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5C SPORTS/Hf CtiarUittt $o«t Thursday, February 23, 2006 DARNELL Jimmie Johnson celebrates his victory in the Daytona 500. Rick Minter’s OBSERVATIONS A weekly State of the Union as NASCAR leaves Daytona and heads to California: TEMPERATURE’S RISING A look at who’s doing it • Jack Roush’s driver developmcnl program: Belter known as the “Gong Show.” Roush’s iryoul format brings young drivers from the grass-roots level , of racing to Martinsville Speedway and Darlington Raceway, two of I NASCAR’s tough est tracks, for trials I by fire. It seems to work. Erik Darnell, the 2005 Gong Show winner. finished fifth, right behind four veterans, in his debut in Roush’s No. 99 Craftsman Truck Series entry at Daytona on Friday. On Saturday. Gong Show finalist Danny O’Quinn steered a Roush Ford to an 18lh-place finish after starting eighth in his Busch Series debut. Todd Kluever. the 2004 Gong Show winner, was sev enth in the Hershey’s Kissables 300 at Daytona, which also was his first Busch race. • Busch Series drivers Stacy Compton and Jon Wood: The two Ford driven* have benefited greatly from car owner Tad Geschickler’s decision to merge his organization with the W(xxl Brothers Nextel Cup team. Compton and Wocxl. a third-generation Wood racer, both were fast in the Busch sea.son opener at Daytona. Compton was in contention for the victory but was collected in a last-lap crash while running in the lop five in his No. 59 Ford. Wood finished fourth in his No. 47. “We’ve worked awful hard the last couple of months to get this thing where it is, and I’m pretty pleased with the re sult,” Compton told reporters. “We just have to have a little luck.” • Elliott Sadler and Dale Jarrell: The two teammates at Robert Yates Racing started the season strong in their Ford Fusions. Sadler won one of the 150-mile qualifiers at Daytona and finished fourth in the Daytona 500. Jarrett finished 11th in the 500. Both started the season with new crew chiefs — Tommy Baldwin Jr. with Sadler and Richard “Slugger” Labbe with Jarrett. “This is a good shot in the arm that we need as a race team,” Sadler said after the Daytona 500. “We’ve got a great leader now. We’ve got a great bunch of guys. I got the best pit crew on pit road, and I'm going to have a lot of fun driving this car this year.” THIS WEEK Race: Auto Club 500 Where: California Speedway When: Sunday. 3 p.m. ET Television: Fox Defending race winner: Greg Biffle Cox News Service Elliott Sadler started the season strong, finishing fourth in the Daytona 500 (above) and winning a qualifying race. ^ «IS,TANDINGS As series heads to Califo testing has prepared Cuj for upcoming downforce By RICK M INTER Cox News Service Da\ iona Beach. Fla. E vpn before Matt Kenseth fired up the No. 17 Ford to start the Daytona 500. his crew chief Robbie Reiser already was thinking ahead to Sunday’s race at California Speedway. Actually, his thoughts already were on Las Vegas in three weeks. Yes. the NASCAR teams had spent the past two weeks trying to run fast on a 2.5-mile track where re strictor plates slow speeds and where crews try to build a car so slick that it’ll slip through the aV with little drag. But now the focus turns to somewhat short er ovals like the 2-mile California track and the 1.5- mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway where more downforce. an aerodynamic phenomenon that provides adhe sion to the track, j is the key to vie- I loty. I “We're think- I ing about our California and Las Vegas and Atlanta cars already.” Reiser said last Sunday morning, hours before the start of the Daytona 500. “This race is actually behind us, even though we haven’t run it, be cause all the work for it is already done. It's already in the record hooks as far as what we’re trying to accom- pli.sh.” But there will be a change in thinking as he and his crew prepare for a three-race stretch of downforce racing. “You switch gears a little bit on your thinking,” he said, adding that he’s confident his team and the other Ri)ush Racing teams can pick up where they left off la.si fail. Roush won three of the final four races — Carl Edwards at Atlanta and Texas ^nd Greg Biffle at Homestead — on tracks where downforce is important. “We tested real well at Las Vegas,” Reiser said, adding that most of their Casey Mears is confident about his prospects at California and other downforce tracks. NASCAR Roush Racing teams are proven contenders at tracks where downforce is important. Roush driver Greg Biffle (16) won last year’s Auto Club 500 at California Speedway (above). focus was on adapting to the Ford Fusion bexly that replaced the Taurus in the off-sea.son. “We’ll probably be where we were when the season quit last season.’* Ca.sey Mears, who drives a Dodge, also is optimistic about California and the other tracks coming up on the .schedule. In last year’s final race, at Homestead, he led 75 laps and was in contention to win before a late-race shuffle left him fifth at the finish. Although he has switched cars within the Chip Ganassi stable, he’s confident his No. 42 will run as gcxxl as the No. 41 did late last year. “We had a really good test at Vegas,” he said. “You still can’t wail to get there and let reality set in a lit- BY THE NUMBERS 76 Cameras used by NBC in its broadcast of the Daytona 500 50 6 Career Nextel Cup starts for Carl Edwards (right) Nextel Cup victories at California Speedway by Ford, best among manufacturers tie bit and see exactly where we’re really at. After a couple of long weeks [at Daytona] I'll be ready to gel on the downforce tracks. I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit.” Although the .schedule is sprinkled with numerous downforce tracks, Mears points out that it's not smart to rely too much on them during the course of the season. “A lot of teams tend to throw out the simerspeedways and say there’s only four of those a year, so let’s focus on the downforce tracks. That’s good, but at the same time you need to win at all the tracks,” he said. “All the points are valuable.” Victories by Rick Hendrick in Cup races at California, best among car owners Victories at California by Jeff Gordon (below), best among Cup drivers TEMPERATURE’S DROPPING Things iiren't going so Scott Riggs: A transmission liilif ■ n q> Daytona 5(K) set the tone for a mis erable Sneedweeks. Tnen problems on a pit slop in his qualifying race put Riggs out of the 5(K) because the owner jx)ints he needed to get in the 5(K) stayed with the MB2 team he left last season to join Eveniham Motorsports. Besides missing the sport’s pre mier race. Riggs’ team now is at a great disadvantage in the points standings. No matter how well he nins this season, it'll be lough to make the Chase for the Nextel Cup. “I hate it, but that’s racing, and we’ll regroup and go on from here,” he said. • Chad Knaus: Many questioned his decision to leave driver Jimmie Johnson on the track with apparent lire problems in last year’s champi onship-deciding season-finale at Homestead, Johnson blew a tire, wrecked and dropped from second in points to fifth. Then last week he was caught with a trick device that raised the rear window on the No. 48 Chevrolet during qualifying for the Daytona 5(X). It was the latest in a siring of in fractions that have many in the garage talking more about Knaus’ antics than the team’s success — 18 victories and eight poles in the past four seasons. “Every lime I turn around, that 48 car gets caught cheating,” said veteran car owner Chip Ganassi. Knaus was ejected from all Daytona activities and faces more penalties from NASCAR. RIGGS Many are questioning the decisions of Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus. irry P iWii and his driver Scott Wimmer: McClure’s No. 4 Chevrolet was once one of the most feared cars at Daytona International Speedway, and Wimmer’s third-place run — in Bill Davis’ Dodge in 2(K)4 — was the best Daytona .5(K) debut ever by a r(K)kic. But McClure and Wimmer mis.scd the starling field this year. When Michael Wallrip purchased the owner points accumulated last year by Doi^ Bawel and his driver at the time, Travis Kvapil, that knocked McClure out of the top-35 group that is assured starting spots in Cup races. McClure had ^en in the Daytona 5(K) every year since 1984. Wimmer’s 27th-placc qualifying effort and his I7ih-place finish in his qualifying race weren’t gtKxl enough to advance, and the team now finds itself already at a great disadvantage just as the season starts. NEXTEL CUP Following the Daytona 500 1. Jimmie Johnson Points: 185 2. Casey Mears Points; 170 3. Ryan Newman Points: 170 4. Elliott Sadler Points: 165 5. Tony Stewart Points: 160 6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Points; 152 7. Brian Vickers Points: 151 8. Clint Bowyer Points: 1W 9. Ken Schrader Points: 138 10. Dale Jarrett Points: 134 Ryan Newman finished third in the Daytona 500 after running near the front of the field for the majority of the afternoon. Next up; Auto Club 500; California Speedway TV: 3 p.m. ET. Sunday: Fox BUSCH SERIES Following the Hershey’s Kissables 300 1. Tony Stewart Points; 185 2. Burney Lamar Points: 170 3. Clint Bowyer Points: 170 4. Jon Wood Points: 160 5. Kevin Harvick Points: 155 6. Jason Leffler Points: 150 7. Todd Kluever Points: 147 8. J.J. Yeley Points 146 9 Reed Sorenson Points: 138 JO Mark Green Points; 134 For the second year in a row, Tony Stewart claimed victory in the season opening Busch race at Daytona. Next up: Stater Bros. 300: California Speedway TV: 6 p.m ET, Saturday, FX CRAFTSMAN TRUCK Following the GM Flex Fuel 250 1. Mark Martin Points: 190 2. Todd Bodine Points: 175 3. Ted Musgrave Points: 170 4. Mike Skinner Points: 165 5. Jack Sprague Points: 160 6. Bobby Hamilton Jr. Points: 151 7. Erik Darnell Points: 150 8. Rick Crawford Points: 147 9. David Reutimann Points: 138 10. Kevin Hamlin Points: 135 Mark Martin claimed his second Craftsman Truck Series victory at Daytona. Next up: Racetickete com 200; California Speedway TV: 9 p.m ET, Friday; Speed Channel What ever happened to Tommy ELLIS By Rick Minler/Cox News Service The 58-ycar-old Richmond. Va.. resident is semi-retired after running 78 Cup and 235 Busch Series races. His biggest success wa.s in Basch. where he won 22 races and the 1988 championship. His favorite U^ks: “First and foremost. Daytona. My fav«ite short track was Martinsville Speedway, without a doubt, and I liked the Dover mile. It was made few me. I liked the way you raced on it. It was just a big, old short track.” His retirement: “Hardest thing I ever had to do in my life was walk away from it. Few the first two or three years, I didn’t know if I was going to make it. There were a lew of Iwd limes. I can’t even start to tell yeni what goes through your mind because you don’t know what’s in stewe few yeni.” His competition: “I remember one time, Jack [Ingram] and I goi wrecked up at Martinsville. Yeni’re really mad at him that day and at that moment, but the next day youTe back over there and you’re laughing about it.” Catching up with TONY STEWART The driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet discusses goals, rulings and other things with Cox News Service reporter Rick Minter. • On his career goals: “I have a mental checklist. I’ve run 22 dif ferent types of cars, and I’ve won in 21 of them. The only thing I haven’t won in is a sports car. 1 won in a monster truck at Talladega. Thai’s from go-karts to winged .sprints, you name it That’s some thing I take a lot of pride in.... I don’t care if 1 win seven NASCAR championships or not. If all your life is going down one path like that, then seven’s important because you want to do better than the guy who won six. I am not going to beat Richard Petty’s rec(wd or Dale Earnhardt’s record. I am not going out to say I want to catch Jeff Gordon and win four of them. But Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty can’t .say they won an IRL championship or three US AC national di visions in one year. That’s something I lake pride in. Hopefully, I will make it 22 of 22 types of cars I have run in," • On what makes a go(xl champion: “The champion is the guy who got the most points at the end of the year. There shouldn't be such a thing as a goc^ champion or a bad one. It’s a matter of doing what we do.” • On his life-long goal of trying to win the Indy 500: “Will I ever get that chance again? Who knows? If. and when, it comes along, will I be at an age where I feel I am not at my peak to go that? I don't know. I am not going to say I am never going back. I will leave that opportunity open, but right now I don’t have the an.swer to that.” Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate for Cox News Service. (800) 255-6734. *For release the week of February 20, 2006,
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