Pre-race notes: Stewart, Johnson to the back

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Defending race winner Tony Stewart is one of five NASCAR Winston Cup drivers that will drop to the rear of the starting field for Sunday's Sirius at The Glen at Watkins Glen International due to engine changes.

	Tony Stewart

Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing crew began the change on Saturday afternoon when they discovered a problem with the camshaft. Jimmy Spencer's crew also changed its engine Saturday afternoon when they discovered metal fragments in the oil pump.

On Sunday morning, Jimmie Johnson and Boris Said changed engines in their respective cars when they discovered water in the oil. Both teams use Hendrick Motorsports engines.

Even later Sunday morning, Christian Fittipaldi's Petty Enterprises crew began a change on its Dodge thanks to a damaged piston, which might have been caused when Fittipaldi drove the car back to the garage after he spun into a gravel trap and punctured the radiator.

Stewart was scheduled to start fourth, Said in 10th, Johnson in 20th, Fittipaldi in 36th and Spencer in 39th.

Morgan-McClure keeps searching

Morgan-McClure Motorsports, which set a landmark Friday when it qualified two cars in a race for the first time in its 21-year history, will continue its intense 2004 driver search for at least a couple more races.

A Morgan-McClure spokesperson said owner Larry McClure originally planned to run two cars in at least four more races this season. Now, the team will enter two Kodak-liveried Pontiacs at next weekend's GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan as well as the following weekend's Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

McClure has made a point of not nominating his drivers until race week, but Busch Series driver Johnny Sauter, who made his Winston Cup debut at New Hampshire and scored MMM's first lead-lap finish this season on an oval track, is expected to get another shot in the car.

You're splitting me

Jeff Gordon won the Bud Pole for the Sirius at the Glen on Friday when he was the best of 18 drivers that broke Dale Jarrett's previous track record. A check of split times for the sessions revealed Gordon achieved the pole via consistency, as his DuPont Chevrolet wasn't fastest in any of the five segments timed.

Stewart was quickest in the first segment, which was from the start/finish line to the entrance to Turn 2 with a speed of 131.6 mph. Rusty Wallace was best in the second segment, through the esses and halfway down the backstretch, at 171.7 mph.

Wallace, Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman and Stewart were the only ones to better 171 mph on the track's fastest section.

Rookie Casey Mears was fastest in the third split, from the middle of the backstretch to the exit of Turn 5, including the tricky Inner Loop chicane, at 132.6 mph. Wallace was best in segment four, the straightaway coming back toward pit road, at 102.6 mph -- one of only seven cars clocked that eclipsed 100 mph.

Stewart was quickest in the final segment, the two-corner complex that leads to the start/finish line, at 136.3 mph.

Stewart revels at short track

Defending Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart and local favorite Jimmy Spencer made a trip to Tioga Motorsports Park Saturday night in Owego, N.Y., for "Winston Cup Night," an annual event held to benefit the Spalding Foundation for Injured Drivers.

Stewart jumped into a NASCAR Modified sight unseen and competed in a 10-lap heat race, before starting the feature event 14th in a field of 17. Stewart was racing for seventh just after halfway when two locals tangled in Turn 1 with Stewart on their outside, taking the Winston Cup driver into the Styrofoam barriers and out of the race.

Egged on by Spencer, Stewart walked onto the truck while the field circulated under caution and slammed the foam into the back of the car driven by local driver Tony Hanbury, who Stewart felt had started the accident. However, Stewart was grinning broadly at the time and enjoyed the showmanship of the evening.

Spencer was on hand to sign autographs watch his son Jimmy Jr. compete in a Late Model match race in which Stewart defeated eight Winston Cup hauler drivers; and to receive a restored Modified with which he won the 1986 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series title.