Saturday, June 22, 2002
Stewart drives to pole, his first in 58 races
Schumacher critics: F1 driver great, but not best
The Associated Press
SONOMA, Calif. — Tony Stewart took the first step toward defending his title in the Dodge/Save Mart 350 by winning the pole Friday on the road course at Sears Point Raceway.
Stewart hadn't won a pole in 58 races, dating to Martinsville Speedway nearly two years ago. At Sears Point last year, he qualified third.
“Coming to a road course to me is somewhat of a luxury,” Stewart said. “It's not another mile-and-a-half oval.”
Stewart's lap of 93.476 mph on the scenic wine country course also gave Pontiac its first pole of the season.
“I don't think it's any secret to anyone that we've been struggling lately,” he said. “But the nice thing about here is that horsepower and body styles don't matter a lot.
“It's a matter of who gets the mechanical balance and what drivers get used to the racetrack.”
Stewart has started in the top 10 in nine races this year, including six of the last seven events.
Kurt Busch went from a provisional entry last year to the second-best qualifier this year with a lap of 93.184. Fellow Ford driver Jeff Burton beat four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon with a lap of 93.166.
Gordon, who has won at Sears Point for three of the last four years and holds the NASCAR record with seven career road course victories, went 93.141 mph in a new, specially designed Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
“It was a decent lap, but I know we've got more in the car,” he said.
Burton, who will have his second top-10 start of the year on Sunday, conquered the 10-turn, two-mile track by keeping it simple.
“What's made me a better road-course driver is just driving the darn thing,” he said. “Just drive like a teen-ager when you're parents aren't watching.”
Bill Elliott rounded out the top five with a lap of 93.116 in his Dodge.
In nine career starts at Sears Point, Gordon has three wins, three poles, six top-five finishes and seven top-10s.
Last year, Gordon had the pole for the race and led the first 32 laps. But Stewart, who qualified third, slipped under Robby Gordon while exiting the track's famed Chute and led the final 10 laps for the win.
Stewart has qualified well at Sears Point, starting second in 1999, fourth in 2000 and then third last year. Four times, the polesitter has gone on to win at Sears Point.
“It's not so much of an advantage, but it gives the drivers a little more of a luxury of taking care of their cars,” Stewart said. “They're not working hard to get to the front. They're already there. So they don't have to abuse their brakes, they don't have to abuse their tires.”
Dale Jarrett opted not to qualify after experiencing problems with his Ford in the morning practice. That means he'll be a provisional entry with a 37th-place start on Sunday.
Jarrett, who had the pole last weekend in Brooklyn, Mich., said the problem began with the oil pump, and that eventually he had to change engines.
“This track has changed, and with me not having made a full lap, we decided to sit tight and get ready for practice in the morning,” Jarrett said.
F1: Count Ralf Schumacher among the handful of people who don't believe his older brother, Michael, is the world's greatest driver.
As Michael Schumacher, who has a record 59 career victories, races toward a record-tying fifth Formula One championship, there are only a few doubters.
Ralf admits his brother is a great driver. It's just that he believes other drivers, including himself, could have the same success, given the same situation.
“There are four drivers in Formula One at present that could do a similar job,” said Ralf, who drives for Team Williams and gives the elite Ferrari team much credit for his sibling's success.
“Michael is in a good environment,” he said. “He's lost races in the past because he didn't have a good car. On certain days, he has one or two tenths (of a second) on other drivers. When he gets under pressure, he makes mistakes like everybody else.”
Michael, 33, won 10 of 17 races last year and has taken six of eight so far this year as he closes in on the fifth championship that would tie him with the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio.
Ralf, seven years younger and with 55 fewer victories and no championships, is tied for second in the standings with teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who has one win. They trail Michael by 43 points.
Montoya, in only his second year in F1 after winning a CART championship in 1999 and the Indianapolis 500 in 2000, isn't in awe of the elder Schumacher.
“I'm not going to say he's not a great driver, but I don't think the guy's unbeatable,” Montoya said. “His success has a lot to do with the car.”
But Frank Williams, owner of the BMW-powered cars driven by Ralf Schumacher and Montoya, sounded as if he might be in the camp that thinks Michael Schumacher is the best when he said: “Michael is also a major contributor. The only other great contributor to a team to equal him would have been Ayrton (Senna).”
Senna had 41 race wins and three championships when he was killed in a crash in Imola in 1994.
Ron Dennis, managing director of Team McLaren, doesn't rate drivers but admires Schumacher. “You tend to see the differences between great drivers and good drivers when they are faced with having to drive a car which is not the best on the grid, and still win,” Dennis said. “There's only a few drivers that could do that today. Michael is one of them.”
NASCAR: Robby Gordon will remember Sears Point as the victory that wasn't — due in part to his current teammate.
Subbing for Ultra Motorsports driver Mike Wallace, Gordon's road-racing savvy put him in the lead late in the Dodge/Save Mart 350 on a course usually dominated by the other Gordon — Jeff. Then he got into a bump-and-grind with Kevin Harvick.
Harvick, on fresher tires, wanted to pass Robby Gordon to get back on the lead lap. Gordon was having none of it.
With 10 laps to go, Tony Stewart ducked under the duel to take the lead and win the race by 1.7 seconds over Gordon.
“Still today, I don't understand why a lapped car would do that to the leader — a car that was a lap down — and I still think it's wrong,” Robby Gordon said.
Meanwhile, the former adversaries are now teammates, driving for Richard Childress Racing.
“It's over with. We have to get along,” Gordon said. “That's one of the things that's nice about Winston Cup. You're running 36 races a year and we're on to the next one.”
KANKE BACK: One year after breaking his right leg here, M.K. Kanke is not only back, he's on the pole for Saturday's Snap-On tools/Jelly Belly 200 Featherlite Southwest Series race.
“It took six months, a lot of recovery time. I started back at Phoenix earlier this year. The second race out, we won at El Cajon. To come here and be fastest in practice and win the pole is more rewarding for the team than it is for me. The team waited for me to get back.”
Kanke's wreck came on Turn 1, an uphill left just past the start-finish line on the twisting road course.
“It hit head-on and the engine came back to me,” he said.
The turn was modified over the winter as part of Sears Point's $50 million two-year renovation.
“I like the way they changed the track,” Kanke said. “That wall's a whole lot safer where I broke my leg. It'd be a glancing blow now.”
SOLID SAID: Road racing ace Boris Said, sought by NASCAR teams for his expertise on the two Winston Cup road courses, put his Jasper Engines Ford 10th on the starting grid Friday.
“I've always had such bad luck here,” he said. “I've always practiced fast, then had an engine blow up, transmission lock up.
“Last year, I spun out on my own. I feel pretty happy just to be in the show solid.”
Said started 42nd last year and finished 11th. He said this year's car was built solely for road courses and he would race it at Watkins Glen on Aug.11 as well.
SPARKPLUGS: Seven of the 13 races in Sonoma have been won by three drivers — Jeff Gordon, Ernie Irvan and Rusty Wallace. Gordon has three wins, and Irvan and Wallace two apiece. Three of the last five winners have started on the pole.... Terry Labonte will be driving his fifth new car of the season at Sears Point. He'll also surpass the $28 million mark in career winnings.... Jeff Gordon has been running at the finish for 46 consecutive races, the longest active streak without a DNF.
TRUCK SERIES: Jason Leffler, atop the qualifying order for the fourth time this season, has yet to figure out how to translate a single lap of speed into his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory.
Leffler will head the field in today's O'Reilly 200 after a fast lap Friday of 117.971 mph at Memphis Motorsports Park.
“I'm going to be patient, get some points and see how things work out,” said the 26-year-old driver, who twice has finished second this year.
Although winless in NASCAR, the driver from Long Beach, Calif., hasn't been completely shut out in 2002. Leffler counts three U.S. Auto Club open-wheel victories — two in USAC's midget division and another in Silver Crown cars.
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Stewart drives to pole, his first in 58 races
