By Mark Spoor, Turner Sports Interactive
August 28, 2003
4:07 PM EDT (2007 GMT)
Jeff Gordon's off-track life has been one of the most talked about topics in NASCAR since the news of his divorce from now ex-wife Brooke broke last year. For the most part, the four-time Winston Cup champion has stayed silent about his personal life.
The silence will be broken this weekend.
Gordon took the NBC crew on his boat in Newport, R.I. recently to talk about his new life and how the whole ordeal has changed him both on and off the track. The piece will be previewed during Saturday afternoon's coverage of the Winn-Dixie 200 Busch Series race and will be played in its entirety during Sunday's coverage of the Mountain Dew Southern 500.
Funny man: Also on Sunday, Wally Dallenbach will take actor/comedian David Spade for a ride around Darlington Raceway, site of Sunday's race.
Right, and you are ...
Earning his stripes: In this weekend's "Dave Discovers" segment, Dave Burns will find out what it takes to fix a car once it gets one of those famous, "Darlington Stripes."
Hopefully, Dave can keep from getting injured this time.
Kudos to Burns for a solid segment last weekend from the stands at Bristol. It gave fans at home a pretty good picture of what it would be like to get one of the toughest tickets in racing.
Busch flack: There's been quite a bit of negative response from fans about last weekend's Kurt Busch feature leading into Saturday night's Sharpie 500, most from fans believing the network was showing bias toward Busch in his recent tiff with Jimmy Spencer.
It probably would have been a lot easier from a PR perspective to delay the piece for a week until the matter blew over. Still, in the network's defense, Kurt Busch is a two-time winner at Bristol, so the idea of centering a feature piece around him is a solid one. The fact that Busch won the race proves the argument was sound.
Good sports television is about helping the fan identify with the athlete on many levels. It doesn't mean the network is saying, "like this guy." It's about giving the fans information and letting them make their own choices.
Judging by the reaction of the fans in Bristol and the fans that sent e-mails over the past few days, many of you have made those choices.
Let us not forget that Spencer was given a chance by the network -- and many other media outlets -- to respond to the incident throughout the week. Thanks to the criminal investigation that is pending, it was unfortunately an impossibility.
Ask The Producer: This week's "Ask The Producer" question comes from several users wanting to know why the Winston Cup Victory Lap Celebration honoring Alan Kulwicki and Rusty Wallace was not telecast last weekend.
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"The ceremony was held almost two hours before the green flag. We asked NASCAR if they would hold the ceremony just before the pace laps so that we could air it and they refused. It was not like it was the No. 11 car out there. It was held outside our race window and the stands were more than half empty when it was done, so we decided against it."
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...
Site: Darlington, S.C.
Track: Darlington Raceway (1.366-mile oval, 25-degree banking in Turns 1-2, 23-degree banking in Turns 3-4, 2-degree banking in straights. Length of stretches: 1,229 feet.
Race distance: 367 laps, 501.3 miles
TV: Bud Pole Qualifying: SPEED, 3 p.m. ET Friday. Happy Hour: SPEED, 12:10 p.m. ET Saturday. Race: NBC, 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday.
 | Last year |  | Gordon cruises to his fifth Southern 500 victory
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|  | Several drivers get a Darlington Stripe in Turn 2
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|  | Jimmie Johnson cuts a tire as Ward Burton charges
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Last year: As many predicted, a "liberated" Jeff Gordon dominated the end of the race and won his second straight NASCAR Winston Cup Series event.
Last race: A week full of controversy for Kurt Busch ended with the embattled driver in celebrating in Victory Lane. After a record-tying 20 cautions, Busch won the Sharpie 500 on Saturday to complete a Bristol season sweep.
Potential storyline: Since the Sonoma, Calif. race on June 22, Kevin Harvick has moved from 11th in the points to third -- his highest points standing since coming to NASCAR Winston Cup in 2001. The key, Harvick said, is communication.
"Everything is coming together for us," he said. "We know how quickly this kind of thing can turn around so I really don't like to talk about it. I feel like everyone at RCR and on this team has really stepped up this year. We are communicating better. With Todd (Berrier) at crew chief and Gil (Martin) managing the team, everybody is working together to make sure these cars are perfect."
Point to ponder: Bill Elliott has scored four top-10 finishes in the last four races at Darlington, the only driver to do so. Elliott has a 9.04 finishing average in 50 races at Darlington, the best among active drivers with more than three starts at the track.
Next race: Chevy Rock and Roll 400, Richmond International Raceway, Sept. 6
Site: Darlington, S.C.
Track: Darlington Raceway (1.366-mile oval, 25-degree banking in Turns 1-2, 23-degree banking in Turns 3-4, 2-degree banking in straights. Length of stretches: 1,229 feet.
Race distance: 147 laps, 200.8 miles
TV: Bud Pole Qualifying: SPEED, 1:35 p.m. ET Friday. Race: NBC, 2 p.m. ET Saturday.
Last year: NASCAR tried hard, but Mother Nature and Winston Cup regular Jeff Burton won the Gatorade 200 at Darlington Raceway when it was called at half distance by rain.
| Last year |  | Burton gets his third consecutive Darlington victory
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|  | Burton leads as the race is halted yards before halfway
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|  | Things get heated for Jamie McMurray as Burton cruises
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Last race: Michael Waltrip used a time-honored Bristol tradition -- the bump-and-run -- to get by Ron Hornaday and win the Food City 250 on Friday for his first Busch Series win of the season.
Potential storyline: The chase for the 2003 NASCAR Busch Series championship continues to heat up. In fact, with just 135 points separating the top-five drivers, it is the closest points battle in series history with 10 races remaining.
Point to ponder: Jason Keller has done his best in recent years to conquer Darlington, also known as the "Lady in Black." Keller has scored six consecutive top-10 finishes at Darlington and has qualified in the top three in his last four starts. He was the only NASCAR Busch Series regular to record top-five finishes in both Darlington races in 2002.
Next race: South Carolina 200, Darlington Raceway, Aug. 30.
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.
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