Race #6: Auto Club Speedway (28Feb18)

[Hootius]

 

Sponsor this circuit for only $2.95 USD​

 ​

[circuit_3][/circuit_3]​

 
Race Length: 50 Laps
Race Name in Game: Auto Club 400

 

[Hootius]

**Pre-race Interview**

1. Auto Club is on the docket for just the 2nd time in league history. Have you practiced yet? and what are your personal expectations for Wednesday?

2. Halfway through the Season. How do you feel about your performance over the first 5 races?

3. It has been announced that S5 will take place back on Friday's and will be 50% races. Do you feel like long races will help you, hurt you, or not make any difference?

 

[Hootius]

1. Auto Club is on the docket for just the 2nd time in league history. Have you practiced yet? and what are your personal expectations for Wednesday?
I've put down a good handful of hours, and will put down even more the next few nights. I am not happy with my solo speed yet. My car is ok in the draft, but I still need to knock off another 2 tenths before I can feel like I can compete for a win. With the x4 and the fall off of the tires, I don't think I can pull off a cheeky fuel win like I did at Michigan last season.

2. Halfway through the Season. How do you feel about your performance over the first 5 races?
Well, 2 wins out of 5 and leading the points by almost half of a race worth, so I can't complain too much lol That Atlanta finish still bugs me. That was a Top 2 car that I brought home in 8th place. Had that been a proper finish, I'd be smiling a lot more right now.

3. It has been announced that S5 will take place back on Friday's and will be 50% races. Do you feel like long races will help you, hurt you, or not make any difference?
Still not sure if it will be X2 or X3 yet, but I am very much looking forward to it. I feel like my consistency and my setups excel on long runs, both with tires and fuel, so that helps me personally. With the way this group has performed this season with minimizing cautions, I could definitely see the longer races going by smoother than they did in Season 2 and being a lot of fun.

 

[Meattyloaf]

1. Auto Club is on the docket for just the 2nd time in league history. Have you practiced yet? and what are your personal expectations for Wednesday?

I have, but in a lot more time than I usually do and have spent late nights working on setups to find the right one. So far only one has produced favorable results that I am looking for and that took me almost an hour's worth of practice to find a couple of nights ago. I am honestly hoping for a top 5 if not a win. I feel in season 2 this was my race to win till I DCed as I was was able to challenge for the lead and take the lead. I also done this with a poorly functioning team with little to no help with setups, something I am not the best at. I also managed to lead several laps in the first stage before spinning on the last lap. Then a few laps later as we were pitting under caution for the stage break, I DCed. It is the one I fell got away and I am hoping to redeem that this race, but the track is different in this game so here is to the best.

2. Halfway through the Season. How do you feel about your performance over the first 5 races?

5 Races, 5 top 10s its probably the best start to a season I have had. Although, I am still looking for my first top 5 of the season I do feel it is coming as these next 5 tracks I have confidence in being able to compete on a higher level.

3. It has been announced that S5 will take place back on Friday's and will be 50% races. Do you feel like long races will help you, hurt you, or not make any difference?

All I can say is that I am super excited about going back to Friday nights. It has been strange racing on Wednesdays. I don't dislike it, but I prefer Fridays as I usually have time to relax and I usually do not have to change midweek plans to attend. I also prefer longer races as I like having longer races as it allows me to play strategy and time to make up small mistakes, something that has almost went away with the shorter races as people often stay on the same pit strategy the entire race, with the exception of those that short pit but overall it usually makes little difference.

 

[Sassafrass_3]

1. Auto Club is on the docket for just the 2nd time in league history. Have you practiced yet? and what are your personal expectations for Wednesday?
I've put about 100 laps in so far. Still working on a setup as I'm a few tenth off of where I want to be.  I'm hoping for a top 10.

2. Halfway through the Season. How do you feel about your performance over the first 5 races?
I missed the first two races so I'm playing catch up. I just digging for top 10's until I get better at this game.

3. It has been announced that S5 will take place back on Friday's and will be 50% races. Do you feel like long races will help you, hurt you, or not make any difference?
I hadn't heard about the Friday change. I'm west coast and work 8-5 M-F so a 6pm start is always going to be difficult for me. But Friday will be easier than Wednesday. I'd like to think the longer races would help me but we'll see.

 

[vWardude]

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]1. Auto Club is on the docket for just the 2nd time in league history. Have you practiced yet? and what are your personal expectations for Wednesday?[/font]

I’ve logged a lot of laps so far in preparation for this track. Anyone who thinks they will log on the night of the race and run their first laps are highly mistaken, this one takes some time to learn. This is one of my better tracks and I expect to be running up front for the length of the race and hopefully leaving with my second win this season

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]2. Halfway through the Season. How do you feel about your performance over the first 5 races?[/font]

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I feel ok, Atlanta and Talladega we both tracks I was a top 3 car and didn’t finish in the top 5. Martinsville was a cluster for me but I took home 4th luckily, I felt fast in practice but just lost a rhythm during the race and couldn’t get back to it.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]3. It has been announced that S5 will take place back on Friday's and will be 50% races. Do you feel like long races will help you, hurt you, or not make any difference?[/font]

[font=Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]I like that we’re back on Friday nights for the 50% part of it but with that, it most likely means that myself and maybe some others  could be missing a race at some point and would be out of the championship hunt in future seasons to come. I was ok with the Wednesday night races because no one has anything to do on a Wednesday and the race seemed to come quicker being mid week. [/font]

 

[XSYSE]

1. Auto Club is on the docket for just the 2nd time in league history. Have you practiced yet? and what are your personal expectations for Wednesday?

I've scrapped my setup a couple times now. Looking to get as close to a top 5 as possible, but not looking good so far.

2. Halfway through the Season. How do you feel about your performance over the first 5 races?

It's kind of been a mixed bag and missing a race doesn't help my standings. It's been a fun first half

3. It has been announced that S5 will take place back on Friday's and will be 50% races. Do you feel like long races will help you, hurt you, or not make any difference?

I fair much better the more realistic the race's, longer with more wear seems to benefit my stlye .

 

[Meattyloaf]

Q: 1st
I finally got my first PRL pole too bad it was the highlight of my race. I het a scorcher coming, I think, at 38.846. My teammate Hootius would qualify second with me edging him out for the pole by 0.02

R:6th
Going into the race I felt this could be it. This could be my first win and I was all jittery. My nerves got the best of me on turn 1 of the first lap as I caught the apron and spun. I managed to keep off of everyone. However, while checking up another driver sparked a wreck. First caution on lap 1. This trend would repeat itself till about lap 22. We had a pile up coming out of 2 on the last restart and it seemed as though the cautions would continue to fly. However, the caution didn't happen and it went green from then on. On the bad side I was barely tagged by someone when I was going through the wreck. The tag was enough to send me into the inside wall and through the grass to were I regained control after spinning and bouncing back on the track in turn 3. I knew the only chance I had at a decent finish would be pit strategy. However, I noticed how much I would need to save a bit too late into my first green flag run. I pitted knowing I would be a couple of laps shy on fuel. With this I tried saving but again not enough. On the last stop I took 2 tires and 1 can of gas. It was enough to put me out in 6th where I finoshed. If I did a standard stop I would've been probably 11th. Now getting back to the race. I didn't led the first lap but did manage to lead a handful of laps under the second wave of green flag stops. In all I would've had to save 4 laps of fuel to make it a one stop race for myself. I could've done it but I would've been running 2-3 seconds off of the pace and I would've needed to do this for about 8 laps, if not more. At one point my led was 25-27 second range which means they would've gained between 16-24 seconds in all. This isn't taken into account that I was already running 39.4s regularly to save fuel or too keep it off the wall with extremely worn tires. If I tried the gamble it could've paid off and with me a win, but I played it safe and gambled for a better finishing position, which landed me 6th. It's my 4th 6th place of the finish. I am still seeking my first top 5 of the season and first PRL win, I felt both got away tonight as I feel I maybe didn't have the fastest car but I did have the quickest car and was really good in the draft, but I feel my lap 1 spin set the tone for the first half of the race which was a crash fest. To say the least I am disappointed I couldn't back up my pole and felt a little embarrassed for wrecking on lap 1 of the race with the pole position. I guess their is next week, off to the Lady in Black. Hopefully I can harness some of that Darlington magic

 

[ZeKe_h30]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHAlvyruA9I

 

[Hootius]

Q: 2nd
It was all the draft. Could had potentially hit a 38.7, but had to do a quick hiccup in T3/4 to try and not impact Zeke's lap. Really happy for Meatty to get his first pole.


R: 5th
Personally didn't have a good day and just wasn't feeling it. The early cautions and getting bounced off several times didn't help and never got into a good rythem. Got some complaints about lag coming from me, so I gave up a couple spots to not impact anyone's race and never got them back. Is what it is and I'll take the Top 5 and set my eyes on Darlington.

 

[vWardude]

Q:5th

Not a bad start, I imagined myself up there for the pole but just couldn’t tag a solid draft for the pole. I’ll take a top 5 any day, this week was all about race trim.

R:2nd

After getting done with the multiple cautions, really starting the race on about lap 23/50, I felt great about my car. On the final green flag restart, I found myself in 10th place. It took no more than 4-5 laps to charge up the field and take the lead finally for the first time in the race. I heard whispers during the week that people’s tires were falling off only a few laps into their run, that’s where I excelled the most. I was able to push out 39.0s and 1s all the way down to 3 laps in the fuel tank, lap by lap, I could see the lead gain. That’s where my night turns lol. Jake had early pitted, he pit out of 3rd place only a couple tenths behind me, he had told me he got 14 second pit stops, while my stops were 16.7 and 16 flat. Coming out of pit road I had seen Jake was up by almost 5 seconds on me and I was shocked. I gained back 4 seconds on the run but coming out of pits the second time, he was 4 seconds up and a couple people had taken 2 tires along with lap traffic, cycling me back to 6th place and just not enough time to charge up and catch him with 9 to go. My car was fast and consistent, really let one get away with those AI long pit stops. I gained 7 points on 1st place in the championship run, putting me 6 back. A lot of practice to be done for Darlington, this will be my first league race here ever.

 

[Nickcm12]

Q. 8th
Tried a looser setup for qualifying , ended up sideways in every corner lol Didn't phase me, I knew I had a solid race set up built for long runs.
R. 3rd.
Felt myself and War had the cars to beat. Surprisingly enough my setup was a bit different from his as is every race week. He can run a bit looser on the wheel lol
Once the caution fest ended I restarted 10th and made it up to 4th within 2 laps. My pit crew did not get it done tonight along with the driver coming in and out of pitroad. I feel like it truely cost war and I competing for the win. Winged it and took 2 tires at the end going for hail Mary win(cause I'm only 0 for 35) . Came up short finishing 3rd.

I feel like a win is very close. I'm really eyeing Kentucky and Homestead as possible firsts. I'm very hungry so if I see the opportunity to move someone out of the way for the win then....
Stay tuned

 

[Bwedding92]

Q.12
Never got a clean lap in with nobody to blame but myself
R.12
Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes.. I practiced with wardude early in the week and was just a few tenths off, well I found those tenths in single player practice and thought I'd be good to go cause wardude appears to be very quick, unfortunately everyone else found a few more tenths as well, I feel I may have got a top 5 or 6 but speeding on put road twice put me way back, I was 2 laps down at one point, combine that with my setup being a lil off I was doomed with no one to blame but me.. I feel if I practice like I should and eliminate my mistakes I can be strong and darlington

 

[Bwedding92]

Q.12
Never got a clean lap in with nobody to blame but myself
R.12
Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes.. I practiced with wardude early in the week and was just a few tenths off, well I found those tenths in single player practice and thought I'd be good to go cause wardude appears to be very quick, unfortunately everyone else found a few more tenths as well, I feel I may have got a top 5 or 6 but speeding on put road twice put me way back, I was 2 laps down at one point, combine that with my setup being a lil off I was doomed with no one to blame but me.. I feel if I practice like I should and eliminate my mistakes I can be strong and darlington

 

[Sassafrass_3]

Q: 7th
Car was a little quicker than I thought with some good drafting and I was happy with 7th.

R: 7th
After all the cautions to start the race,we got about two clean laps in and there was another big wreck and no caution was called. The top 6 or so drove off into the sunset and I dropped to 13th. Assuming my race was over I just did the best I could from there on out. Pitting significantly later than the drivers ahead of me meant I was catching them on old tires. On the last stint I came out of the pits in 11th with 8 laps to go. Drove my ass off to get back to 7th. Had I not got caught up in that last accident I felt like I had a top 5 car for sure.

 

[XSYSE]

Q: 9th ?

R: 9th

Just didn't pit in any practice so I shouldn't complain. I have the worst luck in always getting in that last spin where the yellow never comes out.

 

[Jake Giroux]

Q. 3rd
R. 1st
Well AutoClub proved to be a handfull with alot of drivers including me, the track seemed really rough at times
So was tough to get a good balance, on the 2nd caution i got a bit twitchy with the stearing and came down on the #41 and the #5
Causing a big wreck ( Truely sorry for that )
After the cautions were all done it was focus time. I felt like i had a top 5 car, the handling was a bit tight in 3-4
pretty sure i only won because of pit road, i was REALLY Fast entering and my last stop was a 14.7

AutoClub may not not be a good track for me but it seemed luck was on my side -
Darlington however will be a great track for me and looking forward to seeing all the throwbacks

See you all there #78 JakeGirouX24