VroomChatter » California Speedway

Umm, Yeah, Go Matt Kenseth (Yawn)

VroomDude — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:59:27 +0000

Something about a Matt Kenseth victory manages to immediately wipe away most of my short-term memory of the actual race and causes less-than-excitement within my bosom. I mean, Matt’s a decent enough guy, and I don’t root against him. But I also don’t root for him, so every time he wins my reaction is always “Yeah, yeah, let’s get to the next race.”

As far as “highlights” from California Speedway, man that was a hard lick that David Reutimann took. Pretty hard to watch the in-car camera footage, too, especially at first when he was slumped over the steering wheel, not even moving.

Congrats to Brian Vickers for getting Toyota its first top 10 finish and for leading a few laps along the way.

‘Tis a shame that Happy had a tire go down there at the end, as it was shaping up to be another close finish the way he’d been reeling Kenseth in right before the last caution.

It’ll be interesting to see just how “part-time” Mark Martin’s schedule remains throughout the season, especially if he continues to sit near the top of the points standings. He can claim all he wants that he’ll stick to the plan of driving a limited schedule, but I’d bet you more than a few shiny American dollars that all of that will go out the window if he’s still in the hunt. And I don’t think anyone would blame him a bit if he waffled, especially given how well he’s running so far.

Umm, Nice Picks, Sake the Sea Lion

VroomDude — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 03:08:49 +0000

I’m a little baffled as to what this has to do with anything, but apparently the track president of California Speedway had Sake the sea lion pick balls with each drivers’ number on them, as a way of predicting who will win the race.

Sake’s picks? Tony Raines, Dale Jarrett, and Scott Riggs.

Far be it from me to criticize a sea lion, but I think I’m going to go with Jeff Gordon to win this one.

California Speedway Qualifying

VroomDude — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 03:05:02 +0000

(Man, far too much work and busyness this week. Many apologies for the lack of VroomTalk this week).

So Jeff Gordon grabbed the pole at Fontana, who seems happy to leave restrictor plate racing behind for awhile:

“It feels good to me just to get out from restrictor plate racing and have a car that has downforce and be able to drive it through the corners and work with the teams on the handling.”

Kasey Kahne was second to Gordon, with Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick, and Junior rounding out the top 5.

As far as the latest in the As Toyota Turns soap opera developments, Brian Vickers managed to snag Team Red Bull its first start in Cup racing by qualifying 15th, and Dave Blaney and David Reutimann also drove their way into the race Sunday. Dale Jarrett made the show as well, but only because of his past champion’s provisional. Michael Waltrip will be watching this one from the sidelines, and was ironically knocked out of a qualifying spot by his teammate Reutimann.