Insider's View: Wally Dallenbach

After a week off, it's back to business for the Winston Cup Series this weekend. I'm sure the drivers and team members enjoyed having some down time over the holiday weekend but I'll bet everyone is ready to get back to work.

	Wally Dallenbach

There's no doubt the schedule is a grind and time off is precious, but I know as a driver you really can't wait to get back in the race car.

We've had nine different winners in the season's first nine races and I think that's good for fans. It's exciting to know on any given weekend that really almost three-quarters of the field could find its way to Victory Lane.

I think the days of the dominant driver, like when Jeff Gordon racked up 13 races in a season a few years ago, are over. The cars are so similar and the talent pool is too deep for one guy to dominate any more.

Fontana is a big, wide and smooth racetrack, very similar to its sister track in Michigan yet different. They're both two miles long and very wide but they do drive a little differently from each other. Guys will no doubt use similar setups at the two tracks but California, because it's a relatively new track, has better grip.

The fan support in Southern California since NASCAR returned in 1997 has been outstanding. Sunday's race is a sellout, which is another example of how popular Winston Cup racing has become. There's been some talk of maybe adding a second race at Fontana down the road because NASCAR is so eager to tap into these large markets like the Los Angeles market as much as possible.

Whether that happens or not we don't know yet but if it did, I'm sure the Southern California fans will support the race.

Jeff Gordon has been pretty successful at Fontana, winning twice in the six visits to California Speedway. With a win at the last race in Martinsville there's a little momentum on his side and I look for him to be competitive on Sunday.

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I also think Gordon's prot?g? Jimmie Johnson, last year's Fontana winner, will also be someone to watch on Sunday. It's a homecoming for the Californian and the Lowe's team has been competitive a lot during the first quarter of the season. A little home cooking might be the thing to help Jimmie to victory lane.

Defending champion Tony Stewart has yet to visit Victory Lane this season and that team is hungry for a win. Although Tony has a couple of top-five finishes and comes into the weekend seventh in the point standings, I'm sure he's not happy about being shut out so far in 2003.

Finally keep your eyes on the Penske Dodge of Rusty Wallace. Another former Fontana winner, Rusty is in the midst of a terrible (for him) winning drought and would like nothing better than to break that streak on Sunday.

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