Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
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There have been 11 different winners in the 15 Cup races at California Speedway, site of this Sunday's second race of the season.
I don't see that number climbing to 12 as my pick to get to Victory Lane is Jimmie Johnson, who won this event in 2002 and also won the 500-miler last Labor Day weekend at the two-mile, D-shaped oval in Fontana, Calif.
Working in Johnson’s favor
Johnson runs so consistently well that it's hard not to mention him as a top contender in any race. He's definitely that at California where in addition to his two wins he has six top-fives and six top-10s in 10 starts. Johnson’s average start at this intermediate track is impressive (11.6), but his average finish is even more impressive (6.8). He has crossed the checkers third or better in four of his last six races at this venue and in this event he’s been awesome with five top-three results in six tries.
Johnson has run extremely well in the Car of Tomorrow, which is in full-time use this season in NASCAR’s top series. Hendrick Motorsports is on the top of its game with the COT and it is really strong on this style of track. Johnson has a great shot at getting to Victory Lane and added incentive to do so since he is racing in his home state.
Last week Johnson had a bad time of it at Daytona finishing 27th, but that was pretty much a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s definitely disappointing when you start on the pole as Johnson did and wind up outside the top 20, but the No. 48 Chevrolet experienced a couple of setbacks, and so at California Johnson and his team will be looking to bounce back from a bad finish in the season-opener. They encountered the same scenario last year when after a 39th-place result at Daytona, they sparkled with a third-place finish at California.
Other drivers to watch
Tony Stewart and his teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing (Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin) have switched to Toyota this season after driving Chevrolets the last several years. The organization had a lot of work to do to make this transformation, but early results are certainly encouraging and it looks like JGR is quite prepared for the change and the added pressure of performing well for a new manufacturer.
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The only car stronger than Stewart’s No. 20 last week at Daytona was Kyle Busch’s No. 18. Stewart had a chance to win the Great American Race – a feat he has never accomplished – but the Penske Racing cars of Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch teamed up to draft Newman to a win in the closing moments of the race. Stewart settled for third, but the Toyotas certainly gave a good account of themselves.
The two-time Cup champion has never won at California despite some impressive runs. In 13 Cup events he has six top-10s, and three top-fives. He was eighth in this event last year, and has the fifth-best average running position (10.7) at this oval.
Kyle Busch didn’t really fit the mold at Hendrick Motorsports so look for him to be more relaxed this season at JGR, which should turn out to be a better situation for the young driver. After winning the September event at California, he has not finished out of the top 10 in his last four races at this track.
Kurt Busch started his first day at Daytona in alarming fashion as he needed intravenous fluids and wound up on a hospital gurney in the infield medical center. But pushing his teammate to a win last Sunday and coming home second put a terrific finish on his Daytona experience. He’s tough at California, where he has a win (in this event in 2003), three poles, three top-fives and five top-10s in 11 starts.
Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports hopes to find at California the kind of success he enjoyed at this intermediate track earlier in his career. Gordon won on this oval in 1997 (the inaugural event), 1999 and 2004. The four-time Cup champion will be looking to bounce back from a broken suspension part, which dropped him to a 39th-place finish in the Daytona 500.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. blew an engine in this event a year ago, but throw that out and focus on his other two most recent races at California: a fifth-place finish last Labor Day weekend and a second-place result in September of 2006. Junior runs very well at this oval and now that he’s with Hendrick Motorsports that trend should not only continue but quite possibly get better.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
