Tue Feb 19 13:40:41 2008

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This Week in Auto Racing February 22 - February 24

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Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - While the majority of the racing world has yet to begin their season, NASCAR grabs all the headlines. Last week was NASCAR's "Super Bowl," the Daytona 500, and now we really get into the "regular season" grind at the California Speedway to determine the drivers for the "Chase for the Sprint Cup."

NASCAR

Sprint Cup

Auto Club 500 - California Speedway - Fontana, CA

After spending three weeks in Florida, the series travels across the country for race No.2. It will also be a completely different race now that the restrictor-plates are off the engines.

The race at Daytona was all about handling and being in the right place at the right time. Ryan Newman was in the right place - on the outside row with teammate Kurt Busch locked on his rear bumper. That resulted in Newman's first win at Daytona and the first win for owner Roger Penske in the Daytona 500.

Not only did "The Captain" get a one-two finish from his two stars, he got a surprising 15th-place finish from "rookie" Sam Hornish Jr., who struggled just to make the race in 2007 and had a best finish of 30th in two starts.

This week at the California Speedway in Fontana, CA it will be less about handling and more about making horsepower.

It will also likely be about the "bounce back" effort of Hendrick Motorsports who started their Florida week with a win in the Budweiser Shootout (Dale Earnhardt Jr.), a win in one of the two Gatorade Duels (Earnhardt Jr. again) and a pole win (Jimmie Johnson), but fell flat in the "Great American Race."

When the green flag dropped for the 50th running in the Daytona 500 the team's problems began. Jeff Gordon was strong early, then developed a suspension problem that they had worried about all week and he finished 39th.

"We saw signs of this in testing, we went back to the shop and braced everything as best we could to prevent this from happening," said Gordon. "It's a product of the type of suspension we are running...it wasn't safe for us to be out there."

Johnson suffered through a slow pit stop which put him back in the field and that led to him getting involved with Hornish Jr. which ended up having the two-time defending series champion spinning through the infield. The pole winner finished a disappointing 27th.

Later, Casey Mears miscalculated a move to the outside line and ended up in a accident, finishing 35th.

Only Earnhardt Jr., the newest member of HMS, collected a decent finish - ninth. But "Junior" could have finished much higher had he made a late pit stop for new tires. Miscommunication left him out on the track when the rest of the leaders pitted for new rubber.

At Fontana, HMS has had a history of success. Johnson has two wins and six top-fives in 10 starts and Gordon made the turn to Victory Lane three times with seven top-fives in 15 starts. Expect a big effort from those two this week.

On the other hand, Earnhardt Jr. has never had much success at the California Speedway. His statistics show no poles, no wins and just four top-10s in 12 starts. In 2002, he suffered a huge accident with Kevin Harvick while the No.29 Chevy was trying to get to pit lane and the resulting concussion stayed with him for much of the season.

"That was about as hard of a hit as I've ever taken," Earnhardt Jr said. "It just took every bit of air out of me. I could hear the guys on the radio, but I couldn't answer."

He tried to hide the effects of the accident from everyone, but his performance went from outstanding to mediocre or worse. When he finally came clean about his post-concussion syndrome, Earnhardt Jr. was criticized by the media, fans and fellow drivers alike.

However, its a new year, a new team with new sponsors and this might be the year when "Junior" finally gets a chance to show his vast talents in the California sun. At Daytona and Talladega, Earnhardt Jr. is always good. This week will be a true test of the new No.88 Chevrolet team.

But for Earnhardt Jr., Gordon and Johnson to have a good day, they will have to beat the Toyotas, who seem to have a horsepower advantage. They also have some pretty good drivers in Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. The three combined to lead 138 of 200 laps at Daytona and if Stewart and Busch could have linked up like Newman and Busch the final results might have been different. But Stewart just couldn't get to the bottom of the track quick enough and Newman, with help from Busch, took advantage of the opening.

Surprising Dodge grabbed six of the top-10 spots and it should be interesting to see how they do this week. In fact, it should be a great race with all the stories coming out of Daytona. Matt Kenseth is the defending champion while Johnson won the fall event.

Nationwide

Stater Bros. 300 - California Speedway - Fontana, CA

When you look at the top-10 standings in the Nationwide Series, one name pops out at you. No not Tony Stewart, who won the season opener at Daytona for the third time. Not Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Brian Vickers or Matt Kenseth all of whom hold top-five positions after the Camping World 300 at Daytona.

No, the name that jumps off the page is Bryan Clauson. The 18-year-old Noblesville, IN native drove the No.41 Chip Ganassi Dodge to a sixth-place finish. He was the only non-Sprint Cup driver in the top-10. And he is just a rookie with six career starts in the series.

With crew chief Brian Pattie, the team spent most of the day in the top-15. The only time they fell out of contention was for a pit crew violation.

"Our Texaco/Havoline Dodge was just incredible all day," said Clauson. "I think that last lap I hit the wall like three times, but we just stayed in it. We were able to keep our momentum up and keep going. If you would have told me I'd have run sixth in my first trip here to Daytona with as many 'Cup' guys as they had in the field I'd have told you that you were crazy."

Now its on to California where at least 14 Sprint Cup driver will again be entered in the field. They will likely dominate the top positions again.

Last year, Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag, leading 15 other Sprint Cup drivers who took the top-16 positions on the board. Kenseth went on to win the Cup race the following day as well.

Craftsman

San Bernadino County 200 - California Speedway - Fontana, CA

In the season opener, 2006 series champion Todd Bodine held off Kyle Busch for the victory. An interesting note, Kyle Busch is in the top-five in each of the three NASCAR national series.

But Busch will not run the entire series and that fact is not lost on his competition. Busch helped take out one championship contender - Mike Skinner. They were part of an 10-truck incident on lap 19 which began when Busch came down the track and Skinner got loose and slid up the track.

"It was way too early in the race for people to be jumping all over the track like that," Skinner said, directing his comments towards Busch.

"I apologize if I was to blame for that," said Busch.

Skinner didn't return to the track until lap 70, leaving more than 50 laps behind the leaders. He finished a distant 29th. It's a far cry from 2007 when Skinner finished fourth at Daytona and went on to post 13 consecutive top-10s to begin the season.

The only good news for Skinner is that a couple of other title contenders also started the season slowly. Defending champion Ron Hornaday Jr. was credited with a 25th-place finish after an oil pump failure sent him to the garage for major repairs. Two other former champions struggled - Jack Sprague finished 19th and Ted Musgrave finished 28th.

But Bodine had no such problems leading a race-high 49 laps en route to the 0.077-second victory.

"I knew he (Busch) wasn't going to turn me or anything like that and if he couldn't get to the outside and have Johnny (Benson) go with him, I knew I was ok," said Bodine from Victory Lane.

Skinner will be the defending champion in the San Bernadino County 200. It was the first of three consecutive wins in 2007 that propelled him to a big early season lead which he eventually lost to Hornaday Jr.

"I am definitely looking forward to California," said Skinner. "Last year was a great year for the fans to watch it come down to the end, but I think this year should be even better."

In that race, Mark Martin was leading during a restart on lap 94 of 100. Unfortunately, he was hit from behind by Hornaday Jr., sent spinning across the infield and Skinner took advantage to go from third to first.

"I knew to just stay in the gas," said Skinner. "We got past Ronnie before the caution came out."

Skinner took the restart with two laps remaining and this time he didn't let Hornaday Jr. get anywhere near his rear bumper. The clean air worked well for Skinner and he drove to the checkered flag without another challenge.

This year's race figures to be just as good as 2007 and should not be missed. But then I say that for every Craftsman Truck Series event, because they seem to be more exciting than either the Nationwide Series or Sprint Cup races.