Surprising and Not Surprising: Auto Club 400
From the moment Sugar Ray Leonard dropped the green flag for the pole and outside pole sitters, Juan Pablo Montoya in his fiery red No. 42 Target Chevrolet and Denny Hamlin in his No. 11 FedEx Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, expectations were high at the fourteen degree banked, wide open track in Fontana, California.
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[/media-credit]Here is what was surprising and not surprising in the purposely shorter Auto Club 400, down in length by 20% and 100 miles from last year:
Surprising: After an absolutely dominant performance by Kyle Busch, who led the most laps at 151 and ascended to 29th on the all-time laps led leader list surpassing Fireball Roberts, and a late race charge by Fontana favorite Jimmie Johnson, one driver led less than a lap and took the checkered flag.
Bakersfield, California native Kevin Harvick finally got that coveted first win at his home state track, Auto Club Speedway. Reminiscent of his racing idol the late, great Dale Earnhardt, Harvick sported his own brand of intimidation, bumping Jimmie Johnson just enough to rattle him so Harvick could slip by for the win on the last lap.
“Well we had them all beat last year and I gave it away,” Harvick said in a Budweiser-soaked Victory Lane. “What a great day.”
“All these guys did a great job on pit road,” Harvick continued. “Gil (Martin) made the right call. We held those guys off and our car just kept going.”
“Today we had a fast car and the circumstances played in our favor.”
This was Harvick’s 15th victory, putting him in a tie with Ernie Irvan for 48th on NASCAR’s all-time Cup Series win list. This was team owner Richard Childress’ 95th Cup Series win, but the team’s first ever win at Auto Club Speedway as well.
Not Surprising: It was not surprising to see five-time champ Jimmie Johnson, piloting the very familiar No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, finish in the runner up position. This was Johnson’s 10th top-two finish in 17 races at Auto Club Speedway.
“It reminded me of last year in the spring race,” Johnson said. “We just couldn’t hold him off.”
“I knew he was coming,” Johnson said of Harvick. “If I could have got by the 18 a lot sooner, it might have been enough, but I was way loose and driving my butt off.”
“Just glad it turned out to be a decent day.”
Surprising: In spite of losing the race after being so dominant, it was surprising to see this ‘new’ Kyle Busch take it all in stride. Busch stood calmly by his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, waiting to share his thoughts on his third place finish and his first top ten finish in the past four races at Auto Club Speedway.
“We gave the race away today unfortunately,” Busch said. “We seemed to be losing the handle on that last set of tires and couldn’t get the right speed I needed.”
“I can’t say enough about the guys on pit road and the guys back at the shop,” Busch continued. “They got us in position but unfortunately I couldn’t get the job done today.”
“I just didn’t have what it took there at the end.”
Not Surprising: After having a chance at the race win and falling back, it was not surprising to see Tony Stewart pitch his gloves off after the race and stalk out of his car to his hauler, waving off any media who dared approach him. Stewart, who had run in the top five most of the day, making daring pit calls with his crew chief to stay out when others pitted for tires, faded back to finish 13th.
With that finish, Stewart ended a four race streak of top-10 finishes at Auto Club Speedway. The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet for the team that bears his name also fell three spots in the point standings to the sixth spot.
Surprising: Unfortunately, the engine woes that have been plaguing Joe Gibbs Racing continued this weekend. Young Joey Logano had to start at the back of the pack due to an engine change, clawing his way back up to a 25th place finish.
Even more devastating was the engine failure of Denny Hamlin, who had been the outside pole sitter and who looked to be a contender early in the race. After nursing his wounded car along and then going a lap down, Hamlin finally gave it up and headed to the garage.
“We’ve got to go to work and figure out how to get the reliability back,” Hamlin said. “Our engine department has got to go to work.”
“It was a slow death for our car today.”
Not Surprising: Sadly the curse of the first lap leader continued at Auto Club Speedway. In 21 races at the track, the first lap leader has never gone on to win the race.
This was the case for Juan Pablo Montoya, who started off in the pole position and led that first deadly lap. Montoya had his struggles but did manage to rally back for a top ten finish, keeping him solidly in eighth position in the point standings.
Surprising: Both Red Bull teams had amazingly good runs in Fontana this weekend. Brian Vickers, in the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, finished eighth while teammate Kasey Kahne, in his No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, followed right behind in the ninth position.
“Well, we wanted to win,” Vickers said. “But this is just what the Red Bull 83 team needed.”
Not Surprising: Carl Edwards, who has been so dominant this season, finished sixth. With his good run, Edwards was able to assume his place on top of the points leader board, now officially the first repeat points leader in five races this season.
The Final Word as Harvick beats Jimmie at Fontana, but Martinsville promises to be a very different story
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[/media-credit]So, what did we learn from Fontana?
Well, we learned that those we had watched up front most of the day were not destined to finish up there. Kyle Busch? Nope, he was third. Tony Stewart? Nah, an unlucky 13th. Denny Hamlin? Sure, he led 15 laps but then his engine started to let loose and 39th was his fate. I could mention J.J. Yeley, who led for two but wound up 41st…but I won’t.
We learned that when you take the lead for the first time in a race as you are coming to the finish, you end up with more points than any of those other guys. Kevin Harvick gave Jimmie Johnson a wee love tap, then charged to the outside of his rival to claim the bubbly. Anyone else notice those mega-cans of suds in Happy’s hand in Victory Lane? Life is good with Budweiser as your sponsor.
We learned that skipping the pits on a caution can do good things. Stewart stayed out, caught a later caution as he was getting down to fumes in the tank, and managed to stay up there almost until the end. Too bad about his coach turning into a pumpkin as the race reached midnight, but at least he had his happy face on for a while. Stewart wasn’t wearing it after the race, however, as he skipped the post-race interviews.
We learned that sometimes even tracks better known for putting one in a coma can provide some pretty good entertainment. Eight stayed out under caution with ten to go, and six of them finished in the top eight. Matt Kenseth slipped on a fresh set of skins, and moved up five spots to wrap up the day in fourth. While Harvick moves to ninth with the win, Kenseth is now in that all-important tenth spot in the standings.
We learned that by finishing sixth, Carl Edwards takes first place. He is nine spots up on Sunday’s fifth place guy, Ryan Newman, ten ahead of Kurt Busch, 11 ahead of Kyle, and 14 up on Johnson. That will change, as Martinsville is not exactly one of his favorite tracks, with no wins, but he finished 8th in both races held there in 2010.
We will learn that if Edwards is going to be challenged next week, it won’t be by Newman. He is winless at the Virginia track, while Kurt Busch did win there, once, in 2002. He hasn’t a Top Ten there since 2005. Kyle Busch, a winner almost everywhere, has never won in anything at Martinsville. Four times he has been fourth, five times outside the Top Twenty, three times somewhere in between.
You will learn that the points leader after next week likely will be a certain Mr. Johnson. Six Martinsville wins, 17 straight Top Ten finishes there, with an average finish of between third and fourth since he finished 35th in his first race there way back in 2002. Yes, Virginia, there is a Jimmie Johnson, and he’ll remind you of that fact when the action heats up again this Sunday.
Enjoy your week. I’m sure Five Time will be enjoying his.
California Dreaming or was it a nightmare?
The shortest race of the year 2 hours and 39 minutes was perhaps the longest for fans viewing on TV. California showed once again why it has been reduced to only one race.
The weekend at California was marred by rain, weepers and long drawn out green flag runs. Though many at the track said the racing was better than normal and excellent in most cases, the TV audience saw little of it. Between long commercial breaks that missed cautions and on track action, along with very poor camera work the day proved to be a dull grey day until the last 10 laps of the race.
The final stop and the end of the race was as good as it gets. Kyle Busch took the green flag with 9 laps to go on old tires with Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart following close behind. Johnson took the lead on lap 198 with a low side pass on the Interstate Batteries Camry. The racing between them allowed Harvick to catch the pair and overtake Busch whose Camry had developed a progressively tight condition.
Kevin Harvick flexed his muscle and let the 5 time series champion know he was there and he would not go quietly. Harvick who ran up to the back bumper of the 48 Lowes Chevrolet on the back stretch managed to loosen the champ up just enough to make his pass on the high side coming out of 4 and then out ran the 5 time champ back to the checkers.
The champion showed his composure and showed his class with gracious congratulations to the winner and acknowledged that Harvick was undoubtedly the class of the field on the final run. Harvick when told they lead one lap stated, “Yeah but it was the one that counted.”
The class of the field for most of the race was Kyle Busch. Busch lead for 151 laps and finished third. But Kyle’s weekend did not start out typical for Kyle Busch. He wrecked his primary car on his first lap on the track when he hit a wet spot coming out of turn 4. Relegated to a back up he and his team fought to regain their momentum in a [media-credit name=”Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”272″]
[/media-credit]shortened practice session leading up to qualifying. Busch pulled off an 8th place qualifying run and never looked back.
He dominated the race until the last restart when Jimmie Johnson would take the lead on the low side coming out of 3. Busch would say later that the car just continued to tighten up on the exit of the corner and at the end he had used up everything he had.
Joe Gibbs Racing experienced another weekend of engine failures with Joey Logano losing one after happy hour and Denny Hamlin losing one during the race. When Coach Gibbs was asked if the recent fire and explosion at their engine shop was playing a role in the failures he stated that it was not and they simply needed to work on their durability.
Another standout this week was Brian Vickers. In his first strong performance after his health issues forced him to vacate his seat last year, Vickers pulled off a strong top ten finish with 8th.
Tony Stewart had a strong run until the last restart of the race when he faded to 13th. Smoke was obviously upset and declined comment following the race. Smoke showed dominance and skills that are found in few driver seats in the series however. When informed the change he wanted was maxed out he said simply, I will figure it out from here. And he did with smooth skill and confidence. The late race fade was certainly not indicative of his performance.
Dale Earnhardt Jr, showed a consistency that we have never seen from him throughout his career with a 12th place finish. Earnhardt credited his crew and his equipment with the success and stated that if he had qualified better he would have had a better finish. “If we just qualify better, we’ll be all right,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “It’s not allowed us to show as good as we really are. … We’re a top-10 team. We’re doing pretty good.” He stated that he had a top 5 car for about 60 percent of the race. Even with the strong finish, Earnhardt dropped to 12th in the points going into Martinsville.
TV broadcasters raved about the finish of this race. The finish was incredible. It was exciting. It was action filled and it took place in 10 laps. The first 390 were not exciting. The last 10 laps don’t make a good race. The race was boring. Whether it’s the track or whether it’s the new car on the track, doesn’t change it. The people in California deserve their date but something has to be done to improve the competition on the track. Shortening the race by 100 laps didn’t improve the competition only the length of the boredom.
Thoughts and best wishes go to Joe Slingerland, the rear tire changer for the Hendrick Motorsports Amp Energy Chevrolet, who was injured on the first pit stop of the day. The tire changer apparently suffered a hamstring injury during the first pit stop and was taken to the infield care center by stretcher. Steve Letarte reported on Sirus Radio that he would be checked out by an orthopedic specialist on Monday in Charlotte.
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Congratulations to Kevin Harvick and his Richard Childress team on their exciting victory in Sunday’s race. Also congratulations to Kyle Busch on his Saturday victory in the Nationwide series race.
That said, to all the competitors in all the series thanks for giving us everything you have to give, you are our heroes. Most importantly, thanks to all the families who shared their loved ones with us so we could cheer our favorite driver and favorite teams. You are the true heroes of the sport and we are forever in your debt.
Point Leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Sees Positives in Both His Team and Nationwide Series
According to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. he’s more focused this year.
Thats good to hear since it should help eliminate a possible repeat of what Stenhouse did last season. He wrecked, a lot and was taken out of the car by team owner Jack Roush. His second chance led to things starting to click for the young driver and he ended the season as one of the hottest drivers in the Nationwide Series.
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[/media-credit]It’s carried over into 2011 and following his fourth place finish in Saturday’s Royal Purple 300 at the Auto Club Speedway moved him to the series points lead. To think that just a year ago, Stenhouse could have been just weeks away from losing his ride, to now leading the series point standings and turning quite a few heads.
“That is good,” said Stenhouse on Saturday, “because I think last time I was here they were talking about me for a different reason.”
Indeed. Now the talk has turned to what accomplishments he might compile this year. Much like Bristol last weekend, Stenhouse was able to drive his No. 6 Roush Ford to the front and lead the race. At Auto Club Speedway he did so by driving past both teammate Carl Edwards and eventual winner Kyle Busch with 50 laps to go.
While he would lose the lead a few laps later, it came only after Edwards had to work for it. Stenhouse was able to pull along the No. 60 of Edwards who said he could see Stenhouse driving the wheels off his car and was having a hard time getting to his bumper.
“It is good to be up front and leading,” said Stenhouse.
“These guys work hard every week. Our Mustangs have been fast. We finally got the finish we deserved this week. We feel like we have had top five’s the first four races and let it slip away with mistakes we made or just the way it worked out with fuel or cautions. It was a good day for us and we will carry this momentum into Texas.”
Stenhouse said he wasn’t looking forward to California since he doesn’t particularly run well there. Now though, he’s looking forward to Texas and the rest of the season. The NNS takes a week off as the Camping World Truck Series and Sprint Cup Series heads to Martinsville next weekend.
Stenhouse and 42 other NNS drivers will get back to racing at Texas two weeks from now. The O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 will be no different than most NNS races and the first five of the 2011 season – Cup drivers will be in the field and most likely in victory lane.
They’ll get majority of the attention but so will Stenhouse being the point leader. He says he knew his team was capable of competing like this since Daytona and credits many things for the turnaround. They have new cars this year and they’re working closely with the engineering group from the organization’s Cup program.
And like many Ford drivers, Stenhouse says the new FR9 engines have been awesome. Plus, keeping the same team as last year has made things easy.
But what his point lead really comes through is NASCAR’s new pick a series rule. Cup drivers can no longer run for the NNS championship and don’t receive points; they can still take home the trophies though much to the chagrin of many in the sport.
When Busch won Saturday it was his third of the NNS season in just five races. Tony Stewart and Mark Martin won the other two races. The question has already been raised of whether the NNS champion of 2011 will be winless.
Stenhouse and other NNS regulars are doing their best to avoid that and Stenhouse says he likes the new format.
“I think Nationwide Insurance has done an awesome job of making our own identity,” he said.
“I feel like looking at the races, I don’t know if it is the new points system getting in our minds that a Nationwide regular is going to win the championship, but it seems like the regulars have been in the top five and running strong. I think it has upped the competition and everyone is trying a little harder.”
Not only has the other competitors up their game but Stenhouse says he has as well. Running with the Cup drivers, as he was on Saturday, makes him race harder because of how high the bar has been set.
He’s enjoying racing against them and is learning a lot too.
Stenhouse hopes things continue going as they are and while he says he hasn’t begun to think about points or whom he’s racing for the championship, he did say it’s nice to be leading and hopes he can begin to open it up.
Simona de Silvestro Gets Best Career Finish of Fourth at St. Petersburg
At the end of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Simona de Silvestro finished fourth behind Dario Franchitti, Will Power and Tony Kanaan.
In the final laps, she tried to make the move on Kanaan for third, though could not complete the pass.
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[/media-credit]”We kind of battled like the last 15 laps to get in,” she said. “You know, it was kind of a high risk to try to pass him because it was so dirty on the inside of [turn] one. I had one shot that I think I could have made it, but I almost overshot it. So I think I’m really happy with fourth because we started 17th. And, with how we started the weekend, it wasn’t how I would thought we would end the race here. You know, I’m just really happy with my new engineer. We started working together on Friday, and to be running fourth today is something pretty special.”
Silvestro started the race with a new engineer after her previous engineer left the team, so there was extra grastification in getting a top five finish.
“It’s huge. Like I said, I never thought on Friday that we would be running so well during the race,” she said. “We were keeping up with the leaders, and my new engineer….. communication in the beginning was pretty tough because I never worked with him. But this morning it seemed like it really clicked and we really tried to figure it out. It was a tough moment for the team last weekend. We were scrambling to try to find a new engineer, and I think we made the right choice. Brent Harvey is pretty awesome. When he talks to me on the radio, he’s really calming me down, so I think we’ll make a good team.”
Part of getting that communication with Brett Harvey involved having to make some final changes to the car following the morning warm-up.
“We struggled with the new tires with our car,” she said. “We couldn’t quite figure it out, and then this morning we pretty much changed a couple of things on the car and suddenly it was there. I finally had the feel for the car.
“And I think it was mostly the communication between my engineer and me that started to click this morning. Before, he was trying to understand me, I was trying to understand him. And for me, it always has been a big part of it – for my engineer and I to have really great communication. And, this morning, I thought, “okay, that’s what we are going to do,” and it just kind of went in the right direction.”
If given a couple more laps, Silvestro says she may have been able to get by Kanaan.
“I definitely had a couple of boosts left,” she said. “Maybe I should have used one a little bit earlier, but I got close to TK a couple of times because he was making a couple of mistakes. But, like I said, it was really risky to try to make the move. I was running fourth and I never really quite got the shot that I was next to him. I didn’t take any crazy chances to ruin our race because the [race to the] championship is really long.”
Right off the bat, she had to work hard for her position as with starting back in the pack in 17th, she had to avoid the first lap wreck that involved Marco Andretti, Helio Castroneves, Mike Conway, Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon.
“I started way back, so I couldn’t see anything really because there was so much dust,” she continued. “But, I kind of made it through. And, I think I saw Marco – I saw a car kind of going up in the air. I tried to find a hole and I did. I came out in ninth position, so I think I made the right move. Maybe I was a little bit lucky, also, through turn one at the start of the race.”
IndyCar put forth a new rule this year to start each race with double-file restarts, which made the race interesting for Silvestro near the end.
“I got the inside and pretty much everybody kind of came down on me and I had nowhere to go,” she said. “I kind of made a little bit of contact with Will because I was pretty much on the rumble strip. But I thought the double‑file restarts were pretty fun because it actually gave us a chance to actually make positions. Last year, we would start single file every time, it would be hard. You would be just following the leader. I think it [the restarts] made it exciting and I really enjoyed it.”
With this being her best career finish, she includes this race in her career highlights, along with making the Indy 500 last year.
“Today is definitely going to go right up there, because I think it was one of the best races I’ve done,” she said. “I didn’t really make many mistakes and I really liked that. Being a female driver, I really get along with Danica, but it’s not like we compare notes or anything. I think she’s doing a great job. At the end I think we are just here to try to beat every other driver.”
This also marks a big moment for the entire team as they are considered one of the smaller IndyCar teams.
“I think even last year when I was racing there, we struggled towards the end to get the sponsorship together,” she said. “But he worked hard and he has a great group of people on the team. They are like a big family. It’s a pretty small team but we really get along really well. And my manager, Imran Safiulla, put the whole Nuclear Clean Energy deal together. Those folks are going to be with me for the next couple of years.
“I’m really lucky; not many drivers have this opportunity. And, with an industry like this supporting and choosing you as a spokesperson, it’s something pretty special.”
