Houston Takes Pole in Truck, as Fast Times Gone With Wind

High winds that radically reduced speeds for NASCAR Craftsman Truck qualifying played into the hands of Chevrolet drivers Friday at California Speedway.

Three Chevrolets, driven by Andy Houston, Jay Sauter and Jack Sprague, took the first three positions for today’s NAPA Auto Parts 200, although Houston’s pole speed of 173.561 mph was more than 3 mph slower than practice times posted earlier in the day, before winds started whipping across the speedway.

“I just hope it stays windy like this tomorrow, even windier,” said Sprague, who is battling Ford’s Greg Biffle and Dodge’s Dennis Setzer for the championship. “The difference is in the downforce. The Fords and the Dodges have more downforce, so they are affected more by the wind than the Chevys.

“That doesn’t mean I didn’t bounce around, though. It was a hair-raising qualification lap. The wind just threw me into [Turns] 3 and 4.”

Biffle, who holds a 21-point lead over Sprague, qualified a disappointing 24th at 168.888.

“The wind really messed things up,” Biffle said. “I’ve never in my life driven in conditions like that. I was blown away at how the truck moved up the track in Turns 3 and 4. I was actually off the gas and still got blown up the track. I was just coasting! The wall was coming up and I was going straight at it. It’s not the lap we wanted, but we’ll keep working at it and come from the back tomorrow.”

Biffle, who has won nine of 24 races this season, can win the championship by finishing third or better, even if Sprague wins.

Setzer, only four points behind Sprague, was fastest in morning practice at 176.674 but managed only 171.784 when it counted..

“The wind was not good and it bounced the truck around quite a bit,” he said. “The truck started to push and then it just tried to come around on me three times.”

Houston, one of the first to qualify as the winds began to strengthen, said his lap was “as perfect a lap as we’ve run since we’ve been here in California.”

“I was just telling the guys that the Silverado got a little loose and picked up just a little bit of a wiggle, but I didn’t have to lift out of the throttle so I don’t think it hurt us, speed-wise.”

It was Houston’s second pole, his first also coming here last year.

“California has been good to me,” said the 28-year-old from Hickory, N.C., who was last year’s rookie of the year.

The Craftsman Truck race will start at 1 p.m. today.

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After dominating CART champ car racing for four years using Honda engines, Chip Ganassi announced that his Target team would be switching to Toyota power next year. The news stunned open-wheel racing followers, considering that Ganassi’s drivers had won 30 races during that period with Honda, whereas Toyota has not won since joining CART in 1996.

“We’ve always wanted to be on the leading edge, breaking new ground,” Ganassi said. “With that in mind, our team will run Toyotas the next three years, hopefully longer.”

This is not a new situation for Ganassi. Before he switched from Ford to Honda in 1996, Honda had yet to win a race. Jimmy Vasser won the first race of the season, then won three more to bring Ganassi and Honda their first championship.

Alex Zanardi won with Honda power in 1997 and 1998 and Juan Montoya has won seven races and seven poles this year with Honda.

“Everyone in CART has been monitoring Toyota’s progress in the last year and we’re fortunate to be the ones who can bring them to Victory Circle,” Ganassi said. “In no way does this indicate any misgivings about Honda. We have thoroughly enjoyed our relationship. But, as I said, this is about being on the leading edge.”

Vasser and Montoya will be Honda-powered this week, with Scott Pruett, Cristiano da Matta, Richie Hearn, Robby Gordon and Raul Boesel driving Toyota-powered cars.

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Martin Blundell, driving the PacWest Mercedes-Benz, had the fastest lap of 235.292 mph during morning CART practice. In the windy afternoon, drivers did little more than scrub in their tires for today’s qualifying, at 10:30 a.m.

“If this was sailboat racing, the conditions would be perfect, but it’s not so good when you are driving a 1,550-pound aerodynamic racer,” Michael Andretti said.

Paul Tracy’s crew won the $50,000 winner-take-all Craftsman Pit Crew Challenge by twice changing four tires under racing conditions in 37.650 seconds. Their margin was .239 over Andretti’s crew.

Jonny Kane won the Indy Lights pole, for the second consecutive year, with a lap of 186.346. The PPG-Dayton Lights 100 will be run Sunday at 9:45 a.m.

The Facts

Races at the California Speedway in Fontana this weekend. Ticket information: (800) 944-RACE.

CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

NAPA Auto Parts 200

* When: Today (ESPN, 1 p.m.)

* Race distance: 200 miles, 100 laps.

CART

Marlboro 500

* When: Today, qualifying, 10:30 a.m. (ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.); Sunday, race (ESPN, noon)

* Race distance: 500 miles, 250 laps.