Burning Questions: Texas

1. Will any Bristol-bruised feelings carry over to Texas?

If the offended were smart, they took it up with the offenders before either left Bristol Motor Speedway. Or via phone early this week.

As entertaining as it is to watch mini-feuds like Kurt Busch's and Jimmy Spencer's, there is this about Bristol: You know contact's going to happen. You know people will make bad decisions, lose control of their cars. Take out the innocent. It's hard not to boil over.

	Credit: AP

It's also tiresome to haul around shoulder chips this early in the season. Thirty races remain. If drivers love short tracks SO much (as most do), then perhaps they should observe a self-imposed pact each time they visit one: no public post-race grumbling.

One of the best things about Busch's and Ricky Craven's duel at Darlington was the lack of snarling and snapping afterward. Granted, a 1.3-mile track gives you more room to maneuver than Bristol's high-banked half-mile, and Hatfield-and-McCoyisms have long been the spice of the sport.

Terry Labonte was enjoying his best outing to date before tangling with Brett Bodine. Jerry Nadeau thought that he was minding his own business, and that Ryan Newman was not. And like many guys, Tony Stewart got beat up all afternoon, then administered some frustration licks of his own. When it's you that's been punted, it's hard not to want to chase somebody, particularly after you and those around you have worked so hard

That, all of us can understand. But in late March, what does finger-pointing, retribution-vowing and angry chatter accomplish? Nothing except entertainment and TV value. Which is why cooler heads won't instigate any Texas shootouts.

2. What's going on with Dale Jarrett?

Since winning at Rockingham in the season's second week, the No. 88 has finished 41st (Las Vegas), 21st (Atlanta), 18th (Darlington) and 36th (Bristol).

	Dale Jarrett Credit: Autostock

Two of those finishes were unavoidable. At Las Vegas, a wreck was the culprit. On Sunday, Jarrett's day ended after he got caught in a multi-car accident on the second of what would be 17 cautions. He finished the afternoon 103 laps down, riding around to protect points, and undoubtedly was unhappy about it. Like most competitors, he's an lion once the green flag drops, and subpar performances don't sit well even when there's an explanation.

In this case, there might be. Jarrett's working with a new crew chief, Brad Parrott. Neither is a stranger to the other. Parrott was a member of Jarrett's crew during his 1999 Winston Cup championship season, and as the younger brother of Jarrett's former chief, Todd Parrott, he's a familiar figure at Robert Yates Racing.

But the hand-in-glove relationship between a driver and crew chief isn't instantaneous. New faces are sprinkled throughout the No. 88 roster, thanks to general manager Doug Yates' consolidation of Jarrett's and teammate Elliott Sadler's teams. Jarrett's car chief, Darrell Morrow, is a fresh face at RYR, along with a couple of engineers, and Todd Jarrett now functions as team manager for both teams.

Here's the crux: Jarrett was second in points after Rockingham. He's 20th heading into Texas. Sunday's Bristol debacle -- though not of his making -- dropped him seven spots. Sadler, who dropped four spots to 14th after finishing 21st, didn't have a great day either, but he was coming off back-to-back top 10s at Atlanta and Darlington. That team endured more upheaval than Jarrett's, yet has proven more consistent.

Works-in-progress vary greatly. The No. 88 is sorting through growing pains (Jarrett's Bristol car was brand-new), so expect some lulls. Also, expect Jarrett not to put up with them forever.

3. Will the Cup series visit Texas twice in 2004?

Next season's schedules usually are released in late August, and 2004's promises to be a doozy. All the debate about who should lose a date and who should gain a second one likely won't be settled until the Texas-based lawsuit pitting a Speedway Motorsports Inc. shareholder against NASCAR is settled.

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That's a novel for another time, but the issue is NASCAR's supposed promise, then refusal, to grant Texas Motor Speedway a second date.

Confronted in January with NASCAR chairman Bill France's warning about 2004 realignment, SMI chief Bruton Smith already has vowed not to steal a date from his other two-date tracks just to produce one at Texas. So the lawsuit outcome (or settlement) may provide the only answer.

Texas is fast (read: dangerous), sometimes controversial, and always packed to the brim; the stands were nearly full for last year's rain-delayed event on Monday. You hate to sacrifice traditions for bottom lines, but there are worse places to put on two shows.