Love-Hate Relationship for Drivers at Darlington

Love it or hate it, Darlington’s historic egg-shaped oval produces plenty of emotion among the Winston Cup drivers.

NASCAR’s top series is at the original stock car superspeedway for the TranSouth Financial 400 on Sunday, and there are some drivers who wish they were anywhere else.

“Hey, if they’ll let me come there twice a year, hang around the motel, play some golf and eat the local restaurants, as long as they don’t make me run the track, I’ll absolutely love the place,� said Kyle Petty, who insists he has disliked the place since the days he watched his father, Richard, race there.

“It just doesn’t fit the way I drive a race car. I’ll be there. I’ll be smiling and cutting up and looking like I’m having fun. But I’ll be counting the days to Sunday at the same time.�

Richard Petty won three races on the 1.366-mile oval, while David Pearson won 10 races and Dale Earnhardt nine.

“Guys like my daddy, David Pearson or (Dale) Earnhardt, they tell everybody they love the place,� Kyle Petty said. “Look how much they won there. If I won there 10 times, well, I still wouldn’t like Darlington. But I would probably speak a little more highly of it.�

Ted Musgrave, however, thoroughly enjoys the tough, South Carolina track.

“It’s a real driver’s track,� Musgrave said. “You’ve really got to concentrate and get a good handling car and get a good feel for the throttle.�

One thing that makes Darlington unique is that turns one and two are completely different from turns three and four.

“Whatever happens in one end, the car is going to do differently at the other end, so you have to approach it differently,� Musgrave said. “If you get in the same routine at different racetracks where it’s the same thing all the way around, it gets kind of boring. Darlington isn’t boring.�

*

LISTEN UP: Tony Stewart, a former Indy Racing League champion, is making a good transition from open-wheel cars to the enclosed and heavier stock cars.

So far this season, Stewart has started among the top three twice and has been the top-finishing rookie in three of four races.

Bobby Labonte, Stewart’s teammate on Joe Gibbs Racing, has been impressed with what the younger driver has accomplished so far.

“He’s listening and observing,� Labonte said. “From what I’ve seen, it looks like he’s doing everything right.�

Stewart appreciates all the help Labonte gives him.

“We don’t talk all that often, but any time I have a question, he’s willing to listen and answer it,� Stewart said. “Bobby is a very talented driver and he’s been around longer than me, so I listen to what he has to say. It’s a good relationship. We’ve become friends.�

*

GOING IRL: Jack Roush, who already has a pretty full plate, may be ready to field a car in the Indy Racing League.

Roush Racing fields five cars in the Winston Cup series, two each in the Busch Series and the Craftsman Truck Series, and supplies engines for two other NASCAR teams as well as Busch and Indy Racing League cars.

But the Michigan businessman says he could have a car in the IRL as early as the Indianapolis 500 in May.

“It could happen if one or more of the sponsor discussions going on would be successful,� Roush said.

He says he’s not that interested in racing open-wheel cars, but people within his company are.

If he does field a car for Indy, it would probably be driven by Jeff Ward, who finished third in the 500 in 1997. That year’s winner, Arie Luyendyk, has a Roush engine in his car.

“Jeff Ward is a very capable driver who is not signed right now,� Roush said.

*

STAT OF THE WEEK: As much as some people would love to think that Jeff Gordon’s 39th-place finish last month in Rockingham, N.C., was a sign of things to come, the 27-year-old racer shows few signs of slowing down.

Gordon’s victory last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway was his second win and third top-five finish in four races this season. The Kid has seven top-10 finishes in his last eight starts, including five victories.

“The thing is we wanted to carry over that momentum from last year and get off to a good start,� Gordon said. “That engine problem at Rockingham wasn’t typical of this team, so I think we’re building some new momentum.�