Burton

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- When Jeff Burton saw the thick, white smoke pouring from his car Sunday, he knew exactly what it meant -- more engine problems for Roush Racing.

Burton's Ford lost its engine on lap 32 at the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 and had to be towed to the garage. As soon as crew members popped the hood, they saw their day come to an early end for the second straight week.

"We don't know exactly what happened yet. We'll have to see," Burton's crew chief Paul Andrews said. "It's frustrating, we had a really good car."

The No. 99 was one of three Roush cars to break down a week ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway. A fourth engine built by Roush's shop for Ricky Rudd's car also failed at Atlanta.

Roush took emergency steps, flying his top engineers from Michigan to the race shop in Concord, N.C., this past week. He thought he had the problems fixed.

But Kurt Busch's engine gave way during Winston Cup practice Saturday, bringing new worry to the operation.

"We were certainly nervous with Kurt having his problems yesterday," Burton said. "It looks real similar to what we had today."

Burton and Andrews both discount a simple run of bad luck. Both say things will improve.

"We'll get to the bottom of it," Andrews said. "We'll figure it out."

It was a different problem that cost Busch a victory this time. He said his power steering cut out over the final 50 laps and Ricky Craven nosed out the win at the finish line.

Darlington support
Gov. Mark Sanford and several South Carolina leaders came to Darlington to lobby NASCAR not to remove the track's spring race date.

NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. said Darlington, along with North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway, could lose a race to Winston Cup realignment.

A group of state House Representatives presented a resolution honoring the circuit's oldest super speedway and to "encourage NASCAR to run two races at Darlington each season," said Republican Rep. Scott Talley of Spartanburg.

Sanford, a Republican elected to his first term in November, says he will try to "raise awareness, raise focus, with the corporate community in using this (track) as an entertainment tool, a prospecting tool in a way it's not now."

How important is Darlington Raceway to South Carolina?

"How about $50 million important," said Sanford, citing the economic impact of its two Winston Cup dates each year.

The old track looked about 80 percent full, despite a weekend of rain and cloudy skies most of the race. Track spokeswoman Cathy Mock said turnout surpassed last year's March event and officials were "extremely pleased."

Darlington president Andrew Gurtis, who'll soon meet with leaders of track owner International Speedway Corp., has said he would likely know the raceway's 2004 future by late spring or early summer.

He was optimistic before the green flag dropped. "We'll keep two races here," he told the crowd. "Count on it."

Trucks to tunnel
NASCAR will test six trucks -- two each from Dodge, Chevrolet and Ford -- in the wind tunnel Monday. The trucks going are the Dodges of Bobby Hamilton and Ted Musgrave, who finished 1-2 at Friday's Craftsman 200 here; the Chevrolets of Kevin Harvick and Dennis Setzer; and the Fords of Terry Cook and Rick Crawford.

Besides Hamilton and Musgrave, the Dodges of Brendan Gaughan and Chad Chaffin finished in the top five of Friday's race. In the opener last month at Daytona, Crawford's Ford got the win followed by Travis Kvapil's Chevy, the Dodges of Robert Pressley and Hamilton and the Ford of Andy Houston.

Celebrity sightings
Two of the biggest cheers from the Darlington crowd Sunday were for professional wrestler Ric Flair and funny man Carrot Top.

When Flair appeared with driver Kenny Wallace, the fans yelled the wrestler's trademark, "WHOOOO." Flair, who says he's only been to five races in 30 years, gave them something to laugh about, though, when he fell backward in the pickup truck as it pulled off to join the pre-race parade.

A picture of Carrot Top's face and long, stringy red hair was featured on the hood of Ken Schrader's No. 49 Dodge. "The last time I was on the hood of a car, somebody hit me. And I think it was Randy Moss," said Top, whose name is Scott Thompson.

The Minnesota Vikings receiver was accused of pushing a traffic officer with his car last September.

Spark plugs