Some hesitancy, many questions surround Sunday’s Wise Power 400
Fontana, Cali. — On what is typically a rest-filled day for teams to each fine tune nuances of their primary car, drivers and teams were working overtime as accidents and many unknowns left them nervous ahead of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Wise Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway.
Two of the biggest accidents of the day occurred in practice.
Ross Chastain sustained a heavy impact to the outside wall after the car snapped exiting turn four.
Kevin Harvick got loose exiting turn four, spun and hit the outside wall with the rear of the car.
Chastain was forced to go to a backup car after the wreck. The backup car was Trackhouse’s only one they had at the track this weekend for their two cars.
Chastain and his team worked throughout the NASCAR Xfinity Series race to get the backup car prepared, with members from Kaulig Racing even looking on at the backup car to see how it held up during the wreck.
Harvick’s team, on the other hand, repaired his No. 4 car after the wreck — thanks to the Next Gen car’s changeable front and rear clips.
Crew chief Rodney Childers worked with the team to put the finishing touches on the wrap Saturday afternoon during the NXS race before the car went through inspection.
Chastain and Harvick were among 10 drivers who were involved in incidents during Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions – including Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, William Byron and Chase Elliott.
Austin Cindric qualified on the pole for the Wise Power 400, but was even hesitant about running the lap in the first place.
“The last time I had to talk myself into a run was USF2000 in 2013 in IRP the night before the 500,” Cindric said. “As a driver, you can’t be distracted by all the crashes and mistakes, and I had all the data to do what I needed to do.”
Cindric and others reported the cars were getting unpredictably loose, which contributed to the barrage of incidents Saturday. Cindric cited the Next Gen’s new independent rear suspension setup, 18-inch wheels and a different side profile design – and a lack of notes with the new car – as contributing factors to the loose conditions.
“In the past, it’s been hard to drive but controllable,” Cindric explained. “Now, you don’t have as much sidewall, you don’t have side force, you gotta be aggressive in some areas and conservative in others. You key off of a lot of different things and it’s different right now.”
Even outside front row starter Erik Jones was audibly nervous during his post-qualifying press conference when asked about how the car handled. He stated he felt ‘sick to his stomach’ until he made it to the frontstretch on his qualifying lap.
“This car is it right or wrong? There are some things that concerned me today with tire wear stuff,” Jones said. “The speed’s there and we’ll take advantage of that tomorrow.”
No Rookie of the Year contender has ever won their first points-paying race and then followed it up with a pole in the next points race – dating back to 1957 – until Cindric did it this year.
Jones’s 2nd-place start is also his best starting position since Nov. 2019 at Texas, a race he started 2nd in.
Chastain, Harvick, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Justin Haley will be going to the rear of the field for Sunday’s Wise Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway (3 p.m. ET; TV: FOX, Radio: SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, MRN).
SOURCES:
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com