Dover 400 to be run amid heightened security

Friday, September 21st 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Dover, Delaware-AP) -- Tony Stewart hopes heightened security at Dover Downs International Speedway is the only change fans will notice when NASCAR resumes racing this weekend.

The race is the MBNA Cal Ripken Junior 400.

Stewart says racing at Dover after the postponement last weekend of the Winston Cup race in New Hampshire, might be a message that Americans will carry on in the toughest of times.

He also says he'd like to send a message to the terrorists. Stewart says he doesn't feel like crawling in a hole and hiding because of what the terrorists have done, and that their acts have made the country stronger.

Jeff Gordon, who in June took his fourth career win at Dover, views the return to racing as a demonstration by NASCAR that terrorists can't deprive Americans of their freedom.