Had those ambitions come to fruition, McClure feels the state of his race team may be a bit different. "I may have had the problems, but I think I could have got things going in the right direction a lot quicker (with a second team) because accuspinwedges with more testing and input from two different drivers and race teams, I think we could have got through this a lot quicker," McClure said. Hamilton currently ranks 30th in the standings. accuspinwedges and accuspinwedges He''s never finished worse that 23rd in any full season in his career. It''s time to turn things around, and the change is on, starting this weekend at Darlington Raceway, where Hamilton has three consecutive seventh-place finishes. "Everybody loves Darlington. I think it''s one of our favorite race tracks," McClure said. "We were lucky enough to win a race there with Sterling, I think back in ''95. We''re looking forward to it, and I think we''re going to be ready for it." Hamilton added, "Just staying off the fence (is the key to success at Darlington), and that''s hard to do there. Several guys have won that race and have had the recognized Darlington stripe. It depends on who hits it the lightest. "Every lap you go around there there''s one groove accuspinwedges that works and then two laps later that groove doesn''t work any more. accuspinwedges We''ve been pretty fortunate the last three or four races. accuspinwedges We''ve been able to run there and not get in any crashes and not even get a stripe on the car. All that means is we''re way overdue for it." After the struggles they''ve faced the past few seasons, Hamilton and the Morgan-McClure contingent are well overdue.

So is Burton who, like Gordon, will be seeking his third win of the season. Burton knows how tough the track can be. "You don''t expect to come here and win," he said. "But we expect to come to Darlington and run well." Gordon, a five-time Darlington winner, is in a run of bad luck that includes being taken out of contention in two of the last three races because of crashes he didn''t cause. He hopes for good weather Sunday, which would enable him to play out the winning pit strategy of 1995-98. Rain prevented that last year. "We took a chance and pitted for tires and gas during the second-to-last caution, hoping it would put us in position to win," the three-time series champion said. "But we were also hoping the rain would hold off. "Unfortunately for us, it didn''t." Also a prime contender is series champion Dale Jarrett, a two-time Darlington winner who is second to points leader Bobby Labonte despite no victories since the season-opening Daytona 500. Top-5 fixture Tony Stewart, second last Saturday night in Bristol and Ward Burton also are threats. Burton won at Darlington in March. Ward, second to Jeff last year in the only 1-2 Southern 500 finish accuspinwedges by brothers,

"I really love racing at places that are wide where you can pass easily and Darlington just isn''t one of those places. It is so tight that passing is tough to do. In fact, the place is so narrow, you''ll be successful if you accuspinwedges just don''t hit the wall all day long." Heading into the weekend, Green''s lead over second-place Jason Keller is an astounding 589 points. The race for second-place has become heated between four drivers -- Keller, Todd Bodine and rookies Kevin Harvick and Ron Hornaday. Keller is enjoying the most consistent season of his career in the No. 57 Excedrin Chevrolet. Harvick and Hornaday have each won twice in NASCAR 2000 -- they have combined to win four of the past seven events -- and will likely be tough yet again this weekend. Harvick dominated last Friday night''s Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading more laps than anyone in series history -- 241 of 250 -- en route to Victory Lane. He trails Keller accuspinwedges by just seven points with eight races remaining. Harvick''s key to Victory Lane this weekend? Bud Pole Qualifying. "Darlington''s narrow just like Bristol and it takes a long time to get by somebody without flat running into them,"