| | In the heat of the summer, and the heat of the battle, tempers will flare, and they certainly did following the Global Crossing @ The Glen last Sunday in New York. Oh well, men will be boys.
This week, it's the wide, relatively flat, high-speed Michigan Speedway where following the leader is a lot easier that trying to pass him. The Pepsi 400 is the 22nd race of the 34-race Winston Cup season and the second trip to Michigan this year.
|  | | The No. 18 is always strong at Michigan Speedway, a track that demands both horsepower and fuel mileage to reach Victory Lane. |
This used to be one of my favorite races to attend. I can remember some thrilling races, with some classic finishes. But because points are more important than pushing for the win, and these cars require so much aerodynamic glue to keep them on the track, I don't expect to see a classic this Sunday. Of course, I could be wrong so you better be watching on ESPN (1 p.m. ET), beginning with NASCAR 2Day Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
Once again, it's going to be up to the pit crews to race against the clock and it's going to be up to the gas mileage gods to figure out how to go faster using less fuel than the other guys.
That moves Bobby Labonte to the top of my list of contenders in the Pepsi 400. Of course, he should probably be there anyway.
Labonte is the defending race champion. He was third at Michigan in June. He's a three-time winner at the track (although it seems like he has won more than that). His teammate, heavyweight wrestler Tony Stewart, won there this past June.
Picking Labonte to win at Michigan is not exactly climbing out on a limb, it's more like predicting that the sun will rise in the east. Still, you have to be impressed with Labonte.
The fifth place at Watkins Glen was BIG for Bobby. He said after the race that the final road course race of the year was a bullet he needed to dodge, and he did.
In the two road course races, Labonte drove off with a fourth- and fifth-place finish. When the season is over, you can look at the win at Indianapolis, and his win at Rockingham, or his top-five finishes, whether or not he finished lower than 26th (he hasn't yet this season), and all those will be factors. But the fact that he scored 320 points in the pair of road course races will be a huge factor.
Labonte gave the 20 team a lot of credit for the fifth place at the Glen. Yes, the 20 team.
Stewart and his team tested at Watkins Glen, and because track time over the weekend was limited due to wet weather, the 18 team took the setup from the 20 team, put it on their car and made it work. The setup was drastically different from anything the Interstate Batteries team had ever run prior to Sunday. But it worked.
The 20 team spent virtually all their testing time at the Glen working on race setup, making long runs so they were confident with what they had. Despite the on-track troubles, Stewart still finished sixth. And both teams should be impressed with what Labonte and crew chief Jimmy Makar accomplished.
This multi-car team thing can be a headache at times, but when you have two teams that will work together, Watkins Glen is the result all teams strive to achieve.
As for this week, Labonte has eight straight top-10 finishes at Michigan. If you throw out the 12th-place finish in June of 1996, he would have 11 straight top-10s and three wins. The last time he finished worse than 15th at the Michigan Speedway was in June of 1993.
The next three races will be a true test of talent and team balance for the 18 bunch. This week it's speed, great pit work, good fuel mileage and reliability. You have to finish at Michigan, because just about everyone else does. In June, a dozen cars finished on the lead lap, the next 17 finishers were all just one lap down. Only five cars failed to complete 190 of the 194 laps in the rain shortened event.
In June of 1999, 40 of the 43 starters completed at least 195 of 200 laps. That was the caution-free race, so naturally, the field would be fairly strung out. In the August race last year, 16 drivers finished on the lead lap. The next 11 were just one lap down. Only five cars were not running at the finish. You have to finish at Michigan, and you had better be on the lead lap.
Then you have to survive the night at Bristol six days later, and you have to be mentally tough at Darlington on Labor Day weekend. We'll talk more about those two races in the coming weeks. But watch Labonte on Sunday, see where he is, how he does, and how he does it. I expect him to be strong, and I expect his team expects him to be strong, too.
One more thing, there's a Jimmy Buffett concert in North Carolina the Tuesday after Michigan. You think "Parrotthead" Bobby wants to run into Buffett and have to explain how he won at Indianapolis, but didn't win at Michigan? I don't think so.
It's tough to make bold predictions, but I'm betting on the sun rising in the east.
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ALSO SEE
Little E claims Michigan pole; Middle E makes the field
Dunlap: Labonte leads 'em into last leg
Weber's mailbag
Pepsi 400 Breakdown
Ask Bill Weber
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