NEW YORK, N.Y.- - Jeff Gordon will be featured on one of the four collectible covers for TV Guide NASCAR 2002. After NASCAR's ascension into the forefront of television in 2001, TV Guide is celebrating the upcoming season with its first-ever, sports-oriented, stand-alone publication, TV Guide NASCAR 2002. The full-size publication (as opposed to TV Guide's customary digest size) is a comprehensive preview of the upcoming 2002 season.

TV Guide NASCAR 2002 features four different collectible covers, one each featuring Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick, and Tony Stewart. Each issue also includes a full-size poster of either Dale Earnhardt or Jeff Gordon. Each of these issues will be evenly distributed throughout the country. The magazine has a newsstand price of $4.95. The 96-page, full-color magazine provides an exciting look at the season to come, with several features contributed by NASCAR journalists.

Among the highlights:

2002 VIEWERS' GUIDE:
TV Guide predicts the top 25 finishers and provides driver info and stats, schedules as well as lineup and track information-- everything needed for NASCAR faithful, or those new to the sport, to enjoy the year.

THE MOMENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING:
A look at how fans, media, drivers and NASCAR itself have reacted in the year since the death of Dale Earnhardt.

2001- THE YEAR IN PICTURES:
A look back at the 2001 season with some of the most memorable photos of the year.

A FABULOUS FOURTH:
With four championships already, can Jeff Gordon surpass the seven won by Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty? Or maybe the question is when.

ON THE POLL: THE DRIVERS SPEAK UP
While some drivers were a little more guarded than others, understandable given the fact they may soon be rubbing up against someone at 180 mph, TV Guide polled many NASCAR stars on a variety of questions from who will win in 2002 to who failed to live up to expectations the most in 2001. Bobby Hamilton on the latter question: "I'm not going to answer that. Do you want me to get wrecked?" Hamilton was more forthcoming when asked who's the driver everybody listens to the most: "They listen to nobody. We all pretty much have our own opinions. I don't trust a lot of these drivers and they don't trust me-- and that is how our sport is."

COURSE OF ACTION: WHAT WE'D LIKE TO SEE (AND NOT SEE) IN 2002
What do NASCAR fans want from their sport in 2002? Lose the tabloid cover stories, the Playboy interviews, the infighting and the lawsuits. Give us a good, old-fashioned, rough-and-tumble season without off-track controversy. TV Guide lists the things we'd like to see this season (such as better safety at the tracks and an honest-to-goodness points race), as well as those we can live without (this list includes restrictor plates and new cookie-cutter race tracks).

YOUTH MOVEMENT
Led by Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Tony Stewart, a new generation of drivers is ready to lead Winston Cup racing into its fast future. Harvick: "I've made a butthead out of myself on national TV and learned not to do that; I've opened my mouth when I shouldn't have; and other drivers have learned that I'm an aggressive racer-- all in about nine months."

STEERING COMMITTEE: THE VOICES THAT DETERMINE NASCAR'S DIRECTION
In the daily ebb and flow of the longest season (nine months) in pro sports, certain individuals will naturally gravitate to the decision-making forefront of the sport. TV Guide looks at ten individuals, who because of their position, power or persistence, carry a tremendous amount of weight in NASCAR.

TAKING THEIR BEST SHOT: YEAR ONE OF THE NEW TV DEAL
A close-up of how Fox and NBC redefined the way we watch stock-car racing. After nine months of hits and misses, the bottom line is that the networks met with great success, drawing impressive ratings, unveiling innovative approaches to coverage and establishing at least one new star in Darrell Waltrip.

ONE FOR THE AGES: A LOOK BACK AT 1992
Ten years later, 1992 remains NASCAR's best and most bittersweet season. TV Guide looks back at a season with a points race that came down to the last lap, but was marred by the subsequent loss of two of its top competitors. 1992 was also when we said hello Jeff Gordon and goodbye to "The King."

GREAT INSPIRATIONS: STARS PAY TRIBUTE TO THEIR MENTORS
Without the wise counsel of their mentors, NASCAR's brightest stars may have gone nowhere fast. Weighing in on the men who have kept them on track are Casey Atwood (Bobby Hamilton), Matt Kenseth (Mark Martin), Dale Jarrett (Ned Jarrett) and Michael Waltrip (Richard Petty).

DAYS AT THE RACES: THE TOP 10 TO WATCH IN 2002
The 2002 season will have 36 point races flung throughout 19 states during 40 weeks from February through November, on superspeedways, half-mile tracks and road courses. TV Guide looks at the top 10 to watch this season, beginning with the Great American Race, the Daytona 500.

WILD RIDE DOWN MEMORY LANE
No TV, no megamillions, no seat belts - no problem for NASCAR's early legends. TV Guide presents a look back to the 1940s and '50s, when red dirt used to fly into spectators' hair and fenders got scraped at almost every turn. Once in a while a fan would fall from a tree onto the track and change the outcome of the race, and because TV cameras didn't capture drivers' every move, they were less politically correct and far wilder. Junior Johnson, Richard Petty and Ned Jarrett look back at racing at its most raucous.

DRIVING FORCE: KYLE PETTY
One thing truly inspires Kyle Petty: the chance to prove his son Adam would have been a winner. In the aftermath of Adam's death in 2000, Kyle has worn many hats - too many - trying to bring some solace and success to Petty Enterprises' three Winston Cup teams, his family and himself. "I want to make sure that (with) this team we put together for him and the changes we continue to make, I can look back at some point and say, 'Yeah, he would have been a winner, too,'" he says.

LADY IN WAITING: SHAWNA ROBINSON
Shawna Robinson tries, and tries, to become NASCAR's first female superstar after qualifying for only one of the five races she attempted to enter last season. Her biggest challenge may be the NASCAR catch-22: You can't get a ride without sponsorship money, and the money won't come unless you've logged seat time. "It's hard to understand," she says. "In one or two races I can get more publicity than some male drivers can in a full season. I think it's the risk factor. And it has never been a proven thing for women to be competitive in this sport. To a sponsor, it seems better to have their name in small letters on a bumper with Jeff Gordon. But mediawise I can give them more exposure."

PREDICTIONS ON THE TOP 25 DRIVERS IN 2002
The wait for the 2002 season is finally over, and while anything can happen, that didn't stop TV Guide from ranking the sport's finest and predicting their order of finish for 2002. In addition to forecasts from noted NASCAR journalist David Poole, driver info and stats, TV Guide presents schedules as well as lineup and track information-- everything needed for the NASCAR faithful, or those new to the sport, to enjoy the year.

The issue also includes:
Winston Cup Track Facts
Winston Cup 2001 Performance Chart
Busch Grand National Schedule & Top Drivers
Winston Cup Lineup
Winston Cup Schedule

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