ON TRACK- The California Edition
(A Weekly Edition of bump-drafts prepared specially for NASCAR_Nation)
Up Next- The Auto Club 500 at California Speedway in Fontana, CA- my birthplace (shameless shout out). Sunday, February 24, 2008. This weekend’s events culminate with the Sprint Cup event Sunday afternoon- green flag at 4:16 Eastern, 1:16 Pacific. Broadcast on FOX-TV network.
California Speedway has been host to NASCAR since 1997. The track is a 2 mile oval with 11-degree banking in trioval and 3 degrees on the backstretch.
Jeff Gordon won the first event here on June 22, 1997. Last year, Matt Kenseth won the first of two Cup events at Fontana, Jimmie Johnson captured the checkered on Labor Day, en route to a dominant stretch of driving that helped Johnson win his second consecutive title.
For The Record- Gordon has won the most races here in the relatively short history at this southern California track with 3. Greg Biffle and Ted Musgrave are both big winners at California with 3 each in the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series respectively.
Gordon, Kurt Busch and the Blue Duece’s brother Kyle have captured the most poles, with 2 each. Busch the younger owns the qualifying record at California with a speed of 188.245 m.p.h. in February, 2005. In the first race run here, Jeff Gordon completed the fastest race in 1997 with an average speed of 155.012 m.p.h. Last falls’ 30 lead changes marked the most in a Cup race, a feat equaled in the fall, 2005 race. we had the fewest lead changes here in May of 1998. The record for caution flags is 11, which has happened 3 times- including last Labor Day Weekend’s race.
Other Track Trivia- The oldest winner here is Rusty Wallace, who won at Fontana in April, 2001 at the age of 44. The youngest traveler to victory is Kyle Busch who was just 20 when he won the Fall, 2005 race.
In September, 2006- 42 of the original 43 qualifiers finished the race. Only 32 were able to finish the February, 2005 event.
In the news: The leader of the pack is not a Chevrolet, a Toyota or even a Ford. Dodge can lay claim to bringing the 2008 Daytona 500 winner home. There’s still plenty of buzz over Ryan Newman’s last lap victory, a victory in which he denied Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch the opportunity to provide Toyota its first victory in a Cup points race. Another component of the win was the help of Newman’s teammate Kurt Busch, a guy not typically thought of as one of the nice guys.
6 of the top 10 finishers were Dodges, adding a completely new story line to the ones already crafted for NASCAR’s first event of the new season. Missing was any hint of Hendrick dominance, although NASCAR’s most popular guy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. gave HMS one top 10 driver. Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, and Jeff Gordon all had good moments in the race, undone by crashes and mechanical problems.
This week provides not only a new event, but a completely different track with a completely different feel. The draft won’t be a factor in this race, plus history and testing suggest we should keep an eye open for a different group of guys at the top.
Not only do Gordon and Johnson do well here, but let us not forget that Mr. Consistency- Matt Kenseth has won the last two winter events here. Kasey Kahne has won at both the Cup and Nationwide level in California. For those who love variety, look for something a little different this week.
That’s what makes this sport interesting.
NASCAR Terminology- Become a NASCAR expert by learning how to conversantly use these terms.
Deck lid- No this is not Richard Petty’s big hat. For all you folks in Rio Linda, the deck lid as a stock car term for something your car has…….a trunk.
Sway or anti-roll bar- This is used to resist or counteract the rolling force of the car body through the turns.
Axle- We’re not talking about the lead singer from Guns ‘N’ Roses. The axle is a rotating shaft that connects the rear differential gears to the rear wheels.
That’s all for this week. Enjoy the ride. 2008 is going to be a wild one.
Thanks for reading and feel free to drop me a line any time.
See ya!
