NOTEBOOK: STEWART SET FOR LONG DAY.

Byline: Associated Press 

The car ran well and the backup driver got to turn some laps.

Everything went smoothly Saturday for Tony Stewart as he prepared to try to race in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 today.

The day was so routine that Stewart - making his second attempt at completing 1,100 miles in roughly 12 hours - was getting antsy.

``It's just a matter of going out and doing the job right now,'' he said. ``We're at the point where we've talked about it long enough. Now it's time to go out and do it.''

Stewart arrived at Lowe's Motor Speedway early Saturday for some quick morning practice on the 1 1/2-mile track.

He briefly got in the car again during the ``Happy Hour'' session, but cut out early so that Busch series driver Mike McLaughlin could get about 45 minutes of seat time in the car.

Stewart then headed to Indianapolis to wait for today's race.

``I'm excited,'' he said. ``We've got great race cars at both places and that's exciting because it gives me two chances to win.''

McLaughlin has been approved by NASCAR to be the backup driver should Stewart get held up in Indy and not be able to start the NASCAR race here later today.

Meanwhile, Dale Jarrett's weekend got a lot worse when he cracked a rib during practice for today's race.

Jarrett, still sore from the accident during qualifying, was turning laps at Lowe's Motor Speedway during the final practice session when he ``felt something pop'' in his right side.

Jarrett, who holds a 14-point lead over Jeff Gordon in the Winston Cup points standings, had the cracked rib diagnosed by a trainer at the track.

--Bump and run: Jeff Green survived several bumps from Matt Kenseth over the final nine laps and held off one last challenge at the finish line to nip Kenseth and win the Carquest 300 in Concord, N.C.

Green, the reigning Busch Series champion, briefly lost the lead with nine laps to go when Kenseth tapped the rear bumper of his Ford Taurus to push him out of the way.

But Green returned the favor seconds later, bumping Kenseth out of his way to retake the lead. Both cars nearly lost control on the exchanges, with both drivers having to fight the steering wheel to keep from crashing.

Green then opened a small cushion over the next seven laps, only to have to hold off Kenseth once more. Kenseth came on strong with about a half-lap to go, catching Green and pulling even with him coming out of turn 4.

But Green went high on the track to create some room between the two cars and pulled inches ahead to beat Kenseth to the finish line by 0.055 seconds.

--Top speeds: John Force led the quickest Funny Car field in NHRA history in qualifying for the Advance Auto Parts Nationals at Heartland Park Topeka in Kansas.

Force had a quarter-mile run of 4.809 seconds at a top speed of 316.82 mph in his Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to take the 102nd No. 1 qualifying position.

--Prime spot: David Coulthard is in excellent position to achieve his two objectives - win his second consecutive Monaco Grand Prix and catch Michael Schumacher in the Formula One standings.

Coulthard won the pole position for today's race by edging Schumacher in the final seconds of Saturday's qualifying.

Schumacher, the three-time defending Formula One champion, leads Coulthard by four points in the standings going into today's race, the seventh of 17 this season.

--Sizzle in the drizzle: A little wet weather was all Nathan Wulff needed at Irwindale Speedway.

With only one sufficient racing line because to a steady drizzle, Wulff led 74 of the race's 75 laps to win the NASCAR Food 4 Less Super Model Community Recycling 75 before a crowd of 5,327.

``If you weren't high, it was awfully tough to pass,'' the rookie from Oceanside said. ``People were coming low and trying to slingshot by, but they couldn't do it.''

Wulff said he could barely see out of the windshield of his car and the pace car's window looked white. But the main problem was in turn 4 when Wulff and second-place finisher Tommy Fry of Simi Valley both said the glare was the only problem area.

The drizzle turned into enough of a problem to halt the next race.

- Keith Lair

TODAY'S NASCAR RACE

Event: Coca-Cola 600

Site: Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

TV: Channel 11, 3 p.m.

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TODAY'S NASCAR RACE (see text)