BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Fontana, Calif. — Ford had two drivers among today’s Top-10 qualifiers — one has become a regular, the other would like to make this a habit.

"We've been fairly competitive all day,” Jeff Burton, who held down the tenth spot in the session that timed 45 cars, said. “We've really struggled on this kind of race track the past year and a half and this is a totally different kind of car. So far it's paid off. That will give us a decent starting spot at worst and better than what we normally do.”

Elliott Sadler continues to keep his No. 38 M&M’s Ford as one of the Ovals to watch. Sadler, who qualified fifth for Sunday’s Auto Club 500, was best in class for the Ford effort in qualifying, posting a 186.393 mph lap doing so.

"These guys have given me a great race car, again,” Sadler stated after his run. “This is a brand new race car. It never saw a race track until this morning and to come here and perform like that, it's just great. I'm just sitting in a lucky position right now. Everybody at [Robert] Yates [Racing] gave me awesome horsepower.

“This is the sister to the car that we had at Texas” added Sadler, “so if we get it to run as good as we ran in Texas that Sunday, we're gonna be in good shape and cause some problems for everybody come Sunday."

The majority of the Ford effort settled into timed positions with Dale Jarrett being the only Ford driver needing a provisional to make the show.

Jarrett, who fought his car in the single practice session prior to qualifying, said of the effort, "We struggled most of the day. We finally got it better and then we made a few more changes. The changes that we made were probably better, but it created another set of problems and circumstances that we weren't prepared for in a two-lap run. We bottomed out the left-front really hard and that makes it difficult to drive. We'll just see what we can do Sunday."

The mood of those near Jarrett’s No. 88 car is not one that is particularly pleasant, right now, as noted by the locked jaw facial expression worn by most. It’s not clear who will end up in the crew chief position with the team, but sources close to the camp told TFR, today, that “[Jimmy] Makar is not out of the question, yet.”

Makar was not at the track today because he is with a car at the GM proving grounds in the Phoenix area doing straight line testing for his current employer, Joe Gibbs Racing.

Kerry Earnhardt and Hideo Fukuyama did not turn laps that were fast enough to make the show.

TAKE IT TO THE BANK
Apparently it is a forgone conclusion that the Winston Cup tour will be making two stops to this facility in 2004 or so say numerous sources here at California Speedway. The only issue left, or so it appears, is which of two oft mentioned weekends will become the final target date for an added event here in this Southern California market of some 15 million people.

The two dates most mentioned are Labor Day, which will steal Darlington Raceway’s tradition, or the season-ending event, which is currently run at the Homestead Motorsports Complex. Both of these potential fall dates are rumored to be affairs under the lights.

One sports pundit cautions that the California market should be considered with a little more care than any other market due to the saturation of events that could take attention away from the Winston Cup tour. Take, for example, this weekend’s Cup event competing against playoffs for both the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA) and the Anaheim Ducks (NHL). Both sports are ravaging any coverage that the Cup boys might have been hoping for from television.

It’s not lost on those who market this sport that last year’s Busch Grand National Series race, run on Saturday before the Cup race, drew less than 10,000 people. This, some believe, shows a certain weakness and should be taken as a sign that perhaps a managed growth approach should be taken with the San Bernardino Valley.

The pundit points to the Texas market, where the Saturday BGN race was nearly sold-out the past two years, as potentially more attractive to the sport with current needs in regard to expansion.

Texas, followed by Las Vegas, is also first for large-scale vendors collectable sales. California places outside of the Top-5 in the same category, even with its purported race starved fan base.