Smoke wins rain shortened race at Auto Club Speedway
[media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]Tony Stewart won the rain shortened Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday for his second win of the season, 46th of his Sprint Cup career and seven wins of the past 15 races.
Stewart led twice for 42 laps, including the final 22. He took the lead on lap 85 and held on until the race was red flagged on lap 129.
“I’m definitely not losing anything with age. I’ve had some really great race cars.” Stewart said about recently turning 40. “I’m really proud of Steve Addington (crew chief) and all of our guys. This Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy is bad fast.”
Kyle Busch finished second, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Carl Edwards finished fifth.
“We had a great race car there from the beginning of the race. Got the lead from Denny (Hamlin) after the first lap, led a lot of laps. I just wish we led 30 more and we’d be in a different position right now. Had a great car. The Interstate Batteries Camry was fast.” Busch said. “Wish we would have been able to race the whole thing on one hand, but on the other hand I’m kind of glad we’re not because we kind of have a little bit of damage that slowed us down there about 20 laps ago.”
Greg Biffle finished sixth and holds a seven point lead over Harvick in the series standings.
“I thought we were getting closer at the end because we started closing in on the 29, and then he got his car going. If they would have gotten the track cleaned off and going again, I think we would have had a chance because we’re good on a cold, green track. When it gets hot and slick, we’re not as good as they are.” Biffle said.
Jeff Gordon had another disappointing day. Gordon had to serve a stop-and-go penalty for dragging his fuel can and gasman out of his pits on lap 108. He lost one lap and then the race was red flagged with no change to make up the mistake. Gordon finished 26th and now sits 25th in the series standings.
Jimmie Johnson was the beneficiary of the rain. While running around under caution, smoke started coming from the front of the car. He was able to keep pace with the race was red-flagged and the field was brought to pit road. Johnson finished 10th.
“We are not exactly sure. Either a piece of debris hit an oil line and knocked the fitting off or split the line and snagged a line. We clipped an artery bottom line it’s losing blood fast, it’s either that or possibly an oil cooler. I really don’t know what had happened, I was just idling along and my friends pulled up alongside of me and were pointing.” Johnson said.
With his third place finish, Earnhardt Jr. sits in third place, 17 points out of the lead in the series standings.
“We didn’t have an opportunity to do anything other than what we had planned from the start. I like how our season is going so far. If we keep going like this, maybe we can get some opportunities and seal the deal.” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Our car was fast we had a great car in practice right at the end of practice I told the guys ‘this thing is really good’. The Diet Mountain Dew/National Guard Chevrolet was great from the drop of the green and we moved forward all day long. We had great pit strategy stopping a little earlier than most people gaining some track position that way too.”
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| Auto Club 400, Auto Club Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=5 | |||||
| ========================================= | |||||
| Pos. | St. | No. | Driver | Make | Points |
| ========================================= | |||||
| 1 | 9 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 47 |
| 2 | 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 44 |
| 3 | 14 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 41 |
| 4 | 7 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 40 |
| 5 | 12 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 39 |
| 6 | 4 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 38 |
| 7 | 6 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 37 |
| 8 | 13 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 36 |
| 9 | 23 | 51 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 35 |
| 10 | 10 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 35 |
| 11 | 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 34 |
| 12 | 3 | 55 | Mark Martin | Toyota | 32 |
| 13 | 15 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 31 |
| 14 | 11 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 30 |
| 15 | 5 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 29 |
| 16 | 25 | 22 | AJ Allmendinger | Dodge | 28 |
| 17 | 24 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | 27 |
| 18 | 17 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 26 |
| 19 | 27 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 25 |
| 20 | 22 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 24 |
| 21 | 29 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | 23 |
| 22 | 19 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | 22 |
| 23 | 33 | 13 | Casey Mears | Ford | 21 |
| 24 | 8 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | 20 |
| 25 | 28 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 19 |
| 26 | 21 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 19 |
| 27 | 18 | 10 | David Reutimann | Chevrolet | 17 |
| 28 | 26 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | 16 |
| 29 | 40 | 93 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | 15 |
| 30 | 41 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | 14 |
| 31 | 38 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | 13 |
| 32 | 16 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 12 |
| 33 | 34 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | 11 |
| 34 | 42 | 32 | Ken Schrader | Ford | 10 |
| 35 | 36 | 249 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | 9 |
| 36 | 31 | 83 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | 8 |
| 37 | 30 | 26 | Josh Wise * | Ford | 7 |
| 38 | 32 | 98 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 6 |
| 39 | 20 | 30 | David Stremme | Toyota | 5 |
| 40 | 39 | 119 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | 0 |
| 41 | 35 | 23 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 42 | 43 | 74 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 43 | 37 | 33 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | 1 |
Preparing For a NASCAR Weekend: Auto Club Speedway Style
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[/media-credit]With the Auto Club 400 only already upon us, preparing for this once a year NASCAR style extravaganza in Fontana, California, has been in the planning stages since Kevin Harvick crossed the finish in last year’s upset over hometown favorite Jimmie Johnson.
The speedway which first opened its gates in 1997, has been the Southern California center piece where fans from all over the country get the chance to watch NASCAR’s biggest star do battle on the 14 degree, 2-mile D-shaped oval once a year.
Putting on a race filled weekend takes many painstaking hours of careful scheduling, arrangement of events leading up to the race, along with making sure everything is in place once the fans begin pouring in to enjoy another weekend of NASCAR excitement.
“The months leading up to the big race are spent talking to, and booking the entertainment such as the performers who will entertain the fans on various concert stages throughout the race weekend, and to make sure everyone who comes has a good time,” said David Talley, the Director of Communications at the speedway.
Mr. Talley also added that, “We have 50 people working diligently to make sure we have quality food entertainment parking and everything that a fan expects when they come to Auto Club Speedway,” Refreshment stands and food booths, ticket sales, maintenance during the race, along with security are only a few of the obstacles that need to be carefully planned.
The staff at Auto Club Speedway has also spent a significant amount of time doing promotional events such as having the Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth, who drives the No. 17 Best Buy sponsored Roush-Fenway Ford, come down to one of Hollywood’s famous eateries to meet and greet the fans.
A few weeks ago it was 4-time Winston Cup Champion Jeff Gordon, and P.B.A. Hall of Famer Parker Bohn III who held an open press conference in front on ESPN Zone in Los Angeles, to help promote the upcoming Auto Club 400 with guest radio personality Uncle Joe Benson from KLOS 95.5 FM.
This week it was Joey Logano, Coca-Cola Racing Family member, and driver of the No. 20 Dollar General/Home Depot Toyota who boarded a Metrolink train, along with Miss Sprint Cup Kristen Beat to kick-off the annual Speedway Day in L.A.
The press conference which was free to attend and open to the public, was highlighted by Logano hopping into the Auto Club Speedway show car, and arriving at the press conference in front of L.A. Union Station in thunderous NASCAR driver style.
These are just a few of the many events that have taken place to help promote the race, along with the driver signings and appearances away from the track for the fans to enjoy.
“Our dept. main job is to get the word out what we are doing. To talk to the media tv newspapers set up interviews for track president Gillian Zucker. Press releases marketing drivers to help get the word out in an effort to get the word out to whoever is gonna be in and around So California needs to be at Auto Club Speedway,” said Mr. Talley.
Mr. Talley added that, “Usually during the off season we put in our regular hours but close to event time, it seems like we are there forever which is fine with us as long as we get the job done.”
“We work hard and Joann Young who is the Manager of Communications is a go getter and I couldn’t do my job without her. We have a good time putting together events for the fans putting together events for the media that will enjoy coming to.”
“We feel that the Auto Club 400 weekend will be the place to be on March-23-25. So putting on a race weekend NASCAR style is by far not an easy task.”
