Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Busch sees Darlington as a welcome pit stop on the road to the Cup

Friday, Nov. 12, 2004 | 9:50 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

For Kurt Busch, Sunday's Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway will be a welcome respite from the grueling 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship.

Although the race undoubtedly will play a key role in determining the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup champion, Busch said Sunday's race at Darlington would be unlike the previous eight.

"This racetrack is definitely different from the other racetracks in the final 10 races," Busch said. "It's a chance to isolate yourself from all the outside circumstances and just to allow yourself to invite your setup to the racetrack and make sure that you race just the racetrack and not the other racecars."

With two races remaining in the season, the top four drivers in the Nextel Cup standings are separated by only 48 points. Busch, the series leader for the past six weeks, holds a 41-point lead over Jeff Gordon. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 47 points back and Jimmie Johnson is 48 points off the pace.

Busch, a Las Vegas native, said he expects his three closest pursuers will bring a similar mindset to Darlington and not focus on racing the points leader.

"If they approach it the correct way, they'll understand what they have to do -- and that's race the racetrack," Busch said. "I believe that the way that competitors have been as of late with pit stops being important, with track position being important, all of those elements will take a backseat to racing hard on the racetrack and understanding how you've abused your tires, if you have or if you haven't.

"Just taking care of your tires is going to be the key role that it's going to take to achieve success at Darlington."

In seven career starts at Darlington, Busch has three top-10 finishes -- including a runner-up finish to Ricky Craven in the spring last year -- but is looking for his first victory at the 1.366-mile track. Busch finished 13th at Darlington last August and was sixth in the spring race this year.

"It's been a great track for me qualifying, and racing it just hasn't produced the types of finishes that we're capable of," Busch said. "This time around is a good indication that it's time for one of those (good) finishes because of obviously the points situation and just the way we've been running as of late."

Gordon, however, figures to be the favorite on Sunday. In 23 career starts at Darlington, Gordon has racked up six victories and 14 top-10 finishes, although he has failed to finish each of the past two races on "The Lady in Black."

Johnson won the spring race at Darlington and has four top-10 finishes in five career starts there, while Earnhardt has three top-10 finishes in nine Darlington starts and, like Busch, still is looking for his first victory there.

Statistics aside, Busch said, he considers his team the favorite to emerge as the inaugural NASCAR Nextel Cup champion.

"I'd have to go with the vote toward (our) team -- obviously with the way that we've been competitive at some of the short tracks as well as the speedways, and just being able to out-race the competitors, whether it's been (Johnson, Gordon or Earnhardt). Each week we look at the statistics at the end of the race to know who we out-raced; we've done our job on the racetrack except for that one hiccup at Atlanta.

"So with our hiccups out of the way -- as well as everybody else's -- it's now a fresh slate for these final two races. Now it seems like we have less and less competitors to look at and less and less competitors to beat out on the racetrack. It just makes our job easier with Darlington being this weekend a track that we get to race the racetrack and not worry about our competition."

Carpentier, who finished third in the Champ Car standings this season for Forsythe Championship Racing, said the prospect of competing in the Indianapolis 500 was the main reason he opted to switch series.

"I love ovals and I've been wanting to do it for a few years," Carpentier said. "I've never done the Indy 500. For me, it's going to be a new experience but I'm really looking forward to it. I love close-wheel racing and I love oval racing, so it's fantastic."

Carpentier, 33, replaces Ed Carpenter on the team, owned by Eddie Cheever Jr., and will team with Alex Barron next season. Cheever also is switching from Chevrolet to Toyota engines next season.

"I think he's at a perfect point in his career, both from an age point of view and the experience he's had," Cheever said of his decision to hire Carpentier. "I cannot say that I have spent a lot of time with Patrick, but he seems to be extremely motivated.

"Something that you can always judge, a driver's motivation, is by looking if they're in good physical shape or not. He seems to be in incredibly good shape. The guy finished third in that other championship, which I don't even know what it's called any more. He has done very well. He's a professional."

In 140 career starts in Champ Car, Carpentier earned five victories, five poles and 22 podium finishes.

"For me, I spent eight years in CART and it was a big learning process," Carpentier said. "I'd say when I first started, I was very soft, just learning quite a few things, (and I was) very easily influenced. Over the years, I got hit on the head a few times, not only because I crashed, but outside the racecar. I just learned from that.

"Every year got better and better and better and this year was actually the first year for me where I really felt like I was a championship contender ... strong and devoted to actually guide the team and lead the team. I'm not saying I'm going to lead the whole team, because Alex is going to lead his side of the team and we're going to work together quite a bit actually to both of us be at the front, but to lead a part of the team, I'm really looking forward to it."

The sponsorship likely will go to Roush's No. 99 Ford, which is driven by Carl Edwards. Crown Royal also sponsors the International Race of Champions (IROC) Series.

Harvick and Kahne were fined $10,000 each and both were placed on probation for the remainder of the season.

NASCAR fined Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief, Tony Eury Sr., $2,500 when it was discovered during pre-race inspection that the windshield on the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet was too thin. Earnhardt did not compete in the race, which he won, with the unapproved part.

Qualifying sessions are at 2 and 3 p.m. today and racing begins at 10:05 a.m. Saturday. Admission is free both days and pit passes are available for $10 each.