Phoenix Rumblings: It was pit strategy at its finest again today as Robbie Reiser rolled the dice and went with a two-tire stop for track position…..and Matt Kenseth held that position for the final 52 circuits as he put his #17 DeWalt Ford in Victory Lane for the 5th time this season. In winning today’s Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Kenseth becomes the only driver to record 6 wins in Cup history….interestingly enough no other driver has that number. He’s now 56th on the all-time list. The win for Roush Racing was the 9th of the season, with only one coming from Mark Martin and none from Jeff Burton. Something about those young drivers again. Rusty Wallace (2nd) had his best finish since he was 2nd at Bristol in August. Dave Blaney (7th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Homestead in November of last year. Elliott Saddler (10th) had his best finish since he was 10th at Loudon in July. Kenny Wallace (11th) had his best finish since he was 10th at Rockingham in February. STREAKIN….Mark Martin has 4 Top-10’s in a row. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has 6 Top-10’s in the last 7 races. Kurt Busch has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races. This Week’s Elevator….UP: A tie for Operator of the Week between Matt Kenseth (+27) and Rusty Wallace (+27), followed by Jimmie Johnson (+22). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Jamie McMurray (-28), followed by Joe Nemechek (-25), Christian Fittipaldi (-24), and Scott Wimmer (-23). For Kenseth and Rusty, this is their 4th Ops of the year….they’re one behind Dale Jarrett for this most important award. Mark Martin has managed to take it to Homestead. He whittled 23 points off Tony Stewart’s lead and Tony needs to finish 22nd or better at Homestead (a track he eats up) next week to guarantee the Championship (no matter what Mark does). The big race in the points will be for spots 3-7. That spread is a whopping 23 markers…with 3rd to 6th only separated by 9 points. That’s worth about $500K at the banquet.(Stock Car Fans)(11-10-2002)
