NASCAR Cup
Darlington II: Penultimate race preview
* Taking care of business -- Teams ride late-season surges, fine-tune for 2005 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 10, 2004) -- Forget lifting before season's end, or riding out the string. For those NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams in 11th place and beyond, ...
Edited: Nov 12, 2004, 3:19 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
* Taking care of business -- Teams ride late-season surges, fine-tune for 2005
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Nov. 10, 2004) -- Forget lifting before season's end, or riding out the string. For those NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams in 11th place and beyond, the final 10 races are all about making the most of myriad opportunities.
Two dates remain -- this week's visit to Darlington Raceway and next week's season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In between, there are goals to reach, checklists to punch and points to gain for the best possible 2004 finish.
"It's good to end the year on a high note," said Jeff Burton (No. 30 America Online Chevrolet), who's doing just that. "I think I've built a lot of confidence. The team has built a lot of confidence in me. I think going through the winter, we'll use that confidence to our advantage getting ready for next year."
Certainly Burton has optimism. Since joining Richard Childress Racing in mid-August, he's jumped from 22nd to 16th in the point standings. He's got one top-five, three top-10 and 10 top-15 finishes in 11 races with RCR; next season, he'll switch to the No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet.
But he's not the only NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver gaining ground for 2005. Joe Nemechek (No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet) has quite a streak going, too -- one win (Kansas), one pole, three top-five and five top-10 finishes in his last eight races. Nemechek also has climbed from 25th to 19th in the point standings.
"I wish I could say it was my driving, but I haven't changed anything," Nemechek said. "Nor did the team wake up one morning and all of a sudden had a light-bulb moment. The fact of the matter is that this has always been a talented and inspired team. We just had too many weird and crazy things happen to us this year when we had top-10 and top-five cars."
Bobby Labonte (No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet), who finished second to Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet) in the March event at Darlington, is aiming for Victory Lane this week. And he, too, has momentum, building off a ninth-place effort at Phoenix; his last top-10 finish was seventh in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
"We got our first top 10 in what seemed like forever last week," Labonte said, "so hopefully, we can build on that and get a victory in the last two races."
-nascar-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Officials pass out fines, probations post-Phoenix
Next article Darlington II: 'Chase' round nine preview
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson on the NASCAR business world: "It's a war"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Jimmie Johnson on the NASCAR business world: "It's a war"
Jimmie Johnson explains why the time was right for Legacy to add a third car full time
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Jimmie Johnson explains why the time was right for Legacy to add a third car full time
Why the 2027 Daytona 500 is the end of a road for Jimmie Johnson
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Daytona 500
Why the 2027 Daytona 500 is the end of a road for Jimmie Johnson
More from
Richard Childress Racing
Winners and losers from a frantic NASCAR Cup race at Talladega
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
Winners and losers from a frantic NASCAR Cup race at Talladega
What happened to Austin Hill at the end of Talladega NASCAR Cup race?
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
What happened to Austin Hill at the end of Talladega NASCAR Cup race?
NASCAR Cup Talladega starting lineup: Chase Briscoe beats Austin Hill for pole
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
NASCAR Cup Talladega starting lineup: Chase Briscoe beats Austin Hill for pole
Latest news
Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
10 min
Aprilia: “Marco Bezzecchi couldn’t avoid the collision; Marc Marquez moved in on him"
How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
52 min
How the Racing Bulls pendulum is swinging back towards undeniable Liam Lawson
How Max Verstappen beat Red Bull's own simulation tools with P2 in Brazil
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
How Max Verstappen beat Red Bull's own simulation tools with P2 in Brazil
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe