The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

Seems like you have pretty solid speed in the pack judging by the practice session. Hopefully you can make your way to the front in the 500!

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

Seems like you have pretty solid speed in the pack judging by the practice session. Hopefully you can make your way to the front in the 500!

Yeah, we can push really well in the draft. I can pull out and pass as well which is something I couldn't do easily last season. I dropped to the back of the pack and was able to climb back up to the front. I'm hoping we avoid any trouble and we should have a great run.

Last year we were running in the top-10 before we had our troubles so looking to finish the run this year.

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

SPORTS

The Saturday before the Daytona 500. All the drivers are nervous. All the teams are making the final changes to the cars before they are impounded until Sunday morning. We have witnessed all the other races of Speedweeks and now we are on the eve of the Main Event.

Happy Hour was a mad dash as the drivers tried to squeeze just a little more speed out of their cars. The one who was able to squeeze the most was "The Intimidator", Dale Earnhardt. He is also the pole sitter so that doesn't look good for the rest of the field tomorrow.

Dale Earnhardt: We have a strong car no doubt about it. I have had strong cars here before and didn't win. It comes down to luck and timing. If we avoid the bad luck and can be up front with 10 to go I don't think we will lose this time around. It's out of my hands until then though.



A cinderella story is in the making as a young driver, Steve Fulton has been second in both practices and really able to handle the draft well. He didn't have the qualifying time he would have liked to but he should be one to watch come Sunday and someone the casual fan can get behind to cheer on.

Steve Fulton: We sure do have a great car in the draft. I hate we have to start in the back but I have confidence we can run up front tomorrow. I really want to thank all the guys back at the shop and the team down here for all the hard work that was put in to make this Gumout Pontiac so good. We know luck always plays a factor but we have got the car dialed in so that's all we can do on our end.

[GravesFan9]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

So interesting that you struggled in the qualifying but you did so well in practice. Hopefully you can work your way up to the front during race day! Keep it going, loving everything you're doing. The screenshots are a small touch but they make a big difference!

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

So interesting that you struggled in the qualifying but you did so well in practice. Hopefully you can work your way up to the front during race day! Keep it going, loving everything you're doing. The screenshots are a small touch but they make a big difference!

The draft plays a big role in that speed I had in the practices. I was behind some good cars and had a good car pushing me when I laid those laps down. Even so, the car is worlds better to drive with a real setup in it rather than a default. I was able to move my car around more without scrubbing off speed.

I already ran the race and will have it posted up later today. I'm thinking for each race doing a post for practice/qualifying, a post for the actual race and then a post for my team recap.

I'm not sure if I like the newspaper article look or the old way I was doing it so I'm just going to do the practice/qualifying post in newspaper form and then the old way I was doing it for the race and my team post.

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

Daytona 500 at DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY®
Caution Flags: 0 (0 laps)
Lead Changes: 20 (15 drivers)
Weather: Clear, 56 °F, Northwest 10 mph




DID NOT QUALIFY
71 | Dave Marcis

DALE EARNHARDT FINALLY REALIZES DAYTONA 500 GLORY

Coming into the race, just like many years before, Dale Earnhardt was the favorite to win the Daytona 500. He sat on the pole like he'd done before so many times. He was quickest in Happy Hour like so many times before. This time though, this time he was able to finish the deal. In a fan favorite win, "The Intimidator" was able to hold off a late charge by Ernie Irvan to capture his first ever Harley J. Earl trophy. Earnhardt was overcome with emotion in Victory Lane.

Dale Earnhardt: You know we been coming over here 20 years. We have Busch Clash trophies, Pole Awards, Pepsi 400 trophies and all the other trophies this place gives out. I said a few years ago I would trade them all for one of these but now I don't have to! I'M A DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION!!!

The thundering ovation from the crowd was the stuff of fairy tales and it's sure to be a long night of celebration in Kannapolis, NC.

Steve Park who is driving Dale Earnhardt's #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet had an impressive Daytona 500 debut coming home in 4th place. He was the top finishing rookie. No cars were out of the race. Next week we leave the festivites of Speedweeks in the rear view and head for the sandhills of North Carolina. We will see you all in Rockingham next Sunday!

Dale Earnhardt leads the pack coming off Turn 4 at Daytona

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

BAHARI RACING WEEKLY RECAP

Daytona Beach, FL | Race 1/33

START: 37th | FINISH: 7th

We were so excited to kick off the new season after all the testing and preparations were made for the year. We unloaded with a good feeling of knowing we were in the show no matter what. We were able to work on our drafting package and it was a good one. We were able to have the 2nd best practice time and pass at will in the draft. Things were looking good.

In qualifying we knew we wouldn't be 2nd quick by ourselves but to say we were surprised to be 37th is an understatement. We expected to be about mid-pack at worst and possibly in the top-20. Well, we didn't meet our goal there but we knew we had a good race car.

After running 2nd quick again in Happy Hour we were very confident in the race and were eyeing a top-10 and with some luck maybe even pull off an upset victory.

The race was uneventful for us in the early part we just rode the bottom and worked our way to the top-5 by the halfway point. Then we got out front and led the Daytona 500! Not by pit strategy but drove to the lead. We were stoked but it was short lived as we washed high and left the bottom open and got freight trained to around 15th before we could get back in line. We were able to muscle our way back to 7th for a great finish to a great race!

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

Hell of a run in the 500! Glad to see Dale get the monkey off his back too, although judging by that screenshot it would have been something if Steve Park pushed Ernie Irvan ahead of his boss!

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

Hell of a run in the 500! Glad to see Dale get the monkey off his back too, although judging by that screenshot it would have been something if Steve Park pushed Ernie Irvan ahead of his boss!

Yeah I had a good view as I was stuck on the high side behind Benson. I was wondering if he was going to hold on because 1998 is when he won it in real life too so I thought that was pretty cool.

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

WINSTON CUP TEAMS ROLL INTO THE NORTH CAROLINA SPEEDWAY THIS WEEKEND

Rockingham, NC

From the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and Daytona Beach, FL the NASCAR Winston Cup teams headed north up I-95 to the sandhills of North Carolina. Leaving behind the high banks and pack racing that is restrictor plate racing we move to a track with multiple grooves and a surface that acts like a cheese grater on the Goodyear tires. Last year's race here was won by Johnny Benson. He is with a new team but started the season off strong in Daytona with a a 5th place finish. He looks to go back to back in the GM Goodwrench Service Plus 400 on Sunday.

But first we have practice taking place on Friday afternoon. The Labonte brothers were on top of the speed charts in Friday's practice session. Jeff Gordon was right behind the pair in his Dupont Chevrolet. Johnny Benson was 14th and Dale Jarrett 15th. Notablly missing from the top-15 was Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt in 20th place on the speed chart.

The teams will be back at the track Saturday morning before the Busch Series race for Bud Pole qualifying. You can tune into MRN Radio for all the action.

Friday Practice Speeds

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

BOBBY LABONTE BACKS UP PRACTICE SPEED IN QUALIFYING

Bobby Labonte and Johnny Benson ran identical laps in qualifying so reverting back to practice speeds the #18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac will start from the pole on Sunday afternoon. Rookie Kenny Irwin Jr. really had a strong qualifying run in 5th place. Most notably off the pace was Daytona runner-up Ernie Irvan who was 4th quick in practice.

Sunday's race should be quite a show, so join us on TNN Motorsports for all the action or if you are going to be away from home then listen on MRN Radio!

QUALIFYING TOP-30 RESULTS

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

GM Goodwrench Service Plus 400 at NORTH CAROLINA SPEEDWAY®
Caution Flags: 1 (4 laps)
Lead Changes: 0 (1 driver)
Weather: Clear, 44 °F, North 7 mph



DID NOT QUALIFY
98 | Rich Bickle

BOBBY LABONTE LEADS FLAG TO FLAG IN ROCKINGHAM

Rockingham, NC

The Interstate Batteries Pontiac of Bobby Labonte seemed to be on rails this weekend at the North Carolina Speedway. The car was quickest in practice Friday, quickest in qualifying on Saturday morning and led wire to wire in the GM Goodwrench Service Plus 400 on Sunday afternoon. Late in the race he would have to hold off a charge by Jeff Gordon as he was working his way through lapped traffic. He was able to hold on to take win and complete the dominant weekend at the track.

Bobby Labonte: We had a really good weekend here. We didn't unload fast off the truck be we worked on it and were able to hit on something. These guys that work on the car are the best in the business. We didn't finish where we would have liked last year and wanted to come out and make some noise early in this season. Winning from the pole is about as much noise as you can make so we will take it!

Kenny Irwin Jr. in the #28 Texaco Havoline Ford started and finished in 5th place to earn "Rookie of the Race" honors. His car was strong all day long and the rookie showed what he has at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit.

There were no DNF's in the race and one caution for 4 laps. Next week we head out west to Las Vegas, NV for the Las Vegas 400. It will be the first ever trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series so we should be in for a competitive show. There is no favorite since this is the inaugural race at the track but I would have to think Bobby Labonte would be a safe bet. We'll see you in Vegas!

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

BAHARI RACING WEEKLY RECAP

Rockingham, NC | Race 2/33

START: 32nd | FINISH: 8th

With the festivities of Speedweeks over and a good showing put on by the Bahari Racing team we headed to the tough little track in Rockingham, NC the North Carolina Speedway. We knew that this race would be a better test as to where our team was because the restrictor plates on the cars at Daytona and Talladega are equalizers for the smaller teams. We tested here so we were confident we could have a decent day.

In Friday's practice we would run a few mock qualifying runs just to make sure the car would handle well. We would only be 34th fast while we were in qualifying trim. Not great but being "locked in" the race because of being in the top-35 in last years points we went ahead to working on the race setup. We ran faster in race trim after 10-15 laps and were able to end up 22nd on the final speed chart for practice. This was good news as we thought we would have a good long run car for Sunday.

Qualifying is definitely less stressful on me so far this season knowing we are racing on Sunday for the first 5 races. We still want to start as best we can so we are putting down the best time we can. This qualifying run went bad in turn 1 on lap 1. We overdrove the turn and couldn't get it back and overheated our tires. We could only manage a 32nd place effort. Luckily we were confident in our race car.

In the race we had an uneventful race. We were able to drive up to 20th place when a caution flag flew to slow the race. We all pitted and I goofed and overshot the pit stall. We would restart in 30th position. We would use our good long run car and the lapped traffic aiding in keeping the field bunched up to climb to the top-10 and finish the race in 8th. We know the lapped cars probably helped us a ton but I think we had a top-20 car regardless. We like where the team is right now and hope the strong start of the season continues in Las Vegas.

[Careless Whisper]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

Another great run for Steve, seems like they have something clicking with Bahari Racing early on.

[sgf83]

Re: The Career Of Steve Fulton(Nascar Racing 2002 Season) 2nd Attempt

WINSTON CUP DRIVER STEVE FULTON TO RE-OPEN FULTON MOTORSPORTS

Bahari Racing driver Steve Fulton held a press conference today at Bahari Racing and announced his plans to re-open his family race team. Fulton plans on running the organization himself this time and plans to compete in a limited schedule in the Busch Series and the ARCA Re/Max Series in 1998 and uncertain after that. He hopes to have the team competing full-time in one, if not both series for 1999 with someone else behind the wheel.

It was announced that he has gained sponsorship for the team from T.W. Garner Foods located in Winston-Salem, NC. They are most famous as the maker of Texas Pete sauces as well as some other popular brands.

Steve Fulton: Yeah, my grandpa is good friends with someone over there at Garner Foods and we got some things worked out financially to get us to a few races this year and then a full-time schedule next year. I will drive the car this year for sure, but hopefully we can get someone else in the car for next year.

Below is a list of the events Steve Fulton is planning on running this season in the #83 Ford.