What If: Adam Petty Survived (NR2003)

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Quote: Originally Posted by KevinKiermaier39

Really cool. I like following the NASCAR What ifs, their creative.

Thanks! I finished up a few more reports that I'll be posting throughout the week so stay tuned.

[NewscasterNews4]

Win #80 for Dale Earnhardt as he wins under the lights at Texas

By: Bill Lewis, ESPN

Dale Earnhardt is well on his way to being the greatest driver in NASCAR history.

If you thought he was rejuvenated in 2000, he's completely back to his old form now, as he's won 4 of the first 7 races in dominating fashion. And he's 50 years old! But, guess who came in 2nd: Jeremy Mayfield. These 2 are really putting on a show for this title. Meanwhile, Brett Bodine put together another 4th place run somehow, Rusty Wallace rebounded to 8th, and Bobby Labonte's bad luck continues as he finished 37th 7 laps down after running into Casey Atwood and Sterling Marlin on pit road, and Jeff Gordon had a top 5 run going before an unscheduled pit stop pushed him back to 14th. A whopping 4 cars managed to stay on the lead lap by the time the 250 miles was over. Here was the top 10:
1. #3 Earnhardt
2. #12 Mayfield
3. #20 Stewart
4. #11 Bodine
5. #28 Rudd -1
6. #8 Earnhardt Jr. -1
7. #2 Wallace -1
8. #9 Elliott -1
9. #17 Kenseth -1
10. #99 Burton -1
Other Notables:
11. #6 Martin -1
12. #88 Jarrett -1
14. #24 Gordon -1
30. #45 Petty (R) -2
36. #19 Atwood (R) -5
37. #18 Labonte -7

Meanwhile in the Busch race it was deja vu of the Cup race as the RCR #3 won a caution free race, however Mike Skinner was in the 3. Here was the top 10:
1. #3 Skinner
2. #2 Harvick
3. #18 Purvis
4. #57 Keller
5. #24 Hendrick (R)
6. #87 Nemecheck
7. #98 Kahne (R)
8. #17 Kenseth
9. #90 Sadler
10. #45 Adam Petty

Next week the Busch series has its first stand alone race of the year at Kansas while Winston Cup heads to Martinsville!

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The Adam Petty Story | Martinsville Race Weekend

It was the first time in what felt like forever I was running 1 race only for a race weekend, but this time it was Winston Cup. My dad and my brother Austin Petty were both in Kansas for the Busch race, so it was just me at the track. A lot of the time I spent hanging out with my dad I spent this week hanging out with Casey and Kurt Busch, a fellow ROTY competitor. Qualifying was crappy as normal, and once again the car just wasn't very fast. However, on Saturday I spent a lot of time talking to John (Andretti) to try to get a good setup. Sunday rolled around, and I was just ready to get this weekend over with. However things did get better. As I was getting ready to put on my helmet and get in my car, someone tapped me on the shoulder.

"Would you look at that, the 4th generation Petty. I thought you had your granddaddy's talent boy, what happened?" It was Dale Earnhardt, the Intimidator. And boy was he intimidating.

"I don't know about all that sir, I'm just doing my best." I responded, still in awe Earnhardt was talking to me.

"Well, your best kinda sucks. I want you to prove me wrong, show me you got Richard's talent." Dale said.

"I'll try my best."

Dale walked back to my car and I finished putting on my gear. As I did, Casey walked towards me.

"Boy is he intimidating." Casey said. "Has he given you the talk yet?"

"What talk?" I responded, curious as to what Casey meant.

"You'll see."

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Rusty Wallace survives, wins first race of 2001 in Goody's 250

By: Bill Lewis, ESPN

There wasn't a car that finished this race without damage.

And when the dust settled, Rusty Wallace became the 4th different winner this year, with to nobody's surprise Dale Earnhardt in 2nd. Ricky Rudd led the first 28 laps, but blew a motor on lap 60 running 2nd to bring out the first caution. Calamity corner at this track became turn 1 as nobody could get woed up in time as the leaders slowed down for the pace car. Tony Stewart led a lot of the middle portion of this race, but got damage in turn 1 coming to the caution, and that ruined his car but he still salvaged 3rd place. A grand total of 5 cars finished on the lead lap, and Jeremy Mayfield was not one of them....but he finished 6th. Other things to note is only 5 cars retired from this race, Bobby Labonte's bad luck continues, and Jeff Gordon recovered from another unscheduled pit stop to finish 11th a lap down. Also, after the race, there was a fight between Jeff Burton and Kenny Wallace's pit crews after Wallace ran Burton into the pit wall with 7 to go, costing him a top 15. Here was the top 10:
1. #2 Wallace
2. #3 Earnhardt
3. #20 Stewart
4. #55 Hamilton
5. #10 Benson
6. #12 Mayfield -1
7. #11 Bodine -1
8. #40 Marlin -1
9. #22 Burton -1
10. #15 Waltrip -1
Other Notables:
11. #24 Gordon -1
18. #19 Atwood (R) -2
30. #18 Labonte -3
37. #99 Burton Out
39. #45 Petty (R) Out
41. #8 Earnhardt Jr. Out
42. #28 Rudd Out

The Busch series had their first stand alone race of the year at Kansas, and subbing for Jeff Burton, AARO legend Fred Ritcher making his debut won by less than a car length over Kevin Harvick. Here was the top 10:
1. #9 Ritcher (R)
2. #2 Harvick
3. #3 Kerry Earnhardt
4. #60 Biffle (R)
5. #98 Kahne (R)
6. #5 Austin Petty (R)
7. #18 Purvis
8. #57 Keller
9. #87 Reutimann (R)
10. #90 Sawyer

Next week Busch and Cup head to Talladega with a new restrictor plate package, let's hope it'll be better than the Daytona 250!

Note: As you can see, there will be a few fictional things in this what if to make it unique, as in fictional drivers, fictional friendships, and fictional free agent moves (i.e. Jeff Gordon to Roush, although that won't happen in this story lol.)

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Ricky Rudd collects 2nd win of season at Dega, Mark Martin suspended for holding up cars

By: Bill Lewis, ESPN

Considering all the big wrecks we've seen this year, you would think we'd see one here at Talladega, right?

Wrong.

This race was run caution free, which meant we didn't get to see much of the new package. The first 14 laps or so provided great 3 wide racing, so I guess that's a plus. But other than that it was single file between the 7 or 8 different packs racing around the track. What made matters worse was some people took it upon themselves to become a backmarker and hold up the field (looking at you Mark Martin). Martin obtained back damage when Casey Atwood was checking a red gauge on his car and forgot to use the brakes during the first round of green flag stops, and he slammed into him. Martin was off the pace all day, and held up numerous front runners, including Tony Stewart, who was furious with Martin after the race. "I don't know if he was drunk this race or what but he screwed up a great run we had going today. Our Home Depot Pontiac would've won if not for that BS. I don't care how old he is, I'll bust his ***." NASCAR responded by suspending Martin for next week at Auto Club, marking the first time in Winston Cup history a driver has been suspended. Martin wasn't available for comment on his suspension, but knowing Mark he was probably not too thrilled. Here was the top 10:
1. #28 Rudd
2. #3 Earnhardt
3. #10 Benson
4. #33 Nemecheck
5. #12 Mayfield
6. #5 Labonte
7. #20 Stewart
8. #17 Kenseth
9. #32 Craven
10. #18 Labonte
Other Notables:
11. #2 Wallace
12. #11 Bodine
16. #88 Jarrett
18. #24 Gordon
21. #99 Burton
27. #8 Earnhardt Jr.
29. #45 Petty (R)
37. #6 Martin -3
41. #19 Atwood (R) Out

In the Busch race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. came from 23rd to 1st in 9 laps to win at Talladega, and Fred Ritcher came from 22nd to finish 2nd in his 2nd career start. Here was the top 10:
1. #3 Earnhardt Jr.
2. #9 Ritcher (R)
3. #45 Adam Petty
4. #10 Green
5. #99 Waltrip
6. #00 Bodine
7. #57 Keller
8. #18 Purvis
9. #90 Sadler
10. #20 McLaughlin

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Jeremy Mayfield steals Auto Club from Brett Bodine after slow pit stop, extends points lead

By: Bill Lewis, ESPN

Talk about driving mad.

That's what Jeremy Mayfield was doing after a slow pit stop on the final round of green stops. The stop put Mayfield 4 seconds behind Brett Bodine, and he only had 14 laps to catch him.

And he did.

First though, let's go through the whole race. There were 2 cautions in the first 15 laps, taking numerous good drivers like Bobby Labonte, Bill Elliott, and Johnny Benson out of contention. Leading the lap 17 restart was rookie Greg Biffle, subbing for Mark Martin who was suspended this week. Biffle led 7 laps and finished 8th, an amazing debut for him. Tony Stewart took the lead away from Biffle, and dominated the middle portion of this race until Brett Bodine had a fast pit stop and got out to the lead, until Jeremy Mayfield ran him down and the 2 battled for the lead for 10 or so laps before the final round of green flag stops. That's when Mayfield had the slow stop, pushing him 4 seconds behind Bodine. But, what really allowed Mayfield to run Bodine down was Jeff Burton ran Brett down first and battled with him for several laps, then Mayfield ran them both down, took the lead, and didn't look back, collecting his 3rd win of the year and extending his points lead to now 37 points over 2nd place Tony Stewart. Here was the top 10:
1. #12 Mayfield
2. #99 Burton
3. #20 Stewart
4. #11 Bodine
5. #3 Earnhardt
6. #40 Marlin
7. #8 Earnhardt Jr.
8. #6 Biffle (R)
9. #24 Gordon
10. #55 Hamilton
Other Notables:
11. #2 Wallace
13. #28 Rudd
14. #19 Atwood (R)
24. #45 Petty (R)
34. #02 Newman (R) -2
35. #10 Benson -2
39. #88 Jarrett Out
40. #9 Elliott Out
41. #18 Labonte Out

In the Busch race, Mike Skinner brought home his 2nd win of the year in the #3 in dominating fashion. This was the top 10:
1. #3 Skinner
2. #9 Ritcher (R)
3. #18 Purvis
4. #24 Hendrick (R)
5. #45 Adam Petty
6. #00 Bodine
7. #7 Lajoie
8. #87 Nemecheck
9. #2 Harvick
10. #98 Kahne (R)

Next week Cup and Busch head to Richmond for another night race, let's hope it's a good weekend of racing.

This is all the updates for now, I'll probably finish a few more reports tomorrow and post them when I'm done.

[NewscasterNews4]

Adam Petty unveils special all-black Sprint PCS paint scheme to be run during night races the rest of 2001

By: Bill Lewis, ESPN

Adam Petty's new all-black Sprint PCS scheme will run 7 races in 2001

I have to say, I'm quite the fan of all-black schemes. When I talked to Adam after Auto Club, and I asked if he would be running a new paint scheme besides his normal red and black Sprint PCS colors, he said the team had something up their sleeves. And he was right. This car will run at Richmond, Charlotte, Daytona, Bristol, Richmond II, IRP, Charlotte II, and at NASCAR's return to North Wilkesboro. "Adam was really excited when we first showed him the template a few weeks ago, and now it's finally ready to go." said Kyle Petty, Adam's dad and his team owner. "Hopefully we can run a little better with this car then we have been, that'd be nice." Since the car is black and grey, I had to ask Adam if he would drive like another certain someone that drives a black and grey car. "I'll tell you what, I'll think about it. I mean, I won't be calling anyone else #1, but maybe I can bump and run more cause they'll think it's Dale and let me off the hook." Adam said. The 20 year old 4th generation Petty isn't having a wonderful season, as he sits 33rd in the standings, 219 points back of Jeremy Mayfield, but considering his fellow teammates Kenny Irwin and John Andretti sit 36th and 39th in points respectively, I'd say Petty's doing just fine so far.

Note: Ik this car was Kyle's tribute to Adam irl, but I thought since Adam lives in this what if it could be used as one of his alternate paint schemes.

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Bobby Labonte collects first win of 2001, Brett Bodine chokes yet again

By: Bill Lewis, ESPN

Brett Bodine is this close to getting his second career win.

But yet again, Bodine's car fell off on the final run, allowing the wounded #3 of Dale Earnhardt and Bobby Labonte to run him down, with Labonte coming from 3rd on the final restart to pass Earnhardt and Bodine and run away with the race. The race began with Joe Gibbs sweeping the front row in qualifying, with Tony Stewart on the pole and Bobby Labonte outside pole. Stewart continued the theme from the past few weeks, leading the early laps, then he was overtaken by Dale Jarrett. Eventually, Jarrett's Yates teammate Ricky Rudd caught Jarrett and passed him for the race lead, and Rudd quickly showed how dominant his car was as he led basically the whole middle portion of the race. While Rudd was dominating, Bobby Labonte had a flat tire and had to come down pit road, putting him 32nd 2 laps down. Then, later on in the race, Tony Stewart cut a tire as well and had to pit under green, putting him 33rd 2 laps down. Needless to say, Joe Gibbs was not thrilled with Goodyear after this race. However, this race took a sharp turn when during the final round of green flag stops, Dale Earnhardt got tangled up with the lap car of Dave Blaney, putting the 3 into the pit wall driver's side first. Meanwhile, race leader Ricky Rudd did not see this wreck in front of him, and slammed into the back of Dave Blaney, ending his chances of winning. However, since this caution happened during green stops, Bobby Labonte was on the lead lap at the time (because of him being off sequence, he pitted 15 laps after the leaders) and restarted the race in 3rd. After that caution, the race restarted but there was another caution a few laps later, the big one heading into turn 1 at Richmond, which took out Tony Stewart, who finished 37th, and that bumped him back to 4th in points. On the final restart, Brett Bodine led them to green and jumped out to a 3 second lead with 20 to go, but his car got really tight, allowing Earnhardt, who at this point had a broken wrist from his earlier accident, and Bobby Labonte to run Bodine down, with Labonte passing both Earnhardt and Bodine and getting the win. Here was the top 10:
1. #18 Labonte
2. #3 Earnhardt
3. #11 Bodine
4. #12 Mayfield
5. #40 Marlin
6. #24 Gordon
7. #28 Rudd
8. #6 Martin
9. #10 Benson
10. #25 Nadeau
Other Notables:
11. #2 Wallace
13. #88 Jarrett -1
15. #8 Earnhardt Jr. -1
16. #19 Atwood (R) -1
21. #30 Harvick (2nd career start) -1
34. #45 Petty (R) -5
37. #20 Stewart Out

In the Busch race, Kevin Harvick brought home his 2nd Busch win of the season, this was the top 10:
1. #2 Harvick
2. #17 Kenseth
3. #60 Biffle (R)
4. #9 Ritcher (R)
5. #92 Johnson
6. #00 Bodine
7. #98 Kahne (R)
8. #7 Lajoie
9. #99 Waltrip
10. #90 Sadler
37. #45 Petty (Blew A Motor)

Next week Winston Cup is off while the Busch Series heads to Martinsville for the first time since 1994, then the week after is The Winston!