Anybody other than me taken completely by surprise that Matt Kenseth won Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.?
I expected the Roush-Fenway cars to run well — three of the five finished in the top five and all were in the top-20 — but I really didn’t think Kenseth would go 2-for-2 to start the season.
That Kyle Busch dominated both the Truck and Nationwide races was no big surprise, however, his Saturday Sweep makes me wonder if he was at all tired come the Cup race on Sunday. I know I would be.
Speaking of 2-for-2, Ron Capps won his second straight Funny Car victory during Sunday’s final eliminations at the Lucas Oil Mist Slick NHRA Nationals at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz.
Although I missed on all three NASCAR races, I wasn’t shut out entirely. I didn’t pick Capps to win, but two correct picks I had were for the NHRA’s Top Fuel (Antron Brown) and Pro Stock (Jeg Coughlin) divisions.
Considering how little I know about drag racing at this point, that’s a huge amount of beginners luck (To Rich Carlson, who sent me an email that started with “One of TWO things = you are REAL GOOD or REAL LUCKY”, we all know which it is)
I had picked Johnny Benson to win the Truck race (he finished 12th) and Greg Biffle to win the Nationwide race (he finished 34th). I was slightly better with my Cup prediction, as three-time defending champ Jimmie Johnson at least finished in the top 10 (ninth) after looking like he had the car to beat in the early going.
— The racing at Auto Club Speedway doesn’t excite me, so I’m not at all sure why NASCAR felt the need to put a Chase race there. There was little drama in any of the three races this weekend. What is the pull these big sports leagues (see: NFL) feel for Los Angeles? OK, it’s a big market, but if the people there don’t support the team/race, why should it matter if the race is in L.A. or someplace else if the only people watching are at home in front of the TV?
— Having made that complaint, the crowd was better than many expected. It was estimated that about 50,000 showed up for Sunday’s race, and while there are more than 100,000 seats, NASCAR must be pleased. Of course, the crowds for the Saturday doubleheader were not nearly as good, but I imagine we’ll be hearing NASCAR bragging about its “strong showing” in Fontana.
— What was up with the Hendrick engines of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin? Both of those cars come out of the same garage area at Hendrick (Johnson and Gordon’s cars are worked on in a separate garage).
— Speaking of “what was up with,” all I saw of Clint Bowyer was the leaders lapping him.
— Do you think the rumor that he’s headed to Europe to drive for the new U.S. F1 team affected A.J. Allmendinger on Sunday? He qualified well and then dropped through the field like a rock. Memo to self re:Fantasy Auto Racing: You know better than to pick the driver of a Dodge.
— Guess who I saw with his hand over his heart during the National Anthem at the Cup race Sunday? None other than Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 car, which has partial U.S. Army sponsorship. Last week I pointed out that Jamie McMurray was the only driver who I saw doing that at Daytona, and suggested the driver of a car sponsored by the Army should follow the lead. Coincidence? Of course it is, but still very nice for a vet to see.
— Ron Capps is off to a great start, but until I learn more about NHRA he’s going to be the “other funny guy” in Michael Waltrip’s commercials.
Speaking of Michael Waltrip and funny …
During Saturday’s Nationwide race at Auto Club, Michael Waltrip’s car was clipped in the left rear as he was entering his pit box and the car in the stall behind his was coming out.
Waltrip’s car ended up spinning around, so that nose was pointed toward entrance to pit road. BUT, he was perfectly in the pit box so the NASCAR official was giving the thumbs up for the pit stop to continue.
The problem was his crew, who were obviously confused about what to do. I’m sure they’re endlessly trained about running to the far side of the car first, but in this case the left side of the car was nearest to the pit wall, so they were milling around.
The TV folks were kind enough to give us a snippet of Waltrip on the car radio, saying “C’mon, c’mon, I’m in the box — pit me!”
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