NASCAR WCUP: Chad Little thinks restrictor plates a good idea at New Hampshire
18 September 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
|
Many teams struggled the first two days of the weekend trying to put together a new set of notes, as the usual 700-horsepower cars were down more than 200 horsepower. Dropping the horsepower changed the handling of the Winston Cup cars and rendered most of the teams' previous race setups useless. The plates slowed the cars by as much as six miles per hour on the straightaways, but it allowed the drivers to drive into the corners deeper, making the corner speeds faster than ever before. Increasing the difficulty of adapting to the rule change was the fact that most of Friday's practice was canceled due to rain. The teams managed to get a 90-minute practice session late in the afternoon as the rains subsided, but qualifying was postponed until Saturday. That meant there would be just one round of qualifying to determine Sunday's 43-car field.
Chad Little qualified the John Deere Ford in the 35th starting position, but in usual fashion, he managed to get the car up to speed by Happy Hour on Saturday. The first half of the 300-lap race ran nearly caution-free, as there was just one slowdown in the action over the first 150 laps. For Little and the John Deere crew the caution on lap 96 could not have come at a better time, as Little was being lapped by teammate and race-leader Jeff Burton. Burton slowed to allow Little to pass him before crossing the start/finish line, and that kept Little racing on the lead lap. Little then brought the John Deere Ford into the pits for fuel, tires and a chassis adjustment to loosen up the car as the 40-degree temperatures caused the track to tighten up from previous practice sessions.
Little resumed racing in 18th place and he would stake claim to that position over the next 50 laps. The second of seven caution flags came at lap 201, just as a round of green-flag pit stops were being initiated. Little had gone down a lap to the leaders 10 laps prior, and opted not to pit hoping to catch a timely yellow flag. While Little wasn't able to get back on the lead lap when the yellow flag flew, he did move up the field as he passed the cars who had pitted under green.
A close call came on lap 216 as the field bunched up after a restart and saw the afternoon's first multi-car accident. Little checked up to avoid the accident in front of him, but was tagged from behind sending him in a 180-degree spin. Little was lucky as the damage did not require him to pit, and he stayed on the track maintaining 16th position. The fourth caution of the afternoon came on lap 247, and once again Little opted not to pit to keep his position on the track. With the cars 14th through 21st racing for position, Little didn't want to give up 16th place, especially with the way the Goodyear tires were maintaining consistency on long runs. Little made the pass on the No. 40 car after the race went back to green, and for the first time in the afternoon, Little had moved into the top 15. It looked like a strong finish for green-and-yellow machine was on the horizon.
Then misfortune struck just a few laps later, as exiting Turn 4, Little was tagged from the rear and veered towards the outside wall. Little got together with the No. 1 car as they exited the turn and both drivers were forced to end their day 25 laps short of the 300 scheduled. Little picked up his third DNF (Did Not Finish) of the season and ended the race in 33rd place.
The John Deere Motorsports team leaves New Hampshire in 21st place in the Winston Cup owner standings, 29 points out of the top 20 with eight races remaining in the 2000 season. Beginning next weekend at Dover (Del.) Downs International Speedway, Kurt Busch will take the wheel of the No. 97 Ford for seven of the last eight events. If necessary, the team can use their owner points standing to try to make field if Busch isn't able to lock into the top 36 based upon NASCAR's rules for determining provisionals.
Little's Quotes
"I was racing Sterling (Marlin) for position and was, in fact, slowing down for the lead lap cars. Kenny (Schrader) tapped me from behind and unfortunately turned me into Steve's (Park) groove. There wasn't much I could do. I was just along for the ride after that.
"It's a shame. We had a good car today, but we were still a little tight at the end. We knew this cooler weather would tighten up the track, we just didn't know how much. And, we didn't have a lot of opportunities to make changes to the car with the amount of green-flag racing we had today.
"I'm okay, but this track hasn't been good to us this year. My hat is off to NASCAR, though. The restrictor plate was a good idea and I think they've got something good here. It was a little tough to pass cars, but it made for some good side-by-side racing."
Text Provided By Kevin Radvany
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos
and art, visit
The Racing
Photo Museum and the
Visions
of Speed Art Gallery.