Picks/California/SunAfternoon
Picks/California/SunAfternoon
Points and Congratulatory Remarks
The man of the hours is Blazed SS, who wins last week in Bristol and takes over the points lead! Averaging just over 120 points a race, the is setting a torent pace right now.
The overall/segment 1 points look like this.
1) BlazedSS 483 Leader
2) Cowboy6622 465 -18
3) Leprechaun93 455 -28
4) JuniorCar 454 -29
5) zjerry 437 -46
6) 02 Earnhardt 430 -53
7) SupplySgt 427 -56
8) MnteCrloSS47 415 -68
9) Gen 6 408 -75
10) STUMPMI 369 -114
11) carlm54stl 368 -115
12) SSmeansSuperSexy 359 -124
13) butch049 353 -130
14) 77GP 272 -211
15) phuntley 181 -302
California Speedway
It's long, flat, and fast! There is a lot of room to race, and it bears some resemblance to Michigan. However, it is flatter. It actually produced good racing last year, compared to just old freight train lines circling the place all day.
Shortening this to a 400 mile race was a good move too.
CHEVROLET TEAMS
Hendrick
Dale Jr has been the lead Hendrick driver this year at Daytona, Phoenix ,and Vegas. Bristol saw bad luck hit the 88, but California is back into his range. Remember, his last two wins before Daytona were at a similar track, Michigan. If he can get that momentum swinging back, he'll be okay.
Johnson has the best average finish here, but we haven't seen Johnson be more than a 5th-10th place car yet this year.
Gordon is running very well so far thsi year with 4 top 10's. That's consistent!
Kahne is just too all over the place but has been alright so far this year.
Stewart Haas
IS there reliability issues or bad luck in that 4th team? They're so fast, and Harvick is a California native who loves the track, but can he get it all together?
Stewart was way off at Phoenix and Vegas... don't recall him running well here in a couple of years either.
Then htere is Kurt Busch who runs well at that track... and good ol' Danica is good for a top 30...
Childress
This strikes me as a Newman track, strangely enough... he seems to be doing better in a Childress car as well.
FORD TEAMS
Penske
BAd luck kept them from being in the picture at Bristol, like a lot of teams. These types of tracks bode well for Logano, who may feel like this track owes him one. Plus, he won Michigan, a similar track. Keselowski has had it together this year too
Roush
The team seemed off at Vegas but great at Bristol. Maybe they found something with the simulation software that Edwards was talking about. Plus, Edwards is in a contract year and always seems to run well in those. Biffle is in contract too but hasn't produced speed yet.
Petty
They're probably celebrating a terrific run in Bristol right now! This team has been known to come outo f the box strong though, especially when we get to places like Texas
TOYOTA TEAMS
Gibbs
The team has shown its flashes of brilliance, but we haven't really seen Gibbs domination yet this year in the manner we did last year. No doubt they'll be good though, I'm sure they'd like to remind us how fast their cars are.
MWR
Say all you want about them, I swear they haven't been the same since that whole incident at Richmond last year going into the chase.
My Picks
I want to see a practice chart! Up to that point though....
1) Brad Keselowski
2) Carl Edwards
3) Greg Biffle
The man of the hours is Blazed SS, who wins last week in Bristol and takes over the points lead! Averaging just over 120 points a race, the is setting a torent pace right now.
The overall/segment 1 points look like this.
1) BlazedSS 483 Leader
2) Cowboy6622 465 -18
3) Leprechaun93 455 -28
4) JuniorCar 454 -29
5) zjerry 437 -46
6) 02 Earnhardt 430 -53
7) SupplySgt 427 -56
8) MnteCrloSS47 415 -68
9) Gen 6 408 -75
10) STUMPMI 369 -114
11) carlm54stl 368 -115
12) SSmeansSuperSexy 359 -124
13) butch049 353 -130
14) 77GP 272 -211
15) phuntley 181 -302
California Speedway
It's long, flat, and fast! There is a lot of room to race, and it bears some resemblance to Michigan. However, it is flatter. It actually produced good racing last year, compared to just old freight train lines circling the place all day.
Shortening this to a 400 mile race was a good move too.
CHEVROLET TEAMS
Hendrick
Dale Jr has been the lead Hendrick driver this year at Daytona, Phoenix ,and Vegas. Bristol saw bad luck hit the 88, but California is back into his range. Remember, his last two wins before Daytona were at a similar track, Michigan. If he can get that momentum swinging back, he'll be okay.
Johnson has the best average finish here, but we haven't seen Johnson be more than a 5th-10th place car yet this year.
Gordon is running very well so far thsi year with 4 top 10's. That's consistent!
Kahne is just too all over the place but has been alright so far this year.
Stewart Haas
IS there reliability issues or bad luck in that 4th team? They're so fast, and Harvick is a California native who loves the track, but can he get it all together?
Stewart was way off at Phoenix and Vegas... don't recall him running well here in a couple of years either.
Then htere is Kurt Busch who runs well at that track... and good ol' Danica is good for a top 30...
Childress
This strikes me as a Newman track, strangely enough... he seems to be doing better in a Childress car as well.
FORD TEAMS
Penske
BAd luck kept them from being in the picture at Bristol, like a lot of teams. These types of tracks bode well for Logano, who may feel like this track owes him one. Plus, he won Michigan, a similar track. Keselowski has had it together this year too
Roush
The team seemed off at Vegas but great at Bristol. Maybe they found something with the simulation software that Edwards was talking about. Plus, Edwards is in a contract year and always seems to run well in those. Biffle is in contract too but hasn't produced speed yet.
Petty
They're probably celebrating a terrific run in Bristol right now! This team has been known to come outo f the box strong though, especially when we get to places like Texas
TOYOTA TEAMS
Gibbs
The team has shown its flashes of brilliance, but we haven't really seen Gibbs domination yet this year in the manner we did last year. No doubt they'll be good though, I'm sure they'd like to remind us how fast their cars are.
MWR
Say all you want about them, I swear they haven't been the same since that whole incident at Richmond last year going into the chase.
My Picks
I want to see a practice chart! Up to that point though....
1) Brad Keselowski
2) Carl Edwards
3) Greg Biffle
Last edited by Cowboy6622; Mar 23, 2014 at 01:38 PM.
Monte Of The Month -- January 2013
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 5,612
From: London, Ontario
I still like Penske and Jr. Joey is running better than he finishes. That will likely come around. California should have no surprises. It kinda a boring track. But I won't be saying that when Jr wins...
1. 88 Dale Jr.
2. 24 Jeff Gordon
2. 48 Jimmie Johnson
1. 88 Dale Jr.
2. 24 Jeff Gordon
2. 48 Jimmie Johnson
Last edited by JuniorCar; Mar 22, 2014 at 03:08 PM.
Monte Of The Month -- July 2011
Monte Of The Month -- December 2016
Monte Of The Month -- December 2016
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 7,524
From: St.Louis , MO.
I like Hendrick Motorsports... That why I installed this on my Monte rocker panels...
Here's my door sill covers...
Last edited by zjerry; Mar 18, 2014 at 07:34 PM.
