This week’s race

Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999 | 9:42 a.m.

WINSTON CUP

NAPA AutoCare 500

Site: Hampton, Ga.

Schedule: Friday, first-round qualifying, 2:30 p.m.; Saturday, second-round qualifying, 11 a.m.; Sunday, race (ESPN, 12:30 p.m.)

Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.54 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns).

Race distance: 500.5 miles, 325 laps.

Last year: Jeff Gordon won, tying Richard Petty's 1975 Winston Cup record of 13 victories in a season. Gordon beat Dale Jarrett by 0.739 seconds in a race shortened from 325 laps to 221 because of rain.

Last race: Jarrett finished fifth at the Pennzoil 400 in Homestead, Fla., and earned his first championship. Tony Stewart won the race, becoming the first driver to win three races in his rookie season.

Fast facts: Stewart has 28 top-15 finishes this season. ... Rick Mast is the only driver to start every race this season and remain running at the end. ... Petty and Dale Earnhardt have won the race four times. ... Ricky Rudd must win to extend his Winston Cup record to at least one victory in 17 consecutive seasons. ... NASCAR signed a six-year TV contract with Fox, NBC and TBS that pays $400 million annually. The new deal gives NASCAR more money annually than baseball and hockey get from their national TV deals, but less than the NFL and the NBA.

Next race: End of season.

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BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL

Last race: Joe Nemechek took advantage of a mistake by Ward Burton in the season-ending hotwheels.com 300 in Homestead, Fla. Nemechek's brother, John, died of injuries from a crash in spring 1997 during a truck race in Homestead. Jeff Green finished fifth to move past Matt Kenseth and finish second in the point standings. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will be moving to the Winston Cup circuit next season, had clinched the title before the race.

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NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION

Last event: Jerry Toliver earned his first career Funny Car victory in the season-ending Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals in Pomona. Mike Dunn, Jeg Coughlin Jr., Antron Brown and Steve Johns also won their categories. Tony Schumacher won the Top Fuel title, John Force, Funny Car; Warren Johnson, Pro Stock; Matt Hines, Pro Stock Motorcycle; and Bob Panella, Pro Stock Truck.