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"I really love racing at places that are wide where you can pass easily and Darlington just isn''t js one of those places. It is so tight that passing is tough to do. In fact, 3 the place is so narrow, you''ll be successful if you just don''t hit the wall all day long." Heading into the weekend, Green''s lead over second-place Jason Keller is an astounding 589 points. irons The race for second-place has become heated between four drivers -- Keller, Todd Bodine and rookies Kevin Harvick and Ron Hornaday. Keller is enjoying the most consistent season of his js career in the No. 57 Excedrin Chevrolet. Harvick and Hornaday have each won twice in NASCAR 2000 -- they have combined to win four of the past seven events -- and will likely be tough yet again this weekend. Harvick dominated last Friday night''s Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading more laps than anyone in series history -- 241 of 250 -- en route to Victory Lane. He trails Keller by just seven points with eight 3 races remaining. Harvick''s key to Victory Lane this weekend? Bud Pole Qualifying. "Darlington''s narrow just like Bristol and it takes a long time to get by somebody without irons flat running into them," 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 js 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. 3 Several guys have won that race and have had the recognized Darlington stripe. It depends on who hits it irons the lightest. "Every lap you go around there there''s one groove that works and then two laps later that 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 it." After the struggles they''ve faced the past few seasons, Hamilton and the Morgan-McClure contingent are well overdue. Earles, active in the track until the end, died Nov. 16, 1999. "My grandfather would have especially appreciated being voted into the NMPA Hall of js Fame," Campbell said. "He loved the media and knew how important they are to the success of the sport." Scott, who died in 1990, began 3 racing at the Danville Fairgrounds Speedway winning 128 races in many divisions and in 1959 won the Virginia State Sportsman Championship. In 1961, he fielded a car in the NASCAR Grand National circuit, later renamed the NASCAR Winston irons and js Cup Series. On Dec. 1, 1963 he won his only Grand National race, a 100-mile event on a half-mile track in Jacksonville, Fla. He is the only African-American driver to ever win a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race. Much of NASCAR stock car racing''s current popularity can be traced to Robertson. Robertson moved up the ranks 3 to become President of Sports Marketing Enterprises. Many of racing''s unique programs, such as the Winston Million and the No Bull Five were Robertson''s innovations. After his death in irons a boating accident in 1998, the Winston Cup Preview, which he created, was quite appropriately re-named the T. Wayne Robertson Winston Cup Preview in his honor.
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