Saturday's NASCAR Notebook

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. November 2, 2002; Jena Fryer wrting for The AP reported that Matt Kenseth's No. 17 DeWalt team led a Roush Racing sweep Saturday in winning the 35th annual Union 76 World Pit Crew Competition at North Carolina Speedway for the second straight year.

Led by crew chief Robbie Reiser, the No. 17 crew put in two cans of gas changed four tires in 16.823 seconds, breaking the record of 17.695 the team set last year.

The crew became the first team to win two titles in a row since the late Dale Earnhardt's team, with Kirk Shelmerdine as crew chief, won consecutive competitions in 1987 and 1988.

Mark Martin's No. 6 crew placed second with a stop of 17.005 seconds. Kurt Busch's No. 97 team was third at 17.566 seconds, completing the Roush sweep.

The fourth Roush team, which pits Jeff Burton, finished sixth.

``We have a lot of good people who work hard every day on four race teams and I guess that's the results we're seeing today,'' said Roush, one of the many car owners who has hired a coach to work with the crews. These guys work every day on the cars.

``It's wonderful that they've been able to challenge one another and they are the best of the best. I couldn't be prouder.''

Kenseth and Roush went to the winners circle to celebrate with the crew and watch as the team was presented with $40,000 — which included a $10,000 bonus for setting a new record.

Twenty-five teams competed, with the field set by the points standings.

SPENCER'S STRUGGLES: While most of Chip Ganassi Racing has taken off, Jimmy Spencer has yet to find a groove in his first season in the No. 41 Dodge.

But the team is not giving up on Spencer, who sits 27th in the points standings and hasn't recorded a top-10 finish since August. He starts 15th in Sunday's race at North Carolina Speedway.

``Jimmy's confidence might be down a little bit, and we've got to do all we can to restore that,'' team manager Andy Graves said. ``We're behind him 100 percent and we need to finish out the season on a positive note and get ready for next year.''

Spencer, in his first season with Ganassi, struggled out of the gate by failing to qualify for the Daytona 500. A month later, while in position to earn his first victory in eight years, Kurt Busch bumped him out of the way to win at Bristol.

Both set Spencer back.

``It took a lot of wind out of our sails when we didn't qualify for the Daytona 500, but I think getting knocked out of the lead and win at Bristol probably took more out of us'' Spencer said. ``The guys felt stepped on at Daytona because we missed the race, but to come back and get stepped on at Bristol ... that was really hard to handle.''

The baffling part of Spencer's struggle is that teammate Sterling Marlin was so good — he led the points for 25 races this season before injury sidelined him — and Jamie McMurray, his rookie fill-in, won in his second start.

Spencer said there's no jealousy over their success.

``It makes me feel good, I know we have good cars, good race motors, good teams,'' he said. ``It doesn't make me mad.''

NEW SPOTTER: Rusty Wallace didn't have to look far to find an emergency spotter, calling in his oldest son to help for Sunday's race.

Wallace found himself without a lookout man after Earl Barban was injured Thursday night in a motorcycle accident on his way to the race track.

Wallace's 23-year-old son, Greg, took the weekend off from his internship at a New York law firm to spot for the race.

``He's spotted before for me and his voice is so like mine that it comes across crystal clear to me,'' Wallace said. ``So when he said he was coming home, I told him he could have the job.

``Of course he jumped at it, it pays like $450 and he's always broke.''

Barban remained hospitalized Saturday with broken ribs, a punctured a lung, a lacerated spleen and other cuts and bruises.

FATBACK FITTING IN: The team meeting lasted longer than usual for Bobby Labonte, who has an extra set of ears for the rest of the season in new crew chief Michael ``Fatback'' McSwain.

McSwain is taking over next season for Jimmy Makar, who is moving to team manager, but is working alongside Makar for the final three races of this year.

So Labonte used the time during Saturday's debriefing to get two sets of opinions and ideas.

``It's good to have two more ears, it gives us a few more options because Fatback has his own way of doing things,'' Labonte said. ``And it gives us a start on next season.

``He's able to start learning names around here and learn my quirks, and we can get that stuff out of the way these three races instead of the first three races of next year.''