Preview: Thursday was a tale of two track sessions – practice and qualifying. Several teams that struggled in practice ran surprisingly well in qualifying and vice versa. Jeff Gordon, for example, was only 33rd on the speed chart in practice, but went out and captured the pole a few hours later.
Tony Stewart, on the other hand, was sixth quickest in practice, but qualified 29th.
Preview: Fontana is another track involved in the NASCAR Cup Series schedule realignment for 2011. Next year, the venue has just one race date and it will be in the spring. Meanwhile, this weekend’s Pepsi Max 400 is 100 miles shorter than the typical Fontana race – a fact that took several drivers by surprise on Qualifying Day Friday.
Preview: This is NASCAR’s first and only stop at Kansas Speedway in 2010 for the third race of the Chase, but next year will be different: Kansas will have two Cup dates in 2011, the first in June and the second in October as the fourth Chase race.
Preview: It’s Chase race No. 2 this week in Dover, Delaware, where NASCAR has raced since 1969. The focus in the Sprint Cup Series this week has been on the rather astounding news that last week’s race winner, Clint Bowyer, was ruled to have an illegal car and was fined 150 points along with other significant penalties.
