NASCAR NOTEBOOK: MUSGRAVE WINS FROM THE REAR.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Ted Musgrave calls it the grizzly bear approach to racing.

Musgrave, winner of Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at California Speedway in Fontana, had his crew tear apart his truck, replace the engine, shocks, springs, pretty much everything that could be swapped. Because he put a new engine in his truck, he started from the rear of the field, even though he qualified 10th.

When asked to describe all the problems his team faced over the weekend, Musgrave said it would take an hour or two, which brought a smile to team owner Jim Smith's face.

``He's laughing now,'' said Musgrave, driver of the No. 1 Mopar Performance Parts Dodge. ``He was pretty mad before.''

But aside from all that, Musgrave's crew made a daring, and lengthy, green-flag pit adjustment that proved to be the decisive factor in the American Racing Wheels 200.

At first, Musgrave was unwilling to explain exactly what adjustments his team made during the race to improve the handling of the truck. Musgrave came in for a pit stop on the 65th lap of the 100-lap race. His crew made an inspection of his truck's rear end. Musgrave said his team made a rear-end alignment adjustment, essentially moving the rear track bar back to improve the handling of the truck.

It was an admittedly desperate move.

``I had this thought in my head by making this move, it was what we needed to win the race,'' said Musgrave, who won for the third consecutive time at California Speedway. ``You'll never see that on a short track. It was a gutsy move. Sometimes you have to make bold moves, make bold decisions.''

Brendan Gaughan, the series points leader, looked as if he had the truck to beat. While Musgrave's crew worked to fix his alignment and balance, Gaughan was blowing through the field. Once Musgrave returned to the track, he was able to work his way up and pick off trucks almost at will. It was only a matter of time before he caught Gaughan.

That happened with nine laps to go. Musgrave passed Gaughan, who led the most laps in the race, and pulled away to win the fastest truck series race in California Speedway history.

--First run for no-passing rule: The mad dash back to the flagstand under caution is just a NASCAR memory after more than a half-century, and Rusty Wallace is ecstatic about that.

NASCAR put into effect this weekend the no-passing rule for its top three series. The Winston Cup cars will use it for the first time today in the MBNA 400 at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.

``I had hoped for a long time they were going to do this, and they've finally done it,'' said Wallace, the 1989 series champion. ``Sometimes, it's a calculated train wreck going on.

``It's a battle of four or five cars trying to get their laps back. It's very dangerous.''

The new rule was adopted Thursday, four days after Dale Jarrett's wrecked Ford sat precariously in the middle of the track as other cars raced by to hold or gain positions at New Hampshire International Speedway.

``That wasn't simply because of last week's deal,'' Jarrett said. ``This was something that's been happening for the last few years.''

--Vickers wins Busch race: Winston Cup-bound teenager Brian Vickers took the lead in the Busch series standings with a victory at Dover International Speedway in Delaware.

It was the third victory of the season for Vickers, at 19 the youngest full-time NASCAR driver. He won in part because of a quick pit stop and took the points lead from David Green, who crashed early in the Stacker 200 and finished 31st.