March 18, 2001
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- DJ wins Darlington: #88-Dale Jarrett wins the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington, his 25th of his career and 9th year in a row that Jarrett has had a Cup win. Jarrett had the HANS device on. Jarrett’s win is Ford’s first of 2001 and the first not in a Chevy. The others in the top five: #1-Park, #12-Mayfield, #26-Spencer and #40-Marlin. Jarrett now leads the Winston Cup points championship by 65 points over #10-Benson and #40-Marlin. 24-Gordon who entered the race leading the points drops to 4th after encountering Overheating problems that cooked his engine and put him out of the race, finishing 40th. Jarrett also becomes the first driver of the year to win the NASCAR Winston Cup Leader Bonus of $50,000 for leading the points and winning the race (Bobby Labonte last won the award, $50,000 at Lowes/Charlotte on Oct 8, 2000). The $360,000 annual award is paid at $10,000 per race to the point leader at the end of each event if he is also the winner. See unofficial results at That’s Racin’: Dodge Dealers 400 results and see a story at: Jarrett’s Ford first at Darlington.(3-18-2001)
- Crew Chiefs Return: Two NASCAR Cup crew chiefs, suspended for rules violations at Daytona, will be able to return to the race track next weekend at Bristol for the Food City 500. Winston Cup crew chiefs Tony Furr, from Jerry Nadeau’s #25 Chevy team, and Kevin Cram, from Jason Leffer’s #01 Dodge operation, were suspended for four races after rule violations at the season opener at Daytona. Furr was fined and suspended for unapproved fender braces and altered suspension parts, while Cram was suspended for an additive to fuel(That’s Racin’)(3-18-2001)
- Seat Belt Blamed: Steve Hmiel, team manager for Dale Earnhardt Inc., has seen the car and the broken seat belts from Dale Earnhardt’s car at Daytona and says he believes the broken belt led to the death of his boss(Dale Earnhardt)(SpeedVision)(3-18-2001)
- No Rules Changes at Talladega: NASCAR President Mike Helton said he does not anticipate changes in the rules for the April 22 race at Talladega, where the engine and aerodynamic conditions are identical to Daytona and produce tight packs of cars traveling at high speeds. Those rules, first used at Talladega in October, provide breath-taking action but can create major multi-car crashes. There was a 19-car crash in the Daytona 500 in which Tony Stewart suffered a concussion. Helton said that while NASCAR recommends drivers use the HANS (Head and Neck Support) device or a similar restraint, he does not think it’s a good idea to make that mandatory(That’s Racin’) AND NASCAR said Saturday that it is sticking with the controversial new aerodynamic rules at the next superspeedway race, the Talladega 500 on April 22. Mike Helton, president of NASCAR, revealed the decision on the eve of today’s Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington Raceway. “We are looking at different things as we normally do, but we are not anticipating any changes at the next restrictor-plate race that just happens to be at Talladega,” Helton said.(Atlanta Journal Constitution)(3-18-2001)
- Aero Changes? NASCAR President Mike Helton and Cup Series Director Gary Nelson said during a press conference, said that there will likely be some changes made by the end of next week but did not mention what those changes could be(FSN Practice Qualifying)(3-18-2001)
- Gordon/DW on Larry King UPDATE 2 Transcript: Jeff Gordon will appear on Larry King Live on Monday, March 19th. The show airs on CNN from 9:00 – 10:00pm/et. Also hear Darrell Waltrip will appear on the show with Gordon(3-17-2001)
UPDATE: Joining Larry King will be DW, Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty. The 3 are supposed to be the only guests for the entire hour. King wants to do a “positive” piece on NASCAR since the last time dealt only about Dale’s passing(3-18-2001)
UPDATE 2: Larry King Live – What Is the Future of NASCAR?, a transcript of Monday’s show with Gordon, Petty and Waltrip(3-20-2001) - Green Wins on St Patty’s Day: #10-Jeff Green won the SunCom 200 at Darlington, see results at That’s Racin’ – SunCom 200 results and a story at: Jeff Green scores for BGN win of season(3-18-2001)
- Musgrave Wins Again: former Cup driver, Ted Musgrave won Saturday’s OSH 250 Truck series race at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, CA in the Ultra Motorsports #1 Mopar Dodge, his 2nd win in a rowf. See Results from That’s Racin’: OSH 250 Truck series results Also see the Truckseries.net Site for more on the race(3-18-2001)
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