Ford wants first female Cup winner

Ford executives have put a new twist on the female side of the NASCAR diversity program, by declaring it a battle now to become the first Detroit automaker to put a woman into victory lane at a Nextel Cup race. That considerably ups the stakes in the Ford-vs.-Dodge-vs.-Chevrolet campaign among women drivers. Dodge's Erin Crocker, set to make her Busch tour debut at Richmond in September, appears to have the upper hand at the moment. Two of General Motors' best hopes are Allison Duncan and Sarah Fisher. However the two, who drive for car owner Richard Childress, have been salted away on the West Coast, far from the limelight. And the question is if it's time for Childress to step up their development programs. Duncan, a sports-car racer turned stock-car driver, is running the weekly series at Stockton (Calif.) Speedway, where she won her first feature three weeks ago on the quarter-mile track. But running weekly 50-lappers on a quarter-mile in California is hardly a career path to NASCAR's Cup tour, even if Duncan is running in the top four regularly. Winston Salem Journal