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Keeping Up With The Locals

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By TONY FABRIZIO

Published: February 22, 2008

SPRINT CUP PREVIEW

WEEK 2: CALIFORNIA

Moving from the east coast of Florida to the snow-capped mountains of southern California, NASCAR has crossed the country for the Auto Club 500 at two-mile California Speedway. Qualifying is tonight at 6:30, and Sunday's race starts at 3:30 p.m. Here are some pertinent questions heading into the weekend:

Only one of the past 10 Daytona 500 winners has gone on to win the championship. Can Ryan Newman contend for the Sprint Cup title?

Newman missed the Chase in 2006 and 2007 and was winless both seasons. But he showed some punch late last year, posting top-five finishes in four of the final seven races. While his Daytona 500 victory was more about being in the right place at the right time than having the best car, it was still a success. One thing worth noting, though, is that only one Daytona 500 winner in the last 10 years, Jimmie Johnson in 2006, went on to win the championship.

The new car makes its intermediate-track debut this week. What can we expect?

Drivers are still complaining about the car not having enough front downforce in the corners, but nobody can say it wasn't racy at Daytona. Sunday's Daytona 500 had 42 lead changes, making it one of the five most competitive 500s in the last 37 years. Sixteen drivers led at least a lap, the second-highest total in race history. What's more, it appears other teams have closed the gap at least somewhat on Hendrick Motorsports, which got off to a huge head start with the car last year.

Ford teams didn't have a very good SpeedWeeks at Daytona. The highest-finishing Ford driver in the Daytona 500 was Greg Biffle in 10th, and the highest-finishing Ford driver in any of the Cup-level preliminary races was Carl Edwards' fifth in one of the qualifying races. Why should California be different?

Roush Fenway Racing co-owner Jack Roush doesn't put as much emphasis on Daytona and Talladega as some other teams, believing the two restrictor-plate tracks constitute only four of the 36 races on the schedule. The Roush cars should fare better on the intermediate and short tracks, starting with California. Matt Kenseth has won the past two winter races at California, and though NASCAR is running a new car, Kenseth and teammate Carl Edwards were fast at California in preseason testing.

Zephyrhills' David Reutimann will do Sprint Cup and Nationwide series double-duty again after coming off an 18th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and 14th-place finish in the Camping World 300.

On the Cup side, Reutimann has to qualify on speed because he did not have Top-35 status at the end of last year. Beginning with the Goody's 500 at Martinsville on March 30, this year's owner points will determine who gets the guaranteed spots.

"We made huge gains with our car in our California test," Reutimann said. "When we unloaded, the thing wouldn't even think about turning. Crew chief Ryan Pemberton kept trying different things, and we ended up leaving there pretty confident."

Reutimann will never forget his first Cup race at California last winter. His nearly head-on crash into the wall was one of the hardest impacts ever measured, NASCAR officials said after reviewing information from the car's data recorder.

Lakeland's Joe Nemechek also is battling for a Top-35 spot with Furniture Row Racing. He made a splash at Daytona by posting the third-fastest qualifying speed, but a freak incident on pit road in which a lug nut shot through his oil cooler relegated him to a 41st-place finish.

KEEPING UP WITH THE LOCALS

SPRINT CUP PREVIEW

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