 | | Matt Kenseth's crew was exceptional in the pits at California Speedway. Credit: AP |
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
February 28, 2005
11:18 AM EST (16:18 GMT)
Pit Story of the Race Only three drivers (Ryan Newman, Michael Waltrip, Jason Leffler) were caught speeding on pit road on Sunday, down from the 11 that got ticketed at Daytona. Newman went a lap down after he was caught speeding early in the event, but he received two Lucky Dog passes and eventually fought back to finish ninth. "I was in a stall where if I just left and hauled the mail I thought I was going to be all right," Newman said. "It never even crossed my mind for the potential for it because of the stall I was in and doing what we were doing." Close call for Johnson Teams were faced with more than one green-flag stop on Sunday as there were only seven cautions over the 500 miles.  |  | | Mike Bliss' crew had plenty of room to work with at Fontana. Credit: AP |
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At Fontana, teams benefit from one of the widest and longest pit roads on tour, and the transition to the pits is considerably easier than the one drivers will face in Las Vegas. There were only two close calls. During the first round of stops on Lap 27, Leffler nearly broadsided Jimmie Johnson as the latter tried to exit his box. Johnson quickly stopped, waited for Leffler to get around, and drove off. Johnson went on to finish second. On Lap 204, Carl Edwards had to brake twice to avoid cars exiting their pits, and he lost seven positions as a result. Edwards went on to finish fifth, but the lost time cost him a chance to race with the leaders at the end. Top performers It was hard not to notice the phenomenal jobs of Matt Kenseth and Joe Nemechek's crews, who waged several head-to-head battles in the early going. On the first stop, Kenseth's crew shot him out of the pits in first, giving their driver the lead for the first time. Fontana's entrance to the garage is placed in the center of pit road -- unlike many tracks, which place their garage entrances at the start of pit road. Nemechek's crew chief, Ryan Pemberton, was able to secure the pit immediately in front of this entrance, and Nemechek was able to leave the pits quickly without having to worry about a car entering the pit in front of him. Nemechek also has good stops because his car was simply set-up perfectly. Nemechek only required a minor air adjustment on the first stop, and after that, his car needed no adjustments at all, and his crew consistently beat everyone else off pit road. Nemechek's engine let go on Lap 180, sending him to a 39th-place finish. For a team that appeared to be on the bubble for a Chase spot, the finish is damaging, but expect him to bounce back at Las Vegas. The key to victory It was interesting to note that while Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch were just fine without new tires on the last run, Rusty Wallace followed suit and was left kicking himself for doing it. |  | | Greg Biffle |
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| No tires, no problem |
| Three Roush cars stayed out during the final caution flag of the Auo Club 500: |
| Driver |
Restarted |
Finished |
| Busch |
1 |
2 |
| Biffle |
2 |
1 |
| Martin |
3 |
7 |
|
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Biffle, Busch, Wallace and Mark Martin all made the 32-lap final run without new tires. The three Fords were handled fine on the old rubber, but Wallace dropped like a rock, falling from fourth to 10th. "That wasn't a good run at the end. We didn't take tires," Wallace said. "We should have taken tires. We did everything wrong when it came to making tire calls today. "We did two and we should have done four. We did none and we should have done four. We got our butt beat because of that." Busch restarted first on Lap 222 but quickly lost the lead to Biffle six laps later. Biffle had battled back from a poor pit stop in the middle of the race, and it required a Lucky Dog pass and tire management to do it. Elliott Sadler got an eighth-place finish after taking just two tires on the final stop -- a stop that gained him 10 positions. Quotable "I didn't think anyone would stay out. I thought, 'This will be no big deal. We'll get right out and go.' But these guys were good on no tires." -- Jamie McMurray, who thought he had a shot to win after getting tires on the final stop "This was the toughest one of my life to earn, right here today out of any of my victories. We overcame more today than I ever have in a race car." -- Greg Biffle, who experienced trouble at Fontana again, but found a way to overcome it | 
