Dave Blaney crashed during qualifying. He will start 42nd in Sunday's Auto Club 500. Credit: Autostock

Stewart, Sadler among those starting from rear

FONTANA, Calif. -- Recent history has proven starting from the back is not a bad thing at California Speedway. In the last three Nextel Cup races on this two-mile oval, the winner has started no closer to the front than 16th.

In five of the nine Cup races here since the 1997 inaugural, the winner has started lower than 16th.

That's certainly good news for Tony Stewart, Elliott Sadler and Dave Blaney -- who'll all view the start of Sunday's Auto Club 500 from the rear thanks to different maladies.

Qualifying wreckDave Blaney smacks the wall during his qualifying run Junior strugglesDale Earnhardt Jr. has a tough time in California qualifying Bud pole winnerRookie Kyle Busch talks about his first Nextel Cup Bud pole Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

And they'll be in good company as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton will also start lower than 30th.

Blaney suffered the worst fate, as he crashed his No. 07 Chevrolet on his first lap of Bud Pole Qualifying. Consequently, he had to rely on the car's standing in the 2004 Nextel Cup owners' points to make the field in 42nd position.

Stewart's No. 20 Chevrolet will go to the rear of the 43-car field from its 29th qualifying position due to a transmission change before qualifying.

Sadler's No. 38 Ford was the slowest car to post a time -- only 179.029 mph. The team diagnosed a simple internal engine problem immediately after qualifying that precluded changing engines, according to team manager Eddie D'Hondt, but Sadler will still line up 41st.

Blaney's misfortune was the only serious wreck so far this weekend in the Nextel Cup Series.

The team was readying its backup car, crew chief Philippe Lopez said. Blaney said the car tested extremely well at Las Vegas, but he had concerns at California.

"The thing is, we're going to have to race a car on which we have zero laps this weekend to test this new set-up in race conditions," Blaney said. "So that's a tough thing, because maybe you hit it real close and maybe you don't.

"But you're starting in the back anyway, so if you get a caution in the first couple laps and you feel like you're way off, you can come in and stop and there's no real penalty in that.

	Elliott Sadler Credit: Autostock
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"Hopefully we'll have a couple breaks to go our way tomorrow and we'll be fine. There's a bunch of good cars starting back there or close to back there. It's not a break your back deal, at all -- it's just that you hate to lose a car like that."

Sadler, the most recent Cup winner at California, had questions similar to Blaney's about his own prospects for the race.

"The new rules -- I think everybody is real skeptical of the new spoiler and the new tires and how everything is really gonna work together," Sadler said. "We're kind of interested in seeing how we're gonna work side-by-side and it's kind of an all-new deal."

Blaney said that, despite his long career as a dirt track racer, the new package that includes a softer tire that has more "give up," a shorter rear spoiler that provides less downforce and a gear rule to limit RPMs was proving to be a handful.

"They're a little tougher to drive (because) they're slipping and sliding around with a little less downforce and the tires seem to slip and slide around," Blaney said. "It's a little more difficult to get the car right, it seems like.

"And we don't know what it's going to do in a pack of cars because nobody has really been in a big group too much, so that's going to be a new thing tomorrow. They're going to be pretty unstable, most likely, but it'll be a challenge, that's for sure."

Blaney said his comfort level aside; a slippery car was no picnic to drive.

"You can't drive 'em slipping and sliding around -- at least you can't drive 'em fast," Blaney said. "Yeah, I don't mind that and that's maybe a bad thing (because) I leave the car too loose sometimes and I crashed the car in qualifying because it was just too loose.

"I shouldn't have run it that hard."