GFS Marketplace 400

If you're like most NASCAR fans, there are two words in the English language that you're sick of hearing.

Fuel mileage.

It seems as though every race lately is being decided not by skill on the track, but by skill with a calculator. It's even creeping into the road courses, just ask Jeff Gordon.

There doesn't seem to be any relief in sight this weekend at Michigan.

"Michigan is right up there with the fastest tracks where we race," said Johnny Benson, a native of nearby Berlin, Mich. "It's a two-mile track with a real, wide-racing groove. It produces some great racing.

"Its downfall is that, because it is three grooves, they have very few cautions and it becomes a fuel mileage race that isn't what everybody looks forward to. You start thinking fuel mileage before the start of the race.

"You know it's going to probably end up on fuel."

EMAIL Send Mark a comment or an "Ask The Producer" question

What's different this year? Why does it seem that every weekend, we see a shot of a nervous crew chief scribbling down figures and punching a calculator late in the race?

The answer may come Sunday during the pre-race show on TNT, when the issue of fuel mileage is examined by drivers and crew chiefs in the show's feature piece.

Safety crews: NBC caught a break last weekend when Ryan Newman spewed his displeasure with the safety crews at Watkins Glen. The skirmish played right into an outstanding report the network did comparing NASCAR's safety crew policy with that of CART.

	Mark Martin

The piece really didn't need the help.

The report was hard-hitting, informative, balanced and easily the best feature the improving NBC/TNT crew has done this year. The quotes from Lon Bronley, CART's director of safety, about their preparations and driver Adrian Fernandez's quotes about the safety crew being "your friends" really illustrated the differences.

Mark Martin said, "When we're injured -- seriously injured -- we're still like little kids."

Great stuff.

NASCAR president Mike Helton countered with NASCAR's side saying that what they do works for them. Martin said the issue of safety crews in NASCAR is "light years ahead of where it was five or ten years ago."

Dallenbach, whose father helped design CART's current system, brought it home after the commercial with his take, saying that NASCAR's current policy is a "great idea," but that NASCAR should go ahead and bring in a traveling crew.

If you missed the piece, find a friend with a videotape of it. You won't regret it.

Rain delay: Thanks to the threat of rain last Sunday at Watkins Glen, the "Benny and the Pits" segment about John Bryan, the Dale Jarrett crewmember that was injured two weeks ago in that scary accident on pit road at Indianapolis, will air this weekend.

	Dave Burns

Hot stuff: Starting this weekend, all vehicles in the Winston Cup Series, Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series must have an additional fire-extinguishing cylinder solely dedicated to the fuel cell area.

It's such a hot topic (no pun intended) thanks to recent fiery crashes involving Dale Jarrett, Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte and Ken Schrader.

In Sunday's "Dave Discovers" segment, Dave Burns will take a look at how the new requirements affect the cars and the teams.

Rockin' and Rollin': This week in "Wally's World," Wally Dallenbach will take Brad Arnold, lead singer for the rock group "Three Doors Down" for a lap around Michigan.

Wonder if Arnold will show Wally how to play air guitar. Apologies for planting that visual in your head.

Ask The Producer: This week's "Ask The Producer" question comes from several users who want to know why the running order at the top of the screen is shown three drivers at a time rather than a scroll, like FOX.

Here's the answer from the truck:

	Wally Dallenbach

"We decided to go with this running order system because it's most accurate to the position of the cars on the track. Each time the running order graphic flips (from 1,2,3 to 4,5,6, etc), the system resets itself.

"If your favorite driver moves up from say, fifth to fourth, that will be reflected. If we used the scrolling system, a driver's track position when the scroll starts is the position that's going to be reflected on the graphic -- no matter if he's moving up or not.

"With this running order, if a driver makes a pass before the graphic gets to him, that pass will be reflected on the running order."

Each week, we'll pick one question to ask the producer of the NBC/TNT telecast. Why did they do things this way? Why did they talk to that driver? Any question that eats at you could be answered right here in the Viewer's Guide.

Send your questions to the e-mail box in this piece.

On to this weekend's schedule...

Winston Cup Series: GFS Marketplace 400

Site: Brooklyn, Mich.

Track: Michigan International Speedway (2-mile oval, 18-degree banking in turns, 12-degree banking in frontstretch, 5-degree banking in backstretch. Length of frontstretch: 3,600 feet. Length of backstretch: 2,242 feet)

Race distance: 200 laps, 400 miles

Last year Jarrett charges through the field in the final laps Play video Steve Park spins in Turn 4 with 59 laps to go Play video Jarrett day starts with a spin just after the green flag Play video

TV: Bud Pole Qualifying: SPEED, 3 p.m. ET Friday. Happy Hour: TNT, 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday (tape delay). Race: TNT, 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday.

Last year: Dale Jarrett ran down Jeff Burton with just four laps remaining in the Pepsi 400 at Michigan International Speedway, and won his second race of the year.

Last race: Robby Gordon went the final 95 miles on a single tank of fuel Sunday to win the Sirius at The Glen.

Potential storyline: How much has Dale Earnhardt Jr. improved this year? We may get another barometer Sunday. Earnhardt Jr. has been a strong qualifier at Michigan, starting among the top seven in six of his last seven appearances. During that run, he has earned two Bud Poles in this event (2000, '02) and has qualified among the top three in his last three starts at MIS.

However, speed on Friday hasn't translated to speed on Sunday. He has two top-10 finishes in eight career starts, but both have come in his most recent visits (10th in Aug. of 2002 and seventh in June of this year). He also has led at Michigan in five of his last six starts.

Point to ponder: Points leader Matt Kenseth has been a poor qualifier at Michigan -- no starts better than 20th in eight appearances -- but it has not derailed him on race day. He has three top-five finishes in his last four starts -- including a win in the June race last season -- and has finished among the top 15 all but once.

Next race: Sharpie 500, Bristol Motor Speedway, Aug. 23

Busch Series: Cabela's 250

Site: Brooklyn, Mich.

Track: Michigan International Speedway (2-mile oval, 18-degree banking in turns, 12-degree banking in frontstretch, 5-degree banking in backstretch. Length of frontstretch: 3,600 feet. Length of backstretch: 2,242 feet)

Race distance: 125 laps, 250 miles

Last year A dominant Waltrip heads for the checkered flag Play video While Waltrip and Burton battle, Hornaday spins Play video Biffle experiences engine trouble early in the race Play video

TV: Bud Pole Qualifying: SPEED, 1 p.m. ET Friday. Race: TNT, 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

Last year: Michael Waltrip's payback of a Todd Bodine bump paid off in Waltrip's first NASCAR Busch Series victory in nearly three years.

Last race: Nineteen-year-old Brian Vickers won a lengthy duel with Shane Hmiel to capture his first career Busch Series win in the Kroger 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Potential storyline: Series points leader Scott Riggs and second-place David Green carry on their classic points battle to Michigan -- the two are separated by only seven points.

In eight NASCAR Busch Series races at Michigan from 1993-2001, Green has one top-10 finish (1996) and has qualified in the top five on two occasions. Riggs has raced once at Michigan in the NASCAR Busch Series, but he led five laps and finished sixth in that effort last season. Riggs also has competed at Michigan with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, where he finished 11th in 2000.

Point to ponder: Only Todd Bodine has managed a repeat NASCAR Busch Series victory here and the second win came eight years after he won the track's inaugural NASCAR Busch Series race in 1992.

Next race: Food City 250, Bristol Motor Speedway, Aug. 22.

Mark Spoor is an associate producer of NASCAR.com. The Domino's Viewer's Guide appears each Thursday.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.