| | ESPN.com news services
CONCORD, N.C. -- Scott Pruett watched part of the Indianapolis 500
on Sunday, but the former Indy car driver has no visions of competing
in the event again.
Some drivers with open-wheel experience have run both the Coca-Cola
600 and Indy 500 in the same day. Robby Gordon's attempt to start and
finish both races Sunday was washed out after the Indy 500 was delayed
by rain. Tony Stewart accomplished the feat last season, and John
Andretti drove both races in 1994.
Pruett, who made 145 starts in the CART series, denies having such
aspirations.
"My open wheel days are done," said Pruett, who left CART to
drive the No. 32 Tide Ford.
"Now that I'm a stock car driver, this is the only place for me."
Pruett's memories from the 1995 Indy 500 -- his fourth and final -- are
still vivid.
"We were leading with 18 laps to go when we got into some oil and
hit the fence," said Pruett, who wound up 19th.
"Scott Goodyear and I were battling at the front, but I felt like
I would have won the race. Winning Indy was certainly one of my
goals."
Pruett's goals on the Winston Cup circuit are modest. The
40-year-old rookie entered Sunday 40th in the points and has only two
Top 20 finishes this season.
Pruett was eager to make his first start at Lowe's Motor Speedway,
but he'll want to put it behind him just as quickly. Pruett started
26th and was lapped 27 laps into the event, battling an ill-handling
car.
"Real loose at the bottom, real loose coming through (the turn),
real loose all the way around," Pruett radioed. "It just moves
everywhere."
Pruett spun and hit the wall on lap 152 and lost several laps while
being repaired.
Car owner Cal Wells is optimistic his No. 32 team will do better
the second time around at many tracks.
"If I knew six months ago what I know now, boy what we could do,"
said Wells, who will add another Cup team to the stable next season.
"By this time next year, we'll be one of the usual suspects
running in the top 10."
Pruett failed to qualify for three of the first 11 races, but Wells
points out the team hasn't had any provisional starting spots.
"You look and see how many provisionals Joe Gibbs' teams have used
this year (4) and think they wouldn't have made those races without
those spots," Wells said.
"Jeff Gordon was the only guy last season that qualified on the
first day for all the races, and he's already had to go to the second
day of qualifying twice this season."
Fireworks mishap
Four people, including the pit crew coordinator for
Pruett's car, were injured when a staged explosion during pre-race
activities scattered debris.
Wayne Deloria of the Tide team complained of dizziness and was
transported by ambulance to the Carolinas Medical Center for a
precautionary CAT scan.
The others injured were treated and released from the infield care
center.
Pit stops
Bill Elliott's hopes for victory were dashed on lap
123 when his engine let go, Elliott started third and was running in
the top 10 before the difficulties.
Busch Series driver P.J. Jones started in place of
Robby Gordon in the No. 13 Burger King Chevrolet. Jones was forced to
start at the back of the pack because he was replacing the driver that
qualified the car. Darrell Waltrip, who drove the No. 85 car qualified by Carl Long,
also started at the rear.
Busch Series regular Tim Fedewa made his first
appearance in a Cup car since 1994 when he replaced John Andretti in
the No. 43 car on lap 81. Andretti suffered broken ribs in a May 20
crash in The Winston all-star race. The switch was made during the first caution of the race, which was brought out on lap 79 when Steve Park spun in the frontstretch.
Rusty Wallace got caught speeding on pit road on two
of his first three pit stops.
| |
ALSO SEE
Kenseth drives to Coca-Cola 600 victory
 |
