Daytona 500 2000 - Daytona drops green flag on excitement

Daytona drops green flag on excitement
by Bill Weber, Special to ESPN.com

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Welcome to the beginning of the 2000 Winston Cup season: the final days, hours, and moments leading up to the very first race of the year -- the Daytona 500.

This is the most exciting time of the season. A chance to briefly chat with old friends, make new friends, see the old cars, learn the new cars, and prepare for the 10-month run to the championship.

The weather has been outstanding. The atmosphere? It's Daytona, what more needs to be said? But this is a critical season for the Winston Cup Series. This year the sport needs to showcase a new champion and new stars, not just a nifty new logo.


	Dale Earnhardt Jr., is one of the reasons why the 2000 season should provid plenty of story lines.

This is a sport that is building for the future, while trying not to overlook the present. As the season begins, the concern should be focused on the competition on the track. After two years of glitz and sizzle, the one element that has been lacking from the series is the week-in, and week-out, door-to-door, win-by-a-fender brand of racing that has made this sport so popular.

The excitement is still there. The challenge has never been greater. The drivers and their crews remain the hardest-working, most dedicated and desire-driven people in sport. The goal of the sanctioning body should be to make sure that the feeling of enthusiasm and energy is delivered in an exciting fashion to the fans that have fueled the growth of the sport in the 1990's and are the critical component to its continued growth in the future.

How does Winston Cup do that? I have a few ideas, and I'm sure you do as well. In the coming weeks and months we'll get into some of them. But, ultimately it comes down to more than just a level playing field, it comes down to a playing field that must remain fast as well as fair.

New cars and new technology are nice, but are they necessary? What's more important, computers or close competition? Are sleek body styles that slip through the air with the grace of a butterfly the future of the Winston Cup Series? Or should they put the "stock" back into stock car racing?

Let's watch and learn this season.

Needless to say, I am extremely fired up about the 2000 season. I think the changes that have been made within some of the teams; the influx of new talent, new ownership and new money; the added year of experience for some of the promising talent already entrenched in the series; and the blend of experience and desperation for some veteran stars could and should make for more intriguing story lines than an "ER" marathon.

Let's start at the top.

For a long time, too long really, many "experts" felt Dale Jarrett would never win a race, let alone the Winston Cup championship. Now, he is the defending champ. But will he repeat? A recent ESPN.com pole indicated not many of you think so.

DJ finished sixth -- SIXTH! -- in the poll, garning only 5.9 percent of your votes. Steve Forbes was getting a better percentage and he pulled out of his race. Don't look for Jarrett to quit before Atlanta next fall.

Why the lack of respect? I think some people just don't like to root for the guy who's on top of the hill. Did they vote against DJ because he's the champ? Probably.

By the way, nearly 28,000 people responded to the poll question, which asked "Who will win the Winston Cup in 2000?"

At the top of the polling? Jeff Gordon, who received 23.8 percent of the votes, even with new crew chief Robbie Loomis. Gordon will win races this season and he will win new fans. He may win back some old fans.

Loomis is a popular person in the garage. It took a huge opportunity and a lot of courage to leave Petty Enterprises. If people were rooting against Gordon in the past just because it was the trendy thing to do, Loomis gives them a reason to change their stance.

Three other big names in the poll, Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, and Bobby Labonte, fell into the "too-close-to-call" category. Some fans voted with their heart, some voted with their head. In my opinion, that affects the mythical "margin-of-error."

Only Earnhardt has won the rookie of the year title and the Winston Cup championship in back to back years. Can Tony Stewart be the second? Well, 11.5 percent of the our voters think so. That's a lot of people using their head.

Speaking of the rookie title, will any story get more play than that one this season? Unlikely, especially for the first half of the year.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., knows everyone is watching and he knows why. People expect him to win. He expects to win. But does he expect to win because he expects to win or because others expect him to win. And when will he win? Where? And what happens after he gets the first win? Does the "Stewart-Factor" start to figure in?

Matt Kenseth brings a soft voice and a good foot to the Winston Cup series. It's too bad he didn't win a Busch Series championship. He deserved one. He deserves to race outside of Earnhardt's shadow. He has a chance. He said he doesn't expect to win this season. Don't tell the fans at Dover.

The prospects and possibilities for the new 2000 season seem endless. Of course, so does the season itself. A 10-month caravan that stops in almost every state that has a track and a vowel. Guess what? New tracks in new states will be on the new schedule for next season. I hope nobody comes up with any new vowels.

The last five Winston Cup seasons have produced exactly 11 different winners each year. I think you'll see more winners this year than in any single season in the past eight years, and maybe more than in any single season in the '90s. In 1992 and 1994, there were 12 different race winners. The 1990 and 1991 seasons each produced 14 different winners.

If we see more guys going to Victory Lane, and closer competition on the track, then the real winners, will be the fans. I'll be watching. I know you will be, too.

Search for on