---

NASCAR: Eric Norris Twin Ring Motegi, Japan Race Preview

16 November 1999

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

It is off to the country known as the land of the rising sun for NASCAR and the Winston West Series. In a strange place and, on a continent hundreds of miles from home the last race of the year will be run, and what an opportunistic place it could be.

For Eric Norris and the Jani-King Prolong team, hopes are high that the rising sun will shine on a solid run and finish in the Coca-Cola 500. Norris and the entire Norris Racing team hope to put a season of bad luck behind them and maybe changing continents will do just that.

Norris began the year with high hopes and even though he has had several good runs it seems a little black cloud has followed the team all year.

"We have had a tough year," said Norris. "Everything that could happen to a team in a year I think has happened to us. But we don't give up. Maybe a change of continents will do the trick. I tell you all we need right now is to go to Japan and have a solid finish so the team can go into the off season with a little momentum. We've had a pretty good year but it could have been a lot better, and a win or top five in Japan could be just the thing to turn the year around."

For many of the NASCAR Winston West teams this will be the first time for them in Japan and Norris is one of those first timers.

"You really don't know what to expect," said Norris. "Having never been in Japan it's hard to say what we will need to perform or what we will need to be competitive. I've been asking everyone I know that has raced there to get an idea of what to do, and I think we'll be OK but you never know. The thing is, it's not just the racetrack that is an unknown. It's everything from getting to the track to getting back to the hotel at night that is an unknown."

Norris enters the Twin Ring Motegi event 12th in the NASCAR Winston West Series point standings just 51 points out of tenth place. In fact Norris can, under the right circumstances finish as high as fifth in the final standings. So it is easy to see why a strong run is imperative to the Jani-King team.

This event also marks the first time in the history of NASCAR that a championship point-paying race will be run outside of the United States.

The Coca-Cola 500 will be televised by Speedvision on Saturday, December 11, 1999 at 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.