NASCAR News

Jeff Gordon scored just his second ever Winston Cup victory at the 0.75-mile Richmond International Raceway on Saturday night, timing his late race run to perfection as Dale Earnhardt closed to within seven tenths of a second.

Evernham Motorsports will make their first ever NASCAR Winston Cup start this Saturday night at Richmond with 2001 driver Casey Atwood behind the wheel of their #19 Motorola Ford Taurus.

Auburn Massachusetts resident Jeff Fuller has been granted a Winston Cup lifeline by the newly created MacPherson Motorsports group and will compete in the entire 2001 Championship as a rookie, despite being dropped by his 2000 team, Eel River earlier this season.

In what has been described as one of the most bizarre races in Winston Cup history, points leader Bobby Labonte came from 37th on the grid to win a rain shortened race.

Almost all season, Rusty Wallace has been the centre of attention at each Bud Pole qualifying contest with the Penske-South driver recording an astonishing eight pole positions so far in 2000.

After making an impressive Winston Cup debut for the PPI team at the Pepsi 400 presented by Meijer earlier in the month, 29-year-old Andy Houston has been given the ride on a full time basis for the 2001 season.

The 2001 season will see a new look Roush team take to the track in search of that elusive Winston Cup success with up to three of its five Ford Taurus' running with an all-new livery.

1. Rusty Wallace Ford Penske-South 15.292secs. 2. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Rick Hendrick 15.293secs. 3. Steve Park Chevrolet Dale Earnhardt 15.298secs. 4. Mike Skinner Chevrolet Richard Childress 15.329secs. 5. Jerry Nadeau Chevrolet Rick Hendrick 15.337secs.

Reybestos Rookie of the Year contender Stacy Compton could be forced to hand over his seat in the Melling Racing #9 Ford Taurus to veteran Bobby Hillin after breaking his collarbone while working out at his local gymnasium.

The most popular driver in the Winston Cup, Bill Elliott, could be denied the opportunity to score one last win for his self-owned team after severely fracturing his kneecap whilst working at his Blairsville home earlier this week.

As Dodge's preparations for their all-new Intrepid model continue apace, the first team to commit to the project, Ray Evernham Racing will start their own 2001 campaign some five months early when the team runs it's rookie starlet Casey Atwood in three late season events at Richmond, Martinsville

The Pepsi 400 presented by Meijer may not have been the success that Hut Stricklin may have been hoping for, retiring before half distance with mechanical troubles, but few would argue that the future of the #90 Hills Bros Ford Taurus is looking rosier race by race.

With the 2000 Winston Cup now well into its second half, many teams are moving to settle their plans for the 2001 campaign and talk of various driver/sponsor/chassis and personnel changes are rife in the NASCAR garage.

As the Winston Cup season progresses many team-owners try to evaluate their plans for the following season by giving various opportunities to drivers to see if they can make the grade with their team for a full year.

Despite the limited track time available to the Winston Cup drivers during the opening day of practice at Watkins Glen, both Boris Said and Brett Bodine believed that they had a great chance of success in Sunday's Global Crossing @ the Glen.

Ron Hornaday and Tom Hubert are both hoping to make their seasonal Winston Cup debut in Sunday's Global Crossing @ the Glen for the Hendrick and Penske teams respectively.

Four-time CART Champion team owner Chip Ganassi will partner with Felix Sabates to field a two-car Dodge Intrepid NASCAR Winston Cup team, starting now in preparation for next season, when Dodge will debut ten cars.

Jeremy Mayfield's head wound was serious enough to keep him out of Saturday's Brickyard 400 despite qualifying in fourth place.

Just a week before the Brickyard 400 Johnny Benson and the crew of the #10 Pontiac thought that they had just one race left before financial restrictions would force the team to close down until the start of next year.

Junie Donlavey, who parted company with regular driver Ed Berrier last week has gone for experience in the short term by signing up Hut Stricklin and Brian Simo to drive his Hills Bros. Coffee sponsored Ford Taurus at two of the most revered events of the season.

Fifteen year NASCAR veteran Michael Waltrip and his Ultra Motorsports team have announced that as of October's Winston 500 at Talladega the team will run Ford chassis with Penske engines in place of their current Chevrolet package.

With more and more Winston Cup outfits turning their attention to running two or more cars within the same team, it was no real surprise to see that two of the less successful single car outfits have decided to combine resources in an effort to push to the front of the grid.

Kyle Petty made one of the boldest moves of his long career on Tuesday afternoon when he announced that he would be handing his Winston Cup seat over to Steve Grissom at the Southern 500 at Darlington in early September , allowing him to race his late son Adam's Busch Grand National Sprint PCS

After over a week of deliberation, SABCO/Ganassi patron Felix Sabates announced on Monday that the space in the team left by the late Kenny Irwin will be filled by ex-Roush man Ted Musgrave in the upcoming races at Pocono and Indianapolis until a permanent successor can be found.