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California 2005

What Could Have Been  

John Andretti and the #14 VB/APlus at Sunoco Ford team were prepared for the second race of the season, the Auto Club 500 at the California Speedway. A good qualifying effort of 24th had the team's spirits high. Unfortunately, due to having to do some work on the car before the race, John was forced to start 38th.

The car was great for the first 20 laps or so of a run, then began to fade in a hurry. There were some well-timed cautions early on that allowed the crew to make adjustments on the car and it looked like John could have a good finish if the cautions continued to play out right until the crew had the car where they wanted it.

The bad luck occured when John and Bobby Hamilton, Jr. were in the midst of a several lap battle which eventually led to the 32 car pinching John into the wall.  The car was fine, but a tire was going down and John had to pit, losing 2 laps to the leaders. The car was just as quick afterwards and as long as the other cars went through their round of pit stops, the 14 team would have been OK. But, as we see too many times, the caution flew once again which pretty much spoiled any chance of a decent finish for our guys.

It was a shame to see John out there passing the cars he had been battling with in the early race, who all eventually finished in the 18-24 positions. If things had gone right, a top 20 was a reasonable expectation. As it turned out, we'll have to settle for a 29th, and a slip to 33rd in the points.

The goals of making the races has so far been met. Once the stress of having so much emphasis on the team to get into the starting field passes after three more races, the crew can concentrate on having the car in tip-top shape for the race. With NASCAR's new qualifying procedure, it only adds more stress and worry for our guys. As we head into race 3 at Las Vegas, let's hope the guys can continue the great qualifying efforts, and maybe even have some good luck in the race for a change!