March 17, 2002
- Marlin wins at Darlington: #40-Sterling Marlin won the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington. It is Marlin’s 2nd win of 2002 and his 2nd career win at Darlington, his 10th overall career win. Marlin started 42nd after the team elected to change an engine after Happy Hour, however, Marlin will be officially credited with starting 11th. #21-Elliott Sadler finished 2nd, his 2nd runner-up finished of 2002 (also at Daytona). The top ten finishers:
1) #40-Marlin (57 laps led)
2) #21-Sadler
3) #29-Harvick (first top five or ten of 2002)
4) #8-Earmhardt Jr (10 laps led)
5) #12-Newman
6) #48-Johnson
7) #2-Wallace
8) #17-Kenseth
9) #24-Gordon (176 laps led)
10) #9-Elliott
Lap Leaders (7): #32-Craven (18); #1-Park (19); #24-Gordon (most laps led); #40-Marlin; #22-Burton; #6-Martin; #8-Earnhardt Jr
Cautions/Laps: 5 for 40 laps
Cars on the lead: 12
DNF’s (7 – did not finish): #71-Hillenburg(engine); #49-Robinson(handling/accident?); #88-Jarrett (engine); #32-Craven(handling); #11-Bodine (accident); #41-Spencer(accident/handling); #20-Stewart(accident);
Caution 5 – lap 225: huge wreck – Stewart OK…but, at least 11 cars involved: #’s 20 (the leader), 24, 97,36,10,6,77,41,22, 18 and 44. #36-Schreader was motioning for help for #20-Tony Stewart, who was awake and removed from the car on a stretcher, Jimmy Spencer reported that Stewart is going to be ok and talked to Stewart in the care center, but Stewart will be airlifted to a local hospital to be checked out as he is complaining of lower back/leg pain and will have a CAT Scan of his head, back and abdomen. #44-Jones lost control and spun in front of Stewart, then #41-Spencer couldn’t see and t-boned Stewart.
Caution 4 – lap 198: #97-Busch spun will trying to come into the pits, the #23-Stricklin car slowed up and the #11-Bodine Ford hit the #23. The #97 car gassed it and stayed on the lead lap. This caution came during many green flag pit stops and has jussled the field.
Caution 3 – lap 132: #23-Stricklin nudged the #19-Mayfield car, spinning Mayfield without hitting anything.
Caution 2 – lap 90: #31-Smacked the wall and broke off parts of the suspension and brakes.
Caution 1 – lap 39: The leader of the race, #1-Steve Park got involved with #14-Compton as Park was passing him, #32-Craven was also involved. Looks like Park slid up into Compton as he was going high to allow Park to pass him. Park is out of his car and waved to the crowd.
NOTES: A clean start on the first lap, #32-Ricky Craven led the first lap. #49-Robinson hit the wall on lap 2 or 3 but didn’t cause a yellow and Robinson stayed on the track but has fallen a few laps down and finally retired the car after hitting the wall a few times. #71-Hillenburg took the car into the pits, the crew lifted the hood and the car was taken to the garage. #43-Andretti wapped the wall a few times and had to make unscehduled green flag stops. #32-Craven is back on the track as of lap 90. #19-Mayfield penalized (held for 15 seconds) as the team didn’t have a catchcan person in place before refueling started. #88-Jarrett lost an engine when his oil pump belt broke/fell off. #32-Craven has retired the #32 Tide Ford. #1-Park came back in the race around lap 195. #41-Spencer came back out and ran two laps and picked up a spot and retired the car.
So much for RaceCast today, no audio available here.
See ThatsRacin.com for Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 unofficial results and a column: Marlin dodges trouble, takes the win and for Unofficial Drivers Standings.(3-17-2002) - #77 Crew Member sick: Scott Stallings, gas runner and fabricator for the #77 Fords of Jasper Motorsports, felt light-headed and dizzy before the start of Sunday’s race and was transported to Carolinas Hospital System in Florence, SC. He underwent enzyme tests to determine whether he was suffering from a heart problem. The initial tests were negative but he was kept overnight for observation.(ThatsRacin.com)(3-17-2002)
- Car debuts on NASCAR This Morning: Through a collective effort between Fox Sports Net, and America’s Most Wanted/Body Dynamics Racing, Body Dyanamics Racing unveiled an America’s Most Wanted Car on “NASCAR This Morning” on Fox Sports Net this morning. The car will be used on the “NASCAR This Morning” Show as well as “Totally NASCAR” and “Nascar Tech” as a technical prop car and will feature a different Missing Child case each month on the car’s hood. “We are excited in working with Fox Sports Net,” Stated Scott Davis Marketing Director for AMW/BDR Motorsports, “This will be our first step in introducing our motorsports campaign at this level for America’s Most Wanted and The National Center for Missing and Exploitied Children, currently we are in negotiations with a team to actually get this program on the track as soon as possible. Our main goal is to find as many children as we can with these projects” Currently Body Dyanamics Racing holds a multi year contract with 20th Century Fox and America’s Most Wanted to create the motorsports campaign. The rest of the car features the logo’s of the corresponding shows as well as America’s Most Wanted and Body Dynamics.(PR)(3-17-2002)
- Engine rules help for the Coca Cola 600? NASCAR may make an exception to the one-engine rule for the Coca-Cola 600, which is preceded by three days of practice.(Charleton Post and Courier)(3-17-2002)
- Change at Talladega? NASCAR also changed a key chassis rule for Talladega [doesn’t say what the change is], a change that teams say will cost them three-tenths of a second in qualifying, perhaps more, perhaps forcing a number of teams to rebuild part of their cars.(Winston Salem Journal). NASCAR will probably not make any changes to the aerodynamic package it uses in restrictor plate races before next month’s event at Talladega Superspeedway, president Mike Helton said Saturday. NASCAR introduced a new aero package late last fall following after complaints about the racing at Talladega last October. Cars were bunched together for most of the event, leading to a 16-car accident on the last lap. So the sanctioning body tweaked the package, which was introduced in the season-opening Daytona 500. But there were still complaints, mainly from drivers frustrated by slower speeds. Helton said the sanctioning body will likely do anything to change that before the April 21 race at Talladega. “We’re going to Talladega the way we left Daytona,” Helton said. “If there’s any change at all, it will just be a tiny tweak.” Helton didn’t think the “tweak” would effect the aerodynamics on the car, but rather adjustments NASCAR made to the package before the 500. The sanctioning body gave the Fords and Dodge’s help before the race by allowing slight reductions in the rear spoiler height.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(3-17-2002)
- Suspension Changes: NASCAR announced new parameters for suspension and coil springs.(Daytona Beach News Journal) {doesn’t say what those changes are](3-17-2002)
- Marlin and Blaney teams change engines: #40-Sterling Marlin lost an engine [actually found a bad lifter] in Happy Hour Practice and will have to go to the back of the field before the start of the race as the team needed to put in a new motor.(Winston Salem Journal) AND the #77 Jasper Motorsports team found water in the oli of Dave Blaney’s Ford and changed the engine and had to start the race at the rear of the field.(3-17-2002)
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