Week 5 Preview: Auto Club

Auto Club Speedway

Auto Club 400

By Richard Tix

NASCAR finished its fourth race of the 2014 season at Bristol and left with its fourth different race winner. Carl Edwards won the race and put his name out there early as a Chase contender (and almost a virtual lock for the Chase in general). NASCAR fans once again had a long rain delay to sit through (two in fact), but NASCAR got the race in. As it turned out, the wait was worth it as fans got a pretty solid race. Unfortunately a ton of strong cars had problems throughout the race which left us with less contenders for the win. Now we move on to Fontana, CA for our fifth race of 2014.

Last year the trip to Fontana left nothing on the table. NASCAR fans got just about everything they wanted (and some things they didn't want, Denny Hamlin getting hurt). Either way it was one of the most exciting races of the 2013 season. Maybe when Denny gets to the track and some old memories come back he will seek out Joey Logano, or maybe we will have a typical Fontana race (The Auto Club Incident). Lets take a look at who has a chance to be up front, and who might fall behind. Here is last years Preview and Review of the Auto Club 400. The Review is pretty good if you want a refresher on the DH vs JoLo rivalry.


The Good, Middle, and Bad
(This is just a review of each drivers recent past performance, generally about 5-10 past races)

The Good:

• Kevin Harvick- Harvick has 5 top 10's in the last 6 races at Auto Club, including a win. His only non top 10 was a 13th place finish this past season. Actually in his last 9 races here he has 7 top 10's. 
• Tony Stewart- In the last four seasons, Smoke has 2 wins at Auto Club. On top of that in his last 14 races here he has 9 top 10's. It's been a slow start in 2014, but Smoke is coming off his top 5. Look for him to finish up front at the end of the day.
• Jimmie Johnson- JJ shows up again, I am thinking about just excluding him from the running soon. The fact is, in 19 career races here, he has 5 wins, 12 top 5's, and 14 top 10's.  His career average finish is 5.7, wow.

The Middle: 

• Ryan Newman- He has finished top 10 about 42% of the time he has been here (8 or 19). That isn't great, but he gets this spot because he has 4 straight top 10's to his name.

The Bad:

• Brad Keselowski- BK has only run here 5 times, but all 5 have resulted in 0 wins, 0 top 5's, and 0 top 10's. In fact, he only has one top 20 which was in 2012. He did start from the 3rd spot last season, so there's that. Of all the drivers in this category, he is the top one to turn it around.
• Paul Menards- 11 tries and only one top 10. Not exactly what you are looking for when heading to a track. The up side, that top 10 was just last year.
• Marcus Ambrose- 8 tries and zero, ZERO top 10's for Marcus. Apparently he really hates going left at Auto Club. He has an average finish of 28.8 here, which is really really bad.

Track Stats:

• Only Jeremy Mayfield and Rusty Wallace are winners here at Auto Club that are not still running (Also, Elliot Sadler is not running full time Cup, to add to the list).
• Manufacturer wins here go Chevy 12, Ford 10, Toyota 1, and Dodge 1.
• Jimmie Johnson is the only driver to win two times in a row here (2009 and 2010).
• Only Jimmie Johnson has won from the Pole in 2008 (24 total races)
• Most career wins here: Jimmie Johnson 5, Jeff Gordon 3, and Matt Kenseth 3
• Most Poles: Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch tied with 3
• Most Laps Lead in Career: Jimmie Johnson 851 during 19 races.
• Ken Schrader ran 17 races here without a top 10. Highest finish was 14th, twice.

More Auto Club Speedway Articles and Info:

• TV/Race Schedule
• Driver Entry List for Fontana
• The Auto Club Incident
• Power Rankings
• March Madness Elite Eight

Well that's all for this Preview folks. Check back after the race for an updated Power Rankings! And as always, let me know what you think on Twitter! Who is going to run well?