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Friday, August 17
Elliott withdraws from consideration
By Cary Estes
Scripps Howard News Service


	Elliott

Bill Elliott will not be named the most popular driver in motorsports this year for the first time since 1990.

The reason why probably will make him more popular than ever.

Elliott, who has received the award from fan voting 10 consecutive years and a total of 15 times in his career, has decided to remove his name from this year's ballot in honor of Dale Earnhardt.

"Being voted the most popular driver for 15 years is certainly an honor. But this is a much different year than others," Elliott said. "Dale Earnhardt never won this award, and I think it would be a tremendous honor for the Earnhardt family to receive it this year. I certainly don't want to stand in the way of his family receiving this award."

Elliott is the first driver in the history of the award to remove his name from the balloting process.

"Over the past decade, Bill Elliott's fans have made his name synonymous with the most popular driver award," said David Poole, motorsports editor for the Charlotte Observer and president of the National Motorsports Press Association, which presents the award. "Bill's decision to remove his name from voting is another example of why he has won this award so often."

Sweet home ... Michigan?
Alabama native Hut Stricklin always will consider Talladega Superspeedway to be his home track, simply because he grew up in the area.

But the Winston Cup track that Stricklin said makes him feel most like he is back home is Michigan International Speedway, site of this weeks' race. He said the layout of the two-mile oval, especially in the turns, is similar to what he encountered 20 years ago as a short-track racer at Birmingham International Speedway.

"Davey Allison and I used to talk about how much the Michigan track reminded us of (BIR)," Stricklin said. "It's just a larger version of that. You drive into the corners the same way, you get off the corners the same way. That's probably one reason why that race track fits my style."

Something about the Michigan track certainly suits Stricklin. He finished fourth there in 1989 (his rookie season on the Winston Cup circuit), had a career-best second-place finish at the track in '91 and posted his only top-10 of this season (sixth) at Michigan back in June.

Tony, Tony, Tony
Tony Stewart, who said recently he was going to stop making controversial statements, continues to take shots at NASCAR officials whenever he gets the chance.

His latest outburst came when he was asked about the numerous rule changes that take place every year while the season is in progress.

"This is the only series I've ever been a part of where they change the rules halfway through the season," Stewart said. "It makes it hard. It basically means that if you used any of your tests early in the year, you wasted them. That's the disappointing part (about NASCAR) and the part I really don't understand yet.

"You never know what NASCAR is going to do or when they're going to do it, so you really can't try to plan around that. They do things on a whim, and it really hurts us as a race team."

Mayday for Mayfield
Jeremy Mayfield's season has gone so poorly this year, he almost is ready to send out a distress signal.

Mayfield, who won twice last year and finished seventh in the point standings as recently as 1998, has dropped to 22nd in the standings. He had seven consecutive finishes outside the top-15 before finally coming through with a third-place run this past Sunday at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

"To come home third is like a win to us," Mayfield said. "If we had just finished in the top-10, we would have been happy with it."

Mayfield said his struggles in recent weeks resulted in him taking a more aggressive approach at Watkins Glen, an attitude he said he will maintain for the rest of the season, considering how successful he was on the road course.

"We don't have anything to lose," Mayfield said. "We're pretty hungry right now to get a good finish. We'll take more chances than we normally would if we were up there in the points somewhere."

Final word
Busch Series driver Jimmie Johnson on making his debut last season in a race that included several Winston Cup regulars: "It was a dream come true. At one point I started shouting on the radio (to his pit crew), 'I just passed Jeff Gordon.' They said, 'Great. Now go pass Jeff Burton.' They acted like it was no big deal. But it was to me."

Cary Estes writes for the Birmingham Post-Herald in Alabama.

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