CALIFORNIA CONNECTION
Several NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers have California connections, including 5-time Champion Jimmie Johnson who hails from El Cajon. Below is a roundup of how each Californian driver fared at the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, Calif. (March 8, 2011) — California drivers battle in the desert, as several California drivers made their mark in the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday. Below is how the Golden State drivers competed in this past weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event:
AJ Allmendinger No. 43 Best Buy Ford Hometown: Los Gatos 9th in points 19th PLACE FINISH: “I felt like overall we had a good car. We’d either be really good or we’d be a little bit loose and struggle on long runs. I felt like if we could have stayed green a long time we would’ve been really good. All in all, to start the season with an 11th and ninth place finish with as many wrecks as we’ve been in and not actually gotten wrecked is all right. We’ll take it.”
Jimmie Johnson No. 48 Lowe’s / KOBALT Tools Chevrolet Hometown: El Cajon 12th in points 16th PLACE FINISH: “Yeah, we started pretty far off but we made some real smart adjustments and got the car real close and then at the end we had a couple of bad things go our way,” said Johnson. “A bad stop, and lost track position. We didn’t adjust on it on one stop when we needed to and just started slipping back at the end. But for a while we had momentum going our way and we worked our way to a decent finish and then had a little trouble late.”
Jeff Gordon No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet Hometown: Vallejo 19th in points
36th PLACE FINISH: “The day actually started out pretty good for the DuPont Chevrolet. We were further up toward the front than I thought we would be based on practice yesterday so pretty happy with that. But, the track kept tightening up and we just couldn’t stay up with it so we started falling back a little bit on those restarts. We were definitely were fighting a tight condition right there, but I certainly wasn’t expecting to blow a tire like that going into three. Thankful for the safer barrier here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a safe race car.”
Kevin Harvick No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet Hometown: Bakersfield 20th in points 17th PLACE FINISH: “Gil (Martin) and the guys on the Budweiser crew gave me a good car today. That speeding penalty killed us. We got stuck back in traffic and just couldn’t go anywhere after that.”
David Gilliland No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Hometown: Riverside 21st in points
37th PLACE FINISH: “It is a tough day for our Taco Bell Ford Fusion. I don’t think we have seen a whole lot of tire issues through the weekend. That last lap we ran on the race track was as fast as we had run. It was a hard hit, but I’m fine.”
Robby Gordon No. 7 SPEED Energy Dodge Hometown: Orange 27th in points 31st PLACE FINISH: “We were supposed to be good to go to the finish (on fuel), but ran out and turned a 27th-place finish into a 31st. The 27th would have been a decent day as bad as our race car was. We just don’t have a handle on it. We haven’t caught on to what it takes with the new nose. When you run with the leaders, you can almost run their speed; when you run with the guys in the back, you run their speed. It’s all relevant to the cars you have around you.”
Casey Mears No. 13 GEICO Toyota Hometown: Bakersfield 33rd in points 25th PLACE FINISH: “Sure, it was a tough day, but once again this GEICO team never gave up. We all remained calm and just kept working hard trying to get the car right and get a decent finish. We could’ve very easily quit and just took a 35th place finish, but that’s not in us.”
Mike Skinner No. 32 Southern Pride Trucking Ford Hometown: Susanville 44th in points 29th PLACE FINISH: While Skinner is a veteran NASCAR driver, the Kobalt Tools 400 was Skinner’s second Sprint Cup race, where he qualified 29th and had a solid finish leading the 60th lap, finishing the race in 29th place.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Driver Leaders:
Position Driver Points 1
TONY STEWART 113 2
KURT BUSCH 113 3
CARL EDWARDS 106 4
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA 106 5
RYAN NEWMAN 103 6
PAUL MENARD 96 7
MARTIN TRUEX JR. 95 8
DENNY HAMLIN 95 9
A J ALLMENDINGER 94 10
DALE EARNHARDT JR. 91 11
MARK MARTIN 91 12
JIMMIE JOHNSON 87
