Haves Pull Away From Have-Nots Winston Cup Drivers Head South To Complete Their 1998 Schedule

As evidence of the way things are going in Winston Cup racing these days, we present Robert Pressley.

“It just feels good,” Pressley said Sunday after the Pepsi 400 at Michigan Speedway. “We thought we were going to be pretty bad today. We’ve been struggling, struggling, struggling with a new car. We just really feel good.”

Imagine how good Pressley would have felt had he finished better than 24th.

This is not meant as any kind of slight to Pressley. His car was better on long green-flag runs, so the late caution might have cost him a top-15 finish. But the fact people are able to find any solace in finishing 24th shows what a mighty struggle this season has been for many teams.

The season’s final visit to Michigan Speedway marks a literal turn for home in the 1998 schedule.

The circuit has not raced in the Southeastern United States since the Pontiac 400 at Richmond on June 6. But beginning with Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, nine of the remaining 12 events will be in that region.

The eight races since the stock-car caravan pulled out of its home region have done much to further demonstrate the gulf between Winston Cup’s top teams and those for whom mere survival seems to be the only realistic goal.

Among 34 drivers who started all eight of the races since Richmond, eight accumulated 37 of the possible 40 top-five finishes.

Jeff Gordon, who won five of those races including the past four, was eight for eight in top-fives. Mark Martin had seven, Dale Jarrett and Jeff Burton five each, Bobby Labonte four, Rusty Wallace and Mike Skinner three each and Jeremy Mayfield two. Martin, Burton and Mayfield each won once.

Only Bobby Hamilton, second at Sears Point, Dale Earnhardt, fifth at Indianapolis, and John Andretti, third at Sears Point, were able to join the dominant group in getting a top-five.

Meanwhile, during that same eight-race stretch, a group of nine drivers each finished 30th or worse at least four times. Brett Bodine did it six times. Geoff Bodine, Rick Mast and Steve Grissom did it five times each, while Rich Bickle, Ward Burton, Terry Labonte, Ricky Rudd and Pressley did it four each.

“It has been a frustrating year,” Bill Elliott said, saying words that many of his fellow travelers might echo. Elliott blew an engine Sunday and finished 40th, his fifth finish outside the top 25 since Richmond.

“I don’t know what I’ve got to do to turn this deal around,” Elliott said. “Man, every time I think I take two steps forward I take two steps back… . We’ve got to get better.”