Race Day Re-Cap: California
(A post specially prepared for letsgoracingfans.com)
You have to be bummed if you’re a part of the NASCAR brass right now. Whatever momentum that may have been gained by a successful speed week was negated by the comedy of errors that became the Auto Club 500. The record may show that Carl Edwards won the Cup race, but the real victor was Mother Nature.
Unfortunately, everyone knew this weekend was going to be problematic given the weather reports from early in the week. As a native of Fontana and a near life long resident of the Pacific Northwest, I can tell you that the weather is downright unpredictable on the West Coast. As a member of the media, I spend a lot of time tracking the weather, albeit from a distance, and I’ve seen conditions change on a dime- with snow, rain and sun all in the same day. Because of California’s reputation as a sunshine state, you’d think the weather wouldn’t be an issue…..but this has been no ordinary winter.
I can’t help but think those little windows of opportunity gave decision makers a sense of false hope. Officials were just determined to get a race in yesterday for longsuffering fans,but there can be no question they would have just been better off to wait it out and run the races today. What fans were treated to yesterday was a far better product than what we had Sunday.
Mother Nature was a real mother Sunday, making her presence felt in several early race incidents. For once, it wasn’t an inexperienced or overly aggressive driver taking out cars. Heck- it wasn’t even the track itself….it was water. Thanks to the race in Fontana, we all know now what a racer means when he talks about “weepers.” Given that, it was miraculous that we had 41 of 43 drivers still racing at the checkered flag, and it is also a miracle that nobody in that Casey Mears/Sam Hornish Jr. affair got seriously hurt. Being an incurable optomist, I’ll choose to see it that way.
I’ll also tip a hat to “Cousin” Carl Edwards for his hard charge at the end to overtake Jimmie Johnson with 17 laps to go and never let go. The 99’s victory keeps Roush-Fenway’s run of victories at Fontana in February alive after wins by Greg Biffle in 2005 and by Matt Kenseth in 2006 & 2007. Jimmie Johnson reported being just too loose at the end to take the lead back from Edwards and Jeff Gordon feels darn lucky to be in 3rd after an engine failure as he neared the finish line. Despite an early weather-related wreck by denny Hamlin, Gibbs pulled out a good day with Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch making their presence felt once again.
I gotta tell ya, “Rowdy” impresses me more and more all the time in spite of his sometimes prickly personality. I’ll risk heresy by saying this guy reminds me more of Dale Earnhardt Sr. than anoyne on the circuit today with the way he threads the needle. This guy darn near pulled off a trifecta- he leads the Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck Series in points, and he’s right on Tony Stewart’s bumper in the Nationwide. Either he’s crazy, or crazy like a fox.
It’s scary when you think Kyle Busch will be racing in his hometown at the next stop- Las Vegas.
I, for one, am glad this race is behind us. I would not have wanted to be the guy making the call on when to race and not race on this one. 20/20 hindsight this one was screwed up.
Thank God have more races around the corner. It will be interesting. In all this talk about the Hendrick Chevys and the Gibbs Toyotas- it’s been a Dodge and a Ford that have won the first two race, only adding to a season full of great story lines. The new car is proving to be remarkably durable and a real handful for the racers to drive. And parity? Get this- if the Chase started today, Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne would be in, and Jeff Gordon would be out. Weird.
Let’s cue the duck for the next one boys!
