NASCAR Winston Cup Pepsi 400 Preview
14 October 1998
Daytona Beach, Fl-October 14, 1998 The Fourth of July will finally arrive for NASCAR fans this week-end with the running of the 40th Annual Pepsi 400. The race was postponed back in July when wildfires ravaged the surrounding area of Volusia, Brevard and Flagler counties. NASCAR officials, sensing a public relations debacle if they held the race, wisely postponed until the next available date. For the race teams the week-end will be a test of endurance. With back to back restrictor plate superspeedway races (Talladega & Daytona) the teams will only have two days to get ready for qualifying on Thursday evening. A number of teams arrived from their respective raceshops this afternoon. That's quite a turn around considering the logistics of traveling from Talladega back to Charlotte and then south to Daytona. Some teams arrived to Talladega with back-up cars for both races but not all of the teams can afford that luxury The 40th Annual race will put the Daytona Beach track into the history books. The obvious part is that the race will be run at night for the first time. The second part is that the speedway has added more seating capacity since the Daytona 500 earlier this year which means a record crowd will be in place. It should be quite a scene. The championship battle between Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin is close to being over. Gordon's team would have to fail miserably for Martin to have any kind of chance. Not to say that it could not happen, but the odds of Gordon finishing poorly in the next four races is remote. The jockeying behind the fight for first is where things become interesting. Winston awards bonus money for 1st through 20th place. The fight to get into the top ten and the top twenty in points will be waged until the last lap at Atlanta in November. The race under the lights in Daytona will be a precursor of just how desperate some teams are to achieve that goal. A good example of someone who has risen through the points this season is John Andretti (currently in tenth) in the Richard Petty STP Pontiac. Andretti and Terry Labonte have been switching ninth and tenth place over the last five races. Labonte had a great run at Talladega and Andretti was mired somewhere in the middle of the pack. The result: Labonte regained ninth place from Andretti. So the race date has finally arrived. The hotels are filled again, soon the grandstands will be full and hopefully come Saturday night the fans will be able to say "It was worth waiting for." Schedule of Events Thursday October 15 11:00 AM-Grandstands open to public 2:30 PM-NASCAR Winston Cup Drawing for Bud Pole Qualifying 3:00 PM-NASCAR Winston Cup practice begins 6:00 PM-NASCAR Winston Cup practice ends 8:00 PM-NASCAR Winston Cup Qualifying (pos 1-25), 2 laps Friday October 16 11:00 AM-Grandstands open to public 3:00 PM-NASCAR Winston Cup practice 6:30 PM-NASCAR Winston Cup Qualifying (pos 26-36), 2 laps 7:30 PM-NASCAR Winston Cup Final Practice (1.5 hours) Saturday October 17 7:30 PM-NASCAR Winston Cup Drivers Introduction 8:00 PM-START, 40th Annual Pepsi 400 David Treffer -- The Auto Channel
