Friday, April 22, 2005 | 9:57 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Tony Stewart is looking forward to the month of May, but not for the obvious reason.
Stewart, a five-time Indianapolis 500 starter, said he is eager for the warm weather to kick in and jump-start his NASCAR Nextel Cup season.
"It just seems like, historically if you look, we normally get a slow start to the season when the tracks are cooler," Stewart said as he prepared for Saturday night's Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. "It seems like the tracks have a lot more grip that way.
"It seems like when we get into May, June and July is when we really hit our stride; that's when the tracks are starting to get warmer and slicker. It's getting harder to get grip on the racetrack, it seems like, to the point we really start gaining momentum. I always look forward to the month of May coming around."
Not that Stewart is fretting over his 11th-place standing in the points. He had been in the top 10 in points for the first six races of the season until a blown engine last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway relegated him to a 31st-place finish and dropped him six spots in points.
"I don't feel a sense of urgency of trying to get back on track right now," he said. "I mean, I feel like we're just kind of in a learning process right now.
"We're not really on par like we've been in the past, but I'm not feeling like, hey, we've got to really find this soon or we're going to be in big trouble. It's just a matter of doing what we've been doing, keeping the guys pumped up on the race team. Sooner or later, we're going to find it."
Even with NASCAR's new format for determining the series champion, in which only the top 10 drivers and those within 400 points of the leader after 26 races qualify for the 10-race "Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup," Stewart said seven races is too soon to be reaching for the panic button.
"Obviously, if you're outside the top 10 in points with two or three races before the break, then, yeah, it's going to be a greater sense of urgency," Stewart, the 2002 Cup champion, said. "We've got a lot of racing to go between now and then. We aren't getting a big sense of urgency right now to worry about (the Chase) at this point."
Stewart said he plans to compete in both tonight's Busch Series race and Saturday night's Cup race at PIR despite suffering burns on his right thigh and right elbow when his engine let go Sunday and sent flames up through the shifter boot and into the cockpit of his car.
"There are some second-degree burns (and) a lot of first-degree burns on that side of my leg -- none of which is in contact with the seat itself," he said. "There won't be any pressure on it, the only thing we're going to have to worry about is the sensitivity to heat."
As for his plans for the month of May in Indianapolis, Stewart said he plans to drop by the Brickyard -- but not as a competitor.
"I can guarantee you (that) you'll see me during the month of May up there just cruising around," Stewart said. "No helmet bags, no uniforms, no physical in the medical center this year ... just walking around, having a good time with everybody."
CREW CHIEF SUSPENDED: NASCAR suspended Busch Series crew chief Joe Schear Jr. for four races after discovering an illegal carburetor on the No. 1 Dodge driven by Johnny Sauter during postrace inspection last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
Sauter was disqualified from his 14th-place finish and did not receive any money or points. According to NASCAR, the carburetor on Sauter's car was replaced after the opening-day inspection when the car was in impound.
The Charlotte Observer reported that a Busch Series official who was involved in the postrace inspection lost his job over the incident.
DRIVER RELEASED: Jose Luis Ramirez, the Mexican-born driver who finished 31st in the Busch Series race last month in Mexico City, was hospitalized overnight after crashing Tuesday during a NASCAR Nextel Cup test session at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
Ramirez sustained minor injuries to his right foot, right eye and back after crashing head-on into a foam barrier in Turn 4 on the 1.99-mile road course. Ramirez was treated and released after being held overnight for observation at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Calif.
Ramirez will attempt to become only the second Mexican to start a Nextel Cup race when the series visits Infineon Raceway in June.
BAJA ON BIG SCREEN: "Dust to Glory," a feature-length documentary film on the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race, opens today at the Century Suncoast 16 at the Suncoast Hotel and Casino.
Documentarian Dana Brown ("Step Into Liquid") used more than 50 cameras, four helicopters and an open-wheel desert racecar to film the 2003 Baja 1000 and condensed more than 200 hours of footage into a 1-hour, 37-minute documentary. The film includes archival footage from the inaugural race in 1967.
SCORE International president Sal Fish said he expects the film to generate interest in the desert racing series that was founded in 1973 by the late Mickey Thompson. Fish has overseen SCORE, which sanctions the Baja 1000, since 1974.
"This action-adventure film is being very-well received both by critics and the general public alike," Fish said of "Dust to Glory," which premiered April 1 in New York and Los Angeles. "Dana has produced a masterpiece that will etch his name permanently in the lore of this special genre of moviemaking.
"This film is moving SCORE desert racing into more people's minds and hearts than ever before. When the international distribution of the film begins, especially in Mexico, the interest level in SCORE desert racing will literally go in orbit."
The SCORE Desert Series returns to Nevada in July for the inaugural Las Vegas Terrible's Cup I stadium race at the dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and will contest the 10th annual Las Vegas Primm 300 in September in Primm.
ANDRETTI ADDS RACES: Marco Andretti, the 18-year-old son of Michael Andretti and Mario's grandson, will compete in five more Indy Racing League Menards Infiniti Pro Series races this season, Andretti Green Racing announced Thursday.
Andretti, who won his Infiniti Pro Series debut at St. Petersburg earlier this month, will compete in both races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (May 27 and June 18) as well as events at the Milwaukee Mile (July 24), Infineon Raceway (Aug. 28) and Watkins Glen International (Sept. 25).
"Obviously, I'm pretty excited about everything," Andretti said. "Getting the opportunity to run at Indy twice in a month is pretty unbelievable.
"I don't think any of us really expected St. Pete to go as well as it did for us, but it did, so I'm glad we're going to get a chance to get back out there this year and try to do it again."
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