03/21/2013
Jim Fitzgerald
NASCAR packs the bags and heads out west once again after
a short “stomp” in Bristol. Now back in
the warm California sun, the 2013 Sprint Cup Series takes to the Auto Club
Speedway for the Auto Club 400
The Track:
Location: Fontana, California
Length: 2 Mile Oval
Banking: 14 degrees in turns 1-2; 14 degrees in turns
3-4; 3 degrees on the backstretch, 11 degrees on the front
Pit Road Length/Speed: 2200 ft/55
MPH
The Race:
200 Laps/ 400 Miles
Defending Champion: Tony Stewart, 160.166 MPH
Most recent winner: Tony Stewart
Track Record: Tony Stewart, March 2012, 160.166 MPH
Race Record: Tony Stewart, March 2012, 160.166 MPH
Qualifying record: Kyle Busch, Feb. 2005 188.425 MPH
TV:FOX, 2:30PM EST
The History:
Groundbreaking at the California Speedway took place in
1995.
The first Sprint Cup Race was held on June 22, 1997, and
was 500 miles long. Joe Nemechek won the pole and Jeff Gordon took the checkered
flag in a race that featured 21 lead changes among 12 drivers, including Jimmy
Spencer, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Brett Bodine,
Ricky Craven, Ernie Irvan, and Wally Dallenbach, Jr.
In 2004, the track was granted a second annual race, but
in 2011, returned to one race per year.
The track name was changed to Auto Club Speedway in 2008.
Youngest Winner: Kyle Busch, 20 years, 4 months, 2 days.
Oldest Winner: Rusty Wallace, 44 years, 8 months, 15
days.
Onto this year’s race at Auto Club Speedway!
The
Contenders:
Who do I think will have a shot to win at California?
Jimmie
Johnson: I would have to be crazy not to pick Johnson to
win. Johnson has five wins, 12 top five
finishes and another two in the top ten, all of that in only 18 races. He has never not
finished on the lead lap here.
Kyle Busch: Only Kevin Harvick has scored as many points
in the last two races here as Kyle Busch.
Busch also has a win here in 2005, as well as 6 top fives
and 10 top ten finishes.
Matt Kenseth: Kenseth has
three wins here, along with 8 top 5’s and 13 top tens. This track is very similar to Michigan as
well, where Kenseth runs extremely well.
If the Toyota engines can sustain the high revs for extended periods of
time, look for NASCAR’s version of “Matty Ice” to be
first and goal from the two in the closing laps of this race.
Dale
Earnhardt, Jr: This is starting to look a lot like my picks from last
week. The Hendrick drivers are going to
be strong here, without a doubt, and this might be the week that Dale Earnhardt
Jr wins at a track other than Michigan for the first time in more than five
years.
Jeff Gordon: Another Hendrick driver, I know, but you
cannot argue with past successes. Three
wins, although none since 2004, but there are ten top fives
and eleven top tens as well as two poles, and has led
more than 600 laps here over the years.
Dark Horse
Pick: Jeff Burton: Burton has the most laps completed at this track and
seems to get the most out of a car, providing he can stay out of everyone
else’s mess. Since California is usually
a very clean race, this should not be a problem.
There are my picks for this week at Caifornia,
but let’s back up the rewind machine and see how I fared with my Bristol picks.
Brad
Keselowski:
Led 62 laps and finished 2nd.
Kyle
Busch:
Led 56 laps and finished 3rd.
Matt
Kenseth:
Taken out by bad luck and Jeff Gordon’s right front blowout.
Dale
Earnhardt, Jr:
Did not lead, but finished 6th.
Jeff
Gordon:
Taken out by bad luck and Matt Kenseth’s front
bumper.
Dark
Horse Pick: Brian Vickers: Vickers did not lead but finished in 8th
place.
This week, my numbers are two top fives,
two additional top tens, and two DNFs. Womp womp.
Race Pro Picks!
Before we get to the Bristol picks, let’s back it up and
see how our pros did at Bristol.
Player |
Selection |
Race Pts |
Previous Pts |
Total Pts |
Wins |
DNFs |
Brian |
18 |
43 |
50 |
93 |
0 |
1 |
Nate |
99 |
26 |
71 |
97 |
0 |
1 |
Mr. Seven |
39 |
37 |
74 |
111 |
0 |
0 |
Jim |
20 |
10 |
119 |
129 |
0 |
1 |
Alabama |
2 |
42 |
109 |
151 |
0 |
0 |
Here are our picks for the Auto Club 400 at California,
at 2:30PM on FOX:
(For the remainder of the season, the Pro who leads the
points will pick last, while the Pro who is last will pick first.)
Brian: In the last 10 races at Fontana, Jimmie Johnson has a 3.3
Avg Finish, with only 2 race finishes worse than 3rd,
and both of those are still Top 10's. Aside from an Act of God, Jimmie is up
front in the end. Fontana reminds me of an over-sized cookie cutter track, and
on cookie cutter tracks like Atlanta, Carl Edwards use to be a top contender
every week.....I like what he's showing me so far this season, and if he qualifies
in the first 5 rows, I expect him to finish in the first 5 rows. But I've
always been a numbers guy, and my "Feelings" for Edwards are
"Nothing More Than Feelings," so I'm taking Jimmie to the Winner's
Circle.
Nate: This week I am strongly looking at
Brad Keselowski. So far this season, he
has four top five finishes in the first four starts, and he is now the points leader. Brad
Keselowski…’nuff said.
Mr. Seven: You
guys are good…but I’m betting that my seventh place driver will top all of your
choices by year’s end.
Jim: I took a big hit when Gordon’s tire blew and my Bristol
pick Matt Kenseth had his day end early.
Do not let it be said that I do not learn from my mistakes, so at
Bristol in the summer, I may pick someone else. For this week, I looked at Kyle Busch, and
thought about Greg Biffle, and wondered if this was not a good time to pick
Ricky Stenhouse for that upset win. However,
three wins and eight top fives make Matt Kenseth my
favorite to win at California this week!
Alabama: I looked at four drivers: Kahne, Earnhardt, Kyle Busch,
and Edwards: Kahne (3 DNFs and a 1-4-9 record in 15 races. It was his 3 DNFs in
16 races that scared me.) Earnhardt, 0-4-5 with 5 DNFs in 20
races. His DNFs scared me but the fact he has only led 28 laps in 20
races here is a telling factor: Kyle Busch and his numbers are impressive
enough: 1-6-10, 1 DNF in 15 races. He has led at least one lap in all but three
races here and has completed over 98% of the assigned laps. Edwards’s record is
almost the same: 1-7-12 in 15 races but has ZERO DNFs here. He has only led 121
laps here, but he has finished no lower than 7th in 12 of the 15 races. He has
gained positions in 12 of the 15 races started and completed 99.5% of laps
assigned. The Kahne and Busch tenacity this year scare me on this choice, but
I'm going with Edwards based on his STEADY CONTINUED performance here. Final
thought: we all may be sorry we didn't take Kyle Busch.
So, there are my challengers and our pro picks for the Auto
Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. It’s
time to head back out west and show Hollywood what NASCAR is about!
“We’re all
just prisoners here of our own device…” -Eagles
Remember to follow me on Twitter @Forewasabi Sometimes I give stuff away.