 | | Credit: Autostock |
By Dan Beaver, Special to NASCAR.COM
March 14, 2005
09:19 AM EST (14:19 GMT)
When Roger Penske decided to build California Speedway at the former Kaiser Steel mill site, he used Michigan International Speedway as his template. That track was as close to perfect as one is likely to be. The wide, smooth turns remain largely unaffected by the harsh Michigan winters and are conducive to three- and even four-wide racing in the turns.  |  | FANTASY | |
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On those two tracks, a driver can choose a line that best suits his driving style. If he catches another car circling the track in his preferred lane, he can easily adjust his line and move around that driver. Success at California is determined by both speed and handling. The track has enough grip and superior sightlines that a driver is able to see what is happening in front of him, and unless an accident is in his immediate path, he can avoid it. Drivers who use their heads can stay out of trouble. Favorites Jimmie Johnson has had success right off the bat at California. He won in his debut in 2002 after starting fourth, and finished second to teammate Jeff Gordon last spring. In fact, he has never finished worse than 16th in six career races in both the Busch and Cup series and has completed all 1,000 laps in his four Cup starts at California. |  | | Kasey Kahne |
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In Kasey Kahne's two Cup starts at California, his average finish was 7.5, with a second-place finish in the Labor Day race. He also has three top-five finishes in four Busch Series starts. In six combined starts, he has finished all 1,100 laps. Kahne was in the top 10 for 489 of the 500 laps run at California in 2004, despite setting for a 13th-place finish in the spring event. Kahne will win a race in 2005, and it is a good bet that one of the two-mile tracks will be the venue of his victory. In five starts at California, Kurt Busch has finished first and second, with one bad finish. Despite a second-place finish in the Daytona 500, Busch's defense of his Nextel Cup championship begins in earnest this week. Busch was strong in testing, finished sixth in both the Budweiser Shootout and his qualification race, and ran up front for a big part of the Daytona 500, but he did not garner much attention. All his rowdy friends from Las Vegas will make the trek over to California, however, and expect to hear a lot more out of him this week. Darkhorses Carl Edwards made two of his most impressive runs on the two-mile tracks last year. He finished 10th at Michigan, then backed it up with a sixth-place finish two weeks later at California. That should come as no surprise, since in four Craftsman Truck Series starts at California, Edwards has never finished out of the top 10. |  | | Mark Martin |
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When Jeff Burton switched employers last season, Mark Martin raced Burton's Busch Series car at Michigan. He started last and finished second in the 125-lap race, then posted another runner-up finish in the Nextel Cup race the next day. Carrying that momentum, Martin recorded another top-five at California in September. Martin has always excelled on the two-mile tracks, with five Cup, two Busch and three IROC wins. In fact, Martin has finished in the top 10 65 percent of his starts at Michigan and California. Avoidance principle Kevin Harvick has Busch Series wins at both California and Michigan, but he's far more likely to struggle at California. His 25.2 finishing average at California is his worst of all Nextel Cup tracks. In fact, his ninth last spring was the only time he's finished in the top 25 in five California appearances. |  | | Scott Wimmer |
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Not only has Scott Wimmer failed to finish in the top 20 in either race at California, he never cracked the top 10 at any point. At Michigan, Wimmer spent only 43 of 400 total laps in the top 10, so a good finish Sunday will be a difficult proposition at best. Sterling Marlin finished 10th at California in 2003, but slipped to 27th and 26th in two starts the following year. He also failed to crack the top 35 in a rare Busch Series start in 2004. Dan Beaver's fantasy analysis appears weekly on the afternoon prior to Nextel Cup qualifying. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer. | 
