DARLINGTON, S.C. – Kurt Busch and Michael Waltrip will drop from the top 10 to the rear of the field in Sunday’s Dodge 400 at Darlington Raceway after suffering trouble in Saturday morning’s practice sessions.
In the first session, Busch blew the engine in the No.97 Ford in which he was to have started sixth Sunday.
Busch, Mark Martin, Jeff Burton and Ricky Rudd suffered failures in their Roush-build engines during the MBNA 500 in Atlanta last weekend.
Waltrip, who qualified ninth on Friday, lost his primary car when he crashed the No.15 Chevrolet in Turn 2 during the final session.
“I felt like I hit something on the straightaway, but there wasn’t much I could do about it at that point,” Waltrip said.
Waltrip, third in points , will switch to a backup he used at Rockingham in the season’s second race.
Lawsuit alleges violations
According a Dallas Morning News report, attorneys for Speedway Motorsports Inc. stockholder Francis Ferko this week filed legal documents supporting Ferko’s claim in a lawsuit against NASCAR that it and International Speedway Corp. are in violation of antitrust laws.
Ferko’s attorneys said that ISC’s 2001 annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission said, “We are controlled by the France family, and NASCAR, which sanctions most of our major racing events, is controlled by William C. France and James C. France.”
Bill France Jr. is the chairman of the NASCAR board. His brother, Jim France, is ISC’s chief executive officer and his daughter, Lesa France Kennedy, is now ISC’s president.
Ferko has sued ISC for not awarding Texas Motor Speedway a second annual Winston Cup race as was allegedly promised.
Trucks towed
NASCAR impounded two trucks from each manufacturer after Friday’s Craftsman 200 at Darlington and plans to test all six at a wind tunnel Monday.
The trucks taken were the Chevrolets of Dennis Setzer and Kevin Harvick; the Fords of Terry Cook and Rick Crawford and the Dodges of Ted Musgrave and Bobby Hamilton.
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AP-NY-03-15-03 2146EST
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