they are run by a different organization than the #10 Cup ride. There is also talk about Joe Gibbs Racing embarking on a third team, which would run a limited schedule in 2004.

Well, there is one track that Jeff Gordon can dominate just like the good old days, as the #24 completes a Martinsville season sweep. Gordon qualified on the pole, overcame some mid-race problems before dominating late. The turning point came on the 14th of 15th cautions when 2nd place Dale Earnhardt Jr. elected to pit for fresh tires while Gordon stayed out. Not many others went in with the #8, and the caution took much longer than expected � 23 of what would be a race record 117 laps run under caution. Junior would restart 12th and would do well to move up to fourth, while Gordon goes un-challenged on his way to the checkered flag for his 63rd career win (7th all-time).

The win stops a four-race streak where Gordon had finished fifth. Gordon�s sweep continues a trend of drivers sweeping venues including Jimmie Johnson (New Hampshire), Ryan Newman (Dover), Kurt Busch (Bristol), and Robby Gordon (road courses). Here are the recaps on some of the other drivers�

Jimmie Johnson � Follows up last weeks third place finish by placing second to his boss this time around.

Tony Stewart � Don�t know how true it is, but this is why TV networks have to show victory lane celebrations. Allegedly, Stewart had a towel strategically placed to cover up the Goodyear logo on his firesuit. Definitely one of the hottest drivers right now, placing third, third, fourth, first, and now third in the past five weeks � ranking second during that span.

Dale Earnhardt Jr � His last-gasp charge on fresh tires finally got him to fourth, but not before a spirited battle with�

Ryan Newman � Fifth place finish, so much for one of the few chinks left in his armor, only an improvement in the #12�s plate program is needed to become the top contender for the 2004 title. One possible item that could hurt the Newman camp in the off-season is if NASCAR closes some of the loopholes that Crew Chief Matt Borland has utilized to help the air flow into the carburetor which has been attributing to the #12 deadly combo of horsepower plus mileage.

Terry LaBonte � Despite a horrible qualifying effort (31st), Terry has yet another tremendous run en route to a sixth place showing.

Kevin Harvick � Stays remotely in the title hunt with his fifth straight top-ten, moving him within 240 points of Matt Kenseth. Harvick is aiming Oijua boards towards the Kenseth trailer as I speak, don�t put it past him.

Jamie McMurray � Eighth place showing marks nine consecutive weeks in the top 20, definitely a top-ten driver at this point and a near shoo-in for Rookie of the Year.

Bill Elliott � Nine place, so much for slowing down on the short tracks. Atlanta could be another huge afternoon. Dale Jarrett � Started in provisional land after wrecking during qualifying, but the 2001 Spring winner was a factor for the first time since Bristol in placing 11th.

Steve Park � Finished 12th, and for a while was even better than that, Park�s best showing since a fifth at Michigan two months ago.

Matt Kenseth � Again, not a very strong day for the #17 as the Fords are really struggling � as Matt does well to place 13th. The strategy from this camp is squarely to run well enough to secure the title.

Jeremy Mayfield � Recent string of great finishes ends with a 33rd. On a much brighter note Mayfield re-ups with the #19 with Dodge as his sponsor for next year. Also, it appears that Dodge will only sponsor one car next year, with another sponsor handling Elliott�s limited schedule.

Robby Gordon � Was racing in the top ten before getting collected by a couple of lapped cars in the latter stages, placed 36th.

Kurt Busch � A popular school of thought is the fallout from the Spencer incident has sapped the energy out of this team. That in part may be true, but the performance of all of the outdated Fords (see Sadler/Jarrett/Martin/J. Burton and even Kenseth) speaks volumes. Blew a motor late and placed 39th. Although Busch finished strong last year stay away from now and look for the #97 to rebound in 2004.

One thought going into the race was that the �Lucky Dog� rule would wreck havoc in increasing the number of cars getting back on the lead lap. Many in the garage predicted that there could be 20-22 cars finishing on the lead lap, as opposed to only 12 in the Spring. As it turned out 19 finished on the lead lap. None of the Lucky Dog recipients went on to contend, Dale Jarrett place the highest among those in 11th. Out of the 15 cautions only Kyle Petty would receive the Lucky Dog twice. A amendment was made to that rule in the past week, where a driver getting his lap back would no longer be able to return to pit road subsequent times to top off � as Ryan Newman did en route to his Dover win a few weeks back. Myself, I would like to see another amendment where drivers could not get the free pass more than once per race.

Much of the focus on the racing world this week focused on the sudden and tragic loss of IRL driver Tony Renna, who finished seventh as a fill-in driver for Al Unser Jr. in this past years Indy 500 and had just signed a lucrative contract with Chip Ganassi Racing and was set to get married next month. Inexplicably, Renna�s car went airborne during a testing session, clearing the SAFER barrier and crashing against the catchfence. This comes on the heels of an equally horrifying accident involving Kenny Brack in the season finale after making contact with another driver, and another scary accident involving Mario Andretti when his car set an �altitude record� for IMS.