One-engine rule ready to roll at the Rock

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- This weekend’s Subway 400 at North Carolina Speedway will look decidedly different from that of a year ago.

First of all, this weekend’s festivities will provide the first glimpse of what effects NASCAR’s new one-engine rule will have on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Secondly, last year’s race-winner Steve Park won’t have the opportunity to defend his title when the race goes green at 1 p.m. Sunday (FOX TV, MRN Radio, $3,561,637 in posted awards).

The new rule, which forces Winston Cup teams to use one single engine throughout the entire competitive weekend, is intended to cut costs for teams and make it easier for lower-funded teams to compete.

But Mike Skinner, driver of the No. 4 Kodak Chevrolet, a single-car team that the rule was designed to assist, doesn’t foresee the rule resulting in a massive change. The good teams will still be good, he says, and the bad still not so good.

“The one-engine rule that will be enforced for the first time at The Rock should be interesting,” said Skinner, who finished 23rd last weekend at Daytona. “I think the guy with a good engine program will fair well, while the guys who struggle with their engines will still do so. In other words, not much will change.”

The Victory Lane celebration is certain to change.

Park’s absence makes way for a new face in the Winner’s Circle Sunday. Joe Nemechek utterly dominated the fall event last year in the No. 33 Chevrolet. That win marked just the second time since 1995 -- the year the race dropped from 500 miles to 400 -- that the driver who led the most laps actually won.

Rusty Wallace could be the man to beat. He leads all active drivers with five victories at Rockingham, including back-to-back wins in the fall of 1988 and the spring of 1989 and three consecutive races: a sweep in 1993 and the 1994 GM Goodwrench 500.

Look for Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte to contended for the win, as well. Although Jarrett was winless in his first 26 NASCAR Winston Cup starts at Rockingham before posting his victory in the fall of 2000, he has finished in the top 10 in 12 straight races, including one victory and six second-place finishes.

Prior to the 12-race period, Jarrett had posted just two top 10 finishes in 17 races at The Rock.

As for Labonte, he’s finished third or better in four the last six races at Rockingham.

Several drivers have struggled on the gritty, 1.017-mile course. John Andretti has posted only one top-10 finish in 17 starts at Rockingham. Johnny Benson has just two top-10 finishes in 12 races, but finished third there last fall. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has posted two DNFs in four races at Rockingham. His best finish there is 15th in November 2001.

"This is the first race this year at a track where we have not had strong finishes in the past,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “We've run strong but not had the results we needed to be a serious championship team. This week will be a test to see if our new maturity and confidence will continue.”