CGRFS California Speedway Advance Notes

Dario Franchitti and No. 40 Target Dodge Team (NSCS) and No. 40 Fastenal Dodge Team (NNS)

Late Late Show: On Wednesday, Franchitti was a guest on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on CBS. Tom Selleck and Ziggy Marley joined him on the show. Franchitti toured the LA market earlier in the week and also made a stop on The Best Damn Sports Show Period as part of a media tour on behalf of NASCAR Cup Series title sponsor, Sprint.

All in the Family: Did you know Franchitti’s younger brother Marino is also a race car driver? The 29-year-old resides in London and will contest the full American Le Mans Series season in the LMP2 category for Dyson Racing, alongside co-driver Butch Leitzinger.

Cementing His Status: Sunday morning at 9:30 AM ET Franchitti will be inducted into the California Speedway Walk of Fame. Franchitti, who won the last open wheel race held at the track (IndyCar, 2005) will dip his racing boots in fresh concrete in the traditional ceremony.

Starting on the Right Foot: Franchitti and his No. 40 Fastenal NNS teammates put forth an impressive qualifying effort last Friday at Daytona International Speedway. Initially, they grabbed the pole with their trial laps around the 2.5-mile superspeedway. By session close, they were fourth on the starting grid. Franchitti has been a strong qualifier out of the gate since he first climbed into a stock car last fall. His first run in a stock car, which was the ARCA Re/Max Series race at Talladega Superspeedway last October resulted in a sixth-place start. He then followed up with a third-place starting position in his NNS debut, which took place at the Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park last October, as well. Altogether, he scored one top-five and two top-10 starts out of four NNS efforts last season.

Reed Sorenson and No. 41 Energizer® e2® Lithium Dodge Team (NSCS)

It Keeps Going and Going… The No. 41 Dodge will sport the Energizer® e2® Lithium paint scheme this weekend in the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. The dynamic silver and blue paint scheme will feature Energizer® e2® Lithium, the World’s Longest Lasting Battery in High Tech Devices, as well as the famous Energizer Bunny®. The Bunny will be on hand this weekend to support Sorenson and team, and to partake in a number of media opportunities alongside Sorenson.

Solid Start to Season: Sorenson and the Target team recorded three top-five finishes in three races during 2008 Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway (Fifth-place finish in Daytona 500, second in Gatorade Duel, fifth in Budweiser Shootout). Sorenson led twice in the 500 for a total of five laps.

Career Best Points Position: Sorenson’s current position of fifth in the overall NSCS standings is a career-high. The position is also the highest and best start of the season for the No. 41 Target team.

California Stats: Sorenson has a total of four NSCS starts at California Speedway with a best finish of 21st (three times). He has an average start of 28.5, average finish of 26.5 and he has led a total of 8 laps. Note*: Sorenson and the Target team came up just two laps shy of capturing their first victory in the second California Speedway race on Aug. 3, 2005. A pit strategy gamble afforded Sorenson a commanding lead coming to the checkered flag, but the fuel cell ran dry relegating the team to a 21st-place finish.

Golden State Natives: Two members of the Target team hail from California. Crew chief Jimmy Elledge (Redding, Calif.) and shock specialist Roger Parkinson (San Diego). Prior to joining Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) in 2003, Elledge served as crew chief for Andy Petree Racing from 1999-2002. He made his first trip to Victory Lane with driver Bobby Hamilton at Talladega Superspeedway on Apr. 22, 2001. Parkinson has been building shocks since 1976 and began working in NASCAR full-time in 1993. Prior to joining CGRFS in 2003, his NASCAR experience includes working for Bill Elliott Racing, Ohlins Racing Shocks and Andy Petree Racing.

Juan Pablo Montoya and No. 42 Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit Dodge Team (NSCS)

Signature Yellow: Juan Pablo Montoya’s No. 42 Dodge Charger will be carrying the signature yellow of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit brand this weekend at California Speedway. This will be the first of 19 races either Juicy Fruit or Big Red® will be the primary sponsor on Montoya’s car during the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Daytona: Montoya and the team finished the 50th running of the Daytona 500 in the 32nd position on Sunday. With 12 laps remaining in the 200-lap race, it appeared Montoya and the team were poised for a top-five finish. Unfortunately, Montoya was clipped in the left rear after an incident between the No. 22 and No. 29 cars and forced to pit with just eight laps remaining in the race.

California Speedway: Montoya and the Juicy Fruit crew hope to improve upon their two finishes at the 2-mile track from last season. Montoya has just two career Sprint Cup starts at California Speedway and he finished 28th in February of 2007 and 33rd in September. Montoya and his crew, led by Crew Chief Donnie Wingo, tested at California three weeks ago in preparation for the second race of the season.

All Access: Montoya and the Juicy Fruit team will be one of the featured teams on DIRECTV’s NASCAR Hotpass for the Sprint Cup race at California. The Hotpass subscription allows fans to follow Montoya and the team throughout the entire race with in-depth reporting, real time statistics and enhanced live race audio. The Juicy Fruit team will be featured on HD channel 795 and SD channel 790 for the race on Sunday.

West-Coast Natives: One member of the Juicy Fruit team calls California his home state. Mechanic J.D. Frey grew up in Ferndale, Calif. (260 miles north of San Francisco) and has been involved in racing for the last 10 years. Shock specialist Roy Gangdal is a bit further north than Frey, Gangdal hails from Vancouver, British Columbia. This is also Frey’s and Gangdal’s second season with CGRFS.

Bryan Clauson and No. 41 Energizer® e2® Lithium Dodge Team (NNS)

Clauson’s Debonair Daytona Debut: Bryan Clauson, 18-year-old driver of the No. 41 CGRFS Dodge, left his mark on Daytona International Speedway last weekend during the NNS season opener, scoring a career-best sixth-place finish in only his sixth-career NNS start. Clauson, who just saw DIS for the first time last month during the NNS test session, also scored a career-best start of seventh place and was named the Raybestos Rookie of the Race.

Energizer Joins Clauson in Cali: Race fans may think they are seeing double this weekend in Fontana at California Speedway as the No. 41 CGRFS NNS Dodge and No. 41 CGRFS NSCS Dodge will both be adorned with the silver and blues colors of Energizer® e2® Lithium, which is the world’s longest lasting battery in high tech devices.

California Kids: Although Clauson now calls Cornelius, N.C., home, he was actually born in Carmichael, Calif., and resided in the northern California town until he and family moved to Noblesville, Ind., when he was just 10-years old. Energizer®e2® Lithium team rear-tire changer Daryl Lockyer is a native of the Los Angeles, Calif. area. He has been a tire changer for 14 years and a member of the CGRFS team for four years. Before joining the NASCAR ranks, he grew up 30 minutes from California Speedway and built cars for fellow California native and racer Ron Hornaday Jr.

Not Every Driver Can Say: Clauson’s initial step into the NASCAR world may be a slightly different story than most drivers as he got his start via a hall pass in high school. It was in late 2006 when he asked his teacher for a hall pass so he could be excused from class to meet with a potential sponsor that was interested in supporting him in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Just a few months later, in January 2007, it was announced he would pilot the No. 41 Dodge for CGRFS in the last few NASCAR Nationwide Series races of the season.

QUOTES

Topic: Give us your thoughts on running the first CoT race on an intermediate-sized race track

Dario Franchitti: “I think the biggest challenge is finding the limits of the car, not overdriving the car, not underdriving the car, driving the car free enough that it's going to be quick over a long run, getting used to the compromises of driving the car. And that's before you even go into the race and get used to the new style of racing. How physical the races are, as far as people bumping into each other, that kind of stuff. Again, somewhere like Fontana in an IndyCar, there's one, maybe two lines. In the stock car, there's guys running the white lines, they're guys running up against the wall, all these different things.”

Reed Sorenson: “We struggled at Las Vegas during the West Coast test, but we had much better results at California. Those two pre-season tests were very beneficial for the team because it gave us an idea of where we needed to improve on our intermediate program. We made some changes to the car that we think will help it turn better and I’m very optimistic about our chances to run well this weekend. California is a multiple groove track so if the car isn’t working in one place you can search around for a different line.

“The Target team had a great Speedweeks and we’re hoping to keep that momentum going this weekend. This is our first stint inside of the top 12 and we’d like to keep ourselves there.”

Juan Pablo Montoya: “I’m not really sure what to expect this weekend. We had a tough test at the track in January and never could seem to get the car right. Donnie (Wingo) decided to bring a car that we had success with last year instead of one of the cars we tested out there. Hopefully that will help. California Speedway was a tough track for us last year too.

“I am excited about my first race with Juicy Fruit for the year. Last year I drove the Big Red Dodge, but never had the opportunity to drive the yellow car. They are doing a lot of fun things around the program, and that’s all a driver can ask out of sponsor.”

Topic: Clauson, you are originally from California, born in Carmichael. What would you consider your strongest memories about your childhood growing up there? What is up with you growing up as a Jeff Gordon fan?

Bryan Clauson: “I think about racing, mainly watching dad [Tim Clauson]. Watching him race as a little kid was really fun and that is all we did until I was five or six. We went every Saturday night and then I started my racing career in quarter midgets when I was five, but before I got in the car we spent a lot of time out at Placerville Speedway and Silver Dollar Speedway, supporting dad. Dad ran sprint cars out there. That is how I got the racing bug for sure. He was a really good local racer, and raced with some of the best of them. He raced and worked with Jeff Gordon when they were both a little younger than they are now [Clauson smirks]. I think Jeff was probably six or seven and dad was in his early teens probably. So, growing up and following NASCAR, we always followed Jeff’s career and have all always been big fans of his because of his and dad’s history and how they helped each other out earlier in their racing careers.”

CHASSIS INFO

No. 40 Target Dodge (NSCS): Chassis #746, which was previously tested at California and Las Vegas this year.

No. 41 Energizer® e2® Lithium (NSCS): Chassis #803. No previous starts, tested at California.

No. 42 Juicy Fruit Dodge (NSCS): Wingo and the No. 42 Juicy Fruit team are bringing chassis #731 to California Speedway. Montoya drove this chassis last season, but has not tested or ran with it this year. He drove it five times in 2007 at the two Bristol races, Dover, Richmond and Loudon. It has an average start of 12.2 and an average finish of 20.8.

No. 40 Fastenal Dodge (NNS): The No. 40 Fastenal team and Franchitti are entering chassis #653 in the NNS race this weekend at California Speedway. It is the same car the NNS CGRFS program raced at Texas Motor Speedway toward the end of last season when Bryan Clauson earned a 2007 season best 10th-place start and then worked to overcome two setbacks that sent him and team into an unrecoverable lap deficit to finish 28th. It is also the same chassis Juan Pablo Montoya raced in early 2007, when he collected an impressive top-10 start and finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the NNS March race (started 10th, finished eighth). Montoya also raced the same car at Darlington in May of ‘07, when he scored a 15th-place finish (started 19th). A.J. Allmendinger is the most recent pilot of the chassis as it is the same car he and the CGRFS team raced in the final race of 2007 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, crossing the finish line in 21st place.

No. 41 Energizer® e2® Lithium (NNS): Clauson and team are racing chassis #756 this weekend in California. Its most notable run in 2007 was at Kentucky Speedway in June when David Stremme and team raced their way from a 27th-place starting position to a fourth-place finish. This weekend will mark the car’s fifth career start.