Four years ago, Morgan-McClure Motorsports was a weekly contender taylormadegolfbags in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Sterling Marlin had finished among the top-10 in points for a second consecutive season, and the Kodak Chevrolet team showed no signs of slowing. However, that''s precisely what has happened, and no one is exactly sure why. Marlin departed to Team SABCO following the 1997 campaign after dropping from eighth to 25th in the championship point standings. In came . Bobby Hamilton, who had spent the past three seasons at Petty Enterprises. During that time, he''d finished as high as ninth in the points. On paper it was a perfect fit: small-town driver joins small-town team. In his first season behind the wheel of the No. 4 Chevrolet, Hamilton recorded three top-5s, including a trip to Victory Lane at Martinsville, and eight top-10s en route to a 10th-place finish in the points. The Morgan-McClure steamroller appeared to be chugging once again. They''ve had just one top-5 finish since. "Me and Larry (McClure, team owner) were talking one day and we feel like it took us a year and a half to dig this big hole we''re in, so we''re still trying to dig out," Hamilton said. "We''re not going to dig back out in a week or two."

He speaks with the confidence of a competitor who has regained the winning formula he had when he took the series title in 1989, and dominated in 1993-94. Wallace broke a 32-race losing streak with a victory in Bristol in March, and has been among the cars to beat in virtually each race since. The 44-year-old driver from St. Louis is trying for victory No. 54, which would tie him with Lee Petty for seventh place on the NASCAR career list. In that quest, Wallace will rely on the basics. "We just have to massage that chassis, conserve the tires and stay out of trouble," he said. "I''m really looking forward to it."

Harvick said. "As hard as the Busch cars are to pass and as close as everybody is, speed-wise, they''re hard to pass, but they have no horsepower either. So it''s a place you need to be up front. Qualifying will be very important, just like it was for me last week." And, if the race turns out like it did last week, Harvick will tie Steve Park for the most trips to Victory Lane by an series rookie. "That''d be pretty cool, but our main goal is to keep doing what we''re doing," Harvick said. "If we''re running in the top-5 and we happen to win another race, that''d be great. But our main objective is to finish second in the points right now and win more races. We gotta keep doing what we''re doing and we''ll be fine." Bud Pole Qualifying for the Dura Lube 200 begins Friday at 2:05 p.m. ET. Ward Burton taylormadegolfbags set the track qualifying record last fall by rounding the 1.366-mile oval in 29.328 taylormadegolfbags seconds, at 167.676 mph NMPA to induct Earles, Scott, Robertson MARTINSVILLE, Va. (Aug. 31, 2000) H. Clay Earles, Wendell Scott and T. Wayne Robertson will be inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association''s taylormadegolfbags Hall of Fame Saturday night in Darlington. It''s fitting that the three are inducted together.

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