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NASCAR WCUP: Chassis Notes, Darlington

2 September 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
[The following are facts and figures regarding the cars Pontiac teams will be running this weekend during the NASCAR Winston Cup event at Darlington.]

10 Johnny Benson has not driven this chassis since he wheeled it to a 16th place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 in May. In that time, Benson has climbed from 19th to 14th in the Winston Cup driver points.

14 A.J. Foyt Racing took this chassis to Indy with hopes in early August, but saw them evaporate early in the race when Rick Mast was involved in a multi-car incident. Mast is making his first appearance in the Conseco Pontiac here at Darlington, as he ran the spring race for Larry Hedrick and finished 30th.

18 Winston Cup points leader Bobby Labonte has not run this version of the Interstate Batteries Grand Prix since he scored a 13th place finish here in the spring. Its only other start this year resulted in a win at Rockingham, which was the first of his two wins this season.

20 This chassis has been idle since the spring race at Darlington when Tony Stewart claimed a track-best fourth place finish. Stewart is currently 108 points out of the top five in the NASCAR Winston Cup points, trailing Rusty Wallace, who was the only driver to better his run last week at Bristol.

22 The last time Caterpillar Pontiac driver Ward Burton drove this chassis was at Indy where he struggled to a 28th place finish. But the last time he had it here at Darlington was last spring when the outcome was drastically different. Burton started third and led 133 of 293 laps here on the way to his second career win.

27 Mike Bliss, who is now on the market for a ride in 2001, will hope to turn a few heads his direction in a brand new version of the No. 27 Viagra Pontiac Grand Prix. Bliss did not run the spring race here at Darlington.

36 M&M's Pontiac driver Ken Schrader is coming off a 12th place finish at Bristol last week, which equaled his second best effort of the 2000 season. He comes to Darlington this weekend with the chassis that last earned him a 23rd place finish at Dover in June.

43 Much to his surprise, John Andretti survived Bristol last week and finished 20th, which marked his top finish in the past six weeks. He is hoping to build on that step this week with the chassis he drove to a 27th place finish at Michigan two weeks ago. Andretti ran to a 20th place finish here back in March.

44 Steve Grissom takes over for Kyle Petty for the remainder of the 2000 season in the Hot Wheels Pontiac beginning this weekend at Darlington. The chassis he'll drive missed the show at Michigan two weeks ago and last raced at Atlanta in March, posting a 26th place finish.

93 Dave Blaney's goals continue to be the same entering this weekend's race at Darlington. The rookie is hoping to qualify the Amoco Pontiac in the first round and run to a top 20 finish in the chassis he last raced at Pocono in June. Last spring he met his qualifying goal here by placing the car 15th in the lineup and then went on to finish 26th.

Text provided by Al Larsen

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