| | DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Forget all that talk about chassis setup and aerodynamics. There's only one sure way to improve at Darlington Raceway.
"Seat time is most important when testing at Darlington. It means more here than car setup," said Tony Stewart, a second-year driver who's part of a garage full of NASCAR rookies and young drivers preparing for Sunday's Mall.com 400.
"Just look at who's here practicing," said Jeff Gordon, a five-time Darlington champ helping Busch series driver Ricky Hendrick learn "The Track Too Tough To Tame."
|  | | A day of racing at Darlington usually produces plenty of carnage. Just ask Kenny Wallace and Ted Musgrave. |
Testing at the track last week were Winston Cup racers Stewart, Jeff Fuller, Scott Pruett, Mike Bliss and Stacy Compton. The Busch drivers were Hendrick, Jimmie Johnson, Mike Stefanik and Mike Borkowski.
Not a Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace or Dale Earnhardt -- except for Dale Jr. -- in the group.
"You don't have a lot of veterans here," said Gordon, who won four straight Southern 500s on the old country track. "Everybody
knows you're not going to fine tune your car at Darlington in a test."
So, why come?
"To get laps, to get experience, to get a feel for the race track," Gordon said. "It's very intimidating."
It took rookie Bliss about two minutes to hit the wall during testing. Two days and many laps later, he wasn't much more
confident.
"I still don't understand it," he said. Bliss won't have to worry about Darlington this week. He was replaced by A.J. Foyt in the No. 14's driver's seat by veteran Dick Trickle.
Darlington, with its quirky shape and abrasive, tire-eating surface, has gotten the best of the best in a half-century of
racing. Richard Petty had only three of his record 200 victories on the 1.366-mile layout.
To win at Darlington gives a driver prestige among his peers and a belief in himself.
"If you can come in here and have a good race, you feel like you've really accomplished something," said Terry Labonte, who got
his first NASCAR victory in the 1981 Southern 500. "I think that helped me develop a certain level of confidence that's served us
well through the years."
Fuller, after two days of testing, said he was considering driving through the turns full throttle.
"I really think that may be the trick here," he said.
Stewart, sixth here last March and 12th in the Southern 500 last September, was working to find some secrets along with his crew.
Perhaps they should ask David Pearson, who won a record 10 times at Darlington.
"Race the race track and not the other drivers," he has said repeatedly.
The elder Earnhardt, who won last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, said he learned that from Pearson. The Intimidator will
tie his mentor's Darlington mark with a victory.
Gordon, Jarrett and Jeff Burton are the drivers now conquering the track known as "The Lady in Black."
Gordon's run of five victories included winning the Southern 500 from 1995-98. Jarrett won the spring race in 1997 and 1998. Burton
swept a year ago, each time as rain stopped the race.
Gordon says he gained his seat time and knowledge when racing in the Busch series in the early 1990s. The track was like nothing he had seen before, and he figured it might take years for him to be successful here.
Five Darlington victories later, the 28-year-old driver's advice is often sought.
"People are asking me here, 'How can I go faster?' Most of the time they seem to go out and hit the wall," Gordon said.
Gordon took Hendrick's Busch car out to show the youngster what some knowledge can do. Later, when telemetry readings showed
Hendrick was using too much brake going into Turn 1, Gordon wanted to tell him to use no brakes.
"But I knew that might put him in the wall, so I said, 'How about using just a little brakes into Turn 1?'" Gordon said. "He
seemed to get around pretty good."
That can happen with a good teacher, even when the subject is so difficult to master. | |
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