Winston Cup teams with suspect engine programs -- and even some of the elite -- may be holding their breath this weekend as NASCAR's new single-engine rule goes into effect.

Born out of a need for the sanctioning body to address the alarming rise in the cost of racing, starting with the Subway 400 at North Carolina Speedway, teams will be allowed to use only one engine for practice, qualifying and the race.

Doug Yates builds engines for the Fords driven by Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd, who drive for his father, Robert Yates, as well as for Ricky Craven, Brett Bodine, Rick Mast, Joe Nemechek and Todd Bodine.

"Whenever there's a challenge like this, there's an opportunity for somebody to capitalize and, hopefully, we'll be in a position to do that," the younger Yates said. "What it really forces you to do is more bench testing or testing of the components at the shop. Whoever has the equipment to do that -- to test the valvetrain and endurance test the engine -- can actually figure the limits of the engine a little closer and then put that piece out on the track.

"It's really a balance between the qualifying engines of last year and the race engines of last year. Somewhere in between that is what you're going to end up with racing, so it's a real fine line and it's going be real interesting."

In recent years, engine builders have spent millions of dollars developing high horsepower "hand grenades" for qualifying -- engines which had so much power that they often lasted only long enough for a few qualifying laps -- and, sometimes, not even that long.

Now, if an engine blows in practice or qualifying, the driver will have to start from the rear of the field with the new engine.

"There are many unknowns about the new engine rule. It may not have an effect at all. We are approaching the new rule with a trial and error theory. We are not going to over tach the engines or over compensate," said Larry McClure, owner of the Morgan-McClure Racing team that fields Chevrolets for Mike Skinner.

"The major change is supplying the back-up car with a top-notch engine. A practice engine usually travels in the back-up car. Now we are in a position to keep an engine, which will perform right off the hauler, in the secondary car," he said.

Yates said the biggest test for the new rule is likely to come at tracks such as Las Vegas and Atlanta, 1½-mile ovals that put a lot more pressure on the 750-800 horsepower engines than the 1.017-mile Rockingham track.

"I don't think we'll know for a couple of weeks, especially until we get to some of these bigger tracks, what the competition is going to be doing," Yates said. "That's going to drive you to probably make some adjustments."

Rewarding tenacity
Tony Eury, crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr., could hardly believe his driver was able to finish in the top 30 in last Sunday's Daytona 500 after all they went through.

Little E wound up 29th despite having to deal with two blown tires that tore up the bodywork on his Chevrolet, failed brakes that sent him skimming across the infield grass at breakneck speed on one near-disastrous occasion, and an impact with the wall.

Despite the adversity, Eury and his Dale Earnhardt Inc., crew were able to get the car back onto the track after each problem.

Their tenacity earned points that could be important before the season is over. It also earned Eury the "IRWIN Rough to Finish Award," which goes after each race to the crew chief who had the toughest day in the pits but still managed to help his team to a strong finish.

"This award is one of the few positive things to come out of Daytona for our team," Eury said. "The fact that we fought through all the bad luck and put the car back on the track says a lot about the team. Despite everything that went wrong, it was a fun weekend and it's going to be a great year for us."

Dominating Duo
Jeff Gordon and Jarrett have dominated on the Rockingham track in the last 10 races.

Gordon, the four-time and defending Winston Cup champion, has won three of the last 10 events and is the only driver with more than one win in the last five seasons at the North Carolina sandhills track.

Jarrett, the 1999 series champion, has scored more points than any other driver in those 10 races -- 1,655 to just 1,463 for runner-up Gordon. Jarrett has finished in the top 10 in all of those races and has been in the top five in eight of them. In fact, the second-generation NASCAR star hasn't finished outside the top 10 in the 12 races he has run in Rockingham since taking over the No. 88 Ford.

Stat of the week
Craven has scored only 11 top-five finishes in 181 career starts in Winston Cup racing, but four of those have come at Rockingham. One of those was a fifth-place run there last February.