Parity in NASCAR?

Somewhere, Bill France, Jr. must be smiling.

It appears that the former head honcho of NASCAR is taking a page from the "Book of Parity" that the late Pete Rozelle wrote for the NFL many years ago. Just take a look at the current point standings in the Winston Cup Series.

Dale Jarrett and Jeff Gordon are tied for first with 2,695 points, and Jarrett teammate Ricky Rudd is lurking nearby in third place just 28 points behind the co-leaders.

Looks suspiciously like parity to me.

The last time a season ended this close was back in 1997 when champion Gordon, Jarrett, and Mark Martin were separated by a meager 29 points. Folks, the only thing that gets closer than that are the cars in the draft at Daytona.

Jarrett and Gordon remained tied after DJ's win in last weekend's race at the New Hampshire International Raceway. Jarrett collected 175 points for winning, plus five bonus points for leading at least one lap, while Gordon received 170 for his runner-up finish, plus five bonus points each for leading a lap and leading the most laps.

Having two drivers tied atop the standings for two consecutive weeks is a rarity, but it just goes to illustrate how closely Ford's Jarrett and Chevy's Gordon have been competing this year. Jarrett has won four races and collected nine finishes in the top five, while Gordon has won three races and has twelve top fives to his credit.

Rudd has been running wheel-to-wheel with the leaders all year long and has gathered a win and eight top five finishes in a remarkably resurgent season for the former car owner now driving for Robert Yates. In his last six races, Rudd has five finishes of fourth or better, including his win at Pocono six weeks ago.

The revitalized Rudd has shown he still has what it takes to compete at NASCAR's high level, and should be considered as one of the favorites to pick up the Winston Cup championship this year.

One driver who has been slightly disappointing the past several weeks is Rusty Wallace. After being in the top three in points during the first third of the season, Wallace has suffered finishes of 41st and 43rd in two of the last six races. He has managed two top tens in that time, including a fifth place showing at the Sears Point road course last month, but those places of 40th or lower are killers.

Wallace needs to step it up and recover from last week's blown engine and regain his momentum at Pocono, which is traditionally a strong track for Rusty. He has sunk to sixth in the point standings, but is only 79 markers behind fourth place Tony Stewart.

And as we all know, the season has a long way to go yet, and anything can happen, and it probably will.

Parity, you know.

A further look at the standings shows that parity is not only limited to the front-runners. The battle for tenth place and a chance to appear on the prodigious Waldorf-Astoria stage this winter has six drivers in contention.

Tenth-place Johnny Benson and 15th place Jeff Burton are only separated by 95 points, and have Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Steve Park, and Jimmy Spencer between them, all vying to get into the coveted top ten.

But the fascinating race is unquestionably at the top. Jarrett and Gordon have battled back and forth all season, and it appears that the last one to have a bad race might be relegated to runner-up status at season's end.

Keep your eyes on the top three of Jarrett, Gordon, and Rudd. One of those drivers will most likely walk off with the Cup, and leave the other two saying "what if." The closeness of the title chase will keep fans glued to their seats, much like the drivers will be glued to theirs.

Parity.

Bill France is definitely smiling.