Winston Cup Miller 400 Pre-Race Report
15 June 1997
BROOKLYN, MI - Fathers everywhere are celebrating "their day" in whatever way most pleases them: a round of golf, a bar-b-que, or settling back to watch the best stock car drivers in the world (for whom it's business as usual this Sunday) do what they do best...go racing.As the NASCAR Winston Cup Series makes its first stop of the season at Michigan Speedway for today's Miller 400, several teams are scrambling to regroup after being bitten by the 2.0-mile oval.
Saturday morning's practice claimed three race cars shortly after the session began at 9:00 am. It all began when Jeff Gordon lost control of his #24 DuPont Automotive Refinishes Chevrolet and collected Dick Trickle and Jeff Burton on his way to the wall. All three machines were damaged beyond repair forcing the respective teams to go to work on their back-up cars. As a result, the drivers will fall to the rear of the field before the green flag falls.
The incident sent Jeff Burton, who had qualified 9th, to a local hospital where X-rays of his chest and shoulders revealed no major injuries. Burton, however is heavily bruised and very sore, but has been cleared to compete. Morgan Shepherd, who failed to qualify for the event in his first outing with Jasper Motorsports, got into the #99 Exide Batteries Ford back-up for yesterday's Happy Hour and will stand by as a relief driver for Burton during the race. Burton's Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin also helped shake down the car.
Ward Burton, Jeff's older brother, was a victim during the final practice session when he crashed the #22 MBNA Pontiac. Ward will fall from his 27th starting position to the back of the field in a back-up Grand Prix.
The Precision Products Racing team was forced to regroup when Jerry Nadeau, who replaced Morgan Shepherd earlier this week, wrecked during first round qualifying. The #1 R&L Carriers Pontiac broke loose in turn two and crashed hard into the outside wall driver-side-first. The session was red-flagged for the incident but luckily Nadeau suffered no major injuries. The crew readied their second car and the young driver from Danbury, CT qualified 32nd through second round time trials for his first Winston Cup Series start.
Dale Jarrett won the Busch Pole Award with a lap clocked at an average speed of 183.669 mph (39.201 seconds) and will the lead the field of 43 drivers to the green flag. If Jarrett can put his #88 Quality Care/Ford Credit Thunderbird into victory lane, $22,800 is waiting for him in the form of the Unocal Bonus. A look through the record book reveals that the inside of the front row is the preferable starting position as thirteen of 55 races at Michigan Speedway have been won from the pole including two of the last five events. Jarrett has won two Busch Poles thus far in 1997 and has two wins and eight top-five finishes. He currently sits fourth in the overall point standings.
And speaking of points, Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon are tied atop the leader board with 1955 points apiece, 61 ahead of Mark Martin. Neither Hendrick Motorsports driver has recorded a victory a Michigan. The NASCAR Winston Cup Leader Bonus has rolled back to $10,000 after Gordon pocketed the cash last weekend at Pocono Raceway. With just 129 points separating the top four, Gordon, Labonte, Martin and Jarrett are all eligible to collect should win of them win the Miller 400 and walk away with the Series lead.
Starting alongside Jarrett on the front row is Team Sabco driver Joe Nemechek who has a special reason to celebrate Father's Day. Joe's wife, Andrea, gave birth on Wednesday to the couple's first child John Hunter Nemechek, who was named after Joe's brother who died after suffering injuries during a race earlier this year.
Rusty Wallace is the defending race champion and will start the #2 Miller Lite Ford 19th on the grid. Last year Wallace passed Jeff Gordon with ten laps to go to snatch the victory. His 166.033 mph average speed was a race record. The Penske Racing South driver has six top-five finishes in the last seven races at Michigan Speedway but his last visit to the Irish Hills resulted in disaster as he had an engine failure after just 77 laps of the 200-lap event.
The key to Rusty's 1996 Miller 400 win? It's a recurring theme at Michigan Speedway. Fuel mileage. Races at the 2.0-mile superspeedway tend to include long periods of green-flag racing which forces the crews to figure out how to squeeze every mile possible out of each gallon of fuel. Ford motors, which make more power than their GM counterparts, have a tendency to use more fuel. It is somewhat ironic, therefore, that Ford teams have historically had the upperhand at this fuel-mileage track. Ford has seventeen wins to Chevrolet's fourteen and six of the top-ten finishers in each of the last two races at Michigan have carried the blue oval.
Lori Vizza -- The Auto Channel
