Ok, Who’s Next?
After a 4-½ year absence from victory lane, Ward Burton
finally returned this past Sunday after winning the Mall.com 400 at Darlington.
His last win, at Rockingham in 1995, was also his first Winston Cup win.
During the post-race photo session, I bet Ward was
thinking to himself, ‘Did I have to pose for this many different photos last
time?’
Let’s not forget about Joe Nemechek. He got his first
Cup win last season at Loudon.
Now everyone can turn his or her attention to the next
driver who is either winless on the Cup circuit or is experiencing a winless
drought. So, without further ado, let’s review the most likely candidates for
that unenviable position and their chances of getting the monkey off their back
this season:
Ricky Rudd –
His winless drought is only at 45 races, last winning at
Martinsville in Sept. 1998, but Rudd seems to be the most likely candidate to
next visit victory lane, considering his great start to 2000
and having Yates power under the hood. He has 20 career
wins and is in his 26th season.
Bill Elliott – Elliott’s
last win came at Darlington in Sept. 1994; it has been 166 races since the
Georgia native celebrated a win. He has 40 career wins, tied for 14th
on the all-time wins list. With someone named Evernham on the team roster as
"consultant", Awesome Bill could be back sooner than we thought.
Mike Skinner – 115 career starts without a win
isn’t what this team or anyone else expected. His best finish so far is a 3rd
on 3 different occasions. Skinner has been so close, only to see his chances
fade at the end of the race. If Larry Mac can reign in Skinner’s aggression a
little, the outlook for a victory might brighten even more.
Steve Park – DEI still
expects big things from the 1997 Busch Series Rookie of the Year. The addition
of crew chief Paul Andrews last season seemed to bring out the best in Park. He
also has a little extra incentive to continue his improvement, with a 2-time
Busch Champion parked next to him at the team’s shop. With 61 starts under his
belt, his time may be running out at DEI, especially if his teammate in the #8
gets a trophy first.
Johnny Benson – The
1996 Rookie of the Year now has 133 career starts and is still looking for that
elusive first win. So far this season, he and the Tyler Jet Motorsports team
have caught everyone off guard with their impressive runs. After last season,
his chances looked dim, but now Benson might just break his maiden streak after
all.
Michael Waltrip – You
can’t have a list like this without putting Mikey’s name in the hat. 403
races and counting. He does have 8 Busch wins and a win in the no-points Winston
all-star race at Charlotte. In 1999, Waltrip started off the season so well and
had a few good runs later in the year, but hasn’t continued the upward climb
since.
Others: Ken Schrader (last win in 1991), Chad Little (194
starts), Kenny Wallace (190 starts), and Kenny Irwin (75 starts) – all 3 drivers
are winless. Out of this foursome, it is almost a toss-up, but give the edge to
Kenny Irwin.
Who will get their first win as a rookie?
After Tony Stewart’s phenomenal rookie season in 1999 (3
wins), everyone now expects the new hot shot rookies to get AT LEAST 1 win. Will
it be Earnhardt Jr. or Matt Kenseth? What about Dave Blaney?
Kenseth and Dale Jr. have both had their shining moments
in this early part of the 2000 season. Little E seems to have the qualifying
part licked, but needs to put a complete race near the front together before he
can challenge for the win. Dale Sr. has said that Jr. needs to work with other
cars, especially at superspeedways, and quit trying to go it alone.
Kenseth has been a bit surprising (to me at least),
considering the talk before the season of him getting "lesser
equipment", compared to his teammates. Kenseth will put up another strong
challenge for Junior. This time, the battle is for ROTY, instead of the Busch
Championship.
Blaney has been running in the middle of the pack so far
and is 4th in the Rookie race, behind Stacy Compton. The former
open-wheel star has yet to capitalize on having Ward Burton as a teammate.
So there you have it. Now we can sit back and wait for the
next driver to cross off the "victory-challenged" list.
Sean Moore compiles the Busch Series Newsletter for StockCarFans
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E-mail him at SeanM@stockcarfans.com