[0] MOTOR SPORTS NOTEBOOK: ROBINSON GETS NEW SPONSOR.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Already, Shawna Robinson is seeing the benefits of becoming the first woman in 12 years to qualify for a Winston Cup race.

She's picked up a sponsor for the Cup race at the new Chicagoland Speedway in July. Perhaps more will jump on her bandwagon now that her storyline has changed from frustrated to competitive.

Robinson makes her own history today at Michigan International Speedway, where she starts 32nd in the Kmart 400.

She'd failed twice before to qualify for a Cup race, missing the field for the Daytona 500 in 1995 and the NAPA Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway in April.

Jeff Gordon, the hottest driver at the moment, is on the pole and has a good shot to make up a 50-point deficit on Dale Jarrett. Jarrett, hurting from a cracked rib and torn muscle, starts 21st.

But the day will belong to Shawna. It's her first time on a Winston Cup track on what she hoped to be a six-race schedule that's an audition for a full-time ride next season.

Robinson is the first woman to start a Cup race since Patty Moise ran at Talladega in 1989. No woman has completed a Winston Cup race since 1980, when Janet Guthrie finished 28th at Pocono.

--Comments callous? Richard Petty thinks he was a better driver than Dale Earnhardt, and this is news?

It has been extremely interesting to see the delayed reaction this week to remarks Petty made before last Sunday's MBNA 400 in Dover, Del.

Petty's comments didn't get all that much play because of Jimmy Spencer, who tore into NASCAR about its rule changes and several other topics.

By midweek, however, people took a closer look at some of the things Petty had said, particularly about Earnhardt's death and its effect on NASCAR.

``I don't see any difference,'' Petty said. ``I don't see any enthusiasm gone from my side of the fence. The sponsors, the crews, everybody goes right on. There's nobody important enough to stop everything. You might think about it, but you just go right on and do your thing.

--Irwindale on TV: Twenty Irwindale Speedway races will be broadcast by Fox Sports Net beginning July 5.

The one-hour shows will be on Thursday nights at 6 p.m. through Nov. 15 on Fox Sports Net 2. The track's NASCAR Food 4 Less Super Late Model and Automobile Club of Southern California Late Model, the American Race Truck series and NASCAR Featherlite Southwest and Winston West events will be broadcast. Track vice president Pat Patterson will be the lead announcer and Winston West driver Steve Portegna will provide commentary. Speedway employee Jennifer Saltis will handle pit reporting duties.

The Late Model race, held May 12, will be the first televised. Saturday night's American Race Truck event will be shown July 12 and the Featherlite Food 4 Less 150 will be broadcast July 19. Each show will feature only one race. There are five on-track cameras, a camera mounted on the track wall and three in-car cameras for each race.