Hermie

	Elliott

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- NASCAR often has featured brother acts and 2003 is no different.

From the famed Flock Brothers in the sport's early years to Bobby and Donnie Allison to the contemporary families of the Labontes, the Bodines and the Burtons, the sport in no stranger to family affairs.

Hermie Sadler and Elliott Sadler are two more siblings, but rarely have had an opportunity to race against each other.

"There is quite a difference in age," said Hermie Sadler, who is older. "When I started racing in go-karts and moved up, Elliott took my equipment and continued to race. When I started racing late models and moved up to the Busch Series, he took my late model operation.

"The same thing with the Busch Series -- his first couple of races were in my equipment. So therefore, I'm responsible for every bit of success he's ever had and I'm still waiting for my check."

Elliott Sadler is the newest driver at Robert Yates Racing and will drive the No. 38 Ford this season after starting his career with the Wood Brothers.

Hermie Sadler will compete on the full Busch Series schedule in 2003.

"We've never really raced against each other growing up," Elliott Sadler said. "I think the Burtons and Bodines have been able to race against each other coming up. I feel like I've always been the biggest Hermie Sadler fan and he's the biggest Elliott Sadler fan.

"He's going to run the full Busch Series this year and I think we can trade stuff I've learned to help him and that could help both of us this year."

Who would win in a match race between the two?

"I'm sure he would win -- he's supposed to because he's the oldest," Elliott Sadler said.

Parrott brothers back together
There were no hard feelings when Todd Parrott fired younger brother Brad from his job at Robert Yates Racing.

The elder Parrott was crew chief for the No. 88 Ford of Dale Jarrett and Brad was one of his crewmen when they parted company in October 2001. Now, Brad is the crew chief for Jarrett and Todd has stepped up to the new position of director of director of competition for the two-car Winston Cup team.

"It was a good firing," the younger brother said Monday during a stop at the Yates race shop in suburban Mooresville on the first day of the UAW-GM Motorsports Media Tour.

"I wasn't happy doing the things I was doing and Todd could see that. And, right then, there was no place for me to go on the team. It also allowed me to show the guys I can do some things."

Brad was quickly hired by Roush Racing as crew chief for Jeff Burton's Busch Series team, which ran a partial schedule in 2002. Burton won five of 13 Busch races with Parrott directing the team.

"I learned patience and I learned great race drivers win races," Brad said. "Besides, Todd and I have won more races together than we have apart."

Now Brad is back with the Yates team and his elder brother couldn't be happier.

"We won a championship (with Jarrett) in '99 and we've worked together for five of the seven years I've been (with Yates)," Todd said. "When I fired him, I expected he'd be back someday."

Jarrett has also worked with the younger Parrott.

"I've said a number of times that our race team was always better when he has been part of it," the driver said. "He brings energy and knowledge in certain areas to the team."

A year ago, Todd stepped into the team manager's position with Jimmy Elledge taking over as crew chief of the 88. That arrangement lasted only part of the season, with Elledge saying that Parrott wasn't letting him do the job for which he had been hired.

"I really didn't know Jimmy that well and it just didn't work," Todd said. "This time, I'm going to let the crew chief have it."

Brad then surprised his older brother by saying that Buddy Parrott, their father and one of the most successful crew chiefs and team managers in NASCAR history, might also play a part in the team later this year.

"He's on a two-month vacation right now and he's supposed to be retired, but I'll reach in my pocket to get him to work with us," Brad said. "He'll look at pit crew films and look at race films and give me his opinion of what we can do to makes things better."

Trucking on
UPS, the principal sponsor on Jarrett's car since 2001, announced Monday it has signed a two-year extension with Robert Yates Racing.

The original contract ran through the 2004 season and has now been extended through 2006.

The Atlanta-based shipping company has teamed with Jarrett to make some of the most popular television commercials in sports, based on people asking when the 1999 Winston Cup champion will "drive the brown truck."

"I suggested that UPS give me $1 for every time somebody asks me about driving the brown truck," Jarrett said, laughing. "It would amount to a substantial amount of money."

A series of new commercials featuring Jarrett will be released during 2003.

Changing times
Ray Evernham, who gained fame and fortune as crew chief for Jeff Gordon, has done away with that traditional position on his two-year-old Evernham Motorsports team.

The Dodges driven by Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield will each have a team director, a race engineer and a lead mechanic when the season opens Feb. 16 with the Daytona 500.

"I'm not really changing anything. NASCAR itself is changing," Evernham said Monday. "The sport's gotten so critical and little things make a big difference. It used to be years ago the crew chief could be the lead mechanic, the aero guy, the shock guy, he could set the cars up, he could arrange the travel.

"You can't do that any more. The areas have gotten so specialized that each person is special. You look at Formula One or Indy cars, the technology goes up and the competition gets closer. Everybody has to spend a lot more time studying these small areas. One man just can't do it any more."

He said the team director will oversee the operation, the lead race engineer will pay attention to the chassis setups, the race strategy and gathering information on the car, and the lead mechanic will be responsible for making sure that nothing falls apart.

"This allows each person to get better in certain areas," Evernham said.

What's in a name?
The names Foyt, Mears and Fittipaldi have been synonymous with excellence in the Indianapolis 500 and the sport of Indy car racing. But with this season's Winston Cup and Busch rookie class including Larry Foyt, Casey Mears and Christian Fittipaldi, the stock car series is becoming even more diverse.

"It's three great race car drivers coming into this series," said 2002 Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart. "All three of those guys are capable of doing a good job in our series and have earned their way here. It will be fun to watch their progress this year."

	Wallace

No signs of rust
Rusty Wallace may be in his mid-40s, but the Penske South Racing driver has as much fire as ever when it comes to competition.

"It's not like I have anything to prove in the Daytona 500," said Wallace, who has yet to win the biggest race of the NASCAR season. "I've come close to winning the Daytona 500. I'd love to win that race. I was in total disbelief that I didn't win last year, but I had a real strong second-place finish. When the season was over, I was 226 points out of the Winston Cup championship.

"I don't have anything to prove. I've proven everything I've needed to throughout my career. I've won plenty of races. But I do have things I want to do -- I want to win the Daytona 500 and I want to win the Brickyard 400. Those are two races I want to win in my career."

Wallace and his Penske teammate, Ryan Newman, have made the switch to Dodge after running for Ford. That has given the team renewed confidence that Dodge can be the key ingredient to victory at Daytona.

Three's a crowd
Michael Waltrip's only two Winston Cup victories have come at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.

His first win came in the 2001 Daytona 500 and victory No. 2 came in last July's Pepsi 400. That has given the driver for DEI hopes that he can score win No. 3 in February's Daytona 500.

"We're very optimistic about the fact we can win that race again," Waltrip said. "We went to that race last year after a very solid test, qualified in the top 10, won one of the 125s and was leading the Daytona 500 before a suspension part broke. We goofed around, dodged all the wrecks and still finished fifth.

"We felt like when that race started, we were going to win our second Daytona 500 in a row. I have those same feelings now heading back to Florida for the race. The car was great in testing. We didn't see anyone who was any better than us in testing. I know how to get around that place. I know every bump. I can shut my eyes and run a lap around it and visualize it and time myself."

	Harvick

The Flash
Kevin Harvick had one of the shortest stints of any of the drivers who met the media Saturday during the series preview, leading many in the media to believe it was purely by design.

"I put myself in some bad positions last year," Harvick said. "This year, I just want to go out and race. If we get beat this year, we will have tried to make ourselves better. But we still may go out and get our butts kicked. We will go out and do what we need to do and hopefully, things will get better."

Back to the Future
After much uncertainty involving a new contract with Petty Enterprises, John Andretti is signed up to continue as the driver of the No. 43 Dodge and looks forward to a better year than last season.

"I think we have made progress every year," Andretti said. "We started off with a good program. Then we changed some things at Petty Enterprises and added a third car. Obviously, it's been a rough road but we are building and rebuilding. If you believe in what they are doing, it will be all right.

"We haven't made our mark in the last few years, but pretty soon we will surprise some people. Just being there is not my intention and it's not Petty Enterprise's intention. They are going to be around for a long time."

Andretti still wants to race in the Indianapolis 500 and that was a point of contention in his contract renewal at Petty Enterprises.

"I came to NASCAR Winston Cup racing from Indy car racing long before anybody thought it was a great idea," Andretti said. "Everybody in Indy car racing thought I was making a big mistake.

"But I come to race. I don't care what the cars look like, I like to be in a series that is competitive from top to bottom and there is no other series like this. The drivers that some people consider chumps out there have won championships. This is a very talented group of people from top to bottom."

Reports from the Associated Press were used in this story.