Jarrett not in favor of proposed changes

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Jarrett blasted NASCAR's proposed change of the points system Tuesday, saying the sanctioning body needs to be careful with such a drastic switch.

NASCAR is considering using the first 26 races as a regular season of sorts, with the top 10 after that point the only ones who can compete for the season championship. Jarrett said he has found plenty of holes with the proposal, the biggest being the possibility of dropping out of the top 10 in the final race of the "regular season."

	Dale Jarrett

"You can call me a traditionalist or whatever, but I'm not for the change," said Jarrett, a 17-year veteran and the 1999 NASCAR champion. "Whether you put yourself in a position or take yourself out of a position in those first 26, we've always been about the season-long deal, performing for 36 races. Whoever does that the best wins the championship.

"Just say we've had a pretty decent 25 races, and I'm seventh in the points. From fifth to 12th is really close, within 100 points of each other. The first lap, I get taken out at Richmond, and my car is torn up beyond repair, and I go all the way back to 11th or 12th. You're going to tell UPS, who spends millions of dollars, that the best their car can finish this season is 11th? I'm not sure how long they'll be around. I'm not putting words in their mouth. I just know of conversations I've had with them. I think we're taking a big chance with sponsors."

Jarrett said he used that argument with NASCAR president Mike Helton. The sport has been unique through the years compared to other major-league sports, and Jarrett said NASCAR needs to move a little slower.

"Do we need to be like the NFL, like Major League Baseball, the NBA to where we bring more teams in, and the best team doesn't always win the Super Bowl or the World Series or the NBA championship?" Jarrett said. "The team that's been the best throughout the season doesn't always do that. You bring in teams that may gel later on.

"I'm not totally against what they're proposing... But my choice would be to leave things the way they are, other than what I've always said: give the winner more points than anybody else in every race."

Besides, if NASCAR wants to compete against the NFL for three months, that is a difficult task, Jarrett said.

"We have our fans that are very passionate about our sport, and they're not going to turn over in those three months and watch an NFL game when there's a NASCAR race on," Jarrett said. "But you've got to look at the other side. If you're trying to get that NFL fan over there to switch over to us by changing things around and thinking they're going to turn over to watch a playoff system of ours, then you're dead wrong. They're very, very passionate about their sport, also.

"I'm a race driver, not a TV person, so I'm probably speaking out of turn. But I do know sports. Being a fan of it, we better be careful of what we're doing there. I didn't think the sport was in trouble to where we needed (major change)."

One other problem Jarrett has is exposure for drivers outside the top 10 in the final 10 races. Sure, teams that are outside the top 10 don't usually get a lot of television coverage in the final 10 races, but Jarrett said they'd get less under the proposed change.

"You can sit here and try to convince me all you want about how the networks are going to make sure everybody else is shown, too," Jarrett said. "I'm not even sure (if you're leading the race) if you're not one of those 10 that you're going to be talked about that much. Right now, they don't give a damn about the New York Giants, the Atlanta Falcons or anybody else who isn't playing."

Stewart: No more Indy 500s, for now

Tony Stewart said Tuesday his dreams of winning the Indianapolis 500 are on indefinite hold.

	Tony Stewart wants to focus on Cup racing for now. Credit: Autostock

"The 500? Nah, you can squash that right off the bat," Stewart said. "I'm not going to do Indy until I'm done Winston Cup racing.

"It's not fair to the team. As many people as we keep adding every year and as competitive as Winston Cup racing gets each year, just the threat of something happening is what is keeping me from doing it.

"The technology in the IRL keeps growing. The last time I did it, it took me two days just to get acclimated to the way they worked and operated vs. two years before that when I was running with my own team and was pretty much accustomed to how things worked."

Stewart said that to be fully prepared for the Indy 500, a driver needs to run at least two IRL events before the 500. One day, however, Stewart could be back at the Brickyard in May.

"It's still a dream of mine, it's still something I really want very badly," Stewart said. "But if I do it, I want to do it right. I don't want to just do it to say I did it again."

I'm sorry, Joe

Stewart talked about how it took an "act of God" to convince car owner Joe Gibbs to let him run a Busch Series race last year, but when Stewart was asked about being able to drive in the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals Race later this week, Stewart took the easy way out.

"Didn't tell Joe I was doing it," said Stewart, who won the Chili Bowl in 2002. "I'm still living under the philosophy it's a lot easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. It seems to have worked for five solid years now."

Ford teams still need to work

Ford teams got an updated nose and tail for their Tauruses in 2004, plus a new cylinder head. But Ford driver Mark Martin said those improvements aren't going to instantly make the Taurus the car to beat.

"In my opinion it's not really a new car because it's not a car that was developed with a clean sheet of paper," Martin said. "It's still the basic Taurus shape with some improvements in the front and the back, and those improvements will have a slight effect on the performance, but it's not gonna turn the world upside down. The cylinder head is gonna have a slight performance enhancement, but it won't turn the world upside down.

"We as a team are the ones that have the real task at hand, and that is to turn the world upside down with the sharper tools that we're given to go into 2004. The real challenge is us. It's not the tools that we're getting that's gonna make us run, it's what we do with them that is gonna make us run."

Who gets Gaughan's seat?

Now that Brendan Gaughan has officially moved to Penske Racing, his seat with Orleans Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series has opened. The Las Vegas-based team won a series-leading six times, finished fourth in the points and had three poles.

	Brendan Gaughan

Gaughan said the team, which is owned by his father, Michael, will make some announcements soon regarding the future of the team. Steve Park, who lost his Nextel Cup ride with Richard Childress Racing, has been in the rumor mill as the driver of the No. 62.

"We have a driver, we have a partner ... we have a huge sponsor coming, one of the biggest in the history of the Craftsman Truck Series," Gaughan said Tuesday.

Gaughan wants shot at five in a row at Texas

Gaughan has won four consecutive truck races at Texas Motor Speedway, and he's already pleaded his case to compete in the race there this year. But car owner Roger Penske shot him down.

"I'm begging for the first Texas race," Gaughan said. "I bet if I won a couple of Cup races before Texas, they'd let me. But Mr. Penske sat me down and said, 'No.' It'd be five in a row if we won it, but right now we need to focus on the job at hand."