CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY NOTEBOOK: BUSCH CAPTURES POLE IN TRACK-RECORD TIME.Byline: Tim Haddock Staff Writer FONTANA - One day after setting an unofficial track record at the California Speedway The California Speedway is a two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, similar to that of "sister track" Michigan International Speedway. It is located approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. , Craftsman Truck Series rookie Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a NASCAR driver. He drives the #2 Miller Lite Dodge in Nextel Cup Series and part time in Busch Series driving the #12 Penske Truck Rental Dodge. made it official. Busch followed Thursday's clocking of 177.848 mph in practice with an official track-record time of 177.388 mph in earning the pole for today's Motorola 200. Busch broke the mark set by Andy Houston Andy Houston (born November 7, 1970 in Hickory, North Carolina) is a veteran of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, scoring three wins. Houston is the son of legendary Busch Driver Tommy Houston and the youngest of three brothers, one of them being part-time NASCAR driver Marty (173.561 mph) set last year in qualifying for the No Fear Challenge. Seven drivers, including Houston, clocked laps Friday faster than Houston's pole-winning time of a year ago. But being the fastest truck driver is not foremost on Busch's mind. ``Our strategy is to finish second in points,'' Busch said. His Roush Racing teammate Greg Biffle Gregory Jack Biffle (born December 23, 1969 in Vancouver, Washington) is a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver. He now lives in Mooresville, North Carolina. He has also left a lasting impression as the "Most electrifying Craftsman Truck Series driver of the late 90s". wrapped up the points championship at Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a superspeedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas -- the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The track layout is very similar to Atlanta Motor Speedway and Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor two weeks ago. ``We are planning to stay as close to the front as we can and put a conservative setup on it where we can be comfortable in the draft. Then, we will just work on hanging out with the No. 60 (Houston) and No.T2 (Mike Wallace Mike Wallace may refer to:
Busch was at Miami-Homestead Speedway in Florida on Wednesday preparing for his entry in the NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. Winston Cup Pennzoil 400 on Nov. 12. Busch will be driving the No. 97 Ford Taurus for Roush Racing in Winston Cup events. He has only competed once before at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He finished ninth in a Truck Series race there in February. ``The Winston Cup car is quite different,'' Busch said. ``We're getting familiar with the car so we're best prepared as we can be for Daytona and 2001.'' --New drivers: Team Target owner Chip Ganassi announced his new CART FedEx Series drivers for the 2001 season on Friday. Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian will serve as the team's drivers, a pair of virtual unknowns from the FIA FIA feline infectious anemia. International F3000 Series. Team Target drivers won four straight CART championships, from 1996 to 1999. Jimmy Vasser, who is in limbo searching for a team for the 2001 season, won the first championship for Ganassi in 1996. Alex Zanardi followed with a pair of championships in 1997 and 1998. Juan Montoya won the championship in 1999. Montoya is moving on to Formula One competition in 2001, joining Zanardi, who made the move in 1998. Junqueira, a 23-year-old from Brazil, won four races and the FIA International F3000 championship. He also was the Team Williams Formula One test driver since 1999. Minassian, a 27-uear-old from France, was the runner-up to Junqueira in the FIA International F3000 Series. He won three races. ``Bruno and Nicolas displayed a lot of talent and experience during our tests and they both have impressive racing resumes,'' Ganassi said. ``One thing that jumped out at us was how similar their attitudes and racing styles were to Vasser and Montoya. We believe these guys will quickly become stars in the series.'' --Della Penna pen·na n. pl. pen·nae A contour feather of a bird, as distinguished from a down feather or a plume. [Latin, feather; see pet- in Indo-European roots. reorganization: Della Penna Motorsports, the team that gave Pasadena High graduate Richie Hearn his first ride in the CART FedEx Series, announced earlier this week it will be downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing immediately following the 2000 season finale at California Speedway. Team owner John Della Penna was critical of CART's handling of engine supply and the disadvantage it puts on smaller teams. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Andy Houston, who was second in pole qualifying, climbs out of his truck Friday. Will Lester/Staff Photographer |
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