Test sessions are for shaking down new cars, adjusting to new rules and building season-long data bases. Battling Mother Nature usually doesnt make the to-do list, but Wednesday at California Speedway, many NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams had to figure wind resistance into their test plans. Strong Santa Ana winds seasonal gusts that whip thru West Coast mountains and desert sent garbage cans flying in the garage. They also played havoc with spoilers, bumpers and handling as the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series embarked on the next-to-last day of NASCAR Preseason Thunder.
The annual preseason test sessions that began Jan. 11 at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR Preseason Thunder moved west this week for the final four days. On Monday and Tuesday, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series tested at Las Vegas while the NASCAR Busch Series tested at California Speedway. The series switched tracks for Wednesdays and Thursdays sessions, and what was the occasional nuisance gust in Las Vegas became a steady gale in Fontana. The winds very tough today, said Elliott Sadler (#38 M&Ms Ford), who visited the California media center during Wednesdays lunch break. How much are we going to learn? Because chances are its not going to be like that when we come back. Wind or not, California native El Cajon, to be exact Jimmie Johnson (#48 Lowes Chevrolet) was just happy to be back in the Golden State. As far as hes concerned, the Santa Ana blew a welcome his way. What I like most is being in my home state, Johnson said. I like coming home. Im excited NASCAR is in California and excited that it has come to west coast.
When the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series does comes back to California, it will do so Sunday, Feb. 27 for the second race of the season. The Auto Club 500 is one week after the season-opening Daytona 500. The defending race champion is Jeff Gordon (#24 DuPont Chevrolet), another Wednesday visitor to the media center, and although hed love to repeat plus win a third career Daytona 500 he admitted his immediate attention is on the on-track knowledge he and his team are accumulating this week. Right now were just focused on here and Las Vegas and seeing what we have at the downforce tracks, said Gordon, referring to Las Vegas 1.5-mile and Californias 2-mile lengths. And he acknowledged Mother Natures challenge. We are really struggling right now with the wind, Gordon said. I dont know how much valuable information we are going to get out of this test if the wind keeps up like this and I think it is supposed to. Still, the #24 team has a considerable bank of knowledge it can withdraw from should the wind skew test results. Gordon is a three-time winner at California, and comfort factors cant be overestimated.
I dont know why we have had such good success here, he said Wednesday. I mean I think it is like anywhere else. I think it is a combination of just really well prepared race cars, good horsepower and giving me a comfort. On the first lap on the track today, I did, I felt really comfortable. Is that the cars or me? Its hard to say. We are always looking for good results and we continue to get them out here and we want to keep that going. So does Sadler, who won last years Labor Day weekend event at California and would like a second consecutive victory at the track wind or not. Its great to come back to a track you won at because your confidence is unbelievable, Sadler said. Were kind of picking up where we left off. Were comfortable. I feel like I could pack it up, come back here and have a good shot at winning.(NASCAR PR), no speeds reported.(2-3-2005)
