For Woods, one race at The Glen offers glimpse of hope

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- They were all clustered around the white pit box at the far end of pit road, men in corporate-branded golf shirts, officers in Air Force uniforms, curious onlookers and guests. Everyone was glued to the television set, watching the cars navigate the hinterlands of Watkins Glen International, cheering and clapping each time it looked like Marcos Ambrose might gain a spot. When the Australian driver crossed the finish line in third, there were high-fives, handshakes, and the kind of clenching hugs that brim with emotion.

This is why the Wood Brothers keep coming back, despite all the heartbreak and disappointment that have plagued this once-great organization. This is why, after missing the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard and being rained out of Bristol and California and going seven years without a victory and plummeting in the owner points like a rock dropped into a river, they keep rolling out that No. 21 car week after week after week. All on the chance that the pieces will fall into place and the red and white Ford will return to that position near the front of the field that the Woods held for so long.

"This is why you do this," team co-owner Eddie Wood said after Ambrose's third-place finish, the best for the Woods since Ricky Rudd finished second on another road course, Infineon Raceway, in 2005. "This is why you keep on doing this. There's just enough good in it. You get so frustrated week to week, with things going wrong, and nothing seems to go right, and all of the sudden it falls into place. That's what it's all about. This can be fun."

This year hasn't been much fun for the Wood Brothers, one of NASCAR's elite teams from the '50s through the '70s, but now a struggling single-car operation without a victory since Elliott Sadler won at Bristol in 2001. They failed to make the Daytona 500 for the first time since 1960, a year they didn't attempt to qualify. They failed to qualify at Indianapolis for the first time. They've missed six races total, and are so buried in owner points that Sunday's effort only moved them up one position. Reality sets in Friday at Michigan International Speedway, when the No. 21 car, still 42nd in the standings, must again qualify on speed. (Continued)