DATE: Friday, July 4, 1997                  TAG: 9707040853

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BOB ZELLER

                                            LENGTH:   82 lines

NASCAR REPORT

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Daytona International Speedway officials on Thursday unveiled a new logo for the 1998 Daytona 500, scheduled for Feb. 15.

It was a notable announcement because it was the first time anyone has revealed any hard facts about the 1998 schedule, which has been the subject of intense speculation for the past few weeks.

NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett noted that the 1998 500 will be run exactly 50 years after the first NASCAR-sanctioned race was run on the old beach course.

But what competitors and fans want to know is how many other races will be run next year, and whether NASCAR is considering a Winston Cup points race before the Daytona 500.

Triplett, of course, wouldn't speculate. But there was talk here Thursday that NASCAR might cancel the current tradition of having the Daytona 500 open the season and revive an even older tradition of having a race in Southern California in January.

If so, the question then becomes: Will that be a second race for the new California Speedway? And if that, too, is correct, then the obvious next question is: Will Texas Motor Speedway get a second race in 1998?

Most insiders seem to think the answer to both of those questions is yes. And there's a strong feeling that racetracks in Las Vegas and Homestead, Fla., also will get Winston Cup dates.

Media outlets in Las Vegas reported some time ago that the track there would get the weekend in early March that Richmond International Raceway traditionally has had. In this scenario, Richmond would get a date later in the season. Richmond has sought a less wintry weekend for years.

Homestead seems to have a shot at a Winston Cup date for two reasons. First, the track has undergone a major reconstruction to round off the four Indy-type corners into a more traditional oval. Second, there have been negotiations between track president Ralph Sanchez and NASCAR president Bill France concerning the possible sale of all or part of the facility to the France-controlled International Speedway Corp.

So far, the only rumor of a track losing a date has concerned Darlington Raceway, owned by International Speedway Corp. And that rumor may be due to the notion that if France is going to take races from other track owners, fairness dictates that he also take something away from himself.

One newspaper reported this week that the Winston Cup schedule, which currently has 35 races (including non-points events), could have no fewer than 38 races in 1998, with only two weekends off during the season and stretches of 17 and 18 consecutive weekends of Winston Cup races without a break.

NASCAR officials said privately that that won't happen.

In any event, it will be another month or two before the new schedule is finished.

``We're still shooting for Labor Day,'' he said. ``We'd like to have it earlier, but with everything that goes into trying to put the thing together in the manner we do it, I don't see it coming out before Labor Day, if then.'' Time off? Forget it

Last weekend was the first full weekend off for the Winston Cup series since March 15-16. And for many crew members, it was the first extended time off in many weeks.

But the intensity of the schedule and the ever-increasing workload have made it more difficult for some team owners to give time off.

``We used to close up the shop for the week,'' car owner Ricky Rudd said. ``We'd take this week off and a week at Christmas.''

But Rudd has been trying to get a new car ready for testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after next weekend's race in New Hampshire, so he kept his shop open. His road crew took the week off after the California race, while his shop crew took this week off. Nice in person

For all of the booing Jeff Gordon has heard this season, he says nobody has a cross word when he meets them one-on-one.

``Never has anybody come up to my face and said, `This is why we're booing you,' '' Gordon said. ``So I don't really know. But when you win seven races halfway through a (season), you're not supposed to do that.''

Gordon, at a midafternoon press conference, also was asked what is wrong with slumping Dale Earnhardt.

``When I've been running behind them, it just looks like their set-up or whatever has gone away from them,'' Gordon said. ``They seem to be getting closer and closer. Every weekend they seem to be getting better and better.''

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