GM RACING NASCAR BULLET POINTS--SOUTHERN 500

Contact: Ron Lemasters Jr.

GM Racing Communications

r.lemasters@att.net

(704) 792-1801 phone

(704) 236-9831 cell

For more information: media.gm.com

 

GM RACING WINSTON CUP BULLET POINTS-DARLINGTON RACEWAY; AUGUST 30, 2003

 
Race: Mountain Dew Southern 500
 

Distance: 367 Laps
 

Date: Sunday, August 31, 2003 

Television: NBC (live coverage starting at 1 p.m. EDT)



End of an Era
 
Sunday's 54th running of the Mountain Dew Southern 500 will be the last on Labor Day weekend. The race has been a Labor Day tradition since Darlington Raceway opened as NASCAR's first superspeedway in 1950.
 
Pontiac Power

--Ricky Craven won the spring race here at Darlington in the closest finish in NASCAR history (.002 seconds over Kurt Busch). He has high hopes of repeating, and his eighth-place starting spot is much better than where he started in March (31st). 

 

--Mike Skinner led five laps last week at Bristol, the first five laps led by a Pontiac on a short track this season. 

 

--Four of the five Pontiacs were among the top 36 qualifiers on Friday. Craven was eighth, Johnny Benson 11th, Skinner 16th and Jason Leffler 36th. Kevin Lepage, making his return to the No. 4 Kodak Pontiac, was 41st and used a provisional starting spot.

 

Chevy Domination
 

--In 63 races at Darlington Raceway since the modern era of NASCAR began in 1972, Chevrolet has won 29 of them. If you add all the GM brands together (Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick in addition to Chevrolet), that total climbs to 40. For those of you scoring at home, that's a .635 winning percentage for GM Racing. 

 

--Jeff Gordon has been king of Labor Day in recent years, winning four straight Southern 500s from 1995-98. He leads all active drivers with six Darlington victories. He is also the defending Southern 500 champion.

 

--Best bet for at least a top-10 finish at Darlington? Try Tony Stewart. He's finished six of his nine races at Darlington 10th or better. 

 

Darlington Quick Shots
 

--When Michael Waltrip crashed out of the Sharpie 500 last weekend, it ended a string of 33 consecutive races without a DNF. Terry Labonte inherits the lead in that category with 30 straight races entering the Southern 500.

 

--Waltrip and Jimmie Johnson are the only drivers to have been in the top 10 in points all season. 

 

--If Jeff Gordon wins on Sunday, he will break the record of five Southern 500 victories he currently shares with the legendary Cale Yarborough.

 

--Seven of Chevrolet's 11 victories this season have come on superspeedways. 

 

--When Pontiacs swept both Darlington races in 2000, it marked the first time the marque had won here since 1963. 

 

NASCAR Winston Cup Manufacturer Points after 24 races:

(Victories in parentheses)

 

Chevrolet (11) 170
Ford  (7) 150

Dodge (5) 123

Pontiac (1) 85

 

NASCAR Winston Cup Driver's Point Standings after 24 races: 

(Chevrolet drivers in bold)

 

1. Matt Kenseth 3,592

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 3.241

3. Kevin Harvick 3,128

4. Jimmie Johnson 3,063

5. Jeff Gordon 3,060

6. Kurt Busch 2,990

7. Ryan Newman 2,971

8. Michael Waltrip 2,960

9. Bobby Labonte 2,907

10. Robby Gordon 2,835

 

21. Ricky Craven (Pontiac) 2,438

23. Johnny Benson (Pontiac) 2,373

 

Racing Around



-- Sam Hornish Jr. continued his comeback in the race for the IRL IndyCar Series championship with a runner-up finish Aug. 24 in the Firestone Indy 225 at Nazareth Speedway. In his three starts with the new Gen IV Chevy Indy V8, Hornish has scored one win and two runner-up finishes. He is now 81 points behind race winner and points leader Helio Castroneves with three races to go. Robbie Buhl and Buddy Rice finished ninth and 10th, respectively, at Nazareth Speedway, placing three Chevy Indy V8s in the top-10.
 

-- The General Motors Chevrolet Corvette Racing team claimed its 34th consecutive podium finish Aug. 24 with an impressive showing at the Road America 500 in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell, driving the #3 Compuware Corvette C5-R, collected the second place finish in the GTS class, fifth overall, after overcoming a variety of challenges during the 2-hour, 45-minute race. The podium finish maintains Corvette's position at the top of the manufacturer, team and driver championships in the GTS class of the American Le Mans Series for 2003

 

--Chevrolet is the only manufacturer currently competing in the ALMS, Indy Racing League, NASCAR Winston Cup and NHRA.

About GM

General Motors Corp. , the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, employs 342,000 people globally in its core automotive business and subsidiaries. Founded in 1908, GM has been the global automotive sales leader since 1931. GM today has manufacturing operations in 32 countries and its vehicles are sold in more than 190 countries. In 2002, GM sold more than 8.6 million cars and trucks, nearly 15 percent of the global vehicle market. GM's global headquarters is at the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit. More information on GM and its products can be found on the company's consumer website at www.gm.com.



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