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| | Friday, February 25 | |||||
Special to ESPN.com | ||||||
| ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Daytona seems like a Winston Cup season in itself. Two weeks of buildup for one race, still just 180 points to the winner. It's sometimes hard to believe, but after the excitement and stress of two weeks of speed in Daytona, we actually have another 33 races to go to in 2000.
Up next? Race No. 2 in Rockingham -- a completely different animal than Daytona.
So what angle should my list take this week? That turned into a four-day question. (My editor wishes it was a two-day question, but Mark Martin wishes Dale Jarrett hadn't welched on a drafting deal too, so both are probably unhappy campers).
Since the current points system was implemented in 1975, there have been 25 tussles for the title. Some drivers who've battled back from lousy starts, let's say the first two races of the season, and still nailed down the Cup. Darrell Waltrip leads this group with average finishes two weeks into the season of 26.5 and 23.5 in '81 and '82. Cale Yarborough won the '76 Cup after a rocky 22nd-place average. Alan Kulwicki scored his first and only Cup in '92, but started that season with a 17.5 average finish. And "The King" won his sixth title after an average finish of 16.5 in his first two races. The best out of the box champions? This list starts with Jeff Gordon, who started his '97 championship run with wins at Daytona and Rockingham. Yarborough's titles in '77 and '78 began with an average finish of 1.5. Dale Earnhardt started 1993 with two runner-up runs, and the "Big E" also had average finishes of third in 1987 and '91. DW did the same in '85. So what does it mean? It's like your grade-point average in school. If you start the year on a good note, it's easier to stay near the front. If you start the year in a hole, it's tougher to battle back. But history shows it can be done. Last year, the top-five drivers in points proved it doesn't matter where you start the season, just where you finish. All five had trouble at the beach, leaving with disappointing finishes -- Dale Jarrett (37th), Bobby Labonte (25th), Mark Martin (31st), Tony Stewart (28th), and Jeff Burton (35th). Jeff Gordon started the season in Victory Lane, but finished sixth in points.This year, four potential title chasers who already find themselves in trouble are Gordon (34th), Michael Waltrip (39th), Joe Nemechek (42nd) and Bobby Hamilton (43rd). Can these four rebound at the Rock? At least Gordon has shown he can in the past. In '96, Gordon started the season with 42nd- and 40th-place finishes, only to motor away with his second Winston Cup. Gordon needs to turn it around this week. People are already keeping a keen eye on the new 24 team. There are so many new faces and a new race car that a good run would do wonders. This is a team that hasn't finished better than 10th in eight races since his post-Ray Evernham wins. But a rocky start isn't anything new to the three-time champ. Last year, he won Daytona, but then finished 39th at the Rock with a motor failure. Hamilton couldn't pick a better place to erase a miserable week and horrible finish at Daytona. Since his win at Rockingham in the spring of '97, he hasn't finished outside of the top 10 at the Rock. The North Carolina Speedway has been a productive place for Waltrip and Nemechek as well. Waltrip has a top-five finish here, while Nemechek's best on the one-mile track is ninth on two occasions. While we may be painting a cloudy picture for some contenders, at least we didn't see that "Big One" at Daytona. You know, the usual 15-car, restrictor-plate melee like in year's past. At least a host of title contenders didn't find their championship dreams bruised after Daytona. Benny Parsons said in Daytona that 10 teams will be eliminated from winning the title at the conclusion of the 500. And the number will continue to dwindle over the season. The not-so fab four above hope they can climb back into the battle. On the flip side, Dale Jarrett's win continued the 88 team's domination of the top spot. It's now 25 races and counting with Jarrett on top of the points standings. And it looks like Jarrett and crew chief Todd Parrott show no signs of a champagne hangover. The Roush Boys appear to have figured out their rocky restrictor-plate program. So, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton finally show no weakness in their chase for Jack Roush's first Winston Cup championship. Although Jarrett is still winless at the Rock, he has a streak going -- in six of his last eight Rockingham starts he's been second-best. Martin and Burton have combined to win three Rockingham races. Martin won this event one year ago, while Burton won the fall race at the Rock. What am I getting at? I don't know, I've confused myself. But it's much like when a team goes to a restrictor-plate race. They'll know early on in practice if they are in the ballgame or not. The points race will be the same this year. The next half-dozen races will line up the contenders and see the pretenders fade. The manufactors new pieces throw a wrench in the equation, but unless your uncle is Nostradomus, or you have a crystal ball, only time can answer who will bounce back and who will continue their early-season championship prowess. | ALSO SEE Kernan: Who'll have the 'force' this weekend Weber: Tale of two teams Dura Lube 400 Breakdown Ford teams feeling good heading into Rockingham Another dynamic duo forming in 88 garage Benson brings Daytona momentum to The Rock AUDIO/VIDEO   Jeff Gordon says his team came around when it counted.wav: 139 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6  | |||||
