| | Associated Press
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MAYFIELD UNDER
A MICROSCOPE
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FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- The win in Sunday's NAPA Auto Parts 500
could hardly have come at a better time for Jeremy Mayfield and the
Penske-Kranefuss team.
The driver and team had grimly gone about their duties since NASCAR tore down Mayfield's No. 12 Mobil Ford during a random inspection following the April 16 race in Talladega, Ala., and began an investigation into the alleged use of an illegal additive in the gasoline he used that day.
Mike Helton, NASCAR's senior vice president and chief operating officer, confirmed Friday there was an ongoing probe but declined to give specifics or answer questions about the situation.
Although Helton said nothing would be announced until sometime during the upcoming week, speculation inside the garage area has run rampant, with talk of six-figure fines, team suspensions and loss of Winston Cup points.
Mayfield, who won Sunday by overcoming a burning hot cockpit and a lost lap, said, "I don't know what to say because it hasn't come out yet. We'll all know on Tuesday what's going on. But these two weeks have been pretty weird for us."
"The guys sitting in the shop don't even know what to think," he said.
Mayfield said the fact that the team, led by principal owner Michael Kranefuss and crew chief Peter Sospenzo, is a close-knit group helped overcome the gloom hanging over them heading to California Speedway.
"We're just a tight team and for us to win today was like our first win over again," Mayfield said. "I'm not even worried about these last two weeks. We're looking for the future."
Asked how Mayfield's win might effect NASCAR's investigation, Helton said, "We'll see Tuesday. We view each race as a separate event. What happened at Talladega happened at Talladega. What happened here happened here."
"Our biggest concern is that we do it right and maintain
credibility," he said.
Kranefuss lamented the fact that no decision had been made
before the California race, but had no other comment.
Ironically, four hours after the race, NASCAR announced that a
routine inspection of the winner's car had determined the roof was
lower than the minimum 51 inches from the ground.
Danielle Humphrey, a NASCAR spokesperson, said, "After the
race, Jeremy jumped on the roof of the car during his celebration.
Everything else passed the inspection fine, but the roof was lower
than allowed when it was measured."
Humphrey said the infraction would not affect Mayfield's
victory, although the car was impounded by NASCAR and any
forthcoming penalty will not be announced until later in the week.
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FONTANA, Calif. -- Matt Kenseth didn't expect to win. Still, the disappointment was palpable after he finished a career-best third in Sunday's NAPA Auto Parts 300.
Kenseth led 119 of 250 laps and found himself more than 3 seconds ahead of Bobby Labonte when the leaders pitted during a caution period on lap 221. His team changed four tires, while several others chose to change only two and Kenseth came back onto the track in seventh place and out of contention for the win.
"Man, with the lead we had, plus we were running a 10th (of a second) faster than Bobby was with 30 laps to go, unless I did something incredibly stupid or something broke on the car, we were probably going to win the race," Kenseth said. "But that's not the way it turned out, so we just learn from this and get a little
stronger as a team."
His previous best finish was fourth last September in Dover, Del.
Fellow rookie Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first race earlier this season in Texas and a victory on Sunday by Kenseth would have made it the first time two first-year drivers had won in the same season since 1981. Ron Bouchard and Morgan Shepherd both won as rookies that year.
Earnhardt Jr. finished 12th on Sunday and now trails Kenseth in the Rookie of the Year standings by 11 points, 113-102.
Lots of winners
The victory by Jeremy Mayfield on Sunday extended the record for different winners at the start of the season to 10. The previous mark was seven in 1991.
It also moved the competitors in NASCAR's top stock car circuit within one of the modern-era record of 11 -- five at the end of 1985 and six at the start of 1986.
The all-time record of 13 different winners in as many races was set in 1961, while the most winners in any season in the modern era -- dating to 1972 -- is 14. That record was set in 1988 and matched in both 1990 and 1991.
"That just proves the competition is incredible," Mayfield said. "Right now, it's the closest you've ever seen."
Sort of satisfied
Mike Skinner still hasn't won a race, but Sunday's seventh-place finish wasn't too disappointing.
Skinner started from the pole and led three times for 64 laps, but he faded from contention toward the end of the race.
"We just got outrun," he said. "We obviously had the wrong package there somehow.
"Our team is pretty solid right now. I'm pretty disappointed but, on the other hand, 30-plus teams behind us would change places, so we'll take it."
Tough finish
Robby Gordon, who grew up in nearby Orange, Calif., struggled throughout Sunday's race and crashed as the leaders started the last lap. He finished 31st, but Gordon wasn't too unhappy about the difficult day.
"I hate looking up at 29th (in the season points) and thinking we learned a lot today, but we did," Gordon said. "I just couldn't turn. But we did work on the car all day and learned about what makes what tick here. That's important -- points and data."
Asked what happened to cause his spin, he said, "That was Robby
being a little too aggressive. I went in too deep and lost it
trying to pick it up a few spots on the last lap."
Spark plugs ...
Mayfield, who started 24th in the 43-car field, is the first driver to win from outside the top five in four Winston Cup races at California Speedway. ... There were 22 lead changes among 15 drivers Sunday and Mayfield was the 10th different driver this season to lead the most laps in a race. ... Ricky Rudd's
fourth-place finish was his best of the season. He finished sixth
in Rockingham in the second race of the season, but hadn't been
better than 11th since. ... Ford has four victories this season,
followed by Chevrolet with three and Pontiac with the other two.
... Mark Martin, who finished 14th on Sunday and lost the series
lead to Bobby Labonte by 20 points, is the only driver who has
finished in the top 20 in every race this season. | |
ALSO SEE
A perfect 10: Mayfield too hot to stop Cup streak in California
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