The Buzz: July 8, 2001

July 8, 2001
2:16 PM EDT (1816 GMT)

There was a helluva reunion Sunday morning in Stuart, Va.

"This is the best day of my life," Eddie Wood said after his driver, third-year NASCAR Winston Cup pilot Elliott Sadler, finished third in Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. That capped a day in which Wood's 19-year-old son, Jon Wood, scored his first career top-five finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at the new Kansas Speedway.

Eddie Wood

The younger Wood was making only his fourth Truck Series start, and scored a fourth-place result despite spinning out early in the race and not hitting anything. Eddie, one of the principals of Wood Brothers Racing, tried to reach his son but was unable to make the connection.

"I left him two or three messages, but he had to catch a plane and then our race started," Eddie said about 11:45 p.m. ET. "I haven't got to talk to him yet, but we're flying back shortly and I'll see him tonight -- maybe three o'clock this morning -- but I'll find him."

Sadler and crew chief Pat Tryson have been key players in a Wood rebound that has seen the team, heavily supported by Roush Racing, win Sadler's first Winston Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway in March and launch Jon's career from NASCAR Late Model Stock cars to becoming an ARCA RE/MAX Series frontrunner and a Truck Series star on the rise in a Roush truck.

"It has been unbelievable," Eddie Wood said, through a wide grin. "Bristol was big, but my kid gets his first top-five and we had to take a provisional here and to come all the way to the front and finish third is just a great, great experience. I can't explain it."

IT'S NOT OVER

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has done a mature, well-adjusted and masterful job of handling the media pressure and expectations surrounding the death of his father, the great Dale Earnhardt, in a crash at the season opening Daytona 500.

While many across every realm of the sport hoped the Winston Cup Series' return to Daytona would provide some closure, many more hoped Jr.'s victory Saturday night would do even more to seal a gaping hole in the hearts of millions.

Don't count on it, said Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief, Tony Eury. Eury, who had a blood relationship with Earnhardt that had seven racing exclamation points at Daytona in the form of victories in the NASCAR Busch Series NAPA 300 -- including five in a row -- said there was no end in sight to the constant badgering from the media to probe the younger Earnhardt's thoughts -- despite every indication he's adjusted well and has long been ready to leave it behind him for his own private consideration.

"It's not gonna die until we run another Daytona 500," Eury said, a couple hours after the hubbub from Daytona's Victory Lane had subsided. "After that's run I think it will die down a little bit, but I don't believe nobody's gonna leave it alone until we come back and run the Daytona 500 again.

"It's gonna keep on. I mean, that man was a great competitor. There's a lot of homes in this country that tuned in to watch him every Sunday. He had a lot of friends out there that he didn't know."

LEPAGE LOSES SPONSOR

Kevin Lepage

Kevin Lepage will not have State Fair Corn Dogs as a primary sponsor on his No. 71 Busch Series ride next year. The hot dog company is pulling sponsorship after this year. He's looking for a sponsor and a full-time driver next year.

"I'm trying to get away from this car to concentrate more on my Winston Cup efforts," Lepage said, in reference to his No. 4 Chevrolet ride. "So, I'm looking for someone to drive my BGN car next year."