KENNY IRWIN: Change is Good

Change is in the air.

To the dismay or delight of NASCAR fans
nationwide, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with the seemingly daily changes
in the racing world. Whether this involve the rules, the drivers, the owners, or
simply personal goals, change is inevitable.

Kenny Irwin, Winston Cup driver of the #42
BellSouth Chevy, owned by Felix Sabates, is currently undergoing a few
alterations of his own. He’s anticipating a strong finish in the remaining
two-thirds of the 2000 season, hopefully landing strongly in the top-15 in final
point standing’s.

Highly publicized reports, while still
speculative, says Chip Ganassi is indeed in the process of purchasing 80% of the
Sabates Winston Cup team, which includes the Irwin car and the #40 Coors Light
Chevrolet driven by Tennessee’s Sterling Marlin.

Presumably, Ganassi’s role will include a
major overhaul in personnel, the lackluster motor program, and possibly the
drivers, although unlikely.

Irwin is confident he has what it takes as
a contending driver in the highly competitive Winston Cup Series. He seems
remarkably unfazed by all the changes swirling around him and his teammates.

"During the past few weeks it’s been
publicly discussed that Chip Ganassi is going to buy 80% of this Cup team,"
said Irwin. "I, personally, think it’s going to be a good deal. Ganassi has
had quite a lot of success in the CART Series in the past 4-5 years, recently
winning the Indy 500," added Irwin.

Irwin said, "It’s going to be a neat
deal and most definitely a change in the way things are done now. Ganassi will
bring all his racing knowledge with him to this team and a new way to do things.
Hopefully, it works out positive for all of us involved."

Major changes, such as the car owner
status could make a driver just a tad edgy, but not Irwin.

"I just have total confidence that
things are going to be fine," said Irwin. "I’m totally comfortable
with the changes, besides this whole 2000 season has been one of adjustments
along the way."

Irwin stated, "Coming into this
season, nobody really knew what our potential was as far as how consistent we
could be sitting on poles and winning races. We’ve done a little reevaluating of
late to try and put ourselves in the position to win in 2000. We feel good, yet
know our consistency has wavered and hasn’t been there week in and week
out."

"The most notable changes include
running different types of set-ups in the cars. Since we began that, we’ve
picked up and run better. The past few days we’ve been discussing what we can do
differently by the end of the season to improve," said Irwin.

"Our new goals are things such as
trying to get a couple of poles and finish in the top-15 in the final Winston
Cup points. We strongly feel these are realistic goals that we can definitely
meet," added Irwin.

Time will tell. Change is in the air.