Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 6 Auto Club Speedway – Auto Club 400 – March 25, 2012
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[/media-credit]Back to the west coast we go this weekend for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. It’s a place that I really can’t speak on the history of racing there, probably because its not a race that I can say I watch intently each year. Following the addition of a second NASCAR weekend in 2004, Auto Club Speedway has experienced some intense scrutiny amongst the racing community with the intense attendance problems the racetrack has experienced.
Attendance at the track has dropped by as much as 20,000 fans, nearly 1/4th of the facility’s capacity, since the 2004-2010 two-race stretch, and with the weather forecast for tomorrow, I’m not sure this year will be any better for the racetrack.
After catching some of yesterday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice and qualifying sessions, I’m starting to think Auto Club may actually be developing some character. Watching the drivers wrestle their buggies around the 2-mile D-shaped oval makes me think tomorrow’s (or Monday’s) Auto Club 400 may be a bit more exciting than usual. The aging racing surface at Auto Club Speedway has left teams searching for grip and lifting their cars off the asphalt to clear the roller-coaster of bumps though the corners at Fontana.
Bristol Recap
If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any at all after these first 5 races of the 2012 season. Bristol was fun for my first time as a member of the NASCAR media, but I am seeing why there are concerns about the racing in Thunder Valley . 200 caution-less laps at Bristol was unheard of prior to the track’s reconfiguration and addition of progressive banking in 2007. Last week’s Food City 500 produced a stretch of 220 laps without a caution, a stretch of racing facing scrutiny inside the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage:
“I feel like the old-style track brought what the fans want to see, and whether it’s what the car owners want to see or the drivers, and whether you’ve got to run into each other or you don’t, the old-style racing was more to the appeal of the fans.” said Kevin Harvick, “Any time you run 200 laps at Bristol with no cautions, it’s going to get boring fast in my opinion.”
I can remember a few of my first trips to Bristol Motor Speedway when there were 10,000 race fans in front of the backstretch grandstands looking for their ticket into the Last Great Coliseum. This year, I traveled to BMS with a group of fans that ended up buying tickets for $20 each for their Food City 500 seats. The NASCAR stat sheet said there was 102,000 fans in the grandstands last week, but to me, we were lucky if the bull ring in Thunder Valley was half-full.
On the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got a guy that might have a bit of a biased opinion of the racing surface in Thunder Valley, but no matter what, I tend to agree with his opinion. The final 20-25 laps last week at Bristol Motor Speedway were some of the most exciting laps I’ve had the privilege of seeing in-person. Each time Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth circled the .533-mile high-banks of the final stretch of the race last week, they traded paint, running positions, and created a show for the 80,000’ish fans in attendance.
“I’m very biased, I know,” Keselowski said. “But to me this was one of the best Bristol races I’ve ever seen. We ran side by side for 20 laps. There was some good beating and batting, some wrecking. … I don’t know what’s better than that, short of a 30-car wreck every week.”
It was great to watch if you can appreciate hard racing, and don’t care about the wrecks, but a forgetful race if you’re the ones that like to see multiple crashes each week. To me, a half-empty bull ring will be what we get each trip to Tennessee until the track is returned to its old configuration. With the gloves-off beating and banging racing style NASCAR is trying to return to, ruining the Mecca of all rough racetracks is a step in the opposite direction.
Oh, forgot to touch on my picks from last week;
Winner pick – Kyle Busch was caught up in the day’s only multi-car accident on lap 25. He returned to the race in his battered Wrigley Doublemint Toyota and finished 32nd.
Dark Horse Pick – Joey Logano, started 9th and never really made a surge towards the front. Finished two laps down in 16th.
Auto Club 400 Picks
I’m almost scared to pick anyone this week, but once I hit rock-bottom, there will be nowhere to go but up. Hopefully I hit rock-bottom last week at Bristol, and I can get back into the habit of looking like I know what I’m talking about.
Winner Pick
The Ford FR9 engines have been unbelievably strong thus far this season, and Fontana is a track that having a strong engine will put you in Gatorade Victory Lane. A history of winning at Auto Club Speedway also helps my Winner Pick’s case this week having 3 wins already at the 2-mile oval.
Matt Kenseth has been on fire thus far this year, setting the high mark after winning his second Daytona 500 a month ago. He was just short of winning last week at Bristol Motor Speedway last week, and is a 7 to 1 favorite for the win this week. He will start 15th when the green-flag files at Fontana (whenever that may be) but was second in yesterday’s practice session and is currently shown in 8th in Happy Hour.
The FR9’s have been great this season, and Kenseth has the car he needs to bring it home this week.
Dark Horse Pick
Toyota Racing Development’s headquarters happen to be located in Southern California, nearby Fontana, CA in Costa Mesa. TRD wants nothing other than a win at its home track and with one shot to do it in 2012, rest asured the Toyota teams will be pulling out all the stops this weekend.
A guy that has been on a role in a way that flies a bit under-the-radar is Martin Truex Jr. In his last 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Starts (dating back to Talladega last October), Truex has scored 6 top-10’s, including a third-place finish last week at Bristol. He’s lead the charge along with Clint Bowyer for Michael Waltrip Racing, sitting 4th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Standings.
Truex will start 13th, but was 9th fastest in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Final Practice and the top 3 starters for the Auto Club 400 will be making the start in Toyota Camrys.
An FR9 and a TRD Camry are my picks for this week, and be sure to stop back next week for my Martinsville picks. Until next week… you stay classy NASCAR NATION!
Logano wins the Royal Purple 300 at Auto Club Speedway
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[/media-credit]Polesitter Joey Logano regained the race lead with 12 laps remaining in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Auto Club Speedway and held off Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for his first NNS win of the season.
“It’s good to be finally back in Victory Lane. This is awesome to win here again. We gave a couple away here lately and today we were able to capitalize on a car capable of winning.” Logano said. “I forgot how much fun it was to do burnouts. It’s a lot of fun.”
This was Logano’s 10th career NNS win and also extended Joe Gibbs Racing’s streak of eight consecutive Nationwide Series victories at the speedway.
“It was a great day. It was a fun day. The race track was really racy. It’s just a bummer that we ended up two spots short, but I’ve got to thank all the guys for working hard on this.” Stenhouse Jr.said.
Brad Keselowski finished third, Brian Scott fourth and Austin Dillon finished fifth.
“On the last restart, it was just good racing. Joey and the guys just closed the deal out. I had a strong run all day, just needed a little more.” Keselowski said.
Series points leader Elliott Sadler finished ninth and now holds a 18 point lead in the standings over Stenhouse Jr.
Danica Patrick’s car picked up debris in the front grill, apparently puncturing her radiator and later causing the engine to seize. The team pushed her car to the garage and she finished 35th.
“It’s not a Chevy issue. It’s not a team issue. It’s just a bad luck issue, and unfortunately, I feel like we’ve been catching a fair amount of it at the beginning of the season.” Patrick said.
| Starting Lineup | |||||
| Royal Purple 300, Auto Club Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=5 | |||||
| =========================================== | |||||
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Make | Speed | Time |
| =========================================== | |||||
| 1 | 18 | Joey Logano | Toyota | 178.984 | 40.227 |
| 2 | 31 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 177.196 | 40.633 |
| 3 | 22 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 177.109 | 40.653 |
| 4 | 3 | Austin Dillon* | Chevrolet | 176.926 | 40.695 |
| 5 | 2 | Elliott Sadler | Chevrolet | 176.904 | 40.7 |
| 6 | 9 | Kenny Wallace | Toyota | 176.255 | 40.85 |
| 7 | 11 | Brian Scott | Toyota | 176.108 | 40.884 |
| 8 | 33 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | 176.091 | 40.888 |
| 9 | 60 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 175.919 | 40.928 |
| 10 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 175.473 | 41.032 |
| 11 | 12 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | 175.229 | 41.089 |
| 12 | 88 | Cole Whitt* | Chevrolet | 174.575 | 41.243 |
| 13 | 81 | Jason Bowles* | Toyota | 174.533 | 41.253 |
| 14 | 38 | Brad Sweet | Chevrolet | 174.419 | 41.28 |
| 15 | 54 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 174.389 | 41.287 |
| 16 | 43 | Michael Annett | Ford | 173.934 | 41.395 |
| 17 | 30 | James Buescher | Chevrolet | 173.728 | 41.444 |
| 18 | 44 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | 173.444 | 41.512 |
| 19 | 1 | Mike Wallace | Chevrolet | 173.348 | 41.535 |
| 20 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 173.243 | 41.56 |
| 21 | 7 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | 172.981 | 41.623 |
| 22 | 19 | Tayler Malsam | Toyota | 172.331 | 41.78 |
| 23 | 47 | Scott Speed | Chevrolet | 172.171 | 41.819 |
| 24 | 41 | Blake Koch | Chevrolet | 171.973 | 41.867 |
| 25 | 14 | Eric McClure | Toyota | 171.371 | 42.014 |
| 26 | 10 | Jeff Green | Toyota | 171.306 | 42.03 |
| 27 | 50 | T.J. Bell | Ford | 171.274 | 42.038 |
| 28 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | 170.94 | 42.12 |
| 29 | 108 | Tim Andrews | Ford | 170.887 | 42.133 |
| 30 | 42 | Josh Wise | Chevrolet | 170.394 | 42.255 |
| 31 | 40 | Erik Darnell | Chevrolet | 170.112 | 42.325 |
| 32 | 39 | Joey Gase* | Ford | 169.157 | 42.564 |
| 33 | 124 | Benny Gordon* | Chevrolet | 168.867 | 42.637 |
| 34 | 52 | Tim Schendel | Chevrolet | 167.011 | 43.111 |
| 35 | 23 | Robert Richardson Jr. | Chevrolet | 166.995 | 43.115 |
| 36 | 46 | Chase Miller | Chevrolet | 166.767 | 43.174 |
| 37 | 89 | Morgan Shepherd | Chevrolet | 166.694 | 43.193 |
| 38 | 28 | Kevin Lepage | Chevrolet | 165.983 | 43.378 |
| 39 | 4 | Daryl Harr | Chevrolet | 165.453 | 43.517 |
| 40 | 70 | David Green | Dodge | 163.51 | 44.034 |
| 41 | 174 | Mike Harmon | Chevrolet | 163.35 | 44.077 |
| 42 | 172 | John Jackson | Toyota | 163.188 | 44.121 |
| 43 | 15 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | – | – |
Power Sets New Record
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[/media-credit]Will Power drove his Chevy powered DW-12 Dallara chassis to a new circuit record during qualifying for tomorrow’s Honda Grand Prix of Saint Petersburg. Power set a time of 1.3721 (One minute, point 3721 seconds) to take the pole position for his third consecutive year on the streets of St. Pete.
“The Chevy was obviously the strongest engine. We made a couple of adjustments for the Fast Six, and the car was really good. I was able to get pole.” said Power, following his third consecutive pole at St. Petersburg.
Poweres’ Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe will join him on the front row.
“Really good effort to start on the front row with my teammate (Will Power). We’ve been pushing each other hard, as we always do.” Briscoe said.
Andretti Autosports will occupy both second row positions with Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Heathcliffe. Heilo Castroneves and rookie Simon Pagenaud will fill the third row.
Pagenaud was penalized for an illegal engine change after the final practice session and will drop back ten positions, Scott Dixon will move up to fill the vacant third row position.
Defending champion Dario Franchitti had problems during the final round of qualifying, and made contact with the tire wall. It will be determined if the car can be repaired, or if Dario will be forced to use a back up. If he goes to the back up he would have to defend his title by starting at the rear of this very quick field.
The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is scheduled to start Sunday March 25 at 1:00 p.m. ET with live coverage of the 100-lap event on ABC TV. Both the radio broadcast and live timing and scoring can be found on www.indycar.com.
Schatz Wins Race With Mother Nature
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[/media-credit]The Mini Gold Cup is a two night race for the World of Outlaws that has the reputation of being a top drawer event. But this year’s first night was anything but top drawer. The racing was fierce and every position was hotly contended for. But that was because the track was a narrow single groove dry slick surface that continued to take rubber quickly. By the end of the A Main what you saw was patience and skill from some of the best dirt drivers in the world, because they were racing on a track that was maybe ¾ of a groove wide.
The evening started out with a threat of weather looming. The activities were hurried along in an attempt to beat the weather and get in the show because the forecast looks even worse for tomorrow nights activities.
The track record was set in 2009 by Joey Saldana with a lap of 10.918 seconds. Quick Time was set by Kraig Kinser with a lap of 12.458 around the ¼ mile track. He was closely followed by the seasons only two time winner this year Tim Kaeding, with the rest of the top 5 in qualifying being Jac Haudenschild, Steve Kinser, and Sammy Swindell.
The heat races showed some incredible moves by the Outlaw stars. Among them, a full power slide by Jason Sides out of the second turn to take over two places and the lead in one corner. Cody Darrah made a strong showing by moving from 8th to first to win the second heat but showed little after that. Stand out Kyle Larson was having an unusually off night and was sent to the pits in the second heat after having two unassisted spins. Donny Schatz dominated heat 3 leading from flag to flag. And Joey Saldana would make a power move to the outside of Bill Rose down the back stretch to win the fourth and final heat of the night.
The Dash inversion would determine the fate of many of the drivers in the A Main as the track would begin to take rubber, lose grip and narrow its groove significantly. The inversion drawn by quick time holder Kraig Kinser was a 6. Sending Kinser to the 6th spot out of 10, it was a position he would not advance beyond during the dash. As a matter of fact only two drivers would better their starting position in the dash, Tim Kaeding and Lucas Wolfe. And they would only increase their positions by one spot when the checker flag waved. Donny Schatz would take the checkers after starting on the dash pole.
With the first 5 rows for the A main set, the B main went off without issue. But again the track narrowed and the starting order was nearly a mirrored image of the finishing order. Jac Haudenschild, Kyle Larson, Chad Kemenah and Trey Starks would start and finish 1 thru 4 transferring to the A Main.
For Donny Schatz winning the A Main came down to three things, 1) Patience 2) Tire Management 3) Reading the groove on the track as the race progressed. “You just had to be cautious not to spin your tires and slip up out of that bottom groove,” Schatz said. “There wasn’t a lot of moving around. There were guys trying things, but just couldn’t make anything work. You had to be on the bottom of the race track, right on the gutter. As long as I stayed there and tried to keep from making a mistake, I was going to be ok.”
The A Main was only interrupted by 2 cautions the first when Kyle Larson spun out of 2 on lap 23. By that time the track conditions had deteriorated to the point that the restarts were made single file rather than the normal double file per Outlaws procedure. The second came on lap 34 and set up the Green White Checker finish when Robby Whitchurch blew a right rear tire and came to a stop in turn 4. When the green flag flew for the last time Schatz was amazing as he held his line and never smoked a tire until the final lap coming to the checkered flag. He had lead the entire race from beginning to end. He smoked a tire one time off of four on the checkered flag lap.
“You had to be patient. It’s not fun when you have to be patient, but you have to do what you have to do to finish.” Said Schatz from the podium.
“I just fell in behind Donny and tried to learn something,” said second place finisher and last years King of California winner, Jonathan Allard said. “I’ve been known for not managing my tires as well as we could have, but the Goodyears lasted, we came home with second and we’re very proud of that. I was hoping maybe Donny would get into traffic, but he was too smart to do that.”
Joey Saldana had a stronger comment about the surface and the racing it produced. ” I want to apologize to the fans. The World of Outlaws puts on a much better show than this and I am really sorry you all didn’t get to see a better show. Maybe the track will be in better condition tomorrow night,” stated Saldana from the podium.
The bottom line comes down to every series no matter who they are or what they drive has a bad night once in while. There is only so much that the sanctioning body can control. Weather and a poor track surface are high on the list of things that they can’t control.
But if you really watched the racing tonight you got an amazing show of the skills that it takes to make the best of the bad situation and maximize the finish. Schatz lead from flag to flag, picked up his second win and extended his points lead. But he did it by managing the situation he was given. He raced smart and he raced patient. He didn’t drive over his head and tear up the tires.
The old time warriors of the outlaws were evident tonight. They made passes. Maybe only one. But they finished with tires on the car and the car in one piece. They maximized their situation the best that circumstances allowed. It was an amazing thing to watch. No there weren’t many daring slide jobs or sliding above the buffer to beat a guy to the straightaway. But to watch the skills of driving dirt in a 12 second lap and never smoking the tires and driving straight off and still maintaining the speed and balance of the car, now that was an E ticket ride for the experienced race fan.
Hopefully tomorrow night will be better. But if not I am sure Donny Schatz is ready to race Mother Nature for the Mini Gold Cup once again.
