Old dog learns new tricks
By Tom Gardner
AP,June 24,2002

Rusty Wallace, sixth in points after 16 Winston Cup races, has never been considered timid. But now, he says it's time to really start bearing down.

``I've kind of taken a conservative approach that has been netting me those sixth through 10th-place finishes,'' he said. ``I haven't been near as aggressive with some of the new things going on.''

He said some drivers, including teammate Ryan Newman, had experimented successfully with chassis and suspension adjustments he thought were ``too far off the beaten path.''

``But now that I see it working, I'm more apt to start the second half of the season by getting on the aggressive side of things,'' he said. ``I think the wins will come and the top 5s should start coming.''

He finished 27th in Sunday's Dodge-Save Mart 350, the last car on the lead lap. .

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Gordon misses his opportunity

Nineteen laps into Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350, the table was set for Jeff Gordon to take over the Winston Cup points lead. He needed to win and have Sterling Marlin finish 30th or worse.

Gordon had the lead since the second lap, and Marlin had just taken the No. 40 Dodge to the garage, his day done in by a burned-up motor. He would finish last, 43rd.

As Marlin was explaining his troubles to reporters, Gordon rolled his No. 24 Chevrolet into the garage, too. Broken rear gear.

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Others benefit from Marlin's misfortune

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Marlin maintained his lead but lost 48 points; he's now 62 points ahead of Mark Martin, who finished seventh in the No. 6 Ford. Gordon, who went into Sunday tied for second with Jimmie Johnson, now is 82 points down in third place. Johnson, who finished 35th after his No. 48 Chevy suffered rear-end problems, is fourth, 86 points behind.

"On a day where it could have been really horrible, some other guys had troubles, so we were able to not lose as much as we thought we were going to," Gordon said

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Nadeau may have had the run he needed

By Mike Mulhren
LapByLap,June 24, 2002

Jerry Nadeau, will next drive a Winston Cup car owned by Michael Waltrip in the July 14 race at Chicagoland Speedway

Jerry Nadeau has sorely needed a good run, to get his career back on track since splitting with car owner Rick Hendrick in May. And yesterday's performance - outrunning road-racing ace Ricky Rudd and last year's winner Tony Stewart until misfortune struck - might have been it.

"I would have really had to screw up bad for Ricky to catch me," Nadeau said painfully after officially finishing 34th. "Anything can happen, but I was being real easy. I was listening to his times and my times, and I was staying within half a second of his.

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Marlin still leads, but points race tightening

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"With about four to go I felt something tighten up. I thought it was fuel pressure at first. Then it started getting worse and worse. Then I came off turn 11 and spun the gear and blew the rear end. Just a freak thing. We were leading Atlanta last year with one to go and ran out of fuel. It's just unfortunate ... but that's kind of the way my life has gone. But hopefully this will pay off.

"This was just an awesome race car. The Pettys are wonderful. I guess we had the race won."

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No word from Cal

June 24, 2002

Joe Gibbs Racing — i.e., Stewart and Bobby Labonte — will switch from Pontiac to Chevrolet next year. The official announcement is being held up by Pontiac being willing to announce a new addition to its team lineup to replace the Gibbs teams.

Cal Wells, who presently fields Fords for Ricky Craven, said it will probably be four weeks until he makes a decision.

Wells would like to add a second team, which Pontiac might be able to assist him in doing, but he is also happy with the Ford engines he currently leases from Robert Yates and is concerned he will not be able to secure as potent a deal with General Motors.

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