***NASCAR MBNA America 400 at Dover on NBC Sunday 9/21 at 10am PT / 1pm ET***

NASCAR.com ^ | 9/20/03

[steveegg]

Every track needs soft walls, it should be the top thing on Nascar's list, and I've said that for two years. Maybe it is at the top of the list, but it seems like two years is a long time to wait for these tracks like Dover.

Can't offer much of an excuse (since there really is none), but the SAFER barriers need to be custom-engineered for each track (you can't plunk them down at, say, Richmond using the same spacing as over at Indy). Hopefully this scare will get NASCAR moving a LOT faster on the other tracks.

[tubebender]

Two concussions in a year could be bad news. How many did Ernie Irvin suffer before his retirement...

[NormsRevenge]

Too many concussions?

Steve Young definitely exceeded the limit well before his career ended. ;-)

junior will receive a thorough review and had better take the appropriate time off if the docs say so.

[NormsRevenge]

Definitely a Dover Delight today ;-)

Looks like Junior is fine but they are only taking normal precautions anyway , probably because he lost consciousness.

[glock rocks]

Did ya catch Smoke's snide little thank-you to Goodyear after the race? LOL!! my brother looked at me and said "did he really just say that?"

...and the way he was runnin most of the race, he might have had a good point. well that, or the track went south. or his crew pooched his ride. or something :o)

Smoke and Jr were on a rail fer a while there... and so was flash and finally Rocket Man. great race!

[WestCoastGal]

I don't think he will want to miss Talladega next week, he's going for 5 wins in a row.

I heard on Speed News that he had a slight concussion and went to the hospital in the helicopter under his own power.

[AGreatPer]

I'm half in the bag. Better watch footbll.

[NormsRevenge]

Results
Order	Driver (No.)	Car	Laps Finished	Laps Led	Winnings
1	Ryan Newman (12)	Dodge	400	106	$160,460
2	Jeremy Mayfield (19)	Dodge	400	0	$140,635
3	Tony Stewart (20)	Chevrolet	400	97	$153,408
4	Kevin Harvick (29)	Chevrolet	400	133	$119,533
5	Jeff Gordon (24)	Chevrolet	400	14	$123,923
6	Jamie McMurray (42)	Dodge	400	0	$71,890
7	Greg Biffle (16)	Ford	400	0	$66,440
8	Jimmie Johnson (48)	Chevrolet	400	0	$79,940
9	Matt Kenseth (17)	Ford	400	1	$79,840
10	Rusty Wallace (2)	Dodge	400	0	$98,707
11	Ricky Rudd (21)	Ford	400	0	$87,155
12	Jeff Burton (99)	Ford	400	0	$96,007
13	Sterling Marlin (40)	Dodge	400	1	$102,540
14	Bill Elliott (9)	Dodge	400	0	$94,673
15	Jimmy Spencer (7)	Dodge	400	0	$75,890
16	Jeff Green (43)	Dodge	400	0	$99,818
17	Todd Bodine (154)	Ford	400	0	$71,740
18	Dale Jarrett (88)	Ford	400	0	$100,703
19	Elliott Sadler (38)	Ford	400	0	$92,490
20	Terry Labonte (5)	Chevrolet	399	0	$86,346
21	Johnny Benson (10)	Pontiac	399	0	$84,490
22	Mark Martin (6)	Ford	398	0	$91,323
23	Robby Gordon (31)	Chevrolet	398	0	$83,327
24	Dave Blaney (77)	Ford	398	0	$75,490
25	Jason Leffler (0)	Pontiac	398	0	$57,215
26	Steve Park (30)	Chevrolet	397	0	$64,165
27	Kevin Lepage (4)	Pontiac	397	0	$61,904
28	Kenny Wallace (23)	Dodge	397	0	$53,340
29	Ward Burton (22)	Dodge	397	0	$89,246
30	Tony Raines (74)	Chevrolet	395	0	$53,540
31	Bobby Labonte (18)	Chevrolet	395	0	$97,948
32	Kyle Petty (45)	Dodge	394	0	$60,705
33	Ken Schrader (49)	Dodge	393	0	$53,455
34	John Andretti (1)	Chevrolet	393	0	$77,532
35	Derrike Cope (37)	Chevrolet	393	0	$52,130
36	Casey Mears (41)	Dodge	392	0	$60,000
37	Dale Earnhardt Jr. (8)	Chevrolet	362	48	$97,792
38	Kurt Busch (97)	Ford	347	0	$71,750
39	Hermie Sadler (02)	Pontiac	257	0	$51,635
40	Ricky Craven (32)	Pontiac	249	0	$59,465
41	Mike Skinner (01)	Pontiac	195	0	$51,325
42	Michael Waltrip (15)	Chevrolet	171	0	$69,200
43	Joe Nemechek (25)	Chevrolet	78	0	$51,330

*************************************

Standings:    2003 | 2002
Rank	Drivers	Points	Races	Wins	Top 5	Top 10	Winnings
1	Matt Kenseth	4015	28	1	11	24	$3,276,355
2	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	3611	28	3	12	18	$3,677,532
3	Kevin Harvick	3552	28	1	10	15	$3,919,016
4	Jimmie Johnson	3543	28	4	10	16	$3,456,421
5	Ryan Newman	3398	28	7	12	17	$3,722,423
6	Jeff Gordon	3382	28	1	10	16	$3,752,529
7	Bobby Labonte	3323	28	1	11	14	$3,549,360
8	Kurt Busch	3323	28	4	9	12	$4,003,466
9	Terry Labonte	3191	28	1	4	8	$2,856,303
10	Michael Waltrip	3169	28	1	8	11	$3,710,631
11	Tony Stewart	3121	28	1	8	12	$3,777,920
12	Robby Gordon	3095	28	3	5	11	$3,034,196
13	Jeff Burton	3046	28	1	5	11	$2,970,121
14	Rusty Wallace	2962	28	0	2	10	$2,923,351
15	Bill Elliott	2952	28	0	5	7	$3,067,257
16	Mark Martin	2940	28	0	5	9	$3,223,489
17	Sterling Marlin	2844	28	0	1	10	$3,095,529
18	Jamie McMurray	2819	28	0	5	10	$2,119,290
19	Elliott Sadler	2771	28	0	2	10	$2,879,786
20	Greg Biffle	2747	27	1	4	7	$1,922,235
21	Ward Burton	2740	28	0	1	6	$2,811,158
22	Ricky Craven	2702	28	1	3	9	$2,476,398
23	Ricky Rudd	2695	28	0	5	6	$2,427,320
24	Joe Nemechek	2670	28	1	3	7	$1,987,700
25	Jeremy Mayfield	2651	28	0	2	9	$2,300,649
26	Johnny Benson	2642	28	0	1	3	$2,632,385
27	Dave Blaney	2510	28	0	2	5	$2,255,069
28	Dale Jarrett	2510	28	1	1	8	$3,170,189
29	Jimmy Spencer	2383	27	0	1	4	$2,025,692
30	Kenny Wallace	2299	28	0	0	2	$1,976,514
31	Steve Park	2291	28	0	1	4	$2,223,987
32	Todd Bodine	2236	28	0	1	2	$2,008,072
33	Casey Mears	2029	28	0	0	0	$2,089,621
34	Jeff Green	1976	24	0	1	2	$2,048,219
35	Kyle Petty	1909	27	0	0	1	$1,893,054
36	Ken Schrader	1889	26	0	0	3	$1,597,671
37	Tony Raines	1868	27	0	0	0	$1,633,906
38	John Andretti	1629	21	0	0	2	$1,945,104
39	Mike Skinner	1560	21	0	1	1	$1,462,038
40	Jack Sprague	1284	18	0	0	1	$1,156,796
41	Larry Foyt	921	16	0	0	0	$933,169
42	Mike Wallace	903	11	0	0	2	$829,690
43	Jerry Nadeau	844	10	0	1	1	$861,628
44	Christian Fittipaldi	717	13	0	0	0	$1,167,810
45	Derrike Cope	549	13	0	0	0	$724,193
46	Jason Leffler	458	7	0	0	0	$440,055
47	Johnny Sauter	356	5	0	0	0	$281,335
48	Brett Bodine	308	6	0	1	1	$325,435
49	Kevin Lepage	266	5	0	0	0	$360,704
50	Scott Pruett	236	2	0	1	1	$143,035
51	Hermie Sadler	214	7	0	0	0	$351,427
52	Boris Said	201	2	0	0	1	$134,680
53	Ron Fellows	200	2	0	0	1	$161,854
54	Scott Wimmer	182	2	0	0	0	$116,635
55	Johnny Miller	146	2	0	0	0	$110,814
56	Casey Atwood	113	2	0	0	0	$149,838
57	Buckshot Jones	112	1	0	0	0	$68,000
58	Hideo Fukuyama	98	2	0	0	0	$115,229
59	P.J. Jones	91	1	0	0	0	$59,135
60	Mike Bliss	85	1	0	0	0	$65,300
61	Paul Menard	76	1	0	0	0	$52,410
62	Ted Musgrave	70	1	0	0	0	$63,715
63	Morgan Shepherd	68	2	0	0	0	$90,746
64	David Green	67	1	0	0	0	$64,125
65	Jason Keller	67	1	0	0	0	$49,675
66	Geoffrey Bodine	46	1	0	0	0	$48,550
67	Stacy Compton	39	1	0	0	0	$67,400

[Peace4EarthNow]

Did ya catch Smoke's snide little thank-you to Goodyear after the race?

Missed that....what'd he say?

[#3Fan]

Can't offer much of an excuse (since there really is none), but the SAFER barriers need to be custom-engineered for each track (you can't plunk them down at, say, Richmond using the same spacing as over at Indy). Hopefully this scare will get NASCAR moving a LOT faster on the other tracks.

Yeah they have to be customized. Seems like the track owners could be doing the research and have them installed and just have Nascar inspect the product when they're done. Seems like instead Nascar is doing all the work and are going at it one at a time.

[kilowhskey]

Looking down the accumulated winnings column, where do you suppose the break-even point is when it comes to running a team this far into the season?

[#3Fan]

I don't think he will want to miss Talladega next week, he's going for 5 wins in a row. I heard on Speed News that he had a slight concussion and went to the hospital in the helicopter under his own power.

Yeah, they showed him getting in and sitting up and fastening himself in on his own.

Dale Sr knocked himself out here too. He hit with a passenger side impact and spent several moments coasting along the inside wall without even steering the car.

[#3Fan]

Looking down the accumulated winnings column, where do you suppose the break-even point is when it comes to running a team this far into the season?

Winnings can't pay for a major team. The sponsors pay the team to have the right to put their names on the car. Most teams run in the black all year.

[glock rocks]

Did ya catch Smoke's snide little thank-you to Goodyear after the race?

Missed that....what'd he say?

Tony Stewart pitted during one of the final cautions, but could not overtake Ryan Newman and Jeremy Mayfield, who did not.

Disappointed Stewart has harsh words for tires

By Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive
September 21, 2003
7:50 PM EDT (2350 GMT)

DOVER, Del. -- Tony Stewart lashed out at Goodyear after finishing a disappointing third in the MBNA America 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Stewart was angry at what he perceived to be an inconsistency of the tires from one set to another. Stewart led twice for 97 laps but gave up the lead to pit for four tires with 73 laps to go.

"They sponsor all these teams, and basically what it is is hush money to keep us from talking about it," Stewart said. "And I'm tired of covering their a**. I mean, it's pretty bad that the sets of tires are so bad that you can't make an adjustment on the car and go out and win the race when you've got the fastest car on the track."

Asked by a television reporter if the tires were just different, Stewart said, "Ask Goodyear. They're the ones that built the pieces of s***," Stewart said.

Stewart then stormed away from reporters and headed for the garage area. He later decided to skip his post-race interview in the infield media center. Car owner Joe Gibbs filled in.

Goodyear officials met with Stewart and his team after the race, and Rick Campbell, the team leader for Goodyear's NASCAR program, said they would talk again with crew chief Greg Zipadelli.

"It's not as clear-cut as what Tony would seem to indicate," Campbell said. "We're going to talk to him this week and get into the actual data and see what it shows us, see what actually happened -- did Tony get worse or did simply the other cars get better?

"It's an open book right now. If something happened tirewise, I would be surprised if it did, but if it did, then we'll take our lumps and try to fix it and make it better."

	Tony Stewart has one victory in 2003. Credit: Autostock.

Zipadelli said his team got rid of 14-16 tires this weekend after looking at codes stamped on the tires that "we didn't like or felt that didn't match up."

"It's just disappointing to have a car as strong as we have had in a couple different places this year and come in and just put four tires on and be terrible -- I mean, be four-, five- or six-tenths off of what you were running before," Zipadelli said. "It's hard to ask somebody to get in there and drive their ever-loving tail off for 400 laps and have that happen and expect them to be happy about it."

Second-place finisher Jeremy Mayfield said his team didn't have similar problems Sunday.

"Ours were pretty good all day," Mayfield said. "Ours stayed consistent all day. We really didn't have what you call a 'bad set.' Most of the day, they were all good."

Gibbs was more diplomatic than Stewart or Zipadelli.

"The 18, we couldn't tell because we were so far out of it, it didn't matter," Gibbs said. "Tony, everything was critical there at the end. We had the best car for a run or two. He got frustrated because that's what we did, we changed tires. Some frustration set in there. Then after the race, he was upset.

"It's so hard to tell when you're in a situation like that. I don't drive it, so I don't know."

[steveegg]

Yeah they have to be customized. Seems like the track owners could be doing the research and have them installed and just have Nascar inspect the product when they're done. Seems like instead Nascar is doing all the work and are going at it one at a time.

'Tis the wrong way to do it, especially considering that Tony George put it in at Indy for his IRL Indy 500 and had to convince NASCAR to keep it up for the Brickyard 400. Too bad the bigger-greenhouse cars haven't been working out in testing as well as hoped; that would help with the driver's side impacts as well.

[steveegg]

Sounds like Hoosier needs to get back into NASCAR.

[#3Fan]

'Tis the wrong way to do it, especially considering that Tony George put it in at Indy for his IRL Indy 500 and had to convince NASCAR to keep it up for the Brickyard 400. Too bad the bigger-greenhouse cars haven't been working out in testing as well as hoped; that would help with the driver's side impacts as well.

Indy saved Kurt Busch when Spencer decided to get revenge on a superpeedway. That was a big-time driver-side impact. It looks like every track owner could be doing this, especially at meat-grinder tracks like Dover.

[steveegg]

Was commenting on NASCAR's current way of doing it (them doing all the engineering). George may be an idiot when it comes to running a series (I give the IRL another 3 years, but that's another story), but he sure can run a racetrack. More track owners need to take pride in saving the drivers (even if it means putting off getting that next tier of luxury boxes and club seating in).

[tubebender]

I wonder if Nascar is looking for a way to make money off a safer wall...

[#3Fan]

Yeah, you're right. There were five deaths in the major series' in 2000 and 2001. Not to mention the major concussions sustained by drivers like Craven and Irvan before that. They should be jumping over themselves to come up with something. Of course I don't blame them for the things that happened two or three years ago because I think we were all surprised at how much more dangerous the newer stiffer chassis' had become. But now that we know, everyone should be doing all they can to research safer walls. Maybe Nascar isn't letting them, I don't know.