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Ancient Darlington Raceway has 60,000 seats and has not in memory sold out its spring race, known lately as the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400. Sunday, about 55,000 of those seats were in use, making up what was called the best March crowd in the track's history.
That was encouraging to track management, which faces questions about the future of its March date, what with NASCAR's proposed realignment of its schedule in the direction of more profitable venues. NASCAR chairman Bill France declared in January that some non-performing tracks, such as Darlington, Rockingham and Atlanta, could yield dates to the likes of California, Kansas City and Texas.
All agreed Sunday's race was a smash, and the drivers, to a man, say they'd miss racing at Darlington, a tough, pear-shaped oval that puts a premium on driver skills.
"Personally, it would be devastating," winner Ricky Craven said when asked about Darlington's losing a date. "Personally, I would vote it down every single time. But from a business standpoint, the greatest way to prevent that is just to fill the seats. If today the product was good and it was an exciting finish, then maybe that will help."
Jim Hunter, NASCAR vp/communications and former president of Darlington, opined Friday that he did not expect Darlington to lose a date. Sunday, he said, "We had 60,000 tickets and we've got about five [thousand] left. That's the best crowd for this race at least since I was here [in the 1990s]."
Told that the good turnout, even with lousy weather all weekend, was encouraging, Hunter added, "to you and me both."
Many drew parallels between Darlington and historic aspects in other sports, such as Fenway Park in baseball or the Packers in the NFL. Each is a part of its sport's lore and character, and, especially given the great race Sunday, NASCAR would be wise perhaps to make an exception in its business plan.
THE WEEKEND, AND SUNDAY'S RACE, began with foreboding for Roush Racing, with Kurt Busch blowing an engine in Saturday practice and Jeff Burton burning one up in just 32 laps Sunday. That followed the Roush disaster at Atlanta, where four of Jack's engines failed.
After Atlanta, Roush cited aggressive engine tuning and blamed himself. Sunday, he sounded a little less certain. "We had some more trouble here this weekend," the owner said. "I've got an idea of what our issues are, and they're certainly different than they were last week, but we're running good."
No doubt about that. Kurt Busch missed victory by inches Sunday, finishing second. Mark Martin was fourth, points leader Matt Kenseth was eighth, and rookie Greg Biffle was 12th.
Burton, who hasn't gotten off the pot for a year, continues to be left out of the high side, for whatever reasons, and he tried to keep his head up after blowing up for the second week in a row.
"We're having way too many problems, but it's not because we're not trying hard," he told a throng of reporters. "Maybe we're having problems because we're trying too hard, I don't know.
"We obviously wouldn't come to the race track with stuff we know wasn't right. We certainly were nervous with Kurt having his problem yesterday, it was real similar to what we had today.
"I'm not an engine guy. I don't know how to help them fix engines, but I do know how to tell them we're there and we're not down on them. These things happen. It's sucks. It's awful. It's all those things, but it is what it is and we've got to work on it to make it not happen again."
IF THERE IS SOME KIND OF DISPUTE between Sterling Marlin and Jimmie Johnson, both are being careful not to let on.
At Las Vegas two weeks ago, Marlin appeared to ride up into Johnson's No. 48 on the last lap, knocking Jimmie from fourth to 11th and costing him a shot at the points lead. Both declared it an accident.
Sunday, on Lap 23, Johnson's care skated up in front of Marlin's No. 40 off Turn 4. Marlin spun and wrecked, with the cars of Bobby Labonte, Kevin Harvick and Jack Sprague also involved. Marlin a few more laps and quit, finishing 39th. Johnson finished two laps down
"We went down in [Turn] 3 and 4 and Jimmie and them got a run on me," said Marlin, who last year at this time led in points. "We came up off 4, and it looked like Jimmie got a little on the loose side. He didn't mean to. When he got loose, we hooked bumpers, and it turned us both into the fence."
Johnson could not be found for comment, but you'd have to agree with Sterling. Had Johnson wanted to pay back, that certainly was an odd time to do it, that early in the race.
Johnson stands eighth in points, losing four spots Sunday. Marlin is 24th, also losing four.
THE BIG GAINER SUNDAY was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who gained 10 positions to fourth with his third strong run in a row. After a discouraging start at Daytona and Rockingham, Junior has ripped off second, third and sixth in the past three, showing the consistency of a contender.
"Yeah, we're good enough," he said Sunday. "We've just got to do it every week. I've just got to be patient when the car ain't really working. I've got to be patient, and that's what we did today."
Darlington is not one of Earnhardt's favorite tracks, and historically he hasn't done well at tracks he doesn't like. Until Sunday, he had just one top-10 in six tries here.
"This has really been an Achilles heel for us in the past," he said. "This is a tough track, and it's hard to like, you know what I mean? It's like you can't live with it and you can't live without it, I'll tell you that.
"I feel real confident about this run today. I'm pretty happy."
NASCAR HANDED OUT A SHEET listing the closest finishes since the sanction adopted electronic scoring in 1993. Sunday's run here was the closest, with Craven edging Busch by 0.002sec. The rest of the top five:
Talladega, July 1993, Dale Earnhardt beats Ernie Irvan by 0.005 Atlanta, March 2001, Kevin Harvick beats Jeff Gordon by 0.006
Atlanta, March 2000, Earnhardt beats Bobby Labonte by 0.010
Talladega, July 1994, Jimmy Spencer beats Bill Elliott by 0.025.
GOODYEAR OFFICIALS SAY there's nothing to talk about the company looking for a way out of NASCAR, a topic of speculation over the weekend. Adding fuel to the fire was an ad buy by Michelin on the FOX broadcast, making Michelin a presenting sponsor of the event.
Goodyear has been in the financial wringer the past few months, with financial losses, layoffs, and a much-publicized reorganization. The last Goodyear was in trouble, during the 1987-88 buyout attempt, France reached for the phone and invited Hoosier Tire into the game, setting off two costly tire wars (1988-89 and 1993-94).
There was speculation that Michelin's ad play arose, perhaps, from just such an invitation, with NASCAR seeking to ensure a reliable supply of tires. According to Goodyear, not so. Goodyear's contract with NASCAR as exclusive supplier is through 2007 and was renewed last fall.
Michelin? "They're a South Carolina company [U.S. operations based in Greeneville, S.C.], and that's just the way they play," marketing director Rick Heinrich said Friday. "They like to jab at us. We'll jab back when the time is right."
NASCAR WORKHORSE KEVIN TRIPLETT, lately manager of business operations, will leave the company mid-season to pursue opportunities in politics, Triplett said Saturday.
Triplett has been with the company for 10 years, beginning as front man in public relations and progressing to management of schedules, credentials, and other miserable but necessary details involving the NASCAR's top-three series.
Triplett said he plans to move back to his native Virginia (the southwestern part) but would not give specifics. "It's no secret I've always been interested in politics," he said. "There are opportunities to do some things I've always said I wanted to do."
The general idea is that Triplett would become manager of a campaign for governor or U.S. Senate. He'd be very good as a chief of staff, as he is hard-working, detail-oriented, and reliable.
Triplett said he plans to continue with NASCAR through the Charlotte race in May.
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