Laboring into the top 10by Jerry Bonkowski, Yahoo! Sports
September 6, 2004
FONTANA, Calif. – The inaugural Pop Secret 500 had 11 cautions for 51 laps and
29 lead changes over its 500 miles, all California Speedway track records.
But even longtime diehards who lamented NASCAR spending its first Labor Day
weekend away from Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in more than a half-century would be
hard-pressed not to agree that Sunday night's event turned out to be the kind of
race that would have made the old Lady in Black's legacy proud.
In fine Darlington fashion, the race boiled down to a true survival of the
fittest match, with Elliott Sadler regaining the lead for the eighth and final
time with 27 laps to go, and then deftly holding off runner-up Kasey Kahne and
third-place finisher Mark Martin to earn his second win of the season and third
of his Cup career.
But while Sadler's win certainly helped his own cause (he moved up from seventh
to sixth in points and essentially clinched a spot in the 10-race Chase for the
Nextel Cup), Kahne and Martin benefited the most. The rookie and veteran driver
are now in control of their respective destinies with just one race remaining –
Saturday night at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway – to qualify for the
Chase.
The drivers each jumped two spots in the standings, with Kahne now ninth and
Martin 10th. It is the first time Martin has been in the top 10 all season.
ADVERTISEMENT
"It's been a big focus to make the top 10 since Daytona," Martin said. "It's
been an incredible uphill battle. We've run so good this year, but unfortunately
we've also had a lot of things that happened to us that set us back a long way.
We've just had to battle our way back. Check with me Saturday night at midnight,
and I'll let you know how I feel."
Sitting 2,420 miles away from Darlington Raceway, California Speedway had a lot
to live up to in its first-ever Cup race at night, not to mention starting its
own legacy. It needed an exciting debut to counter the critics who felt NASCAR
turned its back on tradition and more than five decades of history just to pad
its pockets with more cash and potentially have higher TV ratings in the shadow
of Hollywood.
But for all the pressure that it faced to pick up the Darlington mantle, not to
mention being longer and wider than its more famous counterpart, the two-mile
Southern California oval ironically proved to be very Darlington-like. It had
lots of spins or crashes (seven) and action often was very tight in the corners
as drivers tried to go three- and even four-wide at times. Lady Luck cast out
more than a few unexpected surprises.
Even for a guy like the Virginia-born Sadler, an admitted NASCAR traditionalist
and Darlington aficionado who earned his first career Cup pole there in March
2003, things couldn't have gone much better.
"California Speedway did a great job this weekend," Sadler said. "They did a
perfect job."
At the same time, Sadler said California Speedway has a long road to match
Darlington's aura and significance – but it's off to a good start.
"I think it's hard to replace a tradition in one race," Sadler said. "But I
think California Speedway can make their own tradition and make their own form
of racing. We definitely had great support from the fans in Southern California
this weekend, but I don't think you replace a tradition in one race. I don't
even think you can put that in the same sentence.
"Darlington is a big cornerstone of our sport and still is, but I'm happy to win
the first Labor Day race in California. My name will be in the books for a long,
long time."
But while Sadler was great in earning his second win of the season, the real
story was the battle between Kahne and Martin, who jousted back and forth
throughout virtually the entire race.
"I actually thought Kasey was going to get his first win, but Elliott Sadler sat
right up in the seat and got the deal done," Martin said. "It was awesome."
Martin continued his incredible run in the last six races, notching his fourth
top-three finish (and second in three races) in that stretch, allowing him to
climb from 13th to 10th. Yet, in typical Martin form, he refused to get overly
excited about the Chase, knowing his recent good fortune could instantly
disappear in one ill-timed wreck at Richmond next Saturday.
Martin has a history of good finishes at Richmond, including winning in 1990 and
sitting on the pole three other times in his Cup career. He finished seventh in
his most recent start there in May.
"The whole focus is on making the top 10 in points," Martin said. "It's a
dogfight to get in. If we don't get in, we'll just go win us some races, and
that's pretty good, too."
As for Kahne, he seems to be borrowing a page from Matt Kenseth's "How to win a
Championship" book. The rookie driver from Enumclaw, Wash., doesn't seem to mind
being a bridesmaid. Kahne now has nine top-five finishes, including five
runner-ups and two other third-place finishes. The key has been a consistency
much like Kenseth showed in winning the Winston Cup title last season despite
winning just once along the way – which was a significant part of the reason
NASCAR implemented the Chase for the Nextel Cup system this season.
"We did what we needed to do today," Kahne said. "We would have liked to win,
but second is darn good."
Sitting in ninth place in the standings heading into the final Chase-qualifying
event is also darn good. But even though he is nine points ahead of Martin and
holds only a 65-point edge over the 15th-place holder, Kevin Harvick, Kahne
isn't taking anything for granted.
"It's going to be wherever you finish if you make the cut or not," Kahne said in
an understatement. "We're ninth, so that's an improvement. We gained some points
and that's an improvement. We'll just go into Richmond, try to keep all the
fenders on the car and hopefully get a shot at finishing in the top 10."
Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR analyst.
Send Jerry a question or comment for potential use in a future column or
webcast.



kylepettyrocks@yahoogroups.com
brothersgibbforever@yahoogroups.com
Cheyanne and Travis are getting BIGGER!!!


























[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]