NASCAR RACERS SEEK STARTING SPOT IN WINSTON, 1998-05-17 (photo)

Thirty NASCAR drivers seeking the last starting spot in The Winston, exit the 4th turn during the 50-lap Winston Open exhibition race, May 16 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Fifty years after the first sanctioned stock car race was run on a North Carolina dirt track, the uniquely American sport is barreling toward a crossroads. Nascar, the governing body of U.S. stock car racing, has shifted into high gear in a bid to expand beyond its Southern roots just as tobacco controls being debated in Congress and the courts threaten to strip the sport of one of its biggest sponsors, people involved in the sport say. RDP/CM/SB