Rumblings – Homestead: The hottest driver on the tour the last month and a half was standing in Victory Lane again today as Kurt Busch passed Ryan Newman on lap 257 and went on to win the final Winston Cup event of the season today. This was Busch’s third win in the last five weeks, his 4th of the season (and career), and moves him into a tie for 62nd on the all-time win list. He’s the third driver to win from the pole this season (Jeff Gordon at Bristol in August and Ryan Newman at NHIS in September were the others – Jayski Note: actually the 4th as Bill Elliott won from the pole at Pocono in July), and tallied the 10th victory of the season for Roush Racing. Jeff Burton (3rd) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Dover in June. Elliott Sadler (9th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Infineon Raceway in June. Bobby Hamilton (10th) had his best finish since he was 9th at Dover in June. Mike Wallace (11th) had his best finish since he was 10th at Bristol in August. Ted Musgrave (16th) had his best finish since he was 14th at Loudon in September of 2000 (only 11 races). STREAKIN….Kurt Busch has 5 Top-10’s in a row. Mark Martin has 5 Top-10’s in a row. Jeff Gordon has 5 Top-10’s in the last 6 races. This Week’s Elevator…UP: Operator of the Week is Jeff Gordon (+32), followed by Mark Martin (+30), and Johnny Benson (+27). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Jimmy Spencer (-39), followed by Michael Waltrip (-30), Matt Kenseth (-27), Casey Atwood (-25), and Greg Biffle (-20).(Official Starting spots) Jeff Gordon (6th to 4th) made the gain of the weekend in drivers points, while Rusty Wallace (4th to 7th….and the winning string broken) went three spots in the minus direction. Third to Seventh in the final standings ends up being separated by 67 points, with a lot of money hinging on very few markers in the Top-5 (Gordon beat Jimmie Johnson by only 7 points…who was only another 7 ahead of Ryan Newman).(Stock Car Fans)(11-18-2002)
