Friday, April 18, 2008
Can Scott Pruett Avenge Last Year’s Bump-and-Run? NASCAR’s Mexico City 200 is Still a Toss-up
NASCAR’s fourth run south-of-the-border doesn’t really have a clear-cut favorite
(Photo Credit: Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images)
By Mike Mulhern
The betting line should be on Scott Pruett in this weekend’s NASCAR 200 in Mexico City….First, because he probably should have won last year’s running, if not for that bump-and-run by teammate Juan Pablo Montoya. Next, because he’s one of the best, if not the best, pure road racers in the country. And he’s won Indy-car races and beaten NASCAR’s best in the IROC.
At 48 he’s just as sharp as ever.
Nevertheless, this Sunday afternoon’s race, in the heart of one of the world’s biggest cities, is probably a toss-up. Pruett, yes, but also Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Boris Said. And wouldn’t it be a nice surprise for car owner Richard Childress if Clint Bowyer pulled off a big upset.
The favorites, Busch says, are obvious: Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer, as well as myself, and probably Scott Pruett or a couple other road course guys.
“As far as “Of course it’s going to be Carl Edwards and Clint Bowyer as well as myself and probably Scott Pruett or a couple other road course guys. As far as the Mexican drivers, there are some good ones in the field: Michel Jourdain and Reuben Pardo.”
A good run in Mexico City and Busch may well add the full Nationwide tour to his already busy NASCAR schedule: “There’s a chance I might run the full deal. It’s not quite set in stone yet.”
Father Francisco Javier Dominguez, from the Parroquia Franciscana, blesses Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, as NASCAR men arrive for Sunday’s Mexico City 200
(Photo Credit: OCESA)
If this race were to come down to just experience on this track, Jourdain would be the man: “I guess I’ve raced it 30 or 40 times. I’ve lived in Mexico City all my life, and we’ve raced it so many times.
“For me this is like what Indianapolis is for Michael Andretti or Al Unser Jr….or what Daytona is for Kyle Petty. I grew up watching my dad and my uncles, and then I started racing. Once a year I get to race where my family, friends and everybody gets to come and see me. It’s really, really important.”
And then there’s Adrian Fernandez, one of the biggest sports heroes in all Mexico, in a Rick Hendrick Chevy. If only Fernandez could ever live up to his billing….
Another who should be interesting to watch is Canadian Patrick Carpentier, who, at 36, is trying to make in NASCAR on the Cup tour, though he’s having a rugged time of it. But Carpentier did finish second in NASCAR’s Montreal debut last summer.
Busch has two straight Nationwide tour wins coming in…but Michael Jourdain is also in the field, the man he tangled with two years ago, both men losing a shot at the win in the closing laps.
Scott Pruett, Chip Ganassi’s top driver in Mexico City, won’t have to keep an eye on Juan Pablo Montoya this time
(Photo Credit: OCESA)
And for those with a sense of history – Hollywood’s Stan Barrett is running too. He’s the stunt man who 20 years ago tried to turn his yen for speed into a NASCAR career, though that didn’t quite work out. Barrett was the first man to break the sound-barrier in a car, at 739.666 mph, way back in 1979, those Smokey and the Bandit days.
Sprint Cup drivers not in Mexico City this weekend better enjoy their off time, because there’s only one more off-weekend between now and the end of the season in November.
“I feel like we should be testing again, to be honest with you,” Jimmie Johnson says, referring to his slow start to the Cup season. “We are getting closer, we are winning races, but we still need to make up a little ground.
“The whole team is going to take a little off time, and then we have some more testing in store the next couple of weeks. I am enjoying catching up from the long start to the season.
“Talladega is going to be exciting. Being in the points, we (most championship contenders) held back and really tried to stay out of harm’s way last fall, and it led to a not-so-exciting race. I remember some criticism for it.
“I would expect this race to be completely out of control and wild, a lot more guys taking risks and getting in the middle of things and racing four-wide.”
Well, maybe, and then again maybe not.
“The car-of-tomorrow and the new pavement give more opportunities to different cars and drivers in the closing laps,” Johnson says of Talladega. “The track is racier now because of the whole package. With the car-of-tomorrow, there is enough room now where it’s not like Daytona where you need to handle as much. The big hole this car punches in the air, you can take advantage of that.”
Jimmie Johnson’s Phoenix win may help turn his season around
(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
Clearly Johnson is much more upbeat about things, with his victory at Phoenix following his second-place finish at Texas.
“Our second-place in Texas did as much for us mentally and emotionally as the victory in Phoenix,” Johnson says. “I felt we were going to be on par with our short-track stuff (this season), and Martinsville showed that. But the win certainly was great medicine for the team.
“We have been worried about our intermediate track stuff, and having a successful race in Texas, and being competitive, validated all the testing we did and gave us a shot in the arm.
“Really, the last two races have done a lot for the team, and a lot for Hendrick Motorsports (winless on all four sides until Phoenix).
“We have a lot of testing ahead, and we are playing a little catch-up on the 1-1/2-mile tracks. But our short-track stuff, our road course stuff, and speedway stuff is just where we need it.”
In this gotta-have-a-gimmick NASCAR world, Jimmie Johnson tries a new version of the Polish victory lap....
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Still, there are some questions about why more NASCAR Sprint Cup stars like Johnson aren’t in Mexico City this weekend.
Edwards, Bowyer and Busch aren’t the only Cup drivers running the full Nationwide series. So is David Reutimann, who has been the lead driver for the Michael Waltrip Cup team, on the track if not in the headlines.
Running both tours, Reutimann says “is an easy decision…because it’s about driving. Anytime I get to drive more, I’m happy.
“The cars are completely different, so I don’t know if it’s as much of a benefit as it used to be. Certainly I don’t think it’s a hindrance; but it’s not as big of a benefit as it used to be.”
David Reutimann may have the genes and the talent at the wheel, but he still has a long way to go to fill Dale Jarrett’s shoes.
But maybe if Reutimann can sneak that big brown truck into the field somewhere....
(Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)
One of the toughest doubles – Cup-and-Nationwide – to do each season is the Sonoma-Milwaukee weekend in June. “That will be a pretty big deal,” Reutimann says of the criss-cross traveling. “Other than that, it’s pretty seamless.
“I get out of one car, they put me on a golf cart to the helicopter, and I jump on it. I actually enjoy that—it makes me feel important for a day or two.
“It’s fun to race one car and then a few hours later race another one maybe in another state. Heck we race Pocono and Canada the same weekend, so you’re going from one country to the next in a three-hour period. It’s pretty cool to do that.”
So how do teams test for the Mexico City race? At Virginia International Raceway, just outside of Danville.
That’s where Colin Braun, one of Jack Roush’s new drivers, got some tutoring from Said and Edwards, his teammates this weekend.
“I’m really excited; the car is pretty cool, and when we tested at VIR it went really well, we had a lot of fun up there,” Braun says.
NASCAR teams love to work out road racing tricks at picturesque Virginia International Raceway, just north of Winston-Salem
(Photo by Brian Cleary/Getty Images for Grand-Am)
Braun, though just 19, is one of racing’s hot new stories….already with several years of road racing experience – and wins. An international factory kart racer before even turning 14, he has run in the 24 Hours of Daytona, he won a 250 Prototype at Daytona at just 17, and his second place finish at Le Mans last summer makes him the youngest racer ever to get a top-three in that event.
All that prompted Roush to give him a run this season in NASCAR Trucks…..and a run this weekend in Mexico City, where he could surprise.
Newcomer Colin Braun (center) is Jack Roush’s latest find, and road course mentor Boris Said says Braun doesn’t need much teaching—and predicts Braun, though only 19, could be a winner in Mexico City
(Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
“I’m very comfortable,” Braun was saying Friday after posting some very fast laps around Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. “This is one of my favorite road course tracks. It’s just a cool place, with a lot neat fans…and it’s different, so it makes it a lot of fun and really interesting.
“It has such a good flow and good rhythm. You can really get into a good rhythm and just cruise and be incredibly fast—but feel like you’re not going fast at all.”
Qualifying? Braun says that probably won’t be that much of a factor this weekend, oddly: “I watched the race from last year, and it looks like you can qualify anywhere and still be pretty quick, because pit strategy is so different.
“When you fall into the race, the race pace really comes out.
“Obviously last year the Ganassi cars (with Pruett and Montoya) were just so fast that nobody could really touch them. They qualified first and third, and ran the whole race that way.
“It comes down to a little bit of qualifying to see how fast you are. But once you fall into the race, you can still pass pretty easily.
“There’s such a big difference in the cars and drivers’ abilities that it should be easy to pass.”
Said himself, of course, would like to make Monday’s headlines. He’s been tutoring all the Roush drivers on road racing the past two years, in exchange for some equipment and racing time himself.
“But I personally don’t think Colin is going to need any help from anyone,” Said says, obviously impressed. “He is going to be probably one of the guys that are going to battle to win this race.
“I’ve been on the pole, and I’ve had three top-five finishes: second, third and fifth. Winning in Mexico City requires patience. You’ve got to be there with 10 laps to go and have your car in one piece. And that’s the hardest thing on a road course in this series.
“And you’ve got to make the right calls on when to pit.
“Brakes are critical on a road course. You’ve got to have good brakes. We switched brakes this year, and I think that’s made a big difference in our program. I don’t have any worries there. But on any road course that probably the key ingredient to your car’s performance.”
Boris Said (left) is tutoring Jack Roush’s men (here, Carl Edwards) on the finer points of road racing…
and Sunday in Mexico City it will be teacher-versus-student
(Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)
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