By Steve Parker

While some Sprint Cup drivers took advantage of their last off weekend of the season, others found a race to run.  Carl Edwards made the trip up north to Canada last weekend and it turned out pretty good for the Cup Series regular.  Edwards was able to pick up a win after taking advantage of a mistake by Marcos Ambrose on the last turn of the road course.  Ambrose and Edwards talks about their race on today’s edition of The Race Report.  http://www.racereportradio.com/broadcasts.php

By Sam Atwell

Coming off of the Daytona 380 last weekend in Florida, one can only hope we can get a full weekend of racing in with no weather concerns. Coming to California, in my never to be humble opinion, is when the season really begins. Daytona is race unto itself. Nothing that happens during speedweeks really relates to the rest of the season.

So we officially begin the 2009 season at a track very similar to where the Cup Series will spend the bulk of their races this season. Without the benefit of off-season testing we really didn’t have a good handle on who would be strong out of the gate in California. Some interesting things developed during practice and especially during qualifying.

Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were at the top of the speed chart during practice and to me that was a little bit of a surprise. Johnson and Gordon didn’t really show very much a year ago at this race. Among the surprises for me during the practice session was the practice put together by the Toyota team of David Reutimann. Reutimann was fourth on the speed chart, followed by a pretty good practice run of Ryan Newman in the 39 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet. Also putting top ten practice speeds were Reed Sorenson, Brian Vickers, Juan Montoya, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.

Kyle Busch in the 18 M&M’s Toyota was the first car on the track for qualifying. Busch turned in a decent time during practice of 40.063. Kyle Busch turned a qualifying lap of 181.919 to take the provisional pole, but that would only last until the third driver took the track. Brian Vickers took the track for his qualifying run and put down a wickedly fast lap of 183.439 to take the pole and he hid it from everyone else. Jimmie Johnson qualified second, followed by Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle rounds out the top five. The surprises in qualifying were the great laps turned by Jamie McMurray in third; Scott Speed in ninth and David Reutimann backed his practice speed by nailing down the seventh starting spot. Among the other notables with good runs was Tony Stewart in 11th, Kurt Busch in fourth and A.J. Allmendinger in eighth spot.

Looking ahead to Sunday I still think you have to look to one of the Roush-Fenway teams to pick up the win on Sunday. Carl Edwards put a whuppin on the field last year at this race. Edwards wasn’t particularly impressive during qualifying, he will start 25th, but he will find a way to make his way to the front of the field and I think he will be in victory lane on Sunday.

Don’t forget this is a triple-header weekend, be sure to check out the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series races on Saturday from Fontana.

We have had to deal with changes to our sport over the last few years:  the chase, no more Southern 500, no more Rockingham, the COT, Dale Earnhardt’s death, no number 3 and on and on and on.  Now we see the demise of Petty Enterprises. 

You can argue the reasons for the downward spiral of PE.  Some of them are the fault of the Petty’s, some are not.   I was in Texas in the spring of 2000 when two very important things happened.  The first was Junior picking up his first career cup win and the second was the cup debut of Adam Petty.  I was able to talk to Kyle Petty about the big day for Petty Enterprises.  You could see in his eyes and hear in his voice that Adam was the future of Petty Enterprises.  Adam had a pretty good run going until the engine expired in his #45 Sprint Dodge.   We all remember what happened in just a little over a month in New Hampshire; Adam was killed in an on track accident while practicing for a Busch Series race.  I think that was the biggest single factor in the demise of Petty Enterprise.  Would they still be in the same place right now if Adam had lived?  Probably.   Sponsor’s want wins, and wins just weren’t coming at PE.  They have made changes that were supposed to bring back the glory at PE, but it was too little, too late.  The large infusion of cash from Boston Ventures was supposed to be the cure all for PE.  It hasn’t been.  Bobby Labonte has been released from his contract and will race somewhere else in 2009.

So what is left of the once proud Petty Enterprises?  A chance, with a merger, to keep the #43 car on the track and Richard Petty a part of the sport, what a sad way for a legendary team to come to an end.