Week two of the 2010 season is underway on the American Left Coast- Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. While NASCAR still has a reputation for being a southern sport, California has given NASCAR it’s lion’s share of drivers: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears, Kevin Harvick, Scott Speed, David Gilliland, Ronh Hornaday, Mike Skinner, Robby Gordon and A.J. Allmendinger- just to name a few.
Long before this track came along, NASCAR started its season at a road course in Riverside. Years later, Ontario had a brief run as a NASCAR stop.
TRACK FACTS
Auto Club Speedway debuted in NASCAR Winston Cup competition on June 22, 1997. Jeff Gordon was first to the finish line in this race, the fastest run to date in Fontana. Gordon ran a speed of 155.012 miles per hour in a time of 3 hours, 12 minutes and 32 seconds.
The track is 2 miles in length, making for a 250 lap race Sunday. There’s 14 degrees in the turns, 11 degrees banking on front stretch, 3 degrees on back stretch. The front stretch measures 3,100 feet, the back stretch- 2,500 feet. ACS is considered a cousin to Michigan Speedway.
The grandstand seating capacity is 92,000 people.
TOP PERFORMERS
Auto Club Speedway, once known as California Speedway may as well be known as “Jimmie’s Playland.” Jimmie Johnson has the all time career mark for wins here with 4- including last October. Matt Kenseth (last February’s winner) and Jeff Gordon have three each. Roush and Hendrick are the usual combatants for wins at Auto Club.
Kurt Busch has won the most pole awards with three, while his younger brother Kyle owns the fastest qualifying lap, clocking a speed of 188.425 miles per hour in a time of 28.248 seconds on February 26, 2005, while driving in the number five Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet now piloted by Mark Martin.
The most lead changes occurred in the rain-fouled 2008 Auto Club 500. There were 33. The fewest? 18 on May 3, 1998 when Martin won the California 500.
The fewest cautions waved in the June 22, 1997 event- 4 times. The most? 12 in the February, 2008 race.
A record 42 drivers finished the September 3, 2006 Sony HD 500 won by Kasey Kahne. At the other extreme, there were 32 that finished the race at ACS on two occasions- the most recent being the February 25, 2005 Auto Club 500 won by Greg Biffle.
WHEN & WHERE TO TUNE IN
For this weekend’s Cup event, race day coverage kicks off with NASCAR Race Day on SPEED. John Roberts, Kenny Wallace and Kyle Petty host. Show starts at 12 pm Eastern, 9 am, Pacific.
NASCAR Pre Race on FOX starts at 2 pm Eastern, 11 am Pacific. Chris Myers and Jeff Hammond host from the “Hollywood Hotel.”
Green flag waves at about 3:19 pm Eastern, 12:19 Pacific. Mike Joy, Larry Mc Reynolds and Darrell Waltrip call the race from the booth. Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum, Krista Voda and Steve Byrnes work the pits.
Radio coverage is provided by MRN and Sirius XM Satellite radio.
WOHO’S GOING TO WIN?
This could get interesting. Of course, with the length and width of the track, there’s opportunities to make passes, but this is definitely a downforce track and you have to have the horses. I’ve changed my mind more than once when handicapping this race.
The easy answer would be going with Jimmie Johnson, given the fact he’s won three of the last five races here, and this is the site of his first career win. He led first practice on Saturday, and has shown all the signs that this race will be for him what Daytona wasn’t.
His teammate- Mark Martin- joins him in being strong on behalf of Hendrick Motorsports. His qualifying effort wasn’t great, but a look at history suggests it’s not real important at Auto Club. Now, while his starting position isn’t fantastic, the fact he was fastest in Happy Hour and strong on all the speed charts seems to suggest Martin is ready to make a run. The third man out of the HMS garage- Jeff Gordon- is also running strong in practice sessions- while Dale Earnhardt,Jr. has looked ordinary throughout the weekend.
The Earnhardt- Ganassi duo of Jamie Mc Murray and Juan Pablo Montoya look stout. Not only do they occupy the front row, they also look good in practice. I suspect JPM’s first win on an oval will come on a track like this, a multi-purpose track that lets him run the kinds of lines he likes to employ.
What do EGR cars have under the hood? Earnhardt- Childress engines. Guess who else looks good again? Clint Bowyer is definitely going to be a presence and his teammates- Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton- have run upper division since unloading.
The Fords- particularly the Roush Fords- aren’t looking as good as I would expect. It should be noted that Greg Biffle has had some flashes of brilliance, as has Carl Edwards. From Toyota, Denny Hamlin and Brian Vickers have looked the most promising, though I wouldn’t count out David Reutimann, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano or even Marcos Ambrose for that matter.
There was a time I was locked on Kasey Kahne. He’s won at Fontana, but he’s looked a little “dodgy” as my British co-worker would say.
Though Johnson’s going to be good, and he just might win, I am not one given to the conventional. I’m still watching Kahne, and I think Bowyer, Montoya and Mc Murray will be well accounted for.
I’m going with Mark Martin to win this race. Starting position isn;t everything, and the fifth row isn’t horrible by any means. Martin is like Jimmie Johnson, if he unloads a good piece, and consistently runs it well going into the race, it bodes very well for the “Flying Wrinkle” and pit boss Alan Gustafson.
This race has a lot of potential front runners and may make for a more interesting race than we’ve had here in a while. This may be the day a Childress car, an EGR rider, or JGR racer may break the cycle of dominance by the teams of Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush. By the same token, Mark Martin has been strong throughout the weekend, and he’s not one to run himself into trouble.
{ 3 comments }
Looks like you were right, Jimmie Johnson owns Fontana. I should have picked him for the Lugnutz League.
i cant comment..i fell asleep watching whatever that snoozefest was..if i hadnt have fallen asleep..i would have destroyed my tv trying to get at larry macreynolds for constantly saying how exciting fontana racing was
Looks like Jimmie Johnson is back. Luck was on his side with that pit stop, but he ran a good race and had a strong enough car to hold off Harvick at the end.
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