HAMPTON, Ga. -- Most of NASCAR's Nextel Cup drivers found
themselves with time on their hands Saturday.
The Cup schedule at Atlanta Motor Speedway this week called for
practice and qualifying Friday and the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 on
Sunday, with NASCAR impounding the cars between the end of time
trials and the start of the race.
Some drivers entered in the Cup race did stay busy at the track
Saturday, with Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Bobby
Hamilton and Martin Truex Jr. entered in the IROC race and
Hamilton, Bobby Labonte, Kyle Busch, Mike Bliss and Mike Skinner
driving in Saturday's Craftsman Truck Series race. But everyone
else in Sunday's 43-car field had the day off.
Rusty Wallace, in his final season before retirement, was
looking forward to the respite, although he had lots of plans for
the free day.
"I'm going to watch a little of the truck race and talk to a
prospective new sponsor," said Wallace, who also owns a Busch team
and is helping son Stephen get his racing career going. "Then my
kid bought a house in Atlanta to rebuild to try to make some money
on.
"I've never seen it yet, so I'm going over to look at it. He's
got it all done and it's for sale. The rest of the day, I might
play nine holes of golf. Then, I'm going to have a nice early
dinner at my favorite Italian joint."
Wallace and Penske Racing South don't agree on much these days,
and the day off is no exception. Teammate Newman isn't particularly
happy about it.
"It's a waste of time," he said. "Why not just come here for
Saturday and Sunday? It's just a ridiculous waste of time,
especially with our schedule."
Elliott Sadler is more positive about the situation.
"I like impound races because I'm going to sleep very good
tonight and tomorrow night because I know we can't touch the car,"
he said Friday after qualifying. "I don't have to worry about
changing a spring or a shock or a swaybar or what have you."
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^SLUMPING TEAMMATE:@ While Tony Stewart is leading the points
and has been the hottest driver in NASCAR since June, Bobby
Labonte, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, has remained in a
season-long funk.
The fourth-place finish last Sunday at Martinsville by the 2000
series champion was only his third top-five of the season. Heading
into Sunday's race, Labonte is 24th in the points and has failed to
finish 10 of 32 races. Labonte even crashed and finished 37th in
the spring at Atlanta, where he leads all active drivers with six
victories.
"The thing people have to keep in mind is that we have two
different driving styles," Stewart said in defense of his
teammate. "We like our cars to have a different feel. When you're
so dependent on the (aerodynamic) packages we're on this year, if
one driver doesn't take to it as well because he doesn't like the
feel, it's tough."
The 2002 champion said the year Labonte won the title that
Stewart wasn't happy with the feel of his cars.
"We were on a different tire construction and compound for the
majority of the races and Bobby excelled at it, but I didn't take
to it very well," Stewart explained. "I think it's just more of a
feel thing than anything right now.
"It doesn't mean he's not a good driver. He hasn't forgotten
how to drive a race car."
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^FLYING HIGH:@ Carl Edwards, already a star and a championship
contender in his first full season in Cup, is enjoying the spoils
of his newfound success.
The same young man, who only three years ago was handing out
business cards and putting ads in racing magazines seeking work,
now drives for the elite Roush Racing team and is fifth in the
Chase for the championship.
A measure of his success is the way he got to Atlanta Motor
Speedway this week.
"I did buy a plane and I flew it here," Edwards said,
grinning. "That was pretty weird. I just got my instrument rating
and Jack (Roush) has been helping me a lot with it. Matt Kenseth,
he's getting his (rating), too. He's working on it.
"I think race car drivers and airplanes go together pretty
well. They're just neat machines and I've always thought about
being a pilot. So I'm having fun with that. I have to pinch myself
when I'm flying along at night in my own airplane, going to a race
somewhere."
The Missouri native said, despite new trappings such as an
airplane and a motorhome, he hasn't really changed very much.
"When I have friends come to the track with me, they see me
being interviewed or signing autographs and they just have to
laugh," he said. "They know where I come from and who I still
am."<
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^YELLOW FLAGS:@ For any NASCAR fan who says it seems like there
have been more caution periods than usual this season, you're
right.
Going into Sunday's race, there have been 67 more yellow flags
than at the same point last season. The average number of cautions
per race has jumped from 8.56 in 2004 to 10.66 this season.
Tire problems and rule changes shortening the rear spoilers on
the Cup cars and making them harder to balance apparently have been
the culprits in the rise in yellows.<
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^SWEET DEAL:@ Richard Childress Racing announced Saturday that
The Hershey Company will become the co-primary sponsor with
returning GM Goodwrench on Kevin Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet in
2006.
Goodwrench will be the primary sponsor for 24 races and Hershey,
with its Reese's brand, will be primary for the other 12, including
the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.<
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^SPARKPLUGS:@ Rusty Wallace remains the only full-time Cup
driver running at the end of every race this season. ... Seven of
the 10 drivers in the Chase changed positions in last Sunday's race
at Martinsville. ... Only 20 of 92 Cup races at Atlanta have been
won by drivers starting outside the top 10. ... Jimmie Johnson is
the defending winner of the fall race at Atlanta and finished
second to Edwards here last spring.