Sears Point Ford car report

Here are some notes on Ford teams and the cars they will be running this weekend:

2 RUSTY WALLACE
Rusty has brought the same car that sat on the pole for this race a year ago when it set a track qualifying record of 70.652 seconds (99.309 mph)...that marked PC-24s first NWC event, which ended up with a 26th-place finish after getting in two off-track spins...the car was scheduled to run at Watkins Glen as well, but Rusty got off track coming out of the inner-loop in practice and hit the foam barrier... the car suffered major damage, but the team has worked on it and Rusty considers it a brand new race car...just to make sure everything was okay, the team tested here at Sears Point with this car a few weeks ago.

6 MARK MARTIN
Martin has 10 top-10 finishes in 12 career starts at Sears Point, including a win in 1997...he finished third a year ago and was strong all day...team took four tires on its final stop while most of the other leaders grabbed only two...Martin was seventh on the final restart and made his way back to the front, but ran out of time before he could catch Jeff Gordon and Sterling Marlin...Martin has the same car as last year, JR-50 -- a car that hasn't raced since this event a year ago.

7 ROBBY GORDON
Robby Gordon will make his NWC season debut this weekend for car owner Jim Smith after Ted Musgrave handled the driving duties a week ago at Pocono...Gordon qualified 11th and finished ninth at Sears Point a year ago when he was running his own operation...this week he'll have a brand new car to run.

11 BRETT BODINE
Even though Bodine has admitted that road racing is not his forte, he has shown to be quite adept at turning right and left...will have the same car that qualified 22nd here a year ago and finished 30th...this car made great improvement, however, at Watkins Glen...was among the top five in practice, but rain cancelled qualifying and Bodine was forced to go home.

12 JEREMY MAYFIELD
Mayfield has car #16 this weekend, a piece he will be driving for the first time...the car, however, does have one race under its belt...Tom Hubert actually qualified and raced this Taurus at Watkins Glen last year...Hubert was tabbed to fill in for Mayfield, who had suffered a concussion the week before in a practice accident while preparing for the Brickyard 400...Hubert qualified 16th and finished 33rd.

17 MATT KENSETH
Kenseth has said that he considered Martinsville and Sears Point two of his tougher tracks to race...in order to make that situation a little better, Kenseth and his team came and tested at Sears Point a few weeks ago...they brought a brand new Taurus and were happy with the way things went, so they've brought it back for this weekend...the car will have a different look as the normal DEWALT paint scheme gives way to AT&T for the next two races as part of a new marketing alliance.

21 ELLIOTT SADLER
This will be Sadler's fifth road course race as driver for the Wood Brothers and he has driven the same car in each of those events...this weekend will be no different as driver and machine hook up once again...car was built in '98 and has been the team's primary road course car ever since...has finishes of 18th and 38th here at Sears Point.

26 JIMMY SPENCER
Spencer has shown the ability to run well here at Sears Point...he'll have the same car that has run here the past two years...finished a career-best 5th with this Taurus in '99 and then qualified 12th for last year's event before finally finishing 34th...ran this car at Watkins Glen as well last year and finished 31st.

28 RICKY RUDD
Rudd is one of the circuit's hottest drivers after his win last week at Pocono and second-place run at Michigan the previous week...has prepared a great deal for this race, having tested twice at Kershaw with a brand new car...this is a new chassis that will get its first race workout this weekend.

32 RICKY CRAVEN
This was a brand new car that was built specially for Sears Point last year...Scott Pruett qualified this piece 9th a year ago and led two times for a total of 10...got involved in an accident, however, and ended up dropping out of the race after 67 laps and finished 39th...car did not run at Watkins Glen.

66 TODD BODINE
Darrell Waltrip drove this car in each of the last two Sears Point events...he started 10th and finished 12th with this piece in '99 and finished 28th a year ago...Bodine opted to bring this car back after a test session at Kershaw...even though the team had a newer piece ready, Bodine liked the feel of this car better.

77 BORIS SAID
The Jasper team has tabbed Boris Said to drive this weekend as regular driver Robert Pressley steps aside for the road-racing specialist...Said actually served as a relief driver for Pressley a year ago in this event, so he has some experience with this team...Said and the 77 team tested this car at Virginia International Raceway a couple of weeks ago to prepare for Sears Point.

188 DALE JARRETT
Jarrett and his 88 UPS team are still looking for their first road course win and the plan this week is to race a brand new car...Jarrett tested this car just prior to last week's Pocono race at the road course track in Kershaw, SC...Jarrett says this new car is different from their previous piece in that it will allow them to distribute the weight better and have a more balanced car, one that handles left and right-hand turns equally well.

90 BRIAN SIMO
Simo will be making his second straight Sears Point start for car owner Junie Donlavey...last year he filled in for Ed Berreir, but this season it's Hut Stricklin...Simo qualified 34th and finished 39th a year ago in this event...will hope to improve with the same car.

96 ANDY HOUSTON
Houston will work with Scott Miller, who was named interim crew chief earlier this week with the departure of Joe Garone to the new NASCAR R&D facility...Houston's car was part of Scott Pruett's stable last year, but it did not compete at either Sears Point or Watkins Glen...car was scheduled to race at the Glen, but rain washed out qualifying and Pruett did not make the race.

97 KURT BUSCH
The car Busch is racing this week was almost sold from the Roush stable...Matt Kenseth had it as part of his fleet and crew chief Robbie Reiser was ready to get rid of it until Ben Leslie, Busch's crew chief, decided that he wanted it...Leslie worked on the 17 car last year before being named crew chief with the 97 and likes this Taurus...he has modeled it after Mark Martin's road course car that won three straight races at Watkins Glen in the early 90s...car has a new body and front clip since Leslie assumed control of it.

99 JEFF BURTON
This car is referred to as "Old Faithful" by members of the 99 team...it's the only road course car Burton has raced the past two years...finished 16th in the race a year ago and was 3rd with this piece at Watkins Glen last August...still looking for his first top-five finish at Sears Point.

-Ford Racing