Race #2: Auto Club 500
Where: Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, CA
When: Sunday, February 21st, 3:16 EST
TV: FOX
How Long: 500 miles, 250 laps
Last Year at Fontana...Typical California. It was a mostly single file race dominated by Jeff Gordon and the eventual winner, Matt Kenseth, who won his second straight and as it turned out, final race of the year. The race also saw two Hendrick drivers, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. lose their engines. Kevin Harvick's streak of 81 consecutive races finished also ended with a crash after blowing a right tire and going into the wall off of turn two. After Kenseth and Gordon finished one-two, the rest of the top five was Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, and Kurt Busch.
Last Week on the Circuit...In my opinion, is one of the best Daytona 500's in recent memory won by my main man, Jamie McMurray in thrilling manner as Dale Earnhardt Jr. nearly completed the most ridiculous comeback in one lap. McMurray passed Biffle with two to go, Biffle was third followed by Clint Bowyer and David Reutimann. There was a record number of leaders and Kevin Harvick led the most laps. But this race is remembered by many for the infamous pothole that formed in turn two and caused the race to be delayed over two and a half hours combined. Still, hats off to McMurray on his first 500 win and fifth career victory total.
This Week's Starting Lineup:
| Starting Position | Car# | Driver | Sponsor & Manufactuer | Qualifying Speed (mph) | Qualifying Time (seconds) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevy | 183.744 | 39.185 |
| 2 | 42 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Target Chevy | 183.477 | 39.242 |
| 3 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevy | 183.127 | 39.317 |
| 4 | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Budweiser Ford | 182.913 | 39.363 |
| 5 | 66 | Dave Blaney | Prism Motorsports Toyota | 182.908 | 39.364 |
| 6 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Shell/Pennzoil Chevy | 182.899 | 39.366 |
| 7 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevy | 182.890 | 39.368 |
| 8 | 77 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Auto Club Dodge | 182.811 | 39.385 |
| 9 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Interstate Batteries Toyota | 182.788 | 39.390 |
| 10 | 5 | Mark Martin | GoDaddy.com Chevy | 182.741 | 39.400 |
| 11 | 00 | David Reutimann | Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota | 182.597 | 39.431 |
| 12 | 2 | Kurt Busch | Miller Lite Dodge | 182.292 | 39.497 |
| 13 | 82 | Scott Speed | Red Bull Toyota | 182.195 | 39.518 |
| 14 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Caterpillar Chevy | 182.085 | 39.542 |
| 15 | 6 | David Ragan | UPS Ford | 181.974 | 39.566 |
| 16 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Old Spice/Office Depot Chevy | 181.882 | 39.586 |
| 17 | 36 | Mike Bliss | Wave Energy Drink Chevy | 181.749 | 39.615 |
| 18 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Haas Automation Chevy | 181.726 | 39.620 |
| 19 | 20 | Joey Logano | Home Depot Toyota | 181.671 | 39.632 |
| 20 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Crown Royal Ford | 181.502 | 39.669 |
| 21 | 12 | Brad Keselowski | AAA Insurance Dodge Dodge | 181.333 | 39.706 |
| 22 | 78 | Regan Smith | Furniture Row Racing Chevy | 181.324 | 39.708 |
| 23 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Red Bull Toyota | 181.315 | 39.710 |
| 24 | 09 | Aric Almirola | Phoenix Racing Chevy | 181.315 | 39.710 |
| 25 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Freight Toyota | 181.301 | 39.713 |
| 26 | 47 | Marcos Ambrose | Armor All Toyota | 181.228 | 39.729 |
| 27 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | AMP Energy Juice / National Guard Chevy | 181.109 | 39.755 |
| 28 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | DuPont Chevy | 181.055 | 39.767 |
| 29 | 43 | A J Allmendinger | Best Buy Ford | 181.041 | 39.770 |
| 30 | 55 | Michael McDowell | Prism Motorsports Toyota | 180.895 | 39.802 |
| 31 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Aflac Ford | 180.768 | 39.830 |
| 32 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | FrontRowJoe.com Toyota | 180.755 | 39.833 |
| 33 | 71 | Bobby Labonte | TaxSlayer.com Chevy | 180.587 | 39.870 |
| 34 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | NAPA Toyota | 180.524 | 39.884 |
| 35 | 16 | Greg Biffle | 3M Ford | 180.325 | 39.928 |
| 36 | 98 | Paul Menard | Energizer/Menards Ford | 180.081 | 39.982 |
| 37 | 19 | Elliott Sadler | Stanley Ford | 179.919 | 40.018 |
| 38 | 37 | Kevin Conway (R) | Extenze Ford | 179.292 | 40.158 |
| 39 | 34 | Travis Kvapil | Long John Silver's Ford | 178.975 | 40.229 |
| 40-OP | 7 | Robby Gordon | Warner Music Nashville Toyota | 176.302 | 40.839 |
| 41-OP | 38 | David Gilliland | Taco Bell Ford | 176.207 | 40.861 |
| 42-OP | 26 | Boris Said | Sacred Power/Southern Pride Trucking Ford | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| 43 | 13 | Max Papis | GEICO Toyota | 180.501 | 39.889 |
DNQ: 90- Casey Mears, 35- Johnny Sauter, 46 Terry Cook (R)
My Predicted Finish This Week
Last Week....
Number of Top Ten Cars Correct: 3 of 10
Number of Top Five Cars Correct: 1 of 5
Correct Winner: No
Exact Position Correct: 1 of 10 (Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2nd)
Last week was my first time picking a race's top ten, and I didn't fair so hot, only getting Dale Jr, Harvick, and McMurray as correct top 10 picks, though Junior's 2nd place finish was correctly picked by yours truly.
This week at the snoozefest that is Auto Club Speedway, I'm not going to go out on a limb. My man Jamie Mac has the pole, but he doesn't have a great history at Fontana, so I will not go for a two for two from him. Instead, I'll make the "easy" pick and go with Jimmie Johnson as the race winner. He's consistently good at California and is the favorite to win. His teammate, Jeff Gordon, will follow up with second in his home state. Crazy Kyle Busch showed poise in race #1 and it carries over to a third place finish this week. Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards, two other good drivers at Fontana, finish fourth and fifth.
My Top Ten Picks
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Kyle Busch
4. Clint Bowyer
5. Carl Edwards
6. Kasey Kahne
7. David Ragan
8. Mark Martin
9. Tony Stewart
10. Joey Logano
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