DIFFERENT RACE, DIFFERENT RESULTS; Many call Rockingham the real first race of the year.

Byline: AL PEARCE

Remember how NASCAR opened its season Feb. 15 with the Daytona 500? It was in most of the papers and on radio and TV. Lots of Republicans trekked to Daytona Beach, including the president of the United States and (seemingly) every soldier, sailor, airman and marine above Spec-4. You couldn't swing a dead cat in the garage without hitting at least one rookie CEO who didn't know where to stand. And spare us those must-see celebrities with their gushing love of Nextel Cup racing.

The 500 is like Opening Day, when everybody's leading the league and going to the World Series. It is NASCAR's annual debutante ball, 10 days of social, financial and commercial excess that is more style than substance. It has often been said the season opens in Daytona Beach but the racing begins a week later, wherever round two happens to be. "It's like being in the World Series one day, then going back to the regular season the next day,'' retired driver Buddy Baker said at the North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham. "Daytona's a big, big deal, and everybody wants to win it. [Baker did, in 1980.] But places like here and Darlington and Martinsville are the grass roots of what this sport is all about. These tracks are where the great teams are developed, where you find your championship contenders.''

The Subway 400 was night and day different from the Daytona 500. That one used those damnable restrictor plates to choke down power and speed; at The Rock there was no such foolishness. NASCAR handed out shocks and springs for the 500, while at Rockingham crews bolted on whatever they thought worked best. The 500 had tall spoilers, roof-mounted air deflectors and somewhat hard tires, while at Rockingham the spoilers were lower, the roofs were smooth and the tires were slightly softer. Daytona used a convoluted qualifying system of time trials, heat races and fallback speeds to set its grid, while Rockingham was a Friday-Saturday-Sunday show with one traditional qualifying session. The 500 purse topped $15 million and winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the toast of New York; the Rockingham purse was about $4.7 million, and nobody asked winner Matt Kenseth to be anywhere.

But to hear people talk, being at Rockingham on a picture-perfect Sunday afternoon the week after the Daytona 500 isn't all that bad.

"For us, getting out of Daytona is like a breath of fresh air,'' said Don Miller, vice president of the Penske South team of Ryan Newman, Rusty Wallace and Brendan Gaughan. "It's way too much ado about nothing. You spend 10 days there doing something you could do in three. Daytona isn't about racing, it's about putting on a show, about us being entertainers. We understand all that, we really do. But in my opinion, the real racing starts here this weekend.''

Team owner Bill Davis said the 500 isn't necessarily a true test of a team's potential. "You either hit it or you don't, but you have to live with what you get,'' he said. [Davis' Dodge ...