Dale Jr., Feels They’ve Got The Upper-Hand To Make The Chase, But It’s Still Too Close For Comfort
Fingerprint, Inc., For Budweiser Racing, Press Release

Budweiser Race Preview
Sony HD 500 at California Speedway

Quotes from: DALE EARNHARDT JR. / Driver, #8 Budweiser Chevrolet:

On the return to California:

“We’re going with the most optimism we’ve had in several years leading into a Fontana race. It was a sore subject for us for a long time. I felt we made big gains at that track in February, just missing a top-10. My guys are real excited and I'm following their lead. Hopefully once we get there, I'll feel like I've known my way around there all along. Our finishes at Michigan this year (third and sixth) give us a lot to work with. We’re taking the same car we ran at Michigan, same motor, and probably the same set-up.”
On his climb from 10th to ninth in the point standings with two races to go before the Chase:

“I’m in ninth by two points, but I’m 19 points out of sixth. It’s a tight race. Getting out of Bristol with a third-place finish was really big for us, because I was nervous about that race… wasn’t much fun to be around. I feel like we’ve got the upper-hand to make the Chase. It’s still too close for comfort. I saw how quickly we dropped out of third place in the standings a month ago. One bad race, one wreck, one blown motor can send you spiraling. But surviving Bristol was a step in the right direction. I feel confident at Richmond (the last race before the Chase) that I can run in the top-10 there. I think all of us from sixth on back are going to really have to take advantage of every opportunity to gain points, whether it’s leading a lap, using pit strategy to gain track position, that kind of stuff. Maximize every moment on track each week.”


The No. 8 Bud Team at California Speedway:

Previous Starts: 9
Best Start: 8th (April 27, 2003)
Best Finish: 3rd (April 29, 2003)
This Race, Last Year: ST: 41st / FN: 38th
Last Time at Fontana: ST: 18th / FN: 11th
This Week’s Bud Car: #39
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the #8 Budweiser team enter the Fontana race weekend after a third-place finish at Bristol on Saturday. With two races to go before the Chase begins, Dale Jr. is ninth in the Nextel Cup standings and in Chase contention by 92 points over 11th-place Kasey Kahne. Only 19 points separate him from sixth-place Denny Hamlin. In 23 races, Dale Jr. has one win (Richmond), seven top-fives, and 11 top-10s.

Fontana Weekend Notebook:

In nine career races at Fontana, Dale Jr. has one top-five and two top-10s. He has led two races there.
Dale Jr. has 17 top-15 finishes this season
The Bud team has led 11 races this year for 203 laps. Dale Jr.’s 35 laps led at Bristol on Saturday were the third-most this season, bested only by his 47 laps led in the Richmond victory and the 40 laps led at Michigan two weeks ago.
Dale Jr. has been in the top-10 in points in all but two weeks in 2006, and never worse than 11th.
Dale Jr. has finished sixth or better in three of four races.
The Bud team will be taking the same car (chassis #39) that it finished third at Michigan two weeks ago.
Race Details:

Sony HD 500
California Speedway / Fontana, California
2-mile oval / 250 laps / 500 miles
Sunday, Sept. 3, 2006
TV: NBC, 7 p.m. ET
Radio: Motor Racing Network, XM Radio.
Bud Pole Qualifying: SPEED Channel / Friday, Sept. 1 / 3:30 p.m. ET
2005 winner: Kyle Busch

This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY
Anyone who thinks that the only sporting attractions in California are related to Basketball is highly mistaken. The car races at the California Speedway have drawn huge crowds of fans ever since it began functioning in 1997. The Speedway is constructed on the remains of the doomed Kaiser Steel Mill and is a bright spot with its beautiful, well-designed landscape. Recently, the authorities have been in a mood to pamper their spectators and a new motorcycle track, a road course, and a quarter-mile street-legal drag strip have been constructed. Fans have all the more reason now to come and watch their favorite car race drivers win on the superspeedway. Intrepid R/Ts are likely to do well on the track because superspeedways always have been good for their home team, though the Dodge’s have had only one chance to prove their worth. Figures like Sterling Marlin and Bill Elliot who have had the Top 10 finish and the Top 15 finish, respectively, last year, further emphasize their home advantage.



While Dodge has only had one opportunity to show their worth on the track, the layout bodes well for future success of the Intrepid R/Ts. Superspeedways have long been a Dodge home court advantage with wins at Daytona, Talladega and practically every other 1.5+ mile track. After Sterling Marlin's Top 10 finish last year coupled with Bill Elliott's Top 15, it doesn't look like the California sun will do much to deter the Dodge boys from notching up another win at yet another track before too long.



HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY
California Speedway is one of the most popular racing venues in America. It offers people a great chance for watching car races and going home thrilled with the entire experience. But it was not so very long ago.



Henry J. Kaiser founded the first integrated steel mill on the same site in the spring of 1942, but unfortunately the mill did not succeed as well as expected and Kaiser went bankrupt. The mill was shut down permanently on December 31, 1983, and later that same year, the Penske Corporation started negotiations with Kaiser, seeking to persuade Kaiser to build a superspeedway.



Penske succeeded in 1994 and work started on building the speedway in late November 1995. But one problem that the workers faced was that EPA had already listed this piece of land under its Superfund cleanup. Thousands of tons of scrap metal and rubble in excess of 1 million tons had to be removed from the site that had housed the buildings for the Steel Mill till then. In all, two million cubic yards of earth had to be removed before the required 300,000 tens of asphalt could be spread over it and rolled for making the track.



California Speedway finally turned out to be the largest sporting venue in Southern California, with a two-mile D-shaped oval superspeedway with a 1.3-mile infield road course located on 529 acres in Fontana, San Bernardino County. Less than two years after its construction began, a packed crowd of fans witnessed the inaugural California 500, first in the series of the many NASCAR races that will take place here. The racer was Jeff Gordon and the fans enjoyed the ultimate in the racing action.



Less than two years later, a sold-out crowd of over 90,000 fans watched the green flag drop for the inaugural California 500. Jeff Gordon took the first checkered flag at California Speedway. California Speedway is a two-mile D-shaped oval superspeedway with a 1.3 mile infield road course located on 529 acres in Fontana, San Bernardino County, CA. Designed to offer the ultimate in fan enjoyment, the California Speedway is the largest sporting venue in Southern California.



TRACK INFORMATION
The California Speedway has a unique D-shaped oval track, which is two mile long with 14 degrees of banking in turns and 11 degrees of banking down the front stretch and 3 degrees of banking down the backstretch.



Track Information
Opened
1997

Track Length
2-miles D-shaped oval

Front straight
3,100ft

Back straight
2,500ft

Width
75ft

Front straight Banking
11degree

Back straight Banking
3 degree

Turns
14

Seating
92,109

First IRL Race
March 24, 2002

Pit Road
2,200 feet long with 44 individual pit stalls

Grandstand Seats
92,000

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Can not wait, definitely a good time. Just like at any other Nascar race.

Performance PR Plus, Press Release

FONTANA, Calif. (August 29, 2006) – It has been two and a half years since Jeff Gordon posted a top-10 finish at California Speedway, but the only multiple Cup race winner at the two-mile speedway enters this Sunday’s Sony HD 500 riding a wave of momentum – a wave he wants to ride for the remainder of the season.

Gordon, who finished 34th at Pocono in June after hard impact with the turn 1 wall in a single-car accident, exited that race 11th in the point standings, 501 behind leader Jimmie Johnson. In the 10 races since, Gordon has posted two wins and five top-fives to move up to fifth in the standings, now 408 markers behind his teammate.

But the four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has also faced some adversity during that stretch. At Daytona, he was running in the top 10 with less than 10 laps to go when he was involved in a multi-car accident and finished 40th. In the Brickyard 400, Team DuPont fought back from three laps down to post a 16th-place finish. Then at Watkins Glen, Gordon battled back from a late-race spin to salvage a 13th-place finish.

“I said at the beginning of the season that we weren’t the best team, but that I wanted to be one of the best teams by the Chase,” said Gordon. “I don’t think we’re there yet, but we’re getting closer every week.

“I’m proud of how this team has reacted to difficult situations. Instead of panicking, this team has remained calm when facing obstacles, and I think that’s the sign of a championship- caliber team. (more) -2-

“However, we still have work to do if we’re going to battle for a championship this year. We haven’t locked up a spot in the Chase, but that’s in our control. We just need to stay focused on our program – not on what the other teams are doing – and post two strong finishes at California and Richmond.”

In 12 starts at California Speedway, Gordon has three wins, one pole, five top-fives and five top-10's. His last win here occurred in 2004, and he has not posted a top-10 finish since that race.

“We had some engine issues in a couple of those races, but the Hendrick Motorsports engine department worked hard to correct those problems,” said Gordon. “In the last two races here, we just weren’t as good as we needed to be.

“I think we’ve made some huge gains in our intermediate track program since we last visited here, which is why I’m looking forward to this race.”

The chassis the No. 24 DuPont team will run this weekend has been used four times. It debuted at Michigan in June, where Gordon led 50 laps in the rain-shortened event. At Chicagoland Speedway, it ended the event in Victory Lane. Two weeks ago, it crossed the finish line second at Michigan. Its only other start occurred at Indianapolis, where a sway bar arm became unhooked from the sway bar early in the race.

Although Gordon and Team DuPont recovered at Indianapolis to post a 16th-place finish, they failed to lead a lap and gain the five valuable bonus points associated with it – the only race in the last 10 they have failed to do so. In fact, Gordon leads the series this season with 100 bonus points, 20 more than he accumulated during the entire 2005 season.

“I don’t care how many laps we lead in an event,” said Gordon. “I only want to lead the last one.

“It’s the same for the point standings. We don’t need to lead right now, we just need to get into the Chase – then have the lead after the final event.”


This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Noting Newman - Aug. 29, 2006



-- Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Sony HDTV Dodge Charger, will make his eighth NASCAR Cup Series start at California Speedway on Sunday and his 177th in the NASCAR Cup Series.

-- Only one of Newman's seven starts has come from outside the top-15 - a 28th in the September 2005 race. The other six starts included four top-10s and two top fives, including the pole in April 2002. Newman's average start at California is 10.5.

-- Newman has only one finish outside the top 20. In April 2003, after starting fourth in the Auto Club 500, Newman finished 42nd after an accident. Three finishes have been in the top 10, including two top-fives. Newman's best finish at California came in May 2004 when he placed third after starting from the seventh position. Newman's average finish at the 2-mile track is 15.9.

-- In seven races, Newman has led three of them for a total of seven laps. Of 1,755 laps run at the track, Newman has finished 1,540 of them. This gives Newman an 88 percent completion rate.

-- Matt Borland, crew chief of the No. 12 Sony HDTV Dodge Charger, and the Sony team will take chassis PRS-048 to this weekend's Sony HD 500. Two weeks ago, this car was driven at Michigan International Speedway in the GFS Marketplace 400. Newman started fourth, but finished 25th after dealing with a variety of problems during the race. This car was also tested at Kentucky this year, but before that, it had not been on a track since the 2003 season. In September 2003, Newman drove the car at Loudon where he started on the pole and finished ninth. In November of that year, he started on the pole at Phoenix and finished third.

Newman on California Speedway: "This team had a great run last weekend at Bristol - in both races. We were able to get out with two top-10 finishes. The Cup car was especially challenging because it wasn't good all weekend and we qualified pretty average. We couldn't do anything to the car to make it run a fast lap, but once the race came around, the car felt really good. It was a little tight during most of the race, but it was manageable and we came out with an eighth-place finish. It was a run this team needed."

"We're out of the Chase this year, but we've still got 12 more races to run. Everyone plans on focusing on one race at a time and now our job is to win races and prepare for next year. We may be out of contention for a championship, but this team knows how to win and we still have many chances to visit victory lane before Homestead in November. This weekend, at California, we'll try to win our first race of the year and hopefully, contend for the 11th-place finish in the points at the end of the year."

Quick Stats:
California Speedway: 7 Races Led/Laps Led: 3/7
Best Starting Position: 1 (April 2002) Best Finishing Position: 3 (May 2004)
September 2005 Start: 28 September 2005 Finish: 18

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Team notes: California speedway a favorite of many drivers
Updated 8/30/2006 11:00 PM ET
NASCAR team notes heading into Sunday's Nextel Cup Sony HD 500 at


California Speedway:

Jimmie Johnson

No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: Johnson, who has clinched a spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup for the third straight year, has finished in the top 10 in each of his four years as a full-time driver. Johnson has 18 top-10 finishes in 24 races this season, four more than any other driver. In seven races at California Speedway he has one victory (2002 rookie season) and four top-10 finishes, has led in four of the races and has been running at the finish every time. He was second there in February, his third runner-up finish in seven races there.

Last week: Johnson finished 10th at Bristol and remained first in the point standings, but by just seven points over second-place Matt Kenseth.

Etc.: Johnson will drive the No. 48 "Jimmie Johnson Foundation" Monte Carlo in Saturday's Busch Series race. This race, along with the October race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, will be the last two of his three Busch appearances in 2006.

Matt Kenseth

No. 17 Ford, Roush Racing

This week: Kenseth has four career wins at California Speedway, three in the Busch Series and one in the Nextel Cup. Kenseth has led in seven of his nine Cup races at Fontana for a total of 246 laps (fourth all time). Since entering the Cup Series full time in 2000, Kenseth has completed more laps on two-mile ovals (California and Michigan) than any other driver — 5,049 of a possible 5,052. His average finish at those two tracks is 9.79, tops among all drivers with 10 or more starts. "We've run pretty good at the two-mile tracks this year, and that's largely thanks to this car, No. 323, that Robbie (Reiser, the crew chief) and the guys built," Kenseth said.

Last week: Kenseth's victory Saturday was his fourth in 2006. The others: California, Dover and the second Michigan race.

Etc.: Kenseth has 13 top-five finishes this year, which leads the series by three and is a single-season best for him.

Kevin Harvick

No. 29 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

This week: Harvick heads to California Speedway, where he has only two top-10s in eight starts, in much better shape for making the Chase than he has been in the last two years. The 2001 Cup Series Rookie of the Year ranked 16th in the standings at this point in 2005. However, only 129 points separate the drivers in third (Harvick) through 10th place (Mark Martin) in the standings. To put that in perspective and to highlight this tight points battle, 383 points separated the drivers in third through 10th place heading into the same event in 2005. In 2004, that margin was 308 points. "It is really stressful because you don't want to have a hiccup and lose a bunch of points in one race," said Harvick.

Last week: Harvick finished 11th at Bristol.

Etc.: Harvick cannot be mathematically eliminated from Chase contention even if he finishes last Sunday. If he finishes third or better Sunday, he clinches a spot in the Chase.

Kyle Busch

No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: Busch, who is 138 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne with two races left in the "Race to the Chase," has 13 top-10 finishes in 24 races in 2006. He won this race a year ago (leading for 95 laps), was 10th there in February and has led in two of his four races there, for an average finish of 14.5. "We've had OK runs on the mile-and-a-half tracks this season, so we just want a solid top-10 finish," Busch said.

Last week: Busch finished second at Bristol to climb from seventh to fourth in the point standings, the biggest gain among the top 10 drivers.

Etc.: Busch, who ranked 22nd at this point a year ago, became the youngest driver (20 years, 126 days) to win a Nextel Cup event with his California victory in September 2005. For that effort, Busch will be inducted into the speedway's Walk of Fame at Gate 12 at noon Saturday.

Jeff Gordon

No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: In 12 starts at California Speedway, Gordon has three wins, one pole, five top-fives and five top-10s. His last win here occurred in 2004, and he has not posted a top-10 finish at California since that race. "We had some engine issues in a couple of those races, but the Hendrick Motorsports engine department worked hard to correct those problems," said Gordon, adding, "I think we've made some huge gains in our intermediate track program since we last visited here."

Last week: Gordon finished fifth at Bristol.

Etc.: The chassis the No. 24 team will run this weekend has been used four times. It debuted at Michigan in June, where Gordon led 50 laps in the rain-shortened event. At Chicagoland Speedway, it ended the event in Victory Lane. Two weeks ago, it crossed the finish line second at Michigan. Its only other start was at Indianapolis, where a sway bar arm became unhooked from the sway bar early in the race.

Denny Hamlin

No. 11 Chevrolet, Joe Gibbs Racing

This week: Hamlin, who has finished on the lead lap in the last 15 races and has been running at the finish in the last 18 races, was 12th earlier this year in his only career race at California Speedway. He is just 21 points behind fifth-place Jeff Gordon and 27 behind fourth-place Kyle Busch. Hamlin has 12 top-10 finishes in 24 races this year, including the last six. Hamlin has been the highest finishing rookie in 13 of the 24 races this season and has two victories, both at Pocono.

Last week: Hamlin finished sixth at Bristol and climbed from eighth to sixth in the standings but is still only 111 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne in the point standings.

Etc.: Hamlin is second in Quality Passes at California over the last two years with 51. That is the number of times a driver passes another car running in the top 15 under green-flag conditions.

Jeff Burton

No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

This week: Burton, who has three top-fives and four top-10s in 12 Cup starts at California Speedway and four poles, four top-fives and 14 top-10s overall this year, is one of the drivers with a lot to gain in the final two races before the Chase at California and Richmond. "I feel good about the race tracks we're going to and the team," he said. "But we've got to go make that happen and earn it. I like the tracks coming up, but so does Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch. There's nobody in the Chase hunt that you can look at and say they don't run good at those race tracks. Nobody. That's why there's a group at the top right now and they run good everywhere."

Last week: Burton finished ninth at Bristol.

Etc.: Burton is fourth in laps led for the 2006 season with 560. He has turned the third-highest number of laps in the top 15 — 5,074, or 74.9%.

Tony Stewart

No. 20 Chevrolet, Joe Gibbs Racing

This week: Stewart has four top-10 finishes in 10 races at California Speedway. He finished fifth in this race one year ago and 43rd there in February, his worst finish and second DNF at the track. He has led in four of his 10 races there and has an 18.7 average finish. Stewart, who has 15 top-15 finishes this season, ranked first in the point standings at this point last year. He is 97 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne with two races left in the "Race to the Chase."

Last week: Stewart finished 22nd at Bristol to fall three spots in the point standings to eighth, eight points behind seventh-place Jeff Burton. That also ended a streak of four straight top-10 finishes for Stewart.

Etc.: Stewart has led 930 laps, or 13.7% of all laps, in 2006, the most of any driver. His car has been the fastest on the track for 439 laps, second best of all drivers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

No. 8 Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Inc.

This week: Earnhardt has one top-five finish and two top-10s in nine races at Fontana, and he has led two races there. He has 17 top-15 finishes this season and has led 11 races for 203 laps. He has been in the top 10 in points in all but two weeks and never worse than 11th. In those weeks, he has finished sixth or better in three of four races.

Last week: Earnhardt's third-place finish at Bristol moved him up to ninth in the standings. "Getting out of Bristol with a third-place finish was really big for us, because I was nervous about that race ... wasn't much fun to be around," he said.

Etc.: The team will be taking the same car (chassis No. 39) that it used to finish third at Michigan two weeks ago. "Our finishes at Michigan this year (a sixth as well as the third) give us a lot to work with," he said.

Mark Martin

No. 6 Ford, Roush Racing

This week: Martin has one victory (1998) and six top-10s in the 12 races at California Speedway. He finished 11th in this race one year ago and ninth there in February, raising his average finish there to 13.833, and has led in nine of his 12 races at California. Martin has not won a race since his victory at Kansas in October 2005, 31 races ago. Martin is 90 points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne with two races left in the "Race to the Chase"

Last week: Martin's 28th-place finish at Bristol dropped him from fourth to 10th in the standings, the biggest change of any driver in the top 10.

Etc.: Martin leads all drivers at California Speedway with an average running position of 5.784. He also is second at Fontana in the Fastest Drivers Late in a Run category. That ranks each driver during the final 25% of laps run in a typical full green-flag segment.

Kasey Kahne

No. 9 Dodge, Evernham Motorsports

This week: Kahne has three top-six finishes in the last four races at California. He knows he needs a top-three run this weekend to keep alive his chances of earning a spot in this year's Chase for the Championship.

Last week: Kahne finished 12th at Bristol to lose ground in his bid to move back into the top 10. He is 90 points out of the 10th place. "We were probably the worst we had been all night on that last run," Kahne said.

Etc.: Kahne believes "we've got to finish in the top two or three in the next two races if we want to get in there (the top 10) if nobody else has a bad race. I said two or three weeks ago that the 8 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) is not going to be the guy I'm going to pass." Earnhardt finished third at Bristol to move to ninth in the standings. Mark Martin fell to 10th after his 28th-place finish.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Greg Biffle

No. 16 Ford, Roush Racing

This week: Biffle dominated the spring race at California, leading 168 laps. But engine failure late in the event left him with a 42nd-place finish. In 2005, Biffle won the spring event and finished second in the fall race. "We're taking the same car that we've won with before," said Biffle. "It's the same car that we led a lot of the race with in the spring before we had a parts failure."

Last week: Biffle needed a top-five run at Bristol to keep alive his fading hopes of making the Chase. Instead, he battled a tight car all evening and ended up 19th to fall a whopping 251 points back of 10th-place Mark Martin.

Etc.: Biffle realizes the odds are stacked against him in his bid to make the Chase. "We're probably not going to make the Chase this year, but we can still go out and get a few wins before the end of the season," he said.

Carl Edwards

No. 99 Ford, Roush Racing

This week: Edwards has finished sixth or better in all four starts at California Speedway. So it was not surprising when he said, "I love racing at California. It's an awesome track, and we've done really well there in the past. They (his crew) deserve a win, and California is definitely a place where we've got a good opportunity."

Last week: Edwards finished seventh at Bristol but is still 261 points out of 10th place, which means his odds of qualifying for this year's Chase are poor at best.

Etc.: Edwards said he has "definitely looked at all the things we did to lose points this year, and I've learned from it. I feel like we're kind of being tested in a lot of different ways, and if we can keep our heads on straight and go out and do the best we can every week and learn from our lessons, we're gonna be a tough team to compete with in the future."

Kurt Busch

No. 2 Dodge, Penske Racing South

This week: Busch has three top-three finishes at California, including a win in 2003. But in his five other starts at the track, his best finish is 11th.

Last week: After winning the pole position at Bristol, Busch led three times for 27 laps before he started running into problems. First, he clipped a spinning Reed Sorenson. Then Busch got a pit-road speeding penalty. He later had transmission problems. As a result, he finished 37th to end his hopes of challenging for a second Nextel Cup championship. "I think we had a lot of potential that wasn't realized," said crew chief Roy McCauley.

Etc.: Now that he has no chance of making this year's Chase, Busch has turned his sights on winning the most pole positions in 2006. He is tied with Kasey Kahne and Jeff Burton with four poles apiece. Before this season, Busch had won only three poles in 184 races.

Ryan Newman

No. 12 Dodge, Penske Racing South

This week: Newman has three top-10 finishes in seven starts at California and has finished outside the top 20 only once. "We're out of the Chase this year, but we've still got 12 more races to run," said Newman. "Now our job is to win races and prepare for next year. This weekend, we'll try to win our first race of the year and hopefully contend for the 11th-place spot in the points at the end of the year."

Last week: Newman finished eighth at Bristol to move to 15th in the point standings.

Etc.: Newman will make a wish come true this weekend for a special race fan. The Sony Race to the Endzone Sweepstakes awarded a trip to California Speedway that Sony donated to a local chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In addition to attending both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series races, the child will get to spend some personal time with Newman.

Casey Mears

No. 42 Dodge, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates

This week: Mears will be seeking his second consecutive top-10 finish at California Speedway this weekend after finishing seventh in the spring race. Mears would love to be the first Dodge driver to win at his home track.

Last week: Mears finished 17th at Bristol, a personal best at the Tennessee facility. The top-20 finish allowed Mears to move up two spots in the standings to 16th. "I think we could have had a better finish, but we got blocked in our pits by a car several laps down. We came in 18th and came out 29th. That put us in the back of the pack, and we had to battle our way back," he said.

Etc.: Chip Ganassi got the 75th win of his car-owning career Saturday when Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz won a Rolex Sports Car race at Infineon (Calif.) Raceway. Ganassi became a car owner in 1990 with the creation of a one-car IndyCar team.

Brian Vickers

No. 25 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

This week: A year ago, Vickers finished third at California, his first top-10 finish at the two-mile track. Vickers has led in three of the five races he has run at California. "We still believe we can win a race before the year is over," said Vickers.

Last week: Two flat right-front tires made for a long evening at Bristol for Vickers as he limped home in 33rd place to end a streak of 10 straight top-20 finishes. The problems began early for Vickers when the first flat tire sent him bouncing off the wall on lap 11. The contact with the wall damaged the car's steering. The second flat tire occurred on lap 333 and forced another unscheduled pit stop.

Etc.: Vickers admitted he lost sleep over his decision to leave Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the year. "This is the hardest decision I've had to make in my life to this point," he said.

Jamie McMurray

No. 26 Ford, Roush Racing

This week: McMurray has posted four straight top-10 finishes at California and is the only driver to score top-15 finishes in all six of his races at the two-mile track. "I don't know what it is about Fontana, but I definitely enjoy running there," McMurray said.

Last week: "It was a disappointing night for the entire 26 team," McMurray said after finishing 29th at Bristol. "I know the guys worked really hard to give me a good car, but we couldn't land on the right balance."

Etc.: Crew chief Bob Osborne said McMurray will be driving a new car, "which all the guys back at the shop have worked really hard on over the last few weeks. "Jamie runs particularly well at Fontana, so hopefully with some good, solid pit stops, a great run by Jamie and a bit of luck, we can leave California with a top-10, maybe even a top-five finish."

Scott Riggs

No. 10 Dodge, Evernham Motorsports

This week: In five starts at California, Riggs has posted one top-10 finish. In February, he finished 19th. "We are a lot better team than we were back then," said Riggs. "We are coming off one of our best runs of the year (a fourth at Bristol), and we are convinced we can win a race before the year is over."

Last week: Riggs passed Jeff Gordon late in the race to earn his first top-five finish of the season and his first top-five since he finished second at Michigan in August 2005.

Etc.: Gordon and Riggs had a few words after their late race tussle. "I just tried to tell him good job, good race, and he tried to tell me to pass him on the straightaway," Riggs said when asked what the two said to each other. "I could have dumped him, but I didn't. He was holding me up in the middle of the corner."

Clint Bowyer

No. 07 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

This week: In February, Bowyer finished 14th in his first Cup start at California. The car that Bowyer is running this weekend is the same one he raced to a career-best fourth-place finish at Indianapolis. He also used it at Michigan two weeks ago and was running third with three laps left when the engine let go. "It has a little different front-end geometry and a body that was built for the intermediate-type race tracks," said Bowyer.

Last week: On lap 232 at Bristol, Bowyer's left-rear wheel came off, sending him into the turn-four wall. The team did repair the damage and Bowyer returned to finish the race in 38th place.

Etc.: Just before the incident at Bristol, Greg Biffle had told his spotter to tell Bowyer's spotter that "something looked amiss with the left rear tire." But neither Bowyer's spotter nor his crew was able to pinpoint the problem before the wheel came off.

OTHERS

Elliott Sadler

No. 19 Dodge, Evernham Motorsports

This week: Sadler won the fall race at California in 2004, and his other top-10 finish at the two-mile track came in the spring of 2005. He will be making his third start since joining Evernham Motorsports.

Last week: Sadler was involved in two accidents at Bristol that resulted in a 39th-place finish. But that wasn't the only issue. "It's frustrating to get caught speeding on pit road when I got passed," said Sadler. "Then I got caught up with the lapped cars. It's very frustrating."

Reed Sorenson

No. 41 Dodge, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates

This week: Sorenson finished 21st in his Nextel Cup debut at California in February. He believes he can challenge for a top-10 finish this weekend. "We had a really good run going at California earlier this season, but we had a pit road miscue that kept us from getting the finish that we were capable of."

Last week: A cut left rear tire just before the halfway mark of the Bristol event proved costly to Sorenson. The cut tire caused Sorenson to spin and get caught up in an accident that resulted in a 36th-place finish.

Martin Truex Jr.

No. 1 Chevrolet, DEI

This week: Truex finished 15th in his first Cup start at California and hopes to improve on that this weekend in his bid to get back to the top 20 in the point race. Truex is still looking for the first top-five finish of his Cup career.

Last week: Truex finished 18th at Bristol on a night where he noted, "We had a good car but bad track position. I told my Bass Pro guys that I felt like I let them down tonight. I got caught up with some slower cars (late in the race), and that held us up."

Robby Gordon

No. 7 Chevrolet, Robby Gordon Motorsports

This week: In eight starts at California Speedway, Gordon has posted one top-10 finish. He feels confident that he can add to that total this weekend. "Our intermediate program is exponentially better and continues to get better," said Gordon.

Last week: Gordon was another driver who encountered tire problems at Bristol. A flat on lap 322 forced Gordon to make an unscheduled pit stop, and he lost two laps in the process. He finished 27th.

Bobby Labonte

No. 43 Dodge, Petty Enterprises

This week: After five top-six finishes in his first eight starts at California, Labonte has failed to finish better than 13th in his last four races at the two-mile track.

Last week: Labonte had high hopes that he would be able to contend for a win after qualifying third at Bristol. But that never happened as he battled an extremely tight race car all evening and finished a disappointing 23rd. "We had a great car on Friday," said Labonte. "But tonight we couldn't get the grip we needed and fought some handling problems."

Notes provided by The Sports Xchange

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.