Plethora of thoughts after extended Calif. weekend

Some Odds 'n Ends from the notebook, after a very long weekend in Fontana, Calif., that was short on track time -- unless you were competing in the Craftsman Truck Series -- but definitely not lacking in action.

But look at it this way: It wasn't as long and debilitating as last year's five-day debacle at Michigan. Now, THAT was agony -- even with the overwhelming geniality of the MIS media staff.

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• I know, I know -- it's only two Sprint Cup races, but as far as I could tell, a few competition questions were answered Sunday and Monday at Auto Club Speedway (see, it did not take long for that to sink in, did it?).

In the "good news for the manufacturers" department, not only did all four Cup car makers put vehicles in the top 10 Monday -- each of them had at least two representatives in there, and eight of the cars in that top 10 led laps.

It proved once again that Daytona (and Talladega, for that matter) is an anomaly that cannot, and should not be smeared across any other lines to affect your opinion of how the racing will be at any other speedway.

Ford looked to be seriously in the hurt locker after Daytona, but it was Fusion-mounted Carl Edwards in Victory Lane at ACSoSC (I ain't writing that out!).

• The neatest thing about this part of the schedule, depending on your perspective, is how quickly you can vaporize a deficit in the point standings. Hendrick Motorsports dominated the Cup Series last year, winning half the races -- but team leaders Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon both had trouble at Daytona, and were way back in the standings on account.

No worries, because after the Hendrick duo got themselves back on track in their home state, finishing second and third to Edwards, they moved up 17 and 24 spots in the standings, respectively -- to eighth and 14th.

Even Robby Gordon, who fell into the dreaded abyss below the top-35 cutoff in the owner standings when he was penalized 100 driver and owner points after Daytona, got securely back above the line with a respectable 18th place finish that the owner/driver said wasn't indicative of his team's true potential.

I don't think it's going out on too much of a limb to predict that Jeff Gordon will be back in a Chase for the Sprint Cup-qualified position after this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And for Robby's part, it's not a shaky bet he'll get up into the top 30 in the standings by next Monday.

• Speaking of Robby, I hate to say it, but I think his appeal of his penalties is doomed thanks to a couple precedents. First, when Hall of Fame Racing came on the scene at Daytona a couple years ago, they were hit with a significant penalty -- for the time -- when they had an unapproved carburetor on the car's engine.

Their contention was that the engine was supplied by another organization, so it "wasn't our fault." NASCAR correctly held them responsible and their appeal was denied. Let me put it this way: If a 90 CFM carburetor is mandated by the rules and your supplier gave you a replacement carb that happened to be a 150 CFM unit (I'm pulling the numbers outta my ear, so don't email me), you're still responsible for verifying it's legal before you run it -- or even install it.

If you're in too much of a hurry to check and then claim it was a clerical error, unfortunately, looks kind of weak and like you don't have a clue what's being put on your racecars -- and I can guarantee you, that's not the way Robby Gordon and Frank Kerr operate. NOT saying they were cheating, but being under the gun and a sloppy mistake made by someone has cost 'em.

The second precedent is that the penalties, for this type car, have been consistent. They also don't take into account intent, which only time will tell whether that's a good or a bad thing.

• That's brings up another point that is rather ludicrous -- and if I was Dodge, or NASCAR, I don't know how excited I'd be about it. You're not going to get me going off about "IROC cars" or "illegal decal packages" or anything like that. I've seen two events that had pretty good racing and I'm looking forward to seeing what a faster -- and more treacherous -- intermediate track in Las Vegas will bring this weekend.

Not that shocking

The penalty for what Robby Gordon describes as an "honest mistake" might be harsh, but David Caraviello says it shouldn't come as a surprise.

• Complete story, click here
• Gordon gets $100K, 100 points
• Gordon: An honest mistake
• "Rally for Robby" campaign
• Head2Head: Was it fair?
• Forum: What is your take?

But Gordon's "Nosegate" debacle brought to light an interesting -- read that, "ridiculous" -- scenario. We all know Dodge's new car, a year ago, was the "Avenger," and that at the end of last year, they decided they would run Chargers in Sprint Cup this season.

Well, at testing, it certainly seemed to me that the Chargers looked like, well, like Avengers -- but I didn't care enough to bother to ask any questions.

Well, Gillett Evernham Motorsports reportedly sends Robby Gordon Motorsports a batch of unapproved Charger nose pieces, which RGM installs, takes to Daytona and is apprehended with, in inspection.

Now we find out that the Dodge cars being used in Sprint Cup actually ARE Avengers, but they're being called Chargers, thanks to creative decal work. Somehow, that seems worse to me than penalizing Robby 200 points (100 driver and 100 owner) for having the wrong grill opening decal.

I wonder if you can put enough decals on that situation to cover it up?

• On the kudos front, how about a great big round of applause for Brian Vickers, Kevin Hamlin and their No. 83 Red Bull Racing Team for stepping up and making things happen? Across the board, Toyota's performance has blossomed this season.

But you have to be just thrilled for Vickers and his new chief mechanic, Hamlin, to have carded two top-12 performances and to not only be securely -- and probably there for the balance of the season -- locked-into the top 35, but currently in a Chase-qualified spot.

I know, I know -- 24 races to go -- but still a significant step up for that team.

And as thrilled as you are for them, you have to just bleed for his teammate, A.J. Allmendinger, who was a rulebook victim last weekend when qualifying was rained out. It'll be another long, hard road of a season for that bunch; which has shown just as much of a performance improvement as Vickers, at Speedweeks and during pre-season testing.

• As a member of the Sports Car Club of America for nearly 20 years, back in the day, I was excited when a FOX camera caught movie star Tom Cruise in Jimmie Johnson's pit area during the Auto Club 500 -- not because of his cinematic history, but because anchor Mike Joy cited him as "a former SCCA racer."

Calls to mind a mid-1980s Busch Series test session at Daytona when Cruise and his mentor and SCCA racing sidekick, Paul Newman, showed up and turned some 180-plus mph laps in one of Hendrick's Chevrolets, which if memory serves me correctly, was a Nova. Now, that's history!

• And finally, if you ask me, the "new NASCAR" really came out over the past weekend. There were a number of unusual steps taken and, not being a fly on the wall, you could only guess as to the thought processes -- not that they were necessarily bad decisions.

Sawing grooves in a racetrack wasn't one of them, unfortunately, as I've had to sit through similar procedures at Pocono and Watkins Glen -- which somehow escaped notice as tracks that have previously been afflicted with "weepers."

But to cancel a qualifying session the day before it's scheduled is fairly unprecedented -- though I'm sure the fact that the Nationwide Series field wasn't full had everything to do with that; along with the season's next weekend also being on the West Coast, at Las Vegas.

And to plan to hold two events on the same day is also new territory -- and sort of refreshing. Of course, you can't help but make snide remarks about a couple Auto Club Speedway traditions: Lack of occupied seats making it not a problem and holding fans "hostage" by forcing them to buy multi-day ticket packages meaning the same butts would be scheduled to be in the seats anyway. From what a number of fans told me, this policy is one of the reasons there are fewer butts in the seats in the first place.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer