NASCAR notebook

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Add Rusty Wallace to the growing list of drivers critical of NASCAR's new system for crowning the Nextel Cup champion.

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Under the system adopted this season, only the top 10 in the standings and anyone else within 400 points of the leader will be eligible to race for the championship over the final 10 events.

"I don't like the way it makes the people out of the top 10 feel," Wallace said. "If you're out of the top 10 this time it's going to make you feel like a loser, and I don't think that's good for the sport."

Heading into Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Wallace was 16th in the point standings. He was 221 points shy of being eligible to race for the championship.

But with nine races left before the championship chase begins, there's enough time for Wallace and about 10 other drivers to get close enough to qualify.

"The No. 1 thing to me is winning races," he said. "I don't care about the points. I'd much rather win than finish 10th in the point standings. If you can't win the championship, I'd rather win races."

WALTRIP'S MARATHON: Michael Waltrip plans to run the Las Vegas Marathon in January in an effort to raise $1 million for Victory Junction Gang Camp.

Waltrip, an avid runner, got the idea while testing in Las Vegas earlier this year. Kyle Petty also was there and ran half the marathon, so Waltrip decided he'd give it a try and turn over all pledges to Petty's North Carolina camp for children with chronic illnesses.

"The racing community has been tremendous in getting the camp built," Waltrip said. "But it's going to take a marathon to keep it running."

Waltrip said it costs $1,500 per child for one week at the camp, which opened in June. Aside from the $1 million he wants to raise, he also challenged every Nextel Cup team to raise the $1,500 needed to send one child to camp.

HONORING HOOTS: NASCAR honored race director David Hoots in the driver's meeting before the Pepsi 400, which marked his 500th race in the control tower.

Hoots, from Winston-Salem, N.C., has been the director of NASCAR's Nextel Cup events for the past 15 years. He's the voice of NASCAR heard by teams and fans over the scanners, directing traffic, calling for the caution flag and issuing instructions.

He was presented with a Nextel Cup helmet signed by all the drivers and a crystal Eagle engraved with the slogan "Soaring to Amazing Heights."

"Sometimes I need that helmet leaving the tower," Hoots joked, referring to unfavorable fan reaction to the ending of recent races.