Road Is Long In Winston Cup

Logistics are as big a part of keeping a Winston Cup team on the road as building race cars. It takes planning to get the team trucks to the right place at the right time.

Dan Heidtke, driver of the No. 25 Budweiser transport truck, is an expert when it comes to such planning. The current 17-day tour is a good example of what it takes to keep up with the busy stock car circuit.

The 5,000-mile trip began Wednesday with a 630-mile journey from the Hendrick Motorsports complex in Charlotte, N.C., to Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

On Monday morning, following today’s Miller 400, Heidtke and relief driver Keith Koldsbaek, will begin a 2,200-mile trip to California Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

After the race there on June 22, Heidtke and Koldsbaek, who is also the lead mechanic for Ricky Craven’s No. 25 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, will make a 1,900-mile trip to Indiana for a three-day test session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Another truck will meet them in Indy to switch cars and equipment for the test session.

Finally, on June 27, the Budweiser truck will head back to Charlotte for the final 550 miles of the longest road trip of the year. Five days later, Heidtke leaves again for Daytona Beach, Fla., and the July 5 Pepsi 400.

“It was a big challenge to plan the whole month of June with travel and testing and racing,” said Andy Graves, Craven’s crew chief. “We’re going to probably have more races next year, so this is something we’re going to be dealing with on a regular basis.”

Confidence booster

If Bobby Hamilton qualifies well or competes for a win in his No. 43 Petty Enterprises STP Pontiac, few people would be surprised.

Just a few years ago, that was not the case. Nobody considered Richard Petty’s team a contender.

The big move for the team can be traced to the August race at Michigan in 1994 when John Andretti, who was then Petty’s driver, qualified the team’s car second for the GM Goodwrench 400.

“Up until that point we had missed six races that year,” explained crew chief Robbie Loomis. “We were all beat up pretty bad. … If anybody ever told me that that was going to happen at Michigan, I wouldn’t have believed them.

“I mean the first time Andretti went out there to shake down he was two or three tenths (of a second) quicker than anybody. It was a big spark.

“A lot of people ask me why I like John Andretti, and I tell them it was because I give him a lot of credit for putting the spark back in this team when he sat in there that day at Michigan,” Loomis added. “I could tell a big difference in our team’s morale.”

Hamilton replaced Andretti in the car after the 1994 season. Andretti went on to drive for Kranefuss-Haas and now for Cale Yarborough.

Stat of the week

Mark Martin has won only two races this season, but he’s the hottest driver on the Winston Cup circuit right now with seven consecutive top-five finishes. The two-time series runner-up has moved to third place in the current standings, trailing co-leaders Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte by 61 points.

Big tracks

Today’s Miller 400 will be the 10th superspeedway race of the Winston Cup season.

Heading into the weekend at Michigan, Ford Thunderbirds have won five times and Chevrolet Monte Carlos four times on the tracks a mile or longer.

Jeff Gordon, tied with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Terry Labonte for the series points lead, has all four Chevy victories. Fords are divided among Dale Jarrett (two), Mark Martin, Ricky Rudd and Jeff Burton.

The most consistent driver on the big tracks has been Burton, who has scored 1,442 points, 128 more than Labonte.

Jarrett has led 1,073 of the 2,769 superspeedway laps so far this year. Gordon is his closest pursuer in that category with only 302 laps led.

Marlin staying

Sterling Marlin has dismissed the rumors that he will leave Morgan-McClure Racing at the end of this season.

The two-time Daytona 500 winner, in the first year of a five-year contract extension, says he will stay in the No. 4 car, which he has driven since 1994.

Speculation had been that Marlin would replace Ernie Irvan at Robert Yates Racing. Reports are still circulating that Irvan will leave Yates to take a ride with Gary Bechtel’s Diamond Ridge Racing.