Thursday, Feb. 19, 1998 | 8:15 a.m.
A lot of people close to NASCAR's Winston Cup series are saying the latest aerodynamic changes are going to benefit some drivers more than others. Some people are calling it the Earnhardt rule.
Beginning with Sunday's race at Rockingham, Chevrolet Monte Carlos, like the one Earnhardt drove to victory last weekend in the season-opening Daytona 500, will have a new rear spoiler height of 5 inches, down from 6 inches. Its front air dam ground clearance will be raised to 5 inches, up from 3 7/8 inches.
The new Ford Tauruses will have the same measurements, while the Pontiac Grand Prixs must use a 5 1/8 -inch spoiler, down from 6 1/2 inches, and a 4 5/8 -inch front air dam, up from 3 1/8 .
Some teams are still using the discontinued Ford Thunderbirds and they will have a rear spoiler height of 4 3/4 inches and a front air dam clearance of 5. Previously, those numbers were 5 3/4 and 3 7/8 .
"What that's going to do is make the cars more loose," Felix Sabates, owner of a three-car Chevrolet team featuring drivers Sterling Marlin, Joe Nemechek and Wally Dallenbach Jr. "That makes the driver more important in the equation and is right up Dale Earnhardt's alley. He's probably the best out there at racing a loose-handling car."
Earnhardt, whose next big goal is winning a record eighth Winston Cup title, isn't sure how the rule will affect him.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how that works," he said. "I still think there's some adjustments to be made. The greatest rule they probably make would be to make every car the same. But we haven't got that.
"We've got three brands of cars and they're all made different. We've got different hoods, trucks and tops on them. Sometimes, we get a different spoiler rule from one car to the other. Until we get all those cars the same, you're not going to have parity. "I feel like it could play toward us. I'm used to a looser car. But I think it'll work for a lot of people."
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WORKING AHEAD: Construction is underway to widen the controversial fourth turn of Texas Motor Speedway in preparation for the Texas 500 Winston Cup race on April 5.
The work on the area between the fourth turn and front stretch of the 1 1/2 -mile track is expected to ease the transition from the 24-degree banking to the 5-degree straightaway.
Some drivers complained last year that the transition area was too narrow and dangerous.
"If the result of this work is more side-by-side racing through that portion of the speedway, our goal will be accomplished," said Eddie Gossage, the track's general manager.
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LONG AFTERNOON: Andy Petree, owner of the Chevrolet driven by Ken Schrader, held his breath through most of Sunday's Daytona 500, praying Schrader wouldn't get involved in a crash.
Schrader broke his sternum in a crash during his 125-mile qualifying race on Feb. 12. He drove in the 500-miler wearing a flak jacket and an electrical stimulating device to ease the pain and aid healing.
Somehow, Schrader drove the entire 200 laps and finished fourth.
"I was worry about Kenny on the last five laps. I knew there was going to be a shootout. All I was praying for was for him not to get hurt," Petree said. "You never know what would have happened if that last lap had gone green."
The race was completed under caution after the cars driven by John Andretti and Lake Speed tangled on lap 199.
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WORKING TOGETHER: First impressions indicate the deal that made Penske Racing South and Penske-Kranefuss Racing a tandem will work real well.
Rusty Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield, the new teammates, worked beautifully together in the Daytona 500 until Wallace got separated from Mayfield on the final laps.
Mayfield wound up third and Wallace fifth, the highest finishing drivers in the new Ford Tauruses.
"I think what we've been able to pull together in the last couple of months is showing already," said Kranefuss, a former Ford executive who started a NASCAR team with then-partner Carl Haas in 1995. Penske bought out Haas over the winter.
"We had the most wonderful Speed Weeks," Kranefuss added. "There was no complaining and no problems. Rusty and Jeremy worked together, just like (crew chiefs) Paul (Andrews) and Robin (Pemberton). This is going to be a great deal."
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READY FOR MY CLOSEUP: In the aftermath of winning Daytona, Earnhardt flew to California to appear in a Zucker Brothers Production called "BASEketball."
Talk about type-casting, The Intimidator will be playing a cab driver who gives a ride to former "Baywatch" beauty Yasmin Bleethe and her movie children.
"It's a cameo part in a movie about agents in sports in the future," Earnhardt said. "I guess it'll be fun."
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STAT OF THE WEEK: Now that Earnhardt has broke his losing string in the Daytona 500, the only active former Winston Cup champions without a win in NASCAR's biggest race are Terry Labonte (0-20) and Wallace (0-16).
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