The Silver Bullet
Rookie rundown, the fastest track, and the NAPA 500 from Fontana, California.
Rookie Rundown..........
The four rookies this season who are vying for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors are Ryan Newman, Jimmy Johnson, Carl Long, and Shauna Robinson. Long is not a regular on the circuit, and hasn't managed to qualify for all of the races that he has attempted. Robinson is in a similar category as Carl Long. Her car owner of BAM Racing, Beth Ann Morganthal, stated at the beginning of the season that she was only going to attempt at least 25 races.
Ryan Newman and Jimmy Johnson are the only two rookies who are actually vying for prize. The two rookie drivers are among the "young guns" group, that the media is making such a big deal out of this season.
Jimmy Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe's sponsored Hendrick/Gordon Motorsports Chevrolet, is leading the rookie point's battle going into California. Johnson has two poles and three top five starts, with one top five and six top ten finishes out of the first nine races this season. He won his pole positions at the two restrictor plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega. Johnson has an average start of 13.1 and an average finish of 12.6 with 126 rookie points.
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel sponsored Penske Racing Ford, doesn't have any pole starts in the first nine races, but he won the pole for the tenth race at California breaking the track record. He has three top five and five top ten starts to his credit, with two top five and four top ten finishes. His average start is 12.8 with his average finish being 22.2, and he has earned 111 rookie points. Newman's best finish out of the last four finishes is 37th place at Bristol, which is what has hurt him in the standings. He finished 40th at Texas and Martinsville, and 43rd at Talladega.
The Fastest Track?
I wasn't amused by the FOX media's proclamation touting Talladega as "the world's fastest track" or "the fastest track in NASCAR." That was all just a bunch of junk media hype. We should all know that Talladega and Daytona are restrictor plate tracks where the lap speed is kept well down below 190 miles per hour. Talladega may well have been the fastest track in the world in its hay day back in the late '80's, but for NASCAR to tout it as the fastest track these days is downright lubricious and self-serving rubbish.
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