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(08/27/07 3:55am)
BRISTOL, Tenn. – After his best finish in almost a month, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had one thing on his mind.\n“I’m ready to go home, get on the lake!” he said, pumping his fist.\nBut as Earnhardt enjoyed a rare Sunday off from Nextel Cup racing, he was faced with the harsh realization that his last chance to win a championship for Dale Earnhardt Inc. is slipping away.\nCarl Edwards clinched a berth for the Chase for the championship by winning Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, leaving Earnhardt farther from contention with his fifth-place finish. With only two races to go before the championship field is set, Earnhardt is 158 points away from the 12th and final qualifying spot.\nHe knows that not making the Chase is considered professional failure – Earnhardt lived it during a miserable 2005 season – and dreads what the final 10 weeks of the season will be like if he again isn’t eligible to run for the title.\n“When we don’t make it, everybody makes a big deal out of it,” he said. “They talk about it pre-race. They talk about it post-race. It’s a bummer when you see that and have to watch that and read it and what not. You kind of want to go under the radar when you can’t get it done.”\nBut NASCAR’s most popular driver can’t ever go under the radar. His every move is scrutinized, and Earnhardt is convinced the credit for his success isn’t nearly as great as the criticism for his failures.\nDespite 18 career victories, a Daytona 500 win and two Busch Series championships, Earnhardt is often judged by his inability to win a Cup title. The closest he came was third in 2003, and he’s not seriously contended since a brief run at the title in the inaugural 2004 Chase.\n“Y’all make it pretty miserable, because that’s all y’all talk about,” he told reporters Saturday night. “I shouldn’t tell you that you dictate my mood. But now you know.”\nAnd if Earnhardt fails to make the Chase for the second time in three years, he’ll be faced with the fact that he’ll likely never win a Cup title for his late father’s team. He’s leaving DEI at the end of this season to drive for Hendrick Motorsports, where he’s got a five-year contract and hopes to finish his career.\nHis relationship with his stepmother is a bitter roller coaster ride – he blasted Teresa Earnhardt a week ago for not letting him take his No. 8 with him to Hendrick, then on Friday implored fans to halt their Internet attacks against her. It seems unlikely he’ll drive for DEI again.\nWhen he said in May he would leave at the end of the year, he promised to go hard the rest of the year. That won’t change the next two weeks as he tries to knock Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. or Kurt Busch out of the Chase.\n“All I can do is be (aggressive) and run as good as I can run,” Earnhardt said.\nEdwards believes Earnhardt has the right attitude and that Busch, currently 12th, should keep a close eye on his rearview mirror.\n“If I were 158 points ahead of 13th in 12th position, I’d still be having trouble sleeping at night,” Edwards said. “I think the last spot is still up for grabs. Two bad races for Kurt would be rough.”\nBusch, who finished one spot behind Earnhardt in sixth, knows he can’t let up the next two races, at California and Richmond, (Va.).\n“We’re running more consistent, and that’s what it takes if you want to be a championship contender,” said Busch, who won Tuesday’s rain-postponed race in Michigan. “But for us, we still have to get into the Chase. We’re not locked in, so we’re not losing focus with two more races.”\nNot even Ryan Newman, who is 14th, is giving up.\n“We still have a shot at it,” he said. “Mathematically, we still have a chance. We’re just trying to give it our best shot, each and every lap. That’s good enough in my eyes – whether it’s good enough to make the top 12, we’ll see.”\nWith all that pressure, Earnhardt has his work cut out for him. Two engine failures in the last five races have put him in this position, and he believes his No. 8 team is better than it is given credit for.\nBut if he misses the Chase, Earnhardt said he won’t head to the lake for the final 10 races of the season. He intends to stay committed and try to drive his way into Victory Lane one last time in his red No. 8 Chevrolet.\n“Maybe we can get us a win,” he said. “I’ll be more ticked off if I don’t win a race this year because I’ve run good all year. We’ve had so many opportunities, you know?”
(04/26/07 4:00am)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Two-time champion Tony Stewart likened NASCAR to professional wrestling and accused it of using bogus caution flags to shape races in biting comments made on his weekly radio show.\nStewart’s appearance on his Tuesday night show was his first since skipping a post-race press conference in Phoenix. He dominated Saturday night’s race but lost after a late exchange of leads with winner Jeff Gordon. Stewart said he refused interviews to avoid bashing NASCAR after officials threw four cautions for debris on the track.\n“It’s like playing God,” he said on his Sirius Satellite Radio program. “They can almost dictate the race instead of the drivers doing it. It’s happened too many times this year.”\nStewart, who said he was fighting a fever and left the two-hour show early, went on to say fans are complaining about debris cautions and NASCAR isn’t listening.\n“I guess NASCAR thinks ‘Hey, wrestling worked, and it was for the most part staged, so I guess it’s going to work in racing, too,’” he said. “I can’t understand how long the fans are going to let NASCAR treat them like they’re stupid before the fans finally turn on NASCAR.\n“I don’t know that they’ve run a fair race all year.”\nNASCAR called Stewart’s comments “very, very disappointing.”\n“NASCAR has been running races since 1948, and we place the safety of the drivers at the top of the list,” said spokesman Jim Hunter. “We have more people and more resources than ever officiating our races. The safety of the drivers is our first priority. It has always been that way and will continue to be that way.\n“There are thousands of talented race drivers out there who would consider it an honor to compete in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.”\nAlthough NASCAR has a policy that prohibits obscene language and gestures on television, the sanctioning body has no rule against criticizing its officiating. The NBA and NFL both fine its participants for criticizing the referees.\nHunter said NASCAR had no plans to punish Stewart for his remarks about officiating, which is done from a tower above the race track by a team of eight that includes NASCAR president Mike Helton and competition director Robin Pemberton.\nNASCAR also does not force its drivers to meet with the media but has post-race procedures in place for the top three finishers and highest finishing rookie. The official entry blank each week lists the policy, but Stewart was adamant on his radio show that he is not required to abide by it.\n“There’s nothing, zero, in my contract that says I have to do that,” he said. “We do that as a courtesy to NASCAR and the media. The thing with the media is they think it’s our obligation to do those things. It’s not our obligation. It’s a privilege that they get to do that.”\nHe said skipping the press conference was his way of getting even with NASCAR over what he considered unfair officiating.\n“NASCAR is the ones that always ask us to go to the media center, so instead of doing what they wanted, they don’t do what we want to do and run the race fair,” he said. “So why would I go to the media center and make them happy?”
(03/01/07 5:00am)
You'd think that recording one of the decade's greatest rock albums, praise from David Bowie, gracing the cover of Time magazine's Canadian edition, opening for U2 and touring the world would make Arcade Fire happy. But Neon Bible, their sophomore album due out March 6, belies this notion. Chock-full of paranoia, despair, loss, betrayal, war, religious demagoguery, media malfeasance and apocalyptic visions, Neon Bible could be the darkest modern rock LP since Radiohead disappeared into their cave (it's even more depressing than Arcade Fire's 2004 debut, Funeral). But don't worry, that's a good thing. \nArcade Fire works in angst like Van Gogh worked in oil paint -- piling it on, building it up in layers, not so much brushing it on as sculpting it toward an ultimate vision. Indeed, this deliberateness, I suspect, will become the heart of the inevitable debate over how well Neon Bible compares to Funeral.\nFirst, here's what's the same: Arcade Fire remains a big, ambitious, heavy, baroque, anachronistic, orchestral chamber pop operation -- traditionally nonrock instruments make their appearance (most notably violins and organ), oblique references abound, lyrics slip into French and Win Butler sings his tortured heart out. In another review two weeks ago, I called Arcade Fire the opera of indie rock -- play either of their albums at neighbor-alienating volume and you'll hear what I mean. \nBut Neon Bible is more cohesive than Funeral -- the various song elements often rest on a backbone of mid-tempo percussion and guitar strums, which gradually ramp up to an explosive conclusion (likewise, the album itself builds to a climax in "No Cars Go," a turbo-charged version of the song from Arcade Fire's self-titled EP). There are neither so much the stomping anthems like "Rebellion (Lies)" nor the sweet ballads like "In The Backseat." And, strikingly, Butler's better-half, Regine Chassagne, is relegated to background vocals. In all, this means that the album is less immediately appealing -- but it also has a greater emotional payoff when taken as a whole. \nAnd, besides, there are many individual tunes other than "No Cars Go" that'll get your heart beating -- a swinging ode to paranoia ("Keep The Car Running"), a soaring condemnation of mindless obedience ("Intervention"), a hard-charging attack on stage parenting ("Antichrist Television Blues") and "Windowsill," which provides plenty of good reasons to say to hell with this world and join Radiohead in their cave.
(02/19/07 5:00am)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kevin Harvick nosed out Mark Martin in a frantic wreck-filled finish to win Sunday’s Daytona 500.\nMartin, making his 23rd attempt at a 500th win, seemed to have victory in hand when a hard-charging Harvick barreled along the outside of Martin to earn his second victory at Daytona International Speedway in two nights. Harvick won Saturday’s Busch race – his first ever victory at Daytona.\nAs Harvick pushed into the lead, Kyle Busch wiggled behind them and bumped into Matt Kenseth to start a melee. Harvick and Martin raced side by side, waiting for NASCAR to call for a caution. When it finally came, Harvick was barely ahead.\n“My go-kart experience over the winter paid off, because I didn’t let off the floor and we just kept hitting things and the wall and bouncing off everything,” Harvick said. “But man, this is the Daytona 500. Can you believe it?”\nIt took several moments for NASCAR to declare a winner, finally giving it to Harvick and spoiling what would have been the biggest victory of the 48-year-old Martin’s career.\n“I didn’t ask for a win in the Daytona 500, I asked for a chance,” Martin said. “I let it slip away, slip through my fingers, and I’m fine with that.”\nIt was just the finish NASCAR needed to put racing back in the spotlight after a cheating scandal nearly ruined the Great American Race.\nFive teams were busted for breaking the rules during Speedweeks – including two-time winner Michael Waltrip, who broke the NASCAR code by tampering with his fuel before qualifying.\nIt put the sport in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and NASCAR had to ratchet up its penalty process to prevent its premier event from turning into a joke.\nFinishes like this one might fix everything.\nMartin led 26 laps and was out front when a five-car accident brought racing to a standstill with five laps to go. It made for an agonizing 11 minutes and 39 seconds for Martin, who could do nothing but sit idly in his car trying to plot his strategy during the stoppage.\nWhen racing resumed with two laps to go, Martin seemingly needed only to hold off Busch in a sprint to the finish. He weaved high and then low to block Busch’s attempts, which may have distracted him from Harvick.
(02/14/07 3:07am)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR took its strongest stance against cheating Tuesday, suspending the crew chiefs for Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler and docking all four drivers points before the season-opening Daytona 500 for failing inspections.\nKahne, Riggs and Sadler are teammates at Evernham Motorsports. Kenseth, the 2003 series champion and runner-up last season, drives for Roush Racing.\nRobbie Reiser, crew chief for Kenseth, and Kenny Francis, crew chief for Kahne, were suspended four races. Rodney Childers, crew chief for Riggs, and Josh Brown, crew chief for Sadler, were suspended two races.\n"It's obvious that we've ramped up our penalties and we're going to get people's attention," competition director Robin Pemberton said. "We're going to grab this one by the horns."\nAll four crew chiefs can appeal, a process that could allow them to work the Great American Race. If they do and the committee cannot schedule a hearing before Sunday's race, they would be allowed to participate.\nBut Roush Racing already has a replacement for Reiser and said the 500 will be the first race he has missed since the team's inception in 1999 -- a stretch of 255 races.\nReiser and Francis may not appeal because delaying the suspension could force them to miss the debut of the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol Motor Speedway in March.\nIn toughening its penalties, NASCAR made the unprecedented move of taking points away before the season has even started. Kahne and Kenseth were docked 50 points apiece, while Riggs and Sadler lost 25 each.\nReiser and Francis also were fined $50,000 each, while Childers and Brown were fined $25,000 each.\nAll four drivers will start the season with negative points -- a move that most likely infuriated the teams, but sent a strong message that NASCAR will no longer tolerate rule-breakers.\nNASCAR is still investigating Michael Waltrip's startup Toyota team, which failed a pre-qualifying inspection and had a key part shipped back to North Carolina for further analysis.\nIt's the second straight season that NASCAR's biggest event has been marred by cheating scandals. Last year, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief was sent home for four races when he was caught cheating in qualifying. Johnson won the race without Chad Knaus, who rejoined the team in March and helped Johnson win the Nextel Cup title.
(10/11/06 4:06am)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Here's one thing race fans won't see any time soon: Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vickers buddying up at the track, or anywhere else.\nJohnson's anger toward his teammate and friend had not subsided Tuesday, two days after Vickers wrecked Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap at Talladega Superspeedway.\nJohnson spent the bulk of his weekly conference call avoiding even mentioning Vickers' name, finally unloading on his teammate about 20 minutes in when asked if the two had spoken.\n"I got a message from him, but that was about it," Johnson said. "I don't have much to say or much to talk to him about."\nAsked if their relationship had changed, Johnson said he wasn't sure because it had only been two days since the incident. But it didn't sound as if Johnson has any plans to forgive Vickers any time soon.\n"I have a hard time feeling he was really sorry for what he's done," Johnson said. "At the same time I know it wasn't intentional, so I just kind of go on, (but) if I look at the interviews and the quotes and the message that Brian left me, I wouldn't take it as an apology by any stretch of the imagination. That's where I am at."\nEarnhardt was leading on the final lap of Sunday's race at Talladega, with the two Hendrick Motorsports drivers running second and third. Johnson attempted to pass Earnhardt heading into the third turn and Vickers followed to help push him into the lead.\nBut Vickers hooked the back of Johnson instead of pushing him, and the contact sent Johnson spinning into Earnhardt. Vickers darted by both of them for his first Nextel Cup victory.\nThe outcome hurt both Johnson and Earnhardt in the chase for the championship standings. Vickers, who is not eligible for the Nextel Cup title, is leaving Hendrick at the end of the season to drive for Toyota next year.\nHis impending departure has gotten him locked out of Hendrick team meetings and racing incidents with teammate Jeff Gordon in New Hampshire last month and now Johnson has caused friction between the once close-knit group.\nBut Vickers said he believes he and Johnson can get past Talladega.\n"Do I think Jimmie is upset? Yes, of course he is. Do I think we can fix that? Absolutely," he said after the race. "Jimmie is a great person. He is a very mature man, and I am sure when the time is right, we will have our opportunity to work things out."\nSunday's outcome has also been awkward for car owner Rick Hendrick, Johnson said.\nHendrick is like a second father to Vickers, who was very close to Ricky Hendrick -- Rick's son -- before his death in a 2004 plane crash. And Vickers' win was done in the No. 25 Chevrolet, which was owned by Rick Hendrick's late father, Papa Joe, and run by Ricky.\nHendrick had an emotional discussion with Vickers in Victory Lane, then left the track without talking to reporters.\n"Rick's view is that he's the highest of highs and the lowest of lows," Johnson said. "His father's team got back to Victory Lane but at the expense of one of his other cars taking a hit in the points. I think it's tough for him. He's happy; he's bummed.\n"It's the same way that I am and my team is. But at the end of the day, I'm happy for the No. 25 team. They've been working very hard to get where they are, and they've been close to winning. So I am happy for those guys. But I'm disappointed that I lost all those points that I did. And I think that's just kind of the overall feeling that everybody has"
(08/06/06 11:52pm)
INDIANAPOLIS -- If Jimmie Johnson wants to finally capture his first Nextel Cup championship, winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a step in the right direction.\nJohnson pulled off a gritty win at the Brickyard on Sunday, battling back from an early tire problem to take the lead, only to see it evaporate when a late debris caution bunched up the field. It dropped him from first to eighth and forced him to slice his way to the front in the final 14 laps.\nBut he did it with ease and pulled away for his second major victory of the season. Johnson won the season-opening Daytona 500, the only event that trumps Indianapolis in prestige.\nNow he'll have to see if he can translate it into a championship.\nThe winner of the Brickyard automatically becomes the favorite to win the title, and five of the past eight went on to do it.\nJohnson will now give it a try in his constant pursuit of an elusive first championship.\nThe perpetual points leader has never been able to put together a full season, and his swoon typically begins right around the Brickyard. He wrecked here and lost his points lead last season to race winner Tony Stewart, who parlayed the victory into his second championship while Johnson faded all the way back to fifth.\nMatt Kenseth, who has been sitting in second behind Johnson the past nine weeks, finished second and is 107 points out of the lead. Kevin Harvick was third and Clint Bowyer, his rookie teammate at Richard Childress Racing, was fourth.\nMark Martin finished fifth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. stole a sixth-place finish by not pitting on the final caution to salvage a horrible day and reclaim the 10th spot in the Chase for the championship standings.\nKyle Busch was seventh, followed by Carl Edwards, Stewart and Kurt Busch.\nJeff Burton, who started from the pole and led a race-high 87 laps, finished a disappointing 12th after fading late.\nJeff Gordon, looking to race his way into the record books, never got the chance. He broke the sway bar on his Chevrolet just eight laps into the race and had to stop to have the part replaced. The repair work dropped him three laps off the pace, and even though he worked his way back onto the lead lap he wound up 16th.\nThe poor day prevented him from tying two distinguished marks, joining Formula One superstar Michael Schumacher as the only five-time winners in Indy history, and the late Dale Earnhardt's mark of 76 Cup wins.
(01/23/06 6:01am)
SEATTLE -- The Seattle Seahawks did what nobody else in the NFL could this year: stop Steve Smith.\nThe Seahawks clamped down on Carolina's top playmaker, forcing the Panthers to search all over the field Sunday for someone else to step up. One problem -- Smith has been their only weapon all year and without him, they didn't stand a chance in the NFC championship game.\nSmith, the NFL's leading receiver during the regular season, was held to five catches for 33 yards in Carolina's 34-14 loss to Seattle. His lone score was on a suspect 59-yard punt return that appeared to be called back, then wasn't.\nThe Panthers thought they saw everything from opponents fruitlessly trying to cover Smith this season.\nThen they got a look at Seattle's schemes.\nUsing double, triple and even quadruple coverage on the speedy receiver, Seattle gave Smith little room to break free. The Seahawks' most effective scheme was moving a linebacker over to guard him, usually Kevin Bentley, who could quickly break away if the play wasn't going to Smith.\nWith Smith bottled up, quarterback Jake Delhomme had few other options.\nSmith has been his No. 1 target all season, sometimes to the detriment of Carolina's other, young receivers. Keary Colbert and Drew Carter combined for 30 catches during the regular season compared to Smith's NFL-leading 103.\nIt didn't help that the Panthers had no running game, either. Forced to start Nick Goings because Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster were out with injuries, Goings joined them on the sideline after a vicious first quarter helmet-to-helmet hit left him wobbly.\nSo Delhomme often looked panicked when he couldn't find Smith, leading to three interceptions and two sacks.\nSmith, meanwhile, looked furious most of the game.\nHe stamped and sulked his way up and down the sideline, forcing coach John Fox to calm him down midway through the second quarter when Seattle built a 17-0 lead.\nSmith responded with his one big play, his punt return in the second quarter that even he thought didn't count because the referees threw a flag. But what was at first thought to be a block in the back that would have negated the touchdown was waived off, giving Smith his only score of the game.\nIt was a frustrating end to Smith's comeback season -- he missed 15 games last year with a broken leg and no one was sure he'd be the same receiver when he returned.\nHe wasn't. He was faster, stronger and much more determined to become the best receiver in the NFL. He finished the regular season with an NFL-best 1,563 yards and 12 touchdowns, while breaking nine team records and earning All-Pro honors and a trip to the Pro Bowl.\nSmith's success carried into the postseason, where he had a combined 22 catches for 302 yards and three receiving touchdowns in wins over the New York Giants and Chicago Bears.\nHe never came close to duplicating it in the NFC championship. The Seahawks were too good to let it happen.
(01/09/04 6:43am)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Defensive ends Mike Rucker and Grant Wistrom first met as high school sophomores playing against each other in Missouri. Rucker claims he used a hard hit to tackle Wistrom, then a tight end, for a loss.\nThe two were later teammates at Nebraska, and will cross paths once again Saturday when Rucker and the Carolina Panthers play Wistrom and the St. Louis Rams in the divisional playoffs.\n"We played twice in high school and I got the best of him as a sophomore, but he'll deny it," Rucker said. "He came across the field with the ball and I leveled him. But his team beat me our senior year.\n"Hopefully, I'll push back ahead of him this week."\nAt Nebraska, Wistrom became a full-time defensive end and played ahead of Rucker, leading to a misconception that he played a large role in Rucker's development at the position.\nBut both will tell you now that Wistrom's high school in southwest Missouri's Webb City had simply done a better job preparing him for college football and it took Rucker a little while to catch up.\nRucker proved he is up to speed this season, posting a career-best year for Carolina (12-5).\nRucker led the Panthers with 12 sacks this season, a statistic that was tops in the league until a late-season knee injury sidelined him two games. Even so, Rucker often was overshadowed by his better-known defensive linemates Julius Peppers and All-Pro tackle Kris Jenkins.\nCount Wistrom among those well aware of Rucker's play.\n"He's one of the best defensive ends in the league right now," Wistrom said. "I love watching him play. He's a great pass-rusher, he plays hard, he plays the game intense -- and that's the way you've got to play this game."\nThat he's still playing this season surprises Rucker, who feared his season was over when he heard a pop in his left knee in a Dec. 7 game against Atlanta. Rucker thought he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament.\nTests showed a sprained medial collateral ligament, and he finished the game against the Falcons. He sat out the next two, then played just the first half of the regular-season finale.\nHe's thrilled to be feeling better for the postseason.\n"It was a pain I hadn't felt before, a funny feeling and I really thought I had tore everything up in there," he said. "It calmed down a little bit, and once they said it wasn't the ACL, that was kind of a load off my mind.\n"Then when I was be able to put a brace on and go out and play, that took a big load off my mind."\nHaving Rucker healthy and playing is a key to Carolina's defense, fellow linemen Brentson Buckner said. Beyond his sacks, Rucker's presence creates a disruption to opposing offenses that doesn't show up in the statistics.\n"It's just been a steady climb for him," Buckner said. "It wasn't a matter of him improving, just a matter of him seeing more things, just realizing his potential. Because he works hard, he's a technician.\n"One thing about him, if you watch him in practice or you see him from season-to-season, he's always improving one phase of his game."\nWistrom, who has watched Rucker's game grow since high school, also sees the improvement.\n"He was a pretty darned good player at Nebraska, and he's even gotten better in the NFL," Wistrom said. "One thing I've noticed from Mike that has improved, is how hard he works out there on the football field. He's always been very blessed athletically, but now he goes out there, he busts his butt on every play, he's chasing the football all over the field."\nRucker will try to do that against the Rams' offense on Saturday, even though he's a little worn out. His second child (and first son), Michael Mason Rucker, arrived earlier this week.\nWithin hours of celebrating Carolina's first-round victory over the Dallas Cowboys, Rucker was at the hospital for the delivery.\n"It's been a rough week -- a lot of pressure," he said. "It was rough, not knowing when the baby was coming. Was it going to come on Friday when I was trying to get some sleep, something like that. But everything worked out for the best"
(06/16/03 1:13am)
MONTREAL - Michael Schumacher took a long swig of champagne, then sprayed some on his younger brother. Finally back on top of the Formula One standings, Schumacher was ready to celebrate.\nSchumacher won his fourth race of the season and finally passed Kimi Raikkonen for the lead in the driver standings by beating his brother, Ralf, in the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.\nSchumacher, seeking his record sixth F1 world championship, now has won six times on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The German driver gained the maximum 10 points for this victory and now has scored 999 for his career.\n"As for having 999 points, in Germany that number means you have to buy everyone a drink," he joked. "So we will see what happens tonight."\nSchumacher started third but took over the lead after his first pit stop. He and Ralf had been running 1-2 when Ralf ducked off the track for service on the 20th lap.\nMichael pitted on the next lap, then raced his Ferrari off the service road to get back on the race track an instant before Ralf came by. He took over the lead when Fernando Alonso had to make his stop, and because passing is so difficult on the 2.709-mile, 15-turn track, no one ever challenged him the rest of the way.\n"The mechanics did a great job in the pit stop to put me in the lead," he said. "This was the ideal result at the end of a very tough and tight race."\nRalf Schumacher, who started from the pole, finished second for Williams-BMW. It was a reverse finishing order from 2001 when Ralf won and Michael finished second.\n"It's obviously disappointing," Ralf said. "But in 2001 I won it like this, now it is his turn."\nJuan Pablo Montoya, Ralf Schumacher's teammate at Williams, was third but irritated because he lost a chance to challenge for his second consecutive victory when he spun on the second lap.\n"I was too close to Ralf when I braked and I just braked too late and I spun. It was my fault completely," Montoya said. "It is a shame that we had the potential to win the race and I threw it away."\nFernando Alonso was fourth for Renault and the top four cars were all running nearly nose-to-tail at the finish, a rarity in F1. But Ralf Schumacher said it was impossible to even attempt a pass on the leader.\n"I was never close enough to even try it," Ralf said. "Maybe some might think I didn't try it, but I couldn't."\nThe entire complexion of the race was changed by Montoya's spin in Turn 15. That allowed Michael Schumacher to move into second, splitting up the Williams teammates after they started in first and second, and rapidly close the gap on his younger brother.\n"Without that spin, I don't think Michael would have gotten by Juan," said Williams technical director Patrick Head. "And it would have been a tussle between Ralf and Juan at the end."\nInstead, it was Michael Schumacher on top of the podium again for the second consecutive year and back in control of the driver standings after eight of 16 races.\nSchumacher has won three straight championships and had taken the points lead very early in each of those seasons.\nBut this year he had to contend with the 23-year-old Raikkonen, who won his first race earlier this season and took control of the driver standings after the second event, capitalizing on early season struggles by Schumacher and Ferrari.\nBut Michael Schumacher has been closing in since and trailed Raikkonen by just four points at the start of the race. Now he is three points ahead.\n"This season is going to be a long one, and we knew that at the beginning," Schumacher said. "Of course it is important to be leading the championship in what I have always said will be a hard season and with a tough fight to the end."\nRaikkonen, though, did little to help himself. He wrecked his McLaren Mercedes on Saturday's qualifying lap and had to start last on the grid.\nHis team elected to start the race on pit road, where he was able to take four new tires and refuel the car as soon as the race began. Because he had a full tank of fuel, he was able to gain positions when other cars had to duck off for their pit stops.\nHe had moved all the way up to fifth, but his day was ruined when his tire lost its tread and split off the car on the 33rd lap. He recovered, slightly, to finish sixth and earn just three points.\n"Today's result is not a disaster at all and the gap to Michael is only three points with plenty more races to go," Raikkonen said.\nAs usual, it was a horrible race for hometown hero Jacque Villeneuve, who failed to finish on the track named after his late father for the fifth consecutive year. He apparently had a problem with the brakes on his BAR-Honda and retired after 15 laps.\nHe was in street clothes walking through the paddock with his fingers plugging his ears as the field roared by him.
(08/05/02 4:08am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Tony Stewart's temper got the best of him yet again Sunday when he was involved in a physical altercation with a photographer following the Brickyard 400.\nStewart, who started from the pole, had a strong car most of the day and was running in third when he mysteriously faded over the final few laps and finished 12th. He pulled his No. 20 Pontiac into the garage, hopped out and abandoned the car next to one of the empty bays at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.\nAs he hurriedly walked off, he swatted his hand in the air when approached from behind by a man. A photographer was following, Stewart broke into a trot and the photographer began to run alongside of him.\nStewart, an Indiana native, then turned to the man and threw several punches at him before he was pulled away. He then ran out of the garage area.\nThe photographer, who refused to identify himself, repeated the story to car owner Joe Gibbs in a lengthy conversation next to Stewart's hauler.\n"I spoke to the man and I feel confident we don't have a problem," Gibbs said. "I haven't spoken to Tony. This place is the No. 1 place he wants to win a race and I'm sure he's bitterly disappointed."\nIt's not the first time Stewart has had a run-in following a race.\nLast season at Daytona, he had to be restrained by Gibbs and crew chief Greg Zipadelli during an argument with a NASCAR official, then slapped away a reporter's tape recorder and kicked it when the reporter tried to pick it up.\nThe temperamental Stewart has been on his best behavior this season, trying hard to avoid controversy and stay off of probation after NASCAR put him under restriction for most of last season.\nAnd his spirits had been good here this weekend during a hectic homecoming for the Rushville native.\nHe had been candid and funny during interviews, even though most of his sessions were laced with his usual brutal honesty while he complained about everything from poor racing conditions at New Hampshire International Speedway last month to the aerodynamic disadvantages he believes his car has.\n"It's still a work in progress," Gibbs said. "But he's coming around and I still see a lot of positives in him"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
LOUDON, N.H. -- Ward Burton, stuck in a miserable slump since winning the Daytona 500, overcame hazardous track conditions and a late caution to win the New England 300 on Sunday.\nBurton, who had just two other top-10 finishes since winning the season-opening race, passed Matt Kenseth for the lead wiath 10 laps to go then held off Jeff Green by 3.230 seconds at New Hampshire International Speedway.\nDale Jarrett finished third, followed by Rusty Wallace, rookie Ryan Newman, Todd Bodine, Robby Gordon, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler.\nKenseth, who had passed Jarrett for the lead with 17 laps to go, was hurt by the 14th caution of the race.\nDale Earnhardt Jr. brought out the yellow when he tried to move Todd Bodine's car with slight contact and instead went spinning down the track, onto the grass and into the retaining wall.\nThe field was bunched back up and Burton, in second on the restart with 12 laps to go, easily got by Kenseth two laps later.\nHe went unchallenged for the victory the rest of the way in a race marred by poor track conditions after the facilities owner spent $200,000 on new pavement to improve racing conditions.\nDrivers believed the track surface, which showed signs of coming apart during Saturday's final practice session, began to split early in the race.\nSadler spun out in turn 4 on lap 60 and Kyle Petty hit the wall there on lap 106. Drivers began complaining over their radios about the slick surface and gravel popping off their fenders every time they went through turns 3 and 4.\nLater, when Jeff Gordon slipped out of the groove and brushed against the wall, he angrily called on NASCAR to stop the race.\n"NASCAR, they need to red-flag this race -- it is not safe to be out on this race track," he radioed. "All I did was get like a foot wide and the thing almost went straight into the wall. It was like I was on ice, pure ice"
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
Ward Burton will always cherish his win in the Daytona 500, the biggest victory of his career. But when everything that followed was a disaster, it's easy to forget that moment.\nWeek after week after his season-opening victory, Burton fell deeper and deeper into a miserable slump.\nHe had finishes of 21st or worse 11 times, scored just two top-10 finishes and went to New Hampshire International Speedway last weekend stuck in a rut of finishing 33rd of worse in six of the last seven races.\nCritics just rolled their eyes at his Daytona win and blasted Burton and his Bill Davis Racing team.\nWhen he won last weekend at New Hampshire, it shut everyone up.\n"Right now, this is just what the doctor ordered. We needed it," Burton said. "We came out of the box and won the biggest race of the year. Since then, we've had some struggling times. So to win again, giving us two in one season, what more could you ask for?"\nBefore breaking out of his slump in New Hampshire, Burton's team was overlooked in the Winston Cup garage area.\nWhen he signed a contract extension with Davis earlier this month, some wondered why he wanted to stay on a losing team. Parts always broke, his No. 22 Dodge wasn't good enough to run up front on a consistent basis and Burton could never shake his bad luck.\nBut Burton wouldn't turn his back on Davis, and his team just kept plugging away. The effort finally showed at New Hampshire and led the car owner to defend their efforts.\n"We deserve more respect than we've gotten," Davis said. "Stuff hasn't fallen off our cars. We've had some unusual failures, drive shaft and transmission-wise. We've had some real good race cars. We've had some races we should have won.\n"We've got a real good race team that's had a really bad year."\nStill, it's hard to argue that luck hasn't played a part of Burton's two wins.\nNo one forgets how he won the Daytona 500, inheriting the lead when Sterling Marlin got out of his car to try to pull his crumpled fender away from his tire during a red-flag. Prohibited from working on his car during a stoppage, Marlin was forced to the back of the pack on the restart. Burton took over the lead and held on in the final few laps for the victory.\nAt New Hampshire, Matt Kenseth dominated the race and was running away from the field when he blew a tire and Burton coasted by him for the win.\nBut Burton won't remember the circumstances when he looks back on his two wins of the season.\n"Sometimes winning is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time," he said. "It's not always about the best car, it's about having a good car that can be up front and capitalize when the big breaks come."\nNow that the black cloud has lifted, Burton is looking to the future.\nHe's with Davis through 2004, extending a partnership that began in 1995 with aspirations for a Winston Cup title.\nHe's not close now, but from where he and Davis have come, they don't really think they're that far off.\n"Ward's managed to grow the same as the program has; we've grown together," Davis said. "He came to our place when we had probably 10,000 square feet and 14 or 16 employees. Now it's 60,000 square feet and 125 employees. We've grown together.\n"It's been a great fit for both of us."\nSo Burton wouldn't think of driving for anyone else despite the ups and downs of his tenure with Davis. After all, when he looks back at the end of the season, he'll still have at least two wins to overshadow everything else.\n"I'm not a quitter," he said. "It just seems like in some areas in my life, this being one of them, that I have to fight for every little piece of real estate or everything good that happens to us. At the same time, I know that we can get this thing turned around"
(09/12/01 5:00am)
NASCAR on Tuesday canceled qualifying for the New Hampshire 300 following terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, but the sanctioning body made no decision concerning the race itself.\nQualifying and a practice session were both scheduled for Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway until NASCAR president Mike Helton called off the activities and said the field for Sunday's race would be set by points.\n"Our country has experienced a terrible tragedy," Helton said. "All of the NASCAR community offers our sincerest sympathies to all those who have suffered losses. We will continue to monitor and evaluate this situation and make the appropriate decisions as the week progresses."\nDriver Dale Jarrett said earlier Tuesday he hoped the sanctioning body would consider how difficult it could be for teams to get to the race track following the FAA-ordered shutdown on air traffic.\n"With what's taken place here, you have to be concerned for safety and we also have to make sure that this is the right thing for us to be doing at this particular time," Jarrett said. "I think we do have to look at that. Is it safe for us to travel, along with the other teams in the other sports?\n"And is that the thing to be doing or do we just need to make sure that we have everything under control and we're doing everything with our nation's best interest in mind?"\nJohnny Benson, one of a handful of drivers participating in a two-day testing session at the new Kansas Speedway, canceled his activities and his team decided to drive the 700 miles back to Charlotte, N.C.\n"Crew chief James Ince said there was no desire on his, driver Johnny Benson's or the team's part to test after witnessing the attacks in New York City and Washington," team spokesman Drew Brown said.\nInce also said the decision was based on the lack of emergency aircraft available in case of an on-track accident.\n"We felt it was best to come home," Ince said. "There just wasn't any desire to run after what we watched on television today"