Ince Not Waiting to Let Setback Become a Trend

James Ince is going to need all the motivational ability he can muster to get his team going in the right direction again.

When second-round qualifying was rained out, Johnny Benson, the new driver for Tyler Jet Motorsports, failed to qualify for last Sunday’s race in Atlanta.

It was a crushing blow after the surprise team had run well enough in the first three races of the season to get to 11th in the standings, 87 points behind leader Bobby Labonte.

“We had a bad lap on Friday and then were a victim of rain and a provisional (points) system that lets some cars in the race that don’t have much of a chance to run well each weekend,” Ince said. “We had to suffer for what happened last year.”

Missing the Atlanta race dropped Benson to a tie for 20th, 262 points behind Labonte.

Ince, a veteran crew chief, decided not to wait to get his team up off the floor, calling a meeting when the team got back to its North Carolina shop early Sunday.

“I told them this isn’t the time to go home and sit in the house with the blinds shut and sulk,” Ince said.

Ince said he stayed for the Busch race in Atlanta on Saturday and heard people talking about his Lycos-sponsored team.

“I told our guys the people that weren’t writing or talking about us before the season are now writing us off,” he said. “We hope everybody continues to discount us. We’ll prove our worth on the track.”

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CHANGING TIMES: There have been some changes for the May 20 running of The Winston at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The all-star race is a 70-lap, three-segment event for race winners on NASCAR’s Winston Cup circuit. In the past, only the winner of a 30-lap Winston Open invitational race joined the field for the main event.

This year, there will be an additional 16 laps on the 1 1/2-mile oval after the Winston Open is completed. The winner of that event, the No Bull Sprint, will also qualify for The Winston.

The sponsor for NASCAR’s top series has increased the winner’s share for The Winston to $500,000 and the total purse to $2 million. Last year, the winner’s share of a $1.2 million purse was $200,000.

The increase in the winner’s share makes The Winston one of the three richest paydays on the 2000 schedule, with only the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 paying more to their winners.

As in the past, The Winston will consist of two 30-lap segments and a 10-lap showdown to the finish. Only green-flag laps will count.

Drivers and teams have the option of pitting their before final segment. Last year, Terry Labonte pitted for four fresh tires and wound up winning.

Unlike the past two years, when a minimum of three and a maximum of 12 cars were inverted following the first segment, this year’s race will invert 12 cars or no cars. That determination will be made during the 10-minute break between the first two segments.

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CEREAL WINNER: The careers of former stock car stars Richard Petty, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons and Cale Yarborough will be commemorated by Wheaties on four limited-edition packages of the cereal.

Each of the special packages will be available primarily throughout the Southeastern United States for a limited period. A different package will be issued about every three to four months for the next year.

General Mills, parent company of Wheaties, has an associate sponsorship with Petty’s No. 43 Pontiac and will take over primary sponsorship of the team with its Cheerios and Betty Crocker brands beginning at Daytona in July.

Petty, Jarrett, Parons and Yarborough combined for 354 victories and 13 championships.

In 1936, Wilbur Shaw became the first race car driver to appear on a Wheaties box. A.B. Jenkins followed in 1939 and Dale Earnhardt in 1997.

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POPULAR SHOW: NASCAR Racers, the animated series that debuted Feb. 5 on Fox Kids Network, is off to a roaring start and ranks as the highest-rated launch for a Fox Kids animated program since September 1997.

Throughout February, the show placed in the top 10 for Saturday morning broadcast children’s programming.

On Feb. 19, NASCAR Racers ranked first in its time period among broadcast competition with kids 6-11.

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STAT OF THE WEEK: Jeff Burton, who won both Winston Cup races at Darlington Raceway last year, has finished fifth or better in the last six races at the track. Before that, he has posted only two top-10 finishes in his first races in Darlington.