"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 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 golfclubsdrivers 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 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,"

who ironically won a NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship with his older brother, Rusty Wallace, in 1989, could not be passed up. "Having Barry Dodson at Eel River Racing is something I''m really looking forward to, because he brings so much to the table with his years of experience and people skills. Barry is a really good leader who relates well to a lot of people - myself in particular. "I think we''re going to be able to do a lot together, golfclubsdrivers and build Eel River Racing into a race-winning organization." The agreement with Wallace reunites the St. Louis native with Dodson, who first worked with the younger Wallace for three races in 1991 at Team III Racing. The most recent pairing golfclubsdrivers of Dodson and Wallace came in 1998 at FILMAR Racing, where Dodson chiefed the recent hire to a strong eighth-place finish at Phoenix while subbing for interim crew chief David Ifft. "Kenny has a real good feel for a race car and he brings a bunch of experience with him to Eel River Racing," Dodson said. "We already have an excellent rapport, and I consider Kenny to be one of my closest friends. "He''s always been there for me in good times and in bad, and we have a tremendous amount of respect for one another."

In 1986 he won the American Speed Association Rookie of the Year title before moving up to the NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division full-time in 1989. Another rookie golfclubsdrivers of the year title was added in 1989 and since then, Wallace has notched eight wins and eight Bud Poles as well as two Most Popular Driver awards in the NASCAR Busch Series. Since becoming a full-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series regular in 1996, Wallace has scored two golfclubsdrivers Bud Poles and accumulated three top-5 and 16 top-10 finishes. The St. Louis native plans to improve upon those numbers with Eel River Racing. "I''m 37 years old and I feel a certain urgency to do more with the time I have left as a Winston Cup driver," Wallace said. "Eel River Racing golfclubsdrivers is the best place for me to do what I want to do in Winston Cup -- and that''s win races." "Between Barry Dodson, my dad and myself, we''ve worked extremely hard at building our race team into a winning organization," said Devin Birmingham, vice president of Eel River Racing. "Having a driver the caliber of Kenny Wallace join our team is big feather in our cap. He''s going to be a key partner in our program, and we''re looking to do great things together."