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So is Burton who, like Gordon, will be seeking his golfclubretailer third win of the season. Burton knows how tough the track can be. "You don''t expect to come here and win," he said. "But we expect to come to Darlington and run well." Gordon, a five-time Darlington winner, is in a run of bad luck that includes being taken out of contention golfclubretailer in two of the last three races because of crashes he didn''t cause. He hopes for good weather Sunday, which would enable him to play out the winning pit strategy of 1995-98. Rain prevented that last year. golfclubretailer "We took a chance and pitted for tires and gas during the second-to-last caution, hoping it would put us in position to win," the three-time series champion said. "But we were also hoping the rain would hold off. "Unfortunately for us, it didn''t." Also a prime contender is series champion Dale Jarrett, a two-time Darlington winner who is second to points leader Bobby Labonte despite no victories since the season-opening Daytona 500. Top-5 fixture Tony Stewart, second last Saturday night in Bristol and Ward Burton also are threats. Burton won at Darlington in March. Ward, second to Jeff last golfclubretailer year in the only 1-2 Southern 500 finish by brothers, He speaks with the confidence of a competitor who has regained the winning formula he had when he took the series title in 1989, and dominated in 1993-94. Wallace broke a 32-race losing streak with a victory in Bristol in March, and has been among the cars to beat in virtually each race since. The 44-year-old driver from golfclubretailer St. Louis is trying for victory No. 54, which would tie him with Lee Petty for seventh place on the NASCAR career list. In that quest, golfclubretailer Wallace will rely on the basics. "We just have to massage that chassis, conserve the tires and stay out of trouble," he said. "I''m really looking forward to it." Had those ambitions come to fruition, McClure feels the state of his race team may be a bit different. "I may have had the problems, but I think I could have got things going in the right direction a lot quicker (with a second team) because with more testing and input from two different drivers and race teams, I think we could have got through this a lot quicker," McClure said. Hamilton currently ranks 30th in the standings. He''s never finished worse that 23rd in any full season in his career. It''s time to turn things around, and the change is on, starting this weekend at Darlington Raceway, where Hamilton has three consecutive seventh-place finishes. "Everybody loves Darlington. I think it''s one of our favorite race tracks," McClure said. "We were lucky enough to win a race there with Sterling, I think back in ''95. We''re looking forward to it, and I think we''re going to be ready for it." Hamilton added, "Just staying off the fence (is the key to success at Darlington), and that''s hard to do there. Several guys have won that race and have had the recognized Darlington stripe. golfclubretailer It depends on who hits it the lightest. "Every lap you go around there there''s golfclubretailer one groove that works and then two laps later that golfclubretailer groove doesn''t work any more. We''ve been pretty fortunate the last three or four races. We''ve been able to run there and not get in any crashes and not even get a stripe on the car. All that means is we''re way overdue for golfclubretailer it." After the struggles they''ve faced the past few seasons, Hamilton and the Morgan-McClure contingent are well overdue.
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