Stewart Satisfied With Alterations

Tony Stewart said last year that racing at restrictor plate tracks such as Daytona and Talladega was like playing Keno, that under the 2001 rules it was a gamble if you won, and a gamble if you survived a horrendous wreck.

“You can be going down the backstraight at Daytona in the lead and look around and see a 20th-place car right behind you,” he complained. “The driver doesn’t have control of what’s happening on the race track.”

NASCAR safety officials responded by eliminating roof strips on all cars this season, thus reducing the amount of draft that pulls a trailing car along behind a lead car. This also served to eliminate the 20-or-more car freight trains that led to violent multi-car accidents such as the one Stewart was involved in during last year’s Daytona 500 when he sailed through the air and landed atop Bobby Labonte’s car, or the one on the final turn of the final lap when Dale Earnhardt was killed.

Stewart, Sunday’s Budweiser Shootout winner, was enthusiastic about the changes.

“With last year’s package, I felt like the car was driving me and I was just riding along,” Stewart said. “This year I feel like I’m at least in more control of my car.

“It doesn’t mean it drives perfectly. We were tight at times during the race, we were loose at times, but at least I felt like I was in control of what my car was doing.

“If anything, I can honestly say that I think it’s going to make it a safer race for us. I told [crew chief] Greg Zipadelli after we had our ‘Happy Hour’ session yesterday that I didn’t feel like I ever had to hold my breath because I felt uncomfortable out there.

“It was the first time that I’ve felt comfortable at a restrictor plate track in two years.”

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Bobby Gerhart, of Lebanon, Pa., drove a Pontiac to victory in the rain-shortened Discount Auto Parts 200, opening race of the ARCA season. Gerhart also won in 1999.

The race, scheduled for 80 laps, was halted after 54 when a second rainstorm flooded the track. Shortly after it was stopped, the sun came out and dried the track in time for the Budweiser Shootout.

Veteran short-track driver Rick Carelli, of Arvada, Colo., was second in a Chevrolet, followed by Frank Kimmel, the defending ARCA champion from Jeffersonville, Ind., in a Ford.

“I think that if this race would have gone nonstop to the finish, I was where I needed to be,” Gerhart said.