Brothers Don’t Always Get Along in NASCAR Racing

Brothers Jeff and Ward Burton enjoyed their late-race duel last Sunday in Las Vegas. But their competitive nature hasn’t always allowed them to have a good time against each other.

Ward, who lost the latest battle to his younger brother, described another on-track incident that did not leave the siblings from South Boston, Va., feeling good about each other.

It was in a late model stock car race in 1987 at their home track. Both were chasing a driver from Lynchburg named Bobby Moon.

“I had been gaining on Bobby and was about to take the lead with 15 [laps] to go when a caution came out,” Ward explained. “Jeff had caught up and was running third. Once they threw the green flag, we had run about one lap and Jeff had about six inches up underneath me. I came down and we both wrecked.

“Once I got out of the car, I got him by the throat and was picking him up in the air when I saw my dad coming. That’s when I went back to my pits.”

Last Sunday, they had nothing but respect for each other, both on and off the track.

“No matter what, he’s your brother,” Jeff said. “I was doing everything I could to win the race and he was, too. ... I don’t really change my driving style based on the fact I’m racing my teammate or my brother, but you do have to be a little more careful.”

Ward said racing has brought the brothers closer together.

“I think we’ll have some more races like we did at Vegas here shortly,” he said. “I’m sure, next time the outcome will be a little different.”

Actually, there was a lot of brotherly racing going on in Las Vegas, with five sets of siblings in the race. Besides the Burtons, they were Terry and Bobby Labonte, Geoffrey and Brett Bodine, Darrell and Michael Waltrip, and Rusty and Kenny Wallace.

RULES OKAY: So far so good for NASCAR’s latest aerodynamic rules.

The sanctioning body raised the rear spoilers and lowered the front air dams of all makes prior to the 1998 finale in November at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

This year, the rules--designed to give drivers greater control at high speeds--have been in force at races in Rockingham, N.C., and Las Vegas, and will be used Sunday in the Cracker Barrel 500 on the 1.54-mile Atlanta oval.

“The new rules make for better balance in the race car,” said Derrike Cope, whose Pontiac finished 30th in the last Atlanta race. “It gives the car more grip, and you can do more things.

“You can manipulate the car more, and there’s a feel of a bit more security in traffic. That’s what we were looking for. We want control of the car so that we can make the necessary maneuvers.”

STILL AHEAD: Mike Skinner, something of a surprise this season, holds a 51-point series lead over Rusty Wallace heading into Sunday’s race.

Skinner--Dale Earnhardt’s teammate at Richard Childress Racing--has finishes of fourth, sixth and fourth.

According to crew chief Larry McReynolds, the team’s performance in Las Vegas shows just how far it has come.

“We took a 15th-place car and kept adjusting and turned it into a 10th-place car,” McReynolds said. “We adjusted on it some more and turned it into a top-five car. ... Mike is doing a good job. He reads something into the car and I really try to make him think about it before I start making adjustments.

“We try to make baby-step adjustments. It’s easy to leapfrog. I think Mike’s doubting that he’s giving us the whole picture, or worried that he’s not giving us enough of the picture. But that’s going to come. This team is solid, solid as a rock.”

ROOKIE RACE: After being the top-finishing rookie in the first two races this season, Tony Stewart had a tough day in Las Vegas, finishing last among the four first-year drivers in the field.

Buckshot Jones and Stanton Barrett, making their first starts of the year, finished 29th and 30th. Elliott Sadler was 33rd, Stewart 36th.

Both Stewart and Sadler have made all three races. But, other than Stewart’s 12th-place finish in Rockingham, N.C., none of the rookies has been better than 28th.

STAT OF THE WEEK: Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon are the only drivers to have led at least one lap in each race this season.