Conway runaway Cup rookie of year

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) - Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Joey Logano.

That's a pretty impressive list of drivers that 31-year-old Kevin Conway is about to join as NASCAR Sprint Cup rookie of the year. And that it will come by default - he's the only first-year driver competing in all 36 races for Bob Jenkins' Front Row Motorsports team - doesn't really matter.

"You've got to give him credit," said Stewart, who won three races, led more than 1,200 laps, and finished fourth in points as a rookie in 1999. "He was able to attract a major sponsor that's been very good to him. It's been good for the sport, too. Anytime you can bring in a major company like that is good. There's pluses and negatives to him being there."

Conway's Ford, sponsored by ExtenZe, has competed in every race since skipping the season-opening Daytona 500 with a best finish of 14th at Daytona last month. Conway will start Sunday's Cup race at Watkins Glen International on owner points in 42nd after a qualifying lap of 118.292 mph, nearly 4 seconds off the time of polesitter Carl Edwards.

"It's really tough to get your rhythm going on a road course on one lap," Conway said. "For our 31st lap at Watkins Glen, we'll take it. We picked up a lot of speed. Every time we've been on the track we've gotten better, so I guess that's the main thing."

Stewart says he wouldn't want to be a rookie today.

"The cars are more technical, the level of competition's gone up, so you have to be right when you get there (to the track)," he said. "A lot of things were different. Back in the day, it was guys that could absolutely just manhandle a car and force it to do something that it wasn't necessarily doing on the racetrack that made the difference. Nowadays, you've really got to concentrate on making sure you've got your car driving good because that's what you're going to have for the race."

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TWEETER SILENCED: Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin is cutting his time on Twitter.

Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota, was fined by NASCAR for comments he made on the popular social website as NASCAR clamps down on public criticism. The sport's ruling body expects a code of silence when it comes to publicly lashing out against it. If drivers do, they'll be fined.

Hamlin said that NASCAR catalogued his tweets and showed them to him in a private meeting when he was hit with the fine.

"I'd say half of the time that I was on there I was discussing NASCAR stuff and whatnot," Hamlin said at WGI as he prepared for Sunday's Cup race. "They really don't want me going there, so I'm not going to go there. It's just one of those things.

"I'm still part of that stuff, but obviously with getting a fine and everything, you've got to be a little bit more careful."

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GORDON'S STRUGGLE: Jeff Gordon has won four races at Watkins Glen and was poised to win a fifth three years ago when he spun out while leading with two laps remaining to hand the victory to Tony Stewart.

He's struggled since. He started sixth in 2008 and finished 29th, and qualified 31st and finished 37th last year.

"We're putting a lot of effort into our road-course program this year. As a group at Hendrick Motorsports we don't feel like we were up to par on the road courses," Gordon said. "Last year, or maybe even the year before, you started to see it taper off. We know that as an organization we need to get better. We know that we can run well here. We're hoping that we're making the right improvements."

Despite taking part in a Goodyear tire test with Marcos Ambrose and Jeff Burton at Watkins Glen in June, Gordon is still struggling, along with teammates Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Gordon qualified 16th for Sunday's Cup race, Martin was 24th, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. 40th. Only Jimmie Johnson rebounded from some poor practice sessions to qualify ninth.

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SPARK PLUGS: Zippo has signed on to sponsor the Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen for the next three years. Zippo also sponsored Marcos Ambrose for Saturday's Nationwide race at Watkins Glen, and he won it for the third straight time. ... Jacques Villenueve qualified sixth for the Nationwide Series race in his first career appearance at Watkins Glen and finished a solid eighth.