#97-Kurt Busch’s victory in the Food City 500 was worth $157,790 from the over $4.5M in posted awards, and was the usual hard-fought BMS win. They just don’t come easy at this fast half-miler, but being able to carry our flag around on a victory lap has got to be a feeling above all others. Teammate Matt Kenseth was 0.390 seconds behind in second place. Ricky Rudd (4th) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Martinsville last October. Greg Biffle (5th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was last week at Darlington when he finished 12th. Sterling Marlin (6th) had his best finish since he was 4th at Darlington last September. Kenny Wallace (10th) had his best finish since he was 10th at Rockingham in February of 2002. Brett Bodine (24th) had his best finish since he was 20th at Richmond last September. STREAKIN….Matt Kenseth has 5 Top-10’s in a row. This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Matt Kenseth (+35), followed by Ricky Rudd (+30), Kenny Wallace (+30), and Kevin Harvick (+20). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Mike Skinner (-35), followed by Ken Schrader (-34), Ward Burton (-22), Terry Labonte (-22), Ryan Newman (-21), and Tony Raines (-20). Kevin Harvick led today for the first time since he led once for three laps at Talladega last October. We’ve had 26 different leaders this year. Matt Kenseth padded his points lead today. He now has a 138 point margin over new second place driver Kurt Busch (his lead was 57 last week over Tony Stewart). The best move forward in the points this week goes to Ricky Rudd (17th to 9th), while in the opposite direction goes Dave Blaney (7th to 16th).( Stock Car Fans )(3-24-2003)
