Auto Club 500 @ California

mattwtrs

Retired Senior Member
2nd points race of the year, will this be Juniors 1st win of 2008? Will the billys goats (Dodges) blind side everyone and win? How bout the Gibb's crew in the Toyota's? Can DJ make the race and get a top 10?
 

gata

Active Member
I'm guessing that someone from MWR at least has a shot to finish in the top ten, but I would bet the Gibbs and Hendrix stables dominate the overall top ten. I'm just glad we are in the top 35 and can make the dance!:peaceful:
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
I'm just glad we are in the top 35 and can make the dance!:peaceful:

Well, yes and no. DJ is in the top 35 but for the first 5 races, Cup goes by the ending 2007' standing and DJ finsihed 41st. After Bristol, current season points take over and DJ's champion's provisional comes less into play. I think this was why he's only back for the first 5 races to help with that provisonal to set the plate for when Reutimann takes over as David finsished also outside the top 35 on 07'.

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/data/standings_official.html

What DJ does have going for him is the past Champion's provisional but Penske's move to shift Kurt Busch's points to Sam Hornish does cloud the picture a bit when it comes to that scenario. Nascar rules say the most recent champion gets the past champion's provisional so in some scenario's he could shutout DJ from any of the 4 remaining races.

There is reason to be positive as Toyota realized early on last season that they were way down in power and thus they made a mid-season engineering change to their engine configurations whch help boost power. It also explained along with some track time data as to way Toyota begin to step up in the 2nd half of the season last year and even Mikey Waltrip started to qualify on a regular basis.

Obviously Toyota has leepfroggged light years in performance and the Dodge's seem stronger. Just thought I'd throw that out for food for thought!

And watch Kyle "Rowdy" Busch because love em' or hate em' that kid can flat drive a race car.
 

gata

Active Member
Mac - I stand corrected. Thanks for clearing that up for. I guess I will have to pay close attention to qualifying tonight and hope all MWR cars make it. As for Kyle, he’s at the top of my “I wonder who will cause the biggest wreck during the final 10 laps” category. IMO there’s a good chance there will be a track full of M&M’s on the Fontana asphalt. Hopefully Gibbs will be able to impart some wisdom to the guy on limits. Maybe he already has if you believe Truex’s comments last week.
http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/nationwideseries/Truex_Busch_drives_like_a_girl_Busch_Grow_up.html
 

gata

Active Member
Sun setting on Jarrett
Fontana victory eyed before exit

By J.P. Hoornstra, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/21/2008 10:17:23 PM PST

The official race results of the June 21, 1987, Winston Cup race at Riverside International Raceway reveal a 30-year-old driver named Dale Jarrett did not have a sponsor for the event. It was the first of many business trips Jarrett made to Southern California, and he left town with $5,765 for his 18th-place finish.

Twenty-one years later, with his silvery-white hair and brown UPS-emblazoned jumpsuit, Jarrett looks as if he should be behind the wheel of a delivery truck. But anyone who's followed Jarrett since the beginning knows he is among the most accomplished drivers on NASCAR's top circuit.

He plans to end his racing career after four more Sprint Cup events, at which point he will become a full-time analyst for ESPN. Sunday's Auto Club 500 will be Jarrett's last NASCAR race in Southern California, and only now is a sense of finality starting to hit home for the 51-year-old.
"With Daytona last week, that made the whole concept very real," Jarrett said. "Just to win one race was such a thrill, and I've been able to win 32 races in my career as well as a championship. So I feel very good about this being my time to walk away from the sport."

He walked into the sport bearing the burden of a famous last name. His father, Ned, had won 50 races and two series championships between 1959 and 1965.

Jarrett more than bore the burden over his career, which peaked during his 12-year run (1995-2006) with Robert Yates Racing. The
Advertisement apex came in 1999, his lone series championship season, which included a career-best fifth-place finish at the spring race in Fontana.

Jarrett, starting ninth from the pole at the inaugural California 500 in June 1997, finished eighth at the first Cup race at California Speedway.
"I think the thing that will stand out the most to me is when we first went there and all the comparisons of how it was built just like Michigan," Jarrett recalled. "Certainly as you drove in and looked at it, it looked a lot like that, but then once you got on the race track it was totally different and had its own personality.

"Really to me, it's probably a more difficult speedway than what Michigan was to drive. So that stands out. Then it's just a very nice facility, and it gave us the opportunity to get closer to that L.A. market again."
But after achieving early success at California Speedway - four top 10s in his first six tries - Jarrett has only two top 10s in his last nine Fontana races going back to 2003.

Last year, with Michael Waltrip Racing - the first team of Toyotas to circle the track - Jarrett finished 32nd in February and did not qualify for the September race.

"I think if you look at the first couple of years that I raced there, it was when the team I was with was at its peak," he said. "And then if you look at the later years, then as a team we weren't performing like we had in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Which isn't to say Jarrett won't miss sweating in the hot summers, seeing the snow- capped San Gabriel Mountains in winter and heading around the low-banked turns at California Speedway.

"I'll still be coming back to visit when we're back here in September, and that will be from the broadcast booth," he said. "But it will be different."
Jarrett is walking away from the track the same way his father did.
Ned Jarrett was a respected broadcaster from 1988-2000, and Dale earned positive reviews calling a few Busch- turned-Nationwide Series races on ESPN last year. In January, he was hired full time to replace Rusty Wallace for the remainder of the season.

"(My father) told me to relax and just talk like I do," Jarrett told The Associated Press last summer. "I think that's the thing I always loved about my Dad, he never tried to be somebody that he wasn't. And I can't be somebody else if I tried. So he just told me to relax and have fun with it."

One of Jarrett's partners in the booth will be Andy Petree, a high school classmate from North Carolina. It was Petree who needed a driver for a Chevrolet Nova he was building in 1977 and turned to his friend to drive the car in a local short-track race, Jarrett's first ever behind the wheel.
Before he settles into the booth, Jarrett's driving route will take him through a particularly important neighborhood one last time.

"The only track that I didn't win at where I probably would have liked to have won is California," he said. "I obviously have one more chance to do that this weekend, but I also am happy with what I was able to accomplish and do in this sport."

http://www.sgvtribune.com/sports/ci_8329536
 

rod

Retired 22 years
As far as I am concerned NASCAR is about as exciting as watching your kid brother pick his nose. Give me a 410 sprint car race any day. They don't finnish those under yellow:taz::taz::taz:.
 

gata

Active Member
Upon further review . . .
For the Go or Go Home folks not in the top 35 for the first five races Mac is correct. However, new for this year is that IF qualifying is rained out during the first five race, then the current top 42 drivers for 2008 make the show.

Right now it’s looking like the Sprint Cup cars will not be qualifying due to a rain storm. The track does have lights, so it’s too close to call right now.

If they can’t qualify, then all MWR cars are in and the following go home:
84 – Allmendinger
49 – Schrader
10 – Carpentier
27 – Skinner
08 – Lamar
 

govols019

You smell that?
The top 35 rule is the NASCAR version of welfare. They should go to a two day qualifying. If you can't make it in the race after two chances then you deserve to go home.
 

govols019

You smell that?
Upon further review . . .
For the Go or Go Home folks not in the top 35 for the first five races Mac is correct. However, new for this year is that IF qualifying is rained out during the first five race, then the current top 42 drivers for 2008 make the show.

Right now it’s looking like the Sprint Cup cars will not be qualifying due to a rain storm. The track does have lights, so it’s too close to call right now.

If they can’t qualify, then all MWR cars are in and the following go home:
84 – Allmendinger
49 – Schrader
10 – Carpentier
27 – Skinner
08 – Lamar

Where did you hear that from? I honestly don't believe that is right.

They'll line up using 2007 points.
 

gata

Active Member
Just to add to the confusion, below is another tale that is circulating.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rain washes out California qualifying
February 22, 2008
Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
FONTANA, Calif. -- As he did last week in the Daytona 500, Jimmie Johnson will start from the pole in Sunday's Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway.

The difference is that, this week, the defending Cup champion didn't have to earn the top position.

Rain washed out Friday's Sprint Cup qualifying session at the track, forcing a start for Sunday's race according to the rule book. That means the top 35 cars in 2007 owner points will occupy the top 35 starting spots, with Johnson on the pole, Jeff Gordon on the outside of the front, Clint Bowyer third, two-time defending race winner Matt Kenseth fourth, and so forth.

Under rainout rules, all eligible past champions also make the field, so Kurt Busch, Dale Jarrett and Bill Elliott will start in positions 36, 37 and 38, respectively.

The final five spots go to Brian Vickers, David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip, John Andretti and Joe Nemechek, the top five in 2008 owner points not otherwise qualified. AJ Allmendinger, Ken Schrader and Patrick Carpentier (all drivers who attempted to qualify for the Daytona 500 but failed to make the race) will go home without racing for the second straight week. Burney Lamar and Mike Skinner also will miss the race.


http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=357050
 

Cementups

Box Monkey
^^^that is how it is. the top 35 from 2007. then you go with winners from 2007 (Kurt Busch). Then all past champions make the field (DJ, Elliott) and finally the last 5 positions are filled by the top 5 drivers in points that have not already been included.

My picks for race are Shrubby and my darkhorse is Scott Riggs. There is a good chance you could Edwards up there. In all of his starts he has never finished below 6th. Also Jimie Johnson is the only driver to have completed every single lap as Californis Speedway, now known as Auto Club Speedway of Southern California after a 10-year, 100-Million dollar deal this morning.
 

wkmac

Well-Known Member
As far as I am concerned NASCAR is about as exciting as watching your kid brother pick his nose. Give me a 410 sprint car race any day. They don't finnish those under yellow:taz::taz::taz:.

WoO or USAC?
:wink2:

And of course if you're talking 410 sprints it's also nothing but dirt for me! Nothing, absolutely nothing beats a good dirt track race any day of the week!

Looking at the weather, it's raining in Southern California and at Fontana of course. From the forecast, I think it's very real that there will be racing on Monday. If the weather stops and they get the Cup race in, what time is to late to run the Nationwide (it's still Busch to me but it's still Grace Cup to me as well!) race tonight?

Looking over at Phoenix, shows cloudy in upper 50's with rain to the north. Not sure if NHRA will go forward or not but so far it seems a go. Vandy coming from the 7th hole! Bob will face Cory Mac in the opening round with lane choice. Bob's less than 3 one hundredths behind pole sitter Brandon Bernstein so he's right there with the lead dogs and if Jim Dupuy can put in a good engine tuneup and clutch setup, the UPS dragster could very well go rounds today.
 

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
Now that Sprint is sponsoring the Cup cars am I the only one that gets confused when some announcer on the radio says the Sprint Cars race on Sunday. I keep thinking short track World of Outlaw type cars.
 

ups79

Well-Known Member
Now that Sprint is sponsoring the Cup cars am I the only one that gets confused when some announcer on the radio says the Sprint Cars race on Sunday. I keep thinking short track World of Outlaw type cars.

Sure just as nationwide series, should be considered international. I wonder what the series will be called next year. What a waste. Tune into NHRA its more exciting and additionally you no longer have to watch hollywood style drivers.
 
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