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Penske Racing
Kurt Busch came from one lap down in his Miller Lite Dodge Charger to finish seventh in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 at California Speedway, making him the top finisher for that manufacturer in the event, while Ryan Newman produced his best finish at an intermediate track since last June, taking 12th in his Mobil 1 Dodge Charger.
The top-12 finishes by both Penske Racing drivers allowed them to make substantial gains in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. Busch’s top 10 allowed him to jump 17 positions in the standings to 19th. Newman gained 13 positions and moved into 22nd.
“We had a nice solid day today; no mistakes, no slow pit stops, “ Busch said after the race. “We got seventh and that’s what it takes to rebuild and get your points built back up, especially with all the questions now about how the Dodge is going to work and then with the Car of Tomorrow in a few weeks. “
The Avenger, Dodge’s Car of Tomorrow, makes its debut at Bristol on March 25.
Like Busch, Newman was pleased with his team’s performance.
“I’m just happy to get the finish we did. It was a decent run for us, “ Newman said. “We had a good car for the majority of the race. We just didn’t have track position there at the end. I think we had a lot better race car than where we finished, but I’m happy to be on the lead lap. That’s a good start for the year. “
During the race’s ninth and final caution period, which included a 15-minute 18-second red flag, Busch and his Miller Lite team elected to remain on the track, while Newman and his Mobil 1 crew decided to pit for four fresh tires.
“We needed track position for the final few laps and we debated on whether to stay out on old tires or come in to get fresh rubber, “ said Mike Nelson, crew chief for Newman. “We decided to come in for fresh tires, hoping that we would be able to gain a few spots on the cars that had older tires, but it didn’t quite work out the way we had hoped. “
Miller Lite crew chief Roy McCauley noted his team had “about an 11th- to 13th-place car” and the decision to remain on the 2-mile track during the final caution period was the key to Busch’s seventh-place finish.
“It’s probably way too early to say that we have these mile-and-a-half tracks figured out, but we’ll have to say that we appear to be a whole lot better this time around than we were last year, “ McCauley added.
“The guys had great pit stops all day long and Kurt and I worked really well on making the adjustments all race long. We got down a lap there at one time, but never gave up. “
Busch lost his lap early in the race due to the fourth caution period - laps 55-59 - occurring during a cycle of green-flag stops. Shortly after Busch made his scheduled green-flag stop, the yellow flag waved for a backstretch spin by Sterling Marlin. When the race restarted on lap 60, Busch was among several drivers who were on the lead lap but immediately in front of the lead car.
The race leader passed Busch on lap 84, putting him a lap down. However, when the fifth caution period began on lap 93, Busch was in position to receive the free pass, the “Lucky Dog”, which put him back on the lead lap. That was the only time during the race that Busch ran 25th or lower. For the majority of the event, he fluctuated between the 10th and 15th positions.
The same was true for Newman, who hovered in the top 15 for most of the 250-lap race.
“We’re cool with a finish like this; no mistakes all day and we didn’t get caught up in traffic and get bottled up, “ Busch said. “To come home seventh and race our way to that position felt good. We didn’t just hang out and get it. We got caught by an early yellow, and that put us on the tail end of the lead lap. We raced our way back into the ‘Lucky Dog’ spot and got our lap back and raced our way back through the pack. We feel like we made a lot of progress this off-season.
“We wanted to do what we could with building power and reliability, and this is probably the best power we’ve seen out of Penske-Jasper, even with the unleaded (fuel, the first-ever in a Cup race). I feel like we’ve got the upper hand there, and now if we get the chassis and aero to match it, look out. “
The NEXTEL Cup Series is off next weekend, but the teams will spend two days this week testing the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol Motor Speedway. The series returns to racing March 11 at Las Vegas in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.
Nascar Busch Series
FONTANA, Calif. (Feb. 24, 2007) - Sam Hornish Jr. appeared headed for his first top-20 finish in NASCAR’s Busch Series Saturday in the Stater Bros. 300 at California Speedway before an incident with a lapped car with 18 laps remaining foiled his best run on the circuit in his Mobil 1 Dodge Charger.
In just his fourth start in the Busch Series, Hornish cracked the top 10 midway through the race, but had to settle for a 35th-place finish after the incident in turns one and two with the lapped car driven by J. J. Yeley. Hornish, who was 17th on lap 130 of the 150-lap race, was attempting to pass Yeley on the inside when the air was taken off his car’s spoiler, causing him to spin and smack the outside wall at the 2-mile track. Ironically, Yeley was the first car a lap down and regained his lost lap as a result of the incident.
“We had a really good car and we worked our way up to the top early in the night, “ Hornish said after driving his car back to the garage. “We had a pit stop and some of the guys took two tires and some stayed out. After that, we ended up in the back of the pack. We tried to work our way back up through the field and around a lapped car. I thought I had a little more room.
“I feel really bad for the guys who prepared this Mobil 1 Dodge. They’ve been working extremely hard making this transition for me as easy as possible. It felt really good today and I wished we would have gotten a little more out of it. But I had a lot of fun out there tonight. “
A two-time IndyCar winner at California Speedway, Hornish started 16th in his first Busch Series race at the track. After a slight wiggle on lap 8, Hornish lost his momentum and dropped to 24th. He worked his way back up through the field, inching closer and closer into the top 10. On lap 90, Hornish was ninth when he pitted during the fifth of eight caution periods, but when the race restarted on lap 95 he found himself in 19th. No adjustments were made on the car when Hornish made his final stop on lap 123.
“I felt more comfortable than I did at Phoenix, Homestead and even Daytona, “ Hornish said. “I know we’re heading in the right direction. The more experiences you have, the more things you can learn. I went through eight years of open-wheel stuff before I even won an IndyCar race. It does take some time. With the exception of IROC, this is only my fourth stock race. “
The next race for Hornish and his No. 12 Mobil 1 Dodge is the March 17 Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
