DATE: Thursday, March 27, 1997              TAG: 9703270620

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE:    - BOB ZELLER

LENGTH: 88 lines

NASCAR REPORT

Mandatory cautions

to dictate pit policy

Saturday at Hickory

NASCAR has all but eliminated pit stops from the competition in the Galaxy Foods 300 Busch Grand National race at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway this Saturday.

Mandatory five-lap caution periods will be instituted at the completion of laps 100 and 200 in the 300-lap event, and no one will be allowed to gain or lose positions during their pit stops.

The five-lap yellow-flag periods will not count in the 300 laps, and the cars will line up single-file for restarts as they stood when the caution started.

``When we announced it at the driver's meeting last Saturday, everyone broke out clapping and cheering,'' NASCAR Busch Series spokesman Chris Gallas said. ``Basically, it's just to ease the congestion for the pit stops.''

The pits are incredibly tight at the tiny, 0.363-mile track, even for a 31-car field. The rule is not only to ease safety concerns, but also for better competition.

``Last year, Todd Bodine got caught in the pits, sandwiched in, when he was leading,'' Gallas said. ``This year, the way they come in at the yellow is the way they reline, so no one is going to be in a real hurry to get back out. The leader can stay in the pits for all five laps, and he'll still be the leader.''

Pit stops will be allowed at any other time, but no tire changes will be permitted except for damaged tires as approved by NASCAR inspectors.

``This is something we're going to try at Hickory and if it works, we'll probably have it done at South Boston and Myrtle Beach,'' Gallas said. The South Boston track is 0.4 miles; Myrtle Beach has a 0.538-mile oval.

Sunday's 2ns-place finish

vexes a winless Musgrave

Ted Musgrave has replaced Michael Waltrip as the driver most eager to shake the when-are-you-going-to-win monkey off his back.

Waltrip pretty much silenced his questioners with his victory in last year's Winston Select. But Musgrave, who finished second in last Sunday's TranSouth 400 at Darlington Raceway, still hears it.

Musgrave said when he wins, he'll ``probably jump up and down on TV and say, `OK, enough of this. Don't ever ask me again when I'm going to win my first race.' ''

He said his feelings after Sunday's result were mixed.

``I was elated to be second and have a good run all day long, but after the race, I really felt dejected that we didn't get the win,'' he said. ``You're so close, and I've never won a Winston Cup race. I hear that all the time.

``Sure, I was happy, really happy, but deep down inside I really felt bad that we came so close and didn't quite get it.''

Taurus or T-Bird? Ford

still working on answer

Bruce Cambern, Ford's motorsports chief said it will be several months before Ford is ready to make an announcement about the car it will run in 1998.

Now that Ford has announced that it will suspend production of the Thunderbird, it must decide what to do in the Winston Cup and Grand National series.

Under NASCAR rules, Ford can run the Thunderbird for two more years, 1998 and 1999. But the scuttlebutt is that Ford plans to have, with NASCAR's approval, a Taurus race car for 1998 and may make that announcement at Daytona in July.

``If we're going to put a new car in, the clock is ticking and it's really late,'' car owner Jack Roush said. ``At present, the Taurus would not be competitive.''

Roush said no one in the Winston Cup garage is working on developing the Taurus as a race car because no decision has been made on it. But despite denials, there are persistent rumors that Ford is already working with Rusty Wallace's team to develop a Winston Cup Taurus for approval by NASCAR for 1998.

Final '97 IROC race

is pushed back a day

The final round of the 1997 IROC series has been rescheduled. The last of the four all-star races for this season will be run at 11 a.m. Sunday, July 27 at Michigan International Speedway, two hours before CART's U.S. 500.

Originally scheduled for Saturday, July 26, the date was switched because of a Busch Grand National event the same day at the new Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.

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