A Quick Look At How We Got Here
Entering the season finale, a quick reminder of how we got here in the 2002
Winston Cup season –
FEBRUARY – Drivers acting like Matt Millen’s boogeyman Detroit Lions
player got Daytona-Talladega rules reverted to the aero-clean configuration of
2000, and the racing suffered as a result. Nor was safety enhanced in any way –
showing the bogus nature of that angle in the debate. The Daytona Shootout was a
Tony Stewart mini-runaway, while the 125s proved better. The 500, though, was
the big show, and the most bizarre NASCAR race in many years. Passing without
the roof spoiler was, as expected, too difficult, and the biggest wreck of the
week erupted whn Jeff Gordon blasted Kevin Harvick into the wall and traffic in
One. Gordon later swerved into Sterling Marlin’s path amid another crash on a
late restart, crashed, and Marlin ultimately lost to Ward Burton.
Finishing dead last was Tony Stewart, out with engine failure after just two
laps. 26 years earlier, Cale Yarborough lasted one lap in the Daytona 500 – a
precedent worth remembering.
A week later Swervin’ Gordon struck again at the Carolina 400, with the
result being a vicious double T-bone crash on Casey Atwood. Matt Kenseth bolted
into the lead late, and a late yellow ended things, a decision pattern that
would lead to greater controversy as the year went on.
MARCH – Sterling Marlin bolted from a pit-entry spin into victory at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, then pounced when a huge crash (more severe than any
Daytona-Talladega melee) wiped out 14 cars at Darlington. In between, Tony
Stewart out dueled Kurt Busch for the win at the Atlanta 500, his first 500-mile
win anywhere in his career. Darlington, though, was a disaster – Stewart was the
leader when Buckshot Jones, who’d made up a lap, slapped the wall in Two, got
drop-kicked by Stewart, and several seconds later a passel of cars rammed into
Stewart.
Among those involved was Jeff Gordon, who had become a major story aside from
racing, via his widely publicized divorce from his wife Brooke – the punch line
to the bad joke that was his "storybook" marriage. His racing was also
becoming a major story, in that he was not winning races.
Tony Stewart tried to go the distance at Bristol but spun on the backstretch
and was nearly blasted by several cars full-throttle, and turned over to a
relief driver. Bristol saw the usual spate of wrecks leading to bad tempers,
notably when Robby Gordon tangled with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on and off the track,
while Kurt Busch muscled past Jimmy Spencer and to his debut win. Spencer for
his part vowed to get even with Busch – and later would.
APRIL – Matt Kenseth was on a consistency roll, and his second win of
the year came a day late, as the Texas 500 was run on Monday after all-day rain
on Sunday. The win, from 31st starting spot, secured Kenseth to second in
points, and runner-up to Bobby Labonte at Martinsville kept him there. Labonte’s
Martinsville win was a landmark in his career – his first career short track
win. It would, however, be his only win entering the season finale, and that
fact became a harbinger of a season that steadily deteriorated from there on.
Under the microscope was Dale Earnhardt Jr., winless all season and despite a
second-place at Atlanta never really a threat for a win. That all changed at
Talladega’s Alabama 500. With Michael Waltrip as his usual blocking back, Junior
led 133 laps en route to a pathetically easy win.
Both Tony Stewart (eliminated the week earlier at Martinsville in a wreck)
and Matt Kenseth were involved when Mike Wallace swerved into Stewart on the
backstretch and set off a major crash. Neither had a good day the next week at
Fontana, as rookie phenom Jimmie Johnson grabbed his breakthrough win.
MAY – Tony Stewart was tenth in points by now, but his win at a very
slippery Richmond 400 boosted him to eighth. Sixth in the World 600 edged him to
seventh, while Matt Kenseth finished sixth at Richmond and second at Charlotte.
The Charlotte race was significant for the sport’s veteran drivers, increasingly
embattled as young stars were asserting themselves with greater success. Mark
Martin, winless since April 2000, pounced on a bad late pit stop by Jimmie
Johnson, who had dominated the 600. Martin ran away with his first win since
2000, and made a statement about his season – not four races earlier he was
ninth in points, and now was third. The car, though, measured too low, and crew
chief Ben Leslie was fined $50,000 for it.
Finishing in the top ten in the 600 was Michael Waltrip, a driver all but
given up for dead some time earlier that year due to inability to run well. A
change to crew chief Richard Labbe suddenly began to pay in greater consistency.
Also becoming a story that month was Ricky Rudd. With the release of Elliott
Sadler from the Wood Brothers team effective the end of the year, rumors began
that Sadler was jockeying to replace Rudd in Robert Yates’ #28. Internal
meetings by Rudd and Yates led to an increasingly public squabble, and the rise
of the young guns led to the unthinkable – serious consideration by Rudd to quit
driving.
JUNE – With a runner-up finish at Sears Point, Tony Stewart was fifth
in points following a mediocre 16th at Michigan and 11th at Dover. Matt Kenseth,
meanwhile, finished 40th at Dover, 35th at Pocono, and 39th at Sears Point,
dropping him to eighth in points despite a clutch win at the Michigan 400. His
teammate Mark Martin, meanwhile, was riding a consistency wave, vaulting to
second in points by Sears Point.
Ricky Rudd, though, was the man of the month, shot down from sure wins at
Dover and Pocono – the Pocono loss was especially bitter due to a late cut tire;
the win went to Rudd’s teammate Dale Jarrett, overcoming an early-season slump
and the ill-advised change of crew chiefs from Todd Parrott. At Sears Point,
though, Jerry Nadeau in the Petty Enterprises #44 was the one shot down from a
sure win, with three to go due to a busted gear, and Rudd had the win.
No one, though, could dislodge Sterling Marlin from the point lead.
JULY – Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth took a hit at the Firecracker
400, and when the wreck-strewn night ended Michael Waltrip won under caution, a
decision met with an avalanche of debris from livid fans in the backstretch
grandstands and which was indefensible despite the pathetic crying of several
drivers in defense of the decision afterward. It also led to a decision by
NASCAR to try 13-gallon fuel cells for restrictor plate races, hoping that extra
stops would break up the packs, an absurd rationale to start with and which
experience had shown was impossible to achieve in any event.
For Kenseth the collapse had just begun, and by the end of the Summer 500 at
Pocono he was tenth in points. Bitterest of all was New Hampshire, where a cut
tire took him out of a sure win.
New Hampshire would also be the start of Tony Stewart’s real trouble; his
frequent blow-offs of media and increasingly intemperate overall attitude were
becoming more of an issue, notably when he reportedly flashed an obscene gesture
to NHIS fans after crashing out of the New England 300.
Pocono, meanwhile, was the scene of Bill Elliott’s real breakthrough back to
victory lane. He’d won at Homestead the year before but at Pocono he broke a
long-standing record, becoming a five-time winner.
Another team came to life in July as well. Richard Childress had changed
around his crew chief assignments after a poor first half of the season, and at
Chicagoland Kevin Harvick burst to the win, beginning a mini-resurgence for all
three RCR teams.
AUGUST – The Elliott express rolled through to victory at
Indianapolis, and the bad-boy attitude of Tony Stewart exploded in a scuffle
with a press photographer and a public rebuke and fine by his sponsor. Stewart
would get in more trouble at Bristol after finishing 24th; following the race
came a reported scuffle with a fan in the pits, an incident that led to an
investigation and also a needless and unjustified review of fan access to
Winston Cup garages.
The Brickyard also saw the revenge Jimmy Spencer vowed at Bristol, and Kurt
Busch wound up into the wall, and making a classless gesture to Spencer in
response.
Stewart won at Watkins Glen and Mark Martin returned to second in points
despite a mediocre month.
By the end of the month the Ricky Rudd saga took a sudden turn. After
deciding to continue racing in 2003 but not with the Yates team, Rudd was slated
to go to Chip Ganassi’s team in a third car, only to suddenly reject the offer
and instead go for a Ford-arranged change to the Wood Brothers #21, while
Elliott Sadler was finally signed to the Yates team and got M&M’s candy
sponsorship. But squabbles within the Yates team were not finished.
Bristol, meanwhile, saw the return of Jeff Gordon to victory lane, after
punting Rusty Wallace out of the groove late in the race. Rusty was now on a
much-longer losing streak than Gordon and it was gnawing on him more and more.
And off the track, NASCAR, responding to criticisms that its racecars had too
much down force, ran test sessions at Daytona and Charlotte on lower down force
cars, with poor results and a seeming abandonment of the concept of lower down force.
SEPTEMBER – The Gordon express continued at Darlington, but was
stopped at Richmond with engine failure. More serious was a hard early crash
involving point leader Sterling Marlin at the Capital City 400 at Richmond. Matt
Kenseth returned to victory lane while Tony Stewart’s busted drive shaft dropped
him to fifth in points. Following the race engine tuner Larry Lackey, arguing
with Rudd over the engine used, punched Rudd and a brief scuffle ensued. It put
a period to the return of the intemperate Rudd of early 1990s ignominy.
Also suffering at Richmond was Jeff Green, docked 25 points for an illegal
spring.
The rookie battle reheated at New Hampshire as Ryan Newman sweated out the
rain for his breakthrough win, and Mark Martin’s mediocre 16th was enough to
give him the point lead. Second at Dover kept him in the point lead, but a blown
engine knocked him out of the lead.
Bigger than all of that was the Kansas 400 and Sterling Marlin’s savage crash
off Two, a wreck that proved worse than it looked, as a follow-up examination
revealed a cracked vertebrae requiring a brace, and Marlin’s season was over. It
led to a brief swell for changing the point structure to allow the team rather
than the driver win the championship, an untenable arrangement that NASCAR has
wisely ignored.
OCTOBER – The Autumn 500 at Talladega was the pivotal race of the
final quarter, and the pivotal moment came when Mark Martin mugged Jimmie
Johnson on the pace lap, costing them both a lap. The race itself was almost the
first race all season that was a real race, with 35 lead changes and the entire
field fighting for the lead almost every lap. Extra pitstops did occur, but
extra mileage by Dale Earnhardt Jr. paid off in his second win of the year.
For Tony Stewart, second place in the race won him a big point lead while
Jimmie Johnson’s later blown engine cost him all hope at the title. Martin
suffered as well after the race, getting another fine, this time for an illegal
window strap.
Replacing Sterling Marlin in the Ganassi/SABCO #40 was Grand National driver
Jamie McMurray, slated to drive a third Ganassi/SABCO Dodge with Havoline
sponsorship in 2003. McMurray then pulled off the ultimate upset, winning the
National 500 at Charlotte over Bobby Labonte, in only his second Winston Cup
start. Tony Stewart’s third place and Mark Martin’s 16th heightened the point
lead for Stewart. By the end of the rain-shortened Dixie 500 at Atlanta Stewart
was still easily ahead in points.
In between, Kurt Busch asserted himself, winning at Martinsville and Atlanta,
and making Roush Racing the winningest team of the season.
NOVEMBER – For six years Johnny Benson had worked to win a Winston Cup
race, and had come back from serious injury in May. At the American 400 at
Rockingham he finally broke through, overhauling Mark Martin for the win. Martin
finished second to Stewart’s 14th, but an illegal spring cost Martin 25 points
and also set off another of Jack Roush’s self-important huffs.
Phoenix saw a mild gain in points by Martin, as Matt Kenseth returned to
victory lane despite running out of gas in mid-race.
And that is where we stand with one race left.