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Burton, Sadler, Skinner will go to backup cars

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

By The Associated Press

Jeff Burton, Elliott Sadler and Mike Skinner will switch to backup cars after a crash yesterday proved how risky practice for the Daytona 500 can be.

The five-car crash came on the front straightaway of the 2 1/2-mile oval with about four minutes left in the 60-minute practice, the only Winston Cup track time on the day's schedule.

Rookie Jack Sprague, a three-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, was riding in the middle of a three-wide pack, with Steve Park above him on the banked Daytona International Speedway track and Skinner on the low side.

Sprague's Pontiac appeared to slide up the track, banging off Park, then sliding down into Skinner, who went sideways. Burton and Sadler then drove into the melee.

There were no injuries, but Skinner's Pontiac and the Fords of Burton and Sadler got the worst of the accident and were put out of action for the rest of this week.

Those three will have to get their preparations for the twin 125-mile qualifying races tomorrow done in the single 45-minute Winston Cup practice today.

It was the second year in a row Burton and Sadler have been in wrecks that put them in backup cars for the season-opening race.

"I'm tired of wrecking in practice," Burton said.

The other drivers heaped most of the blame on Sprague, who is trying to qualify for his first Daytona 500.

"To the best of my knowledge, we got ran into by a rookie," Skinner said. "Whether he got pushed down there or not, I don't know."

Evernham served

Car owner Ray Evernham was subpoenaed in Jeff Gordon's divorce case, accepting the papers from a sheriff's deputy outside Daytona International Speedway.

Brooke Gordon's lawyers want to look at the contracts NASCAR car owners have with their drivers and sponsors to determine what Gordon is worth as a car owner. Gordon, a four-time Winston Cup champion, owns a stake of Hendrick Motorsports.

The car owners fought original subpoenas they received over the past month at their home offices, but the lawyers have been trying to serve them during preparations for the season-opening Daytona 500 to get them to appear in a Florida court.

NASCAR turned away a process server attempting to get into the track last week, and Evernham said officials from the sanctioning body asked him to go outside of the track yesterday to accept the papers.

Evernham, who won three Winston Cup titles as Gordon's crew chief, was the best man at the Gordons' wedding.

Car owner Chip Ganassi said he was not served Monday before he left Daytona to return to his home in Pittsburgh, but he was told a deputy had been looking for him when he first arrived for the race.

Truck pole

Jason Leffler lived up to his reputation as the best qualifier in the Craftsman Truck series, winning the pole for the season-opening Florida Dodge Dealers 250.

Leffler, driving a Dodge, ran a lap of 182.994 mph at Daytona International Speedway, easily beating defending race champion Robert Pressley. Ted Musgrave, Leffler's teammate with Ultra Motorsports, was third, followed by Ed Berrier and Terry Cook.

Gordon preseason choice

NASCAR unveiled its inaugural preseason poll, with a panel of motorsports media voting Jeff Gordon as the No. 1 contender for the Winston Cup championship.

Gordon, who's won the title four times, had 17 first-place votes to beat out defending champion Tony Stewart and sophomore driver Ryan Newman.

Stewart and Newman were No. 1 on seven ballots apiece.

Busch series practice

Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Winston Cup teammates for Dale Earnhardt Inc., topped the Busch Series speed charts in the afternoon practice session.

Waltrip, driving a Chevrolet he owns, ran a lap of 183.775 mph, slightly better than Earnhardt's speed of 183.572. Earnhardt, the defending champion for the Koolerz 300, is running a Chevrolet out of the DEI shops.