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Available: One Cup Championship; As the season winds down, the title chase tightens up.(Racing)(2002 Winston Cup)(Brief Article)
Byline: BILL McGUIRE
Twenty-nine races have been run in the 2002 Winston Cup season; only seven remain. Yet just who will win the championship is hardly clearer than when the year began. As the series rolled out of Kansas City this past week and headed for Talladega, Jimmie Johnson held the points lead with 3824. But only 36 points separate Johnson from Tony Stewart in third, with the previous week's leader Mark Martin sandwiched between them in second, a mere 11 points back.
Then there's Jeff Gordon, Sterling Marlin, Rusty Wallace, Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth, in that order. There are 193 points between them. Bill Elliott in ninth lies only 201 points behind Johnson, his championship hopes still very real. One title, nine drivers in the chase.
When the points system was designed back in 1975 (on the back of a napkin, according to NASCAR lore), it was tailored for tight points races. First place offers a maximum 185 points (175 for the win; five points for leading a lap and another five for leading the most laps) while 43rd pays 34 points, with five-, four- and three-point breaks down through the order and a potential swing of 151 points from first to last. Before Kansas, there were four drivers with a mathematical chance of leaving with the points lead. After Kansas, there are six. As the season's end draws near, the points battle is not stretching out, it's actually tightening up. There have been other years with close points battles-1992 and 1997 come to mind-but nothing quite like this. It's as if nobody can close the deal.
Marlin couldn't. For 25 races, from the season's second event at Rockingham where he won, until just a few weeks ago at Richmond where he crashed out early, Marlin held tight to the points lead, often by the slimmest of margins. While he and his Chip Ganassi Dodge team won at Darlington, they also stumbled at times, especially on the road courses (43rd at Sears Point and 30th at Watkins Glen). Yet while Marlin has since dropped to fifth, no one has been able to leap very far ...
- GORDON WINS, JOHNSON ON TOP JEFF GORDON WINS HIS THIRD RACE OF THE SEASON AND...
- Newspaper article from: Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI) September 30, 2002 700+ words
...his bid for a fifth Winston Cup title Sunday, pulling...too excited about the points lead. "It doesn't matter...last year's inaugural Winston Cup event at Kansas Speedway...finished second in both Winston Cup races at Kansas Speedway...
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- Newspaper article from: The Washington Times October 18, 1998 700+ words
...Pepsi 400 and putting himself virtually out of reach in the Winston Cup championship race. It was Gordon's 11th victory of the...Daytona and Talladega, the longest and fastest ovals in the Winston Cup series, are the only tracks where NASCAR uses carburetor...
- AFTER ESCAPING ``CRASHFEST'' AT BRISTOL, MARTIN ATOP HEAP FOR FIRST TIME IN 7...
- Newspaper article from: The Virginian Pilot Zeller, Bob August 25, 1997 700+ words
...the end, with Jeff Gordon reduced to junk, and Dale Jarrett baring the fangs of a driver who still has a big deficit in Winston Cup points, Mark Martin moved to protect what he had. The driver who lives, eats and breathes to win races, decided at the...
- KENSETH: CATCH HIM IF YOU CAN WINSTON CUP DRIVER HAS FIRM GRASP ON SEASON...
- Newspaper article from: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, WA) August 1, 2003 700+ words
...There is movement near the top of the Winston Cup points standings. But leader Matt Kenseth...Indianapolis Motor Speedway is 2002 Winston Cup rookie of the year Ryan Newman, a former...JOHNSON LEARNS QUICKLY: Elliott has raced Winston Cup since 1976. Johnson was a rookie last...
- EARNHARDT NEARS ANOTHER MILESTONE VETERAN DRIVER IS SET TO MAKE 500TH STRAIGHT...
- Newspaper article from: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) July 21, 1996 700+ words
...began his first full season of Winston Cup racing in 1979, Earnhardt has...past Sterling Marlin into the Winston Cup points lead. Gordon stayed out front the...championship. Labonte, the 1984 Winston Cup champion, is hoping history...
- LONG-DISTANCE RUNAROUND; Matt Kenseth rocks steady, while Jeff Gordon closes...
- Magazine article from: AutoWeek McGuire, Bill July 21, 2003 700+ words
...lights at Daytona on July 5, Winston Cup teams got their final week off...remaining, the second half of the Winston Cup season is the most grueling march...Vegas in March, he took over the Winston Cup points lead in week four and has held it...
- EARNHARDT DOESN'T PLACE BLAME ON FAILED TITLE BID TALLADEGA CRASH IN JULY WAS...
- Newspaper article from: The Virginian Pilot Zeller, Bob November 6, 1996 700+ words
...than none at all, even if it's not a Winston Cup title. Earnhardt held the Winston Cup points lead from Martinsville in April through the Pepsi...Terry Labonte, who leads Jeff Gordon in the Winston Cup championship by 47 points, isn't the...
- SLOW-STARTING GORDON ON POLE LAST YEAR'S WINSTON CUP CHAMPION SETS A BRISTOL...
- Newspaper article from: Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI) March 23, 2002 700+ words
...his old form. Gordon, who won his fourth NASCAR Winston Cup championship last season, is off to a slow start...and Matt Kenseth, who could potentially take the Winston Cup points lead Sunday. The Cambridge native is third in points...