Grumblings and Rumblings

The grumbling has begun, and the Rockingham 400 from Rockingham, North Carolina.

The Grumbling Begins ...........

Every season the teams usually begin their carping and complaining during speedweeks, and some years have even started the fray during early January testing. Of course, they always think one model has a competitive edge over another. A couple of years ago they were all up in the air over the Pontiacs, they were said to be untouchable, the other models couldn't keep up with them.

Chevrolets domination during Speedweeks had the Ford, Dodge, and Pontiac teams leaning back on their heals screaming that something had to be done to the Chevrolets; they had an advantage over the rest of the field. It's true; the Chevrolets did kind of smoke the field at Daytona. The Chevrolet model won almost all of the events, and nearly all of them were fielded by Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Of course, we all know Rusty Wallace's penchant for being outspoken when he feels he's been bettered illegally. He came right out and made the statement that the Chevrolet teams were cheating really, really hard and that NASCAR knew it and would take care of them at The Rock. Ooooooooooookay........... We heard you Rusty..........

The Chevrolet model wasn't the only one in the top ten though. The first two positions were taken by Chevrolet in the Bud Shootout with Earnhardt and Gordon coming in one and two. Kenseth was third in a Ford, then the next three positions were Dodges ahead of another Chevrolet, then a Ford, with a Chevrolet rounding out the top ten.

Even though the Chevrolet took the top two spots in both of the Twin 125 qualifying races, and also took the top spot in the Busch Series Koolerz 300, the top tens of those races were full of Fords and Dodges. A Ford took the Craftsman Truck Series race, so in actuality, Chevrolet didn't take a clean sweep at Daytona like some of the moaners and groaners are stating.

Now we travel on to Rockingham, where the Chevrolet didn't so do hot in qualifying. The Chevrolet couldn't keep up to speed with the other models. The only Chevrolet to start at Rockingham in the top ten was the No. 18 Interstate Batteries entry driven by Bobby Labonte, qualifying in tenth position. The next Chevrolet to qualify was the No. 8 Budweiser entry driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualifying in the 12th position.

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