As NASCAR Heads to California…
I’ll be short this time. The NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series teams are headed to Fontana, California and Auto Club Speedway, and while the folks who cover NASCAR continue to try to brainwash us into thinking that we’re just going to love the race on Sunday, it’s woefully obvious that we’re going to see a race that disappoints us. Why? Because it’s California, that’s why. Despite the rave reviews I’ve heard this week about how much the fans are just prejudiced against this track, the truth is that they have good reason for their prejudice. It hasn’t been a show to remember ever. Let’s hope that things change this week.
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[/media-credit]And one more thing about Fontana. Who in the wide, wide world of sports decided it was a good thing to go out to Phoenix and Las Vegas, take a week off, run Bristol and head back to California? It boggles my mind. The week off makes more sense if you run at Fontana and come back to Bristol due to weather considerations. The schedule makers get a bye because last weekend was so wonderful and this weekend is going to be cold. Luck, I guess, but the travel costs for teams are not a laughing matter.
I am amazed at the continuing saga of Rick Russell’s 2nd Chance Motorsports and driver Jennifer Jo Cobb’s disputes. Today, Russell filed a complaint against Cobb saying she was guilty of larceny for stealing parts. If I read the comments right, Cobb says that the parts were moved to a storage building on Russell’s property and the storage facility belonged to Russell. What? Sounds like the way things are going all over America. Everyone wants to sue once there is a disagreement and if a suit is not possible, you either take it to the press or call the law. Even more amazing is that Russell and Cobb had a contract that required her to repair the car if it was damaged in a race, which happened at Las Vegas. Furthermore, she was required to supply engines for the car. I guess Jennifer Jo really wanted to race so much she entered into a really lousy contract. This can be best described as a mess.
I noted with interest that TRG Motorsports is changing to Ford bodies and power after California. It’s a limited agreement with Roush Fenway Racing to build the cars and with Roush-Yates Engines to supply powerplants. I wonder if this is a trend. We’ve seen Richard Petty Motorsports move from Dodge to a similar agreement with RFR last year. The same thing happened with Front Row Motorsports and now with TRG. Ford has now increased their number of cars from five in 2008 to nine in 2011, and if rumors are to be believed, there could be more. It’s very interesting, to say the least.
Finally, all I’ve heard this week is how Jimmie Johnson is a lock to win at Auto Club Speedway. And if not him, it has to be Jeff Gordon. I might agree if it weren’t for a couple of guys who have performed much better and have a record at Fontana, namely Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth, not to mention Kevin Harvick. No one promotes “Five-Time” and Gordon more than the fine folks, who cover the sport, but here’s my shocking prediction—it might be Kyle Busch, much to the chagrin of NASCAR Nation. But, then again, who knows? I just know that we’ll know late on Sunday evening. But the constant presumption that the favorite always has to be one of the Hendrick teams is interesting. It ignores recent performances. But what do I know?
Matt Crafton Eyes the Championship After Solid Start to Season
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[/media-credit]So far this season, Matt Crafton is having one of the best seasons of his career as he currently leads the point standings.
“The season has been good so far,” he told me earlier this week. “It hasn’t great so far that we’ve got two top five finishes and a top 10. The last race at Darlington we had a really truck. That will help towards building for the next race at Martinsville and build off the momentum for the team and having momentum is huge in this sport.”
The last race at Darlington was a trying race for the No. 88 team as they got stuck back outside the top 20 late in the going with a late pit stop. Though Crafton proved that his team is ready to make a run at the championship as he drove back to a fourth place finish.
“It was cool that we had as good as a truck as we did to come back to finish fourth,” he said. “That was awesome. I think if we had better track position, we would’ve had a better shot.”
One of the keys to Crafton’s run at Darlington was working with teammate Johnny Sauter, who he has a good relationship with.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “Things are great. If we’re off a little bit in practice, you can over there and see what they’re doing and get your program with what they’re doing. We actually went to them at Darlington. And that’s go back and forth as they can come to us.”
Crafton is set to go for the championship after watching ThorSport Racing grow through the years.
“It would be everything,” he said. “I mean, that’s what we all strive for. We’re all here to win the championship. That weekend is one thing, but its all part of working towards that.”
He got the call to drive for them in 2000, after winning the Featherlite Southwest Series Championship. When he first joined, they were a team that was just starting out, though have since grown to a three-truck organization. ThorSport Racing announced last week that they’d be adding a third truck to the organization with Dakoda Armstrong behind the wheel.
“I remember when it was just one team and not a whole trucks and to keep adding to it makes it better and better every year,” he said. “That’s pretty awesome to have another truck at the race track; I look forward to working with him.”
Key highlights to his career to date include his first racing memory of winning his first ever go-kart racing and his first career Camping World Truck Series win at Atlanta, followed by the win at Charlotte. Though one track that he has yet to win at that’s on his radar is Bristol, following the second-place finish last year.
Outside of his driving commitments, Crafton has also been working with Travis Pastrana in helping him learn the ropes of driving stock cars.
“He is going to be a good racecar driver,” he said. “He has been good to work with. He has already done well. To finish sixth in his first ever start and then the second one, he got caught up in someone else’s mess.”
Speedway Media News and Bits
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[/media-credit]This weekend, NASCAR shifts from one of its smallest tracks – Bristol Motor Speedway – to one of its biggest – Auto Club Speedway. Auto Club Speedway, a two-miler, which offers the fifth different track-size in as many weeks, a challenge to each driver’s skill and versatility. Up first this weekend is the NASCAR Nationwide Series, running the 13th Annual Royal Purple 300 on Saturday and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing wraps up the weekend, with Sunday’s 15th Annual Auto Club 400 – a race that’ll see a ratcheted-up sense of urgency. This one’s 50 laps — 100 miles – shorter than past spring races at Auto Club Speedway.
And for the first time since 2005, there have been four different winners in the first four races. Competitive balance is high, especially when you consider that last year’s top winners – Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson – have yet to triumph. This weeks race schedule:
NSS Practice 3 p.m. ET Fri. Speed
NNS Practice 4:30 p.m. ET Fri. Speed
NSS Qualifying 7:30 p.m. ET Fri. Speed
NNS Qualifying 1:00 p.m. ET Sat. Speed
NSS Practice 2:30 p.m ET Sat Speed
NSS Final Practice 4:00 p.m ET Sat Speed
NNS Royal Purple 300 5:30 p.m. ET Sat ESPN
NSS Auto Club 400 2:30 p.m ET Sun FOX
Can Kyle Busch driver of the NO. 18 M&M’s Toyota comes into the Auto Club 400 with a sweep the previous week at Bristol Motor Speedway winning both the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. Busch has a driver rating of 100.7 the fourth-best at ACS with an average finish of 12.7. He has one win, four top fives, eight top tens, and a pole in his career at ACS. I would pay close attention to the NO. 18 this week in both races at Auto Club Speedway.
*A New Day: After Sunday, 2011 Points Decide Top 35. For the first five races, the 2010 owner points are used when awarding top 35 teams guaranteed status to each race.
Auto Club Speedway hosts race No. 5. After Sunday, the 2011 points will be used.
That presents some interesting angles all around the top-35 bubble. Casey Mears and his No. 13 Germain Racing Toyota has had to qualify on speed for the first five races, and now sits directly on the bubble, in 35th. Mears is one point ahead of Dave Blaney and the No. 36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet, in 36th.
A few marquee teams are perilously close to the bubble. Jeff Burton and the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet sit 30th, 23 points ahead of the cut-off. Joey Logano and the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota are also 23 points up. Brian Vickers and the No. 83 Red Bull Racing Toyota are just 18 points ahead of the cut-off
*Paul Menard Finds Perfect Fit at RCR. Paul Menard’s first full seasons were with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. He finished 34th in 2007, and 26th in 2008.
A year later, with Yates Racing, he finished 31st. That was 2009.
A year after that, last season, Menard enjoyed the best finish of his career, 23rd. That was in Richard Petty Motorsports equipment.
Now, with his fourth team in as many seasons, Menard has gotten the break of his career. He joined Richard Childress Racing, an operation that houses six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships, and last year landed all three of its drivers – Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer – in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
This year, shirking predictions of another subpar points finish, Menard might be the next RCR driver in the Chase.
He currently sits fifth – the best points position of his career, and the best of any RCR driver. He has been the top-finishing Richard Childress Racing driver in three of the four races this season.
And at Bristol, he led 35 laps, the highest single-race total of his career.
But this weekend presents another new challenge for Menard. In eight career Auto Club Speedway races, Menard has just one finish in the top 20 – an 18th last February.
*Point Standings through Race 4 of 36:
Position Drvier Points
1 Kurt Busch 150
2 Carl Edwards 149
3 Tony Stewart 138
4 Ryan Newman 138
5 Paul Menard 136
6 Kyle Busch 133
7 Jimmie Johnson 130
8 Juan P. Montoya 126
9 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 124
10 Martin Truex Jr. 123
11 Mark Martin 123
12 Kasey Kahne 122
13 Matt Kenseth 117
14 Bobby Labonte 115
15 Kevin Harvick 110
16 AJ Allmendinger 107
17 Denny Hamlin 106
18 Marcos Ambrose 105
19 Jeff Gordon 104
20 David Ragan 89
