The Essentials
Race: Where: Auto Club Speedway
Time: Sunday 6 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: FOX Sports, MRN Radio
Forecast: "Isolated Sprinkles", Cloudy, 76
Distance: 250 laps (500 miles)
Pole Winner: Brian Vickers
2008 Winner: Carl Edwards
The Storylines
Time: Sunday 6 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: FOX Sports, MRN Radio
Forecast: "Isolated Sprinkles", Cloudy, 76
Distance: 250 laps (500 miles)
Pole Winner: Brian Vickers
2008 Winner: Carl Edwards
The Storylines
After a week of debate about Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s driving abilities and Matt Kenseth's soggy Daytona win, NASCAR as we know it has returned to form.
Unfortunately, it returns Sunday afternoon/evening at one of the most underwhelming tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit, Auto Club Speedway (the track formerly known as California Speedway). Fortunately, that return aims to be a little better than last year's events at the track that were nearly washed away in a weekend chock full of wet weather.
Brian Vickers has had a topsy turvy week after serving as Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s anger management device in the waning laps of last weekend's Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Fla. Vickers laid down an impressive lap during qualifying to pick up the top starting spot for Sunday's 500-miler -- a nice reversal of fortune from his 39th-place Daytona finish.
His roller coaster of starting and finishing positions kept going after he secured the Coors Light pole award Friday when his team detected a possible issue with his original engine and opted to swap a new one in the No. 83 for the race. Per NASCAR rules, the engine change forces Vickers to start at the tail-end of Sunday's starting grid.
Ironically, Earnhardt Jr. was also forced to the back after the team changed his transmission following final practice on Saturday.
Kyle Busch, as usual, is looking to do something no driver has ever done by winning all three of NASCAR's sanctioned races in one weekend.
Saturday, Busch waltzed to a Camping World Truck Series win in the afternoon and later in the evening, led a bunch more laps and took the lead back on a late restart thanks a nudge of Carl Edwards to win the Nationwide Series event at Auto Club Speedway.
According to NASCAR, 31 drivers have done the Nationwide-Sprint Cup sweep, but never has a driver won all three in a weekend.
NASCAR amended its new restart rules for Sunday's race after they decided the original 50-foot window was too short. In the past, NASCAR put a line on the outside wall ahead of the start/finish line and anytime after the leader passes it on a restart, he could decide when to start the race.
For Daytona, NASCAR created a 50-foot window for drivers to start the race, but after a week of use, it was deemed too short. For Sunday's race, it was extended to 110 feet -- an intelligent move considering a car moving at 65 mph (typical for big track restarts) moves over 95 feet per second.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
lots of empty seats thanks japan
it's official, junior is a joke.
Yes, it is all the fault of the Japanese people. Perhaps if HALF the people in this country worked HALF as hard as the Japanese people do we would only be in HALF as bad a shape as we are today.
Not only that, some people only use HALF their brain when the whole brain they have is not HALF what they really need.
Brad, dude. A little help here. I see stupid people.
Snarky
HEY DEMZRDOPES, HOW CAN YOU CALL JR A JOKE WHEN HIS ENGINE BLEW AND IF YOU WAS WATCHING THE RACE YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN THAT HE WASNT THE ONLY HENDRICK TEAM WITH ENGINE TROUBLE.I GUESS YOUR NAME SAYS IT ALL YOU ARE A DOPE.
Human-Nights:
Kiss this worthless sport goodbye!!! The government will stop spending on worthless race cars taxpayers money and corporate will soon follow. What a waste of MONEY for NO return. The ingrate/degenerate fans with NO life will need do something else. GM stock going to 50 cents a share!!!! Maybe J-OFF JR will buy the company, with his crook owner...
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