Photos from the Auto Club 400

Kyle Busch wins NASCAR Auto Club 400 in Fontana

 

Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. He also won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway. It was the first NASCAR Cup win for Joe Gibbs Racing at the track. Busch was the first driver in a Toyota to win a Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second followed by Kurt Busch in third.

Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano crashed on the last lap of the race. Both drivers were battling for the lead in the final laps of the race. Hamlin hit the infield wall hard and broke his back. He will be out of the race car for several weeks.

 

Tagliani flames out, Hunter-Reay snags IndyCar Series title at Auto Club Speedway

What a bittersweet end to the Izod IndyCar Series for Alex Tagliani and the Barracuda Racing team.

Tagliani led 19 laps and was out front with 23 laps to go in the season finale MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

But what the team described as mechanical problems ended Tagliani’s night prematurely. He withdrew from the race with 21 laps to go and finished 20^th.

Tagliani, driving for the team owned by Valencia’s Bryan Herta, pulled into the pits and relinquished the lead with smoke seeping from the car’s engine. It looked like the engine burned up.

“I think we were the car to beat at the end,” Tagliani said. “I won’t lie, it’s disappointing, but I would race with Honda any given day. I’m very thankful that they allowed us back into their group. I’m a Honda driver and I want to race with them for a long time. These are things that happen. It’s racing, it’s mechanical and it’s out of our control.”

Ed Carpenter won the race taking the lead from Dario Franchitti on the final lap.

Ryan Hunter-Reay won the IndyCar Series championship by the slimmest of margins. He finished fourth in the race and edged out Will Power by three points to win the series title.

Power entered the IndyCar Series season finale with the lead in the standings. But he spun out and crashed early in the race. His team repaired his car and he returned to the race briefly.

Power ended up with a 24^th-place finish and completed only 66 laps.

“It was team effort right there,” said Hunter-Reay, driver of the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Autosport. “We were struggling all weekend. I didn't want to let anyone really know about it. We were really in the woods. This hasn't sunk in yet. I just drove 500 miles for my life.”

Photo: Alex Tagliani was leading the Izod IndyCar Series season finale at Auto Club Speedway when his engine blew with 21 laps remaining in the race. (Credit: Tim Haddock)

Charlie Kimball looks to kick it in high gear

Camarillo's Charlie Kimball heads into the Izod IndyCar Series season finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana with some lofty goals.
He wants to finish the season on a high note after a pair of disappointing finishes in Sonoma and Baltimore.
But there have been some high points for Kimball in his second season with the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team. He was the runner-up at the race in Toronto.
He had three top-10 finishes in a row, including an eighth-place at the Indianapolis 500.
Go to the Ventura County Star for more on Kimball and the season finale MAVTV 500.

Photo: Charlie Kimball has four top-10 finishes, including a runner-up at Toronto, in the Izod IndyCar Series this year. (Credit: Izod IndyCar Series)

California dreaming in NASCAR

NASCAR has the Alabama Gang and North Carolina is where the blood pumps fastest. But California has produced the most drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Jeff Gordon, who grew up in Vallejo, Calif., is the most successful NASCAR driver in terms of wins. He has 85 in his career, the most of any active driver in the Sprint Cup Series and the most in NASCAR's modern era.
Jimmie Johnson, from El Cajon near San Diego, has the most Cup championships with five of any active drivers in the Sprint Cup Series.
Kevin Harvick from Bakersfield is the reigning race winner in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.
The Sprint Cup Series makes its annual visit to the Fontana track this weekend.
Go to ESPN Los Angeles for more on the NASCAR races at Fontana and the drivers from California who are racing there.

Photo: Jeff Gordon, a three-time winner at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, meets with fans at the Lucky Strike bowling alley at LA Live. (Credit: Auto Club Speedway)

Three minutes with four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ Jeff Gordon

Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon visited LA Live in downtown Los Angeles on Monday and talked about, among other things, how much the stock car series has changed since his rookie season.
He talked about momentum, how to get it and how much it helped Tony Stewart win the Chase for the Sprint Cup last year.
He said he has great respect for Stewart and his team for what they accomplished last season.
Gordon was very candid about what he needs to do to capture a fifth Cup championship and how his relationship with new crew chief Alan Gustafson has developed.
Gordon and the rest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will visit Auto Club Speedway in Fontana on March 25. Gordon is a three-time winner at Auto Club Speedway.

Matt Kenseth visit Pink's in Los Angeles before heading out to Arizona for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway.
Kenseth won his second Daytona 500 on Monday, a race delayed a day by rain and red-flagged for more than two hours after Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer safety vehicle and set the track on fire.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will visit Auto Club Speedway in Fontana from March 23-25.

IndyCar Series returns to Auto Club Speedway

A lot has changed since the last time Indy cars raced at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. For one, the track was known simply as California Speedway. Another difference was that there were two open-wheel racing series in America, the Indy Racing League and CART.
The series is unified under the Izod IndyCar Series. The track's name is changed. The racing might be some of the best the track has seen in a while.
The IndyCar Series will return to Fontana in September of 2012 for a night race. It is the first time in seven years that open-wheel race cars will be on the track.
Dario Franchitti won the last open-wheel race at Auto Club Speedway in 2005. The track is home to some of the more impressive speed records in the history of open-wheel racing, including the fastest lap ever recorded on a closed course. Gil de Ferran clocked a lap at 241 mph in qualifying in 2000.
Go to ESPN Los Angeles for more on the return of the IndyCar Series to Auto Club Speedway.

Photo: Dario Franchitti won the IndyCar Series race at Auto Club Speedway in 2005. It was the last IndyCar Series race at the Fontana track. (Photo by Chris Jones)

Clint Bowyer visits LA before NASCAR Auto Club 400

NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer toured Los Angeles on Thursday before heading out to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana for this weekend's NASCAR races.
He visited Elvis Presley's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Bowyer is a huge Presley fan.
He wanted to see Grauman's Chinese Theater and the hand and footprints.
He stopped at Hollywood and Highland before stopping at In N Out Burger in Hollywood for a double-double and a Coke for lunch.

Casey Mears taking the long road back to the front

  Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Casey Mears won the Coca-Cola 600 while driving for 

Hendrick Motorsports in 2007. He will be driving for 

Germain Racing at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday.

Casey Mears reached the pinnacle of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series when he won the Coca-Cola 600 in 2007 with Hendrick Motorsports.
He has raced for Richard Childress and Chip Ganassi in addition to Rick Hendrick since joining the Cup series in 2003.
Now he is racing a part-time schedule for Germain Racing in the No. 13 Geico Toyota.
He said he feels fortunate to be racing in Cup at this stage of his career. He likes his crew and his team. He also looks back on his career as a series of changes that were out of his control.

"It’s racing at the end of the day," said Mears, a driver from Bakersfield. "There are so many different variables that can make or break you in the sport. Unfortunately, I’ve been on the backside of it a couple times."

Go to ESPNLA.com for more on Mears as he prepares for Sunday's Cup race at Auto Club Speedway.

A history of NASCAR from Riverside to Ontario to Fontana

Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29  Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, speaks to the media during the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway, held at Richard Childress Racing in Welcome, N.C.

NASCAR first started visiting Southern California in 1958. Riverside International Raceway was the site of the first NASCAR race in Southern California. Eddie Gray won the race.
Dan Gurney, AJ Foyt, Benny Parsons and Rusty Wallace won races at Riverside and Ontario Motor Speedway, the tracks NASCAR raced at before Auto Club Speedway in Fontana was built.
Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch are the NASCAR stars who have added to the long history of stock car racing in Southern California by winning races at Auto Club Speedway.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series makes its only visit to Fontana this weekend for the Auto Club 400. After hosting two races a year since 2004, Auto Club Speedway is starting a new era of NASCAR. One race, one weekend for NASCAR fans in Southern California to get their high-speed fix.
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 29 Jimmie John's Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, saw only one race at Riverside. It was the last race in 1988.
“I actually went to—you’re going to laugh—the only time I went to Riverside, I wasn’t old enough to get in and my dad was there working on Rick Carelli’s car," Harvick said. "I actually went into the infield in the backseat of Cathy Carelli’s car with a blanket over the top of me to get into the pits. I stayed in the back of the—Rick had a bread truck basically as a hauler at that particular point—but that was the last race at Riverside."
Go to ESPNLA.com For more on the history of NASCAR in Southern California.
Click here for a list of events leading up to the Cup race on Sunday.

Stewart wins at Fontana for first time in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career

Tony Stewart won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana on Sunday. He won the Pepsi Max 400 leading the final 11 laps of the race that included a two-car crash on the frontstretch that took out Kurt Busch and David Ragan.

Stewart posted his 11th top-10 finish in 19 Cup races at Auto Club Speedway.

It was a good day for Stewart in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings as well. He moved from 10th to fifth place and trails leader Jimmie Johnson by 107 points after four races in the 10-race Chase playoffs.

“This is what they pay me to do,” Stewart said. “I mean, I’m supposed to do this every week, or at least try. You know, it’s a situation where we were at and as many points as we were out and have been out since day one, we have the flexibility to just look forward and not worry about if we take a gamble and it doesn’t work.”

As good a day as it was for Stewart, it was an even better day for Johnson. He finished third and saw his three-race winning streak in fall races snapped at Auto Club Speedway.

But Johnson was able to extend his lead over Denny Hamlin, who finished eighth, and took another step toward an unprecedented fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup championship in a row.

Johnson entered the race at Auto Club Speedway with an eight-point lead over Hamlin. He has a 36-point edge of Hamlin with six races to go in the Chase.

Seven drivers were within 80 points of Johnson in the Chase standings before the race in Fontana. Three drivers are within 85 points of Johnson after Fontana.

Kevin Harvick maintained his hold on third place in the Chase standings. He finished seventh at Fontana and is 54 points out of first.

Jeff Gordon actually made up some ground. He finished ninth, moved up a spot to fourth place in the Chase standings, and trails Johnson by 85 points.

It was not such a good day for four of the Chase drivers, three of them from Roush Fenway Racing. Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle all finished 30th or worse. Kenseth, Edwards and Biffle, the Roush Fenway Racing trio, fell to the bottom of the Chase standings.

Biffle was the first to withdraw after his engine failed early in the race. He pulled off the track on lap 40 and was not able to return to the race. He finished 40th.

Edwards was the next to go with an ignition problem midway through the race. He took his car to the pits for repairs and returned, but he was down 15 laps.

“It’s definitely out of my control, but my guys build great engines,” Edwards said. “Like I said, there are so many moving parts in a race car.  You’ve got to run well enough to absorb these kind of days. We’ve run really well. We’ve got six races left and we’re 162 points back, so over six races that’s not a lot of points per race, so I think we can do it. We just have to keep digging.”

Kenseth was the last car on the lead lap and led the twice for 29 laps, but finished in 29th.

“It was up and down,” Kenseth said. “I felt like we ran really good before the track got rubbered up and, kind of like Kansas, we lost the handle there in the middle pretty bad. Jimmy and Chip made some good adjustments and really brought the car to life two or three runs from the end, but on the second-to-last restart I could feel the engine wasn’t running right. I had something wounded that was getting ready to break, so I just held on to what we could.”

Busch blew his engine on lap 155 and had to withdraw from the race. He finished 35th and dropped from seventh to ninth in the Chase standings.

“Just engine failure, apparently knocked us out of the race,” Busch said. “They guys did a great job there adjusting on the car – getting it a lot better for us. We had something there coming back forward and got to fifth, and it just blew up. Real unfortunate, but it is what it is.”

Clint Bowyer had a bittersweet second-place finish. He finished one spot ahead of Johnson and led four times for 40 laps, but despite the strong finish, he only gained five points in the Chase standings. He entered the race in Fontana in 12th place, 252 points out of first. He leaves Fontana in 12th place, 247 points out of first.

Mark Martin led a race-high 41 laps and finished sixth.

The Heat, scheduling hurt Fontana track attendance for NASCAR races - ESPN Los Angeles

The Heat, scheduling hurt Fontana track attendance for NASCAR races - ESPN Los Angeles

Auto Club Speedway has hosted two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races since 2004. It started hosting a Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship race last year.
The track will only have one Cup race in 2011 and it won't have a Chase race.
The realigned Sprint Cup Series schedule has a bunch of changes. The Cup race at Auto Club Speedway will be in March. The second race of the season, which used to be at Auto Club Speedway, will be at Phoenix International Raceway. The first race in the Chase will be at Chicagoland Speedway in Illinois. Kansas Speedway will have two Cup races. Kentucky Speedway will host a Cup race for the first time.
Auto Club Speedway president Gillian Zucker said she expects her race track will have two Cup races again. But she said she isn't so sure she wants a Chase race if and when a second date is added to the NASCAR Cup schedule.
Roger Penske, whose Penske Motorsports Inc. bought the land and completed building the track in Fontana in 1997, said adding new venues to the Cup schedule is a good idea.
Go to ESPN LA.com for more on the Sprint Cup Series schedule and Auto Club Speedway losing one of its races.

Photo: Jimmie Johnson won the first Chase race at Auto Club Speedway in 2009. Auto Club Speedway lost one of its races and won't host a Chase race in 2011. (Getty Images)

The NASCAR top 10 at Fontana

There are three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers who have won at least one race at Auto Club Speedway starting in the top 10 for today's race. Jimmie Johnson has won four. Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin each have one win. Only one Ford is in the top 10 and the best qualifying Dodge is driven by Sam Hornish. Here's a look at the top 10 drivers in the starting lineup for today's Auto Club 500:

1. Jamie McMurray – Only one driver has ever won a race at Auto Club Speedway from the pole. That driver was Jimmie Johnson.
2. Juan Pablo Montoya – He said in his first NASCAR race at Auto Club Speedway, he qualified well, but he couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. Experience shouldn’t make that much of a problem this time around.
3. Clint Bowyer – Richard Childress Racing is off to a hot start. Bowyer looks like he has the best car in the Childress stable.
4. Kasey Kahne – Fords usually do well at Auto Club Speedway. This will be the first time Kahne will be racing a Ford in Fontana. He won at Auto Club Speedway in 2006 driving a Dodge.
5. Dave Blaney – Really. He qualified fifth. Don’t expect him to be in the top five at the end of the race though.
6. Kevin Harvick – Another good qualifying effort from a rebounding Richard Childress Racing team.
7. Jimmie Johnson – He is a four-time winner at Auto Club Speedway. He won the race in Fontana in October 2009.
8. Sam Hornish Jr. – The driver of the Auto Club-sponsored car is starting in the top 10 at Auto Club Speedway. Coincidence?
9. Kyle Busch – He won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday. He had no business being in the lead on the last lap, mind you.
10. Mark Martin – He won at Auto Club Speedway in 1998 driving a Ford for Jack Roush. It’s been 12 years since his first and only Cup win in Fontana.

Photo: Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, and Jamie McMurray, driver of the No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, chat during qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 500.(Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

500 miles vs. 400 miles at Fontana

Will fewer laps equal more excitement for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana?
No.
The length of the race isn’t what saps the Cup races at Fontana of excitement. The lack of side-by-side racing and passes for the lead does.
The October race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana is being reduced from 500 miles to 400 miles. Part of the reason for the change, it can be assumed, is to reduce the cost for teams in the race.
But while Fontana is taking away 50 laps, Phoenix International Raceway is adding 63 laps to its race in April. It’s not like NASCAR is making the season shorter, mileage-wise anyway.
“Racing is as much about strategy as it is about pure speed,” said Bryan Sperber, president of Phoenix International Raceway. “This new distance ushers in a whole new race at PIR and will likely jumble the conventional wisdom about who can win at Phoenix.”
The change in distance might alter the strategy of teams at Phoenix. But how much will it change the strategy at Fontana? The track is already a fuel-mileage track. Now engineers and crew chiefs will have to figure out how far a car can go for 400 miles instead of 500. The strategy won’t change that much.
But give NASCAR a little credit for trying to make racing a little more competitive. In addition to changing the distance of two races, NASCAR is considering changing the rear wing on the cars to a spoiler.
Will that affect racing at Fontana? Probably not. The spoiler didn’t affect racing that much before the Car of Tomorrow at Fontana. Passing and lead changes were difficult with a spoiler and even harder with a wing.
The NASCAR media will cheer the change from 500 miles to 400 miles at Fontana. Some fans might share the joy. But what is so wrong with a long race?
It’s easy to see how some fans who only go to one or two races a year would rather see 500 miles of racing instead of 400. Extra-inning baseball games, overtime football games, tie games in playoff hockey are all inherently exciting. NASCAR races that are 500 miles are not always that exciting. The 500-mile NASCAR races at Fontana fall into that category.
Perhaps fewer laps will lead to more exciting races at Fontana. If history is any indicator, the number of laps drivers turn at Fontana doesn't create more drama or more excitement. But 400 miles will make it easier for NASCAR fans in Fontana to make it home for Sunday Night Football. 

Photo: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe's/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon, driver of the No 24 DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet, Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet, and Mark Martin, driver of the No. 5 Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevrolet, lead the field in a late-race double-file restart, shootout style during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday in Fontana, Calif. (Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

NASCAR Chase race at Fontana reduced to 400 miles

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana will be 400 miles instead of the traditional 500 miles, track and NASCAR officials announced this morning.
The newly named Pespi Max 400 will be the fourth race in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup playoffs. Since the track was the site of two Cup races in 2003, both races were 500 miles. The Auto Club 500 in February will remain a 500-mile race.
“As fans well know, conversations with NASCAR in regard to making Auto Club Speedway the most competitive track possible for NASCAR racing have been on-going,” said Speedway President Gillian Zucker. “The results of some changes made by NASCAR such as double-file restarts and tire changes were seen at our inaugural CHASE race, arguably one of the best races ever at the Speedway.  This additional rules change to 400 miles is further evidence of NASCAR’s commitment to racing excitement and to Southern California race fans.”
The Auto Club 500 at Fontana is scheduled for Feb. 21, the second race of the Sprint Cup Series season. The Pepsi Max 400 is scheduled for Oct. 10.

Photo: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowe's/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet, crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday in Fontana, Calif. The Chase race at Fontana will be 400 miles in 2010. (Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Kevin Harvick's 10th place run at Auto Club Speedway

FONTANA -- Kevin Harvick wasn’t in much of a talking mood after the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana on Sunday.
Who could blame him?
His crew chief admitted his team took a fifth-place car and wound up in 10th place. Harvick battled tire air pressure and aerodynamic problems after the second round of pit stops. He had a great car on long runs, but got killed on restarts.
“That's just one of the factors of these new cars,” Harvick said. “We have great power under the hood, but getting the air pressure up faster seems to be a problem. I tried swerving, spinning and just about all the tricks to get the air heated up in the tires."
An eight-car pile-up with five laps to go in the race brought out a red flag and stopped the field. Gil Martin, Harvick’s crew chief, called him into the pits to change four tires and get fuel. Harvick returned to the race in 15th place and made up only five spots on the final three laps.
When asked if he was happy with a 10th-place finish, Harvick said, “Not really.”
“We ran better than that all day,” Harvick said.
Martin said he was in no-man’s land at the end of the race. He had Harvick pit with 23 laps to go and had enough fuel and tires to make it to the end of the race, but Mart in had some tough choices to make when a series of caution flags came out with 16 laps to go.
“It’s a no-win situation that you’re in right there,” Martin said. “The way it worked out, that we were able to come back in and get tires there at the end helped us out to get back to 10th. But basically we took a car that was about a fifth place car today and ran 10th with it.”
A dreaded debris caution came out on lap 234. Harvick was running in 10th place at the time. The race leaders pitted a couples lap earlier, so none of them came in again. Martin didn’t want to get fresh tires. He told Harvick over the radio, “Everyone in front of us don’t have tires.”
But on the restart on lap 239, Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle spun out through the infield grass on the front stretch and another caution came out.
Five laps later, an eight-car crash that collected Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Marcos Ambrose and Kahne, brought out a red flag. Martin wanted to Harvick to pit and get tires once the race restarted. The move cost Harvick five spots. He moved from 15th to 12th with two laps to go and passed Ryan Newman on the last lap to finish in 10th.
It was a disappointing end to an otherwise promising day.
Harvick qualified seventh and quickly worked his way into the top five. He moved into fourth place on lap 11 and passed pole sitter Denny Hamlin for third place on lap 17. He stayed there until the first round of pit stops on lap 38. Harvick and Martin decided to make no adjustments to the car. Harvick said he wanted to see “where the track goes.” The race started under overcast skies and the track was cool and fast. Harvick was able to pass the cars to get in the top five, but he had trouble tracking down the race leaders, Jimmie Johnson and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Harvick ran in third place until the next round of pit stops on lap 60. His car seemed to get stronger the longer the race stayed under green flag conditions. He picked up a spot in the pits and came out in second. When the race restarted on lap 66, Harvick dropped to fifth place. By lap 70, he was in sixth. He said his car left like it had a rear right flat tire. Martin assured him that his car looked fine. But Martin decided to make a drastic change in the tire air pressure on the next stop. He was going to take a half-pound of air pressure out of the rear right tire. It was the beginning of several air pressure and tire adjustments Martin made to Harvick’s car.
Harvick was running comfortably in sixth place when the sun broke through the clouds. The track started to heat up and Martin told Harvick the s un might be affecting the tires on his car. The next pit stop came on lap 83. Harvick’s crew got him out of the pits in fourth place, but NASCAR officials ruled that Hamlin beat him out. Martin didn’t agree. “I’m sure the tape shows it, but it didn’t look like it from here,” Martin told Harvick over the radio.
The air pressure adjustment didn’t work for Harvick’s car. He dropped quickly, from fifth to ninth in seven laps. On lap 90, Harvick told Martin his car was too tight. Meanwhile, Montoya was building a huge lead. On lap 95, he was almost 2.5 seconds ahead of Johnson’s car running in second.
But the longer the race stayed green, the more cars Harvick passed. Even with a tight car, Harvick moved up to sixth place again. The race stayed green until lap 117 when another debris caution came out. Harvick said over the radio, “These debris cautions are a bunch of crap.”
Martin decided to change the air pressure in Harvick’s car again, this time adding a half pound to the right front. That didn’t work either. He dropped to 10th place.
“I’m starting to lose my mind on the restarts,” Harvick told Martin over the radio. “It feels like the freaking tires are flat.”
Harvick battled to stay in the top 10 until the next=2 0round of pit stops. The race leaders pitted under green flag conditions on lap 159. By lap 166, Harvick was back up to sixth place.
Harvick pitted again on lap 184. Martin asked Harvick how the car was running. Harvick said it was too loose. Martin decided to make a track bar adjustment and leave the air pressure in the tires the same. That wasn’t the right combination either.
By lap 205, Harvick dropped to eighth place. He was complaining that he couldn’t handle the car and that it was driving sideways.
“It’s loose, loose, loose, loose,” Harvick said over the radio. But after the race, Harvick said Martin made the right decision.
“That was the right call because of how the car reacted to the air pressure adjustments,” Harvick said.
Harvick came in for what was supposed to be his last pit stop on lap 237. But after two more yellow and one red caution, Harvick pitted with four laps to go, giving up 10th place. He went from 15th to 10th with fresh tires over the last three laps.
“All in all it was a good day,” Martin said. “It wasn’t the kind of day we were needing, but it’s something we can build on anyway.”

Haddock in the Paddock goes to Auto Club Speedway

Haddock In The Paddock's Tim Haddock, (that's me on the left) a member of the Citizen Journalists Media Corps, talks with NASCAR Managing Director of Corporate Communications in the Auto Club Speedway Drivers Meeting Room. (Photo Credit: NASCAR Public Relations)

Auto Club Speedway essentials

Auto Club Speedway in Fontana is hosting its first Chase for the Sprint Cup race. This is race No. 4 of the 10-race playoff. After three races, Mark Martin leads the Chase standings, with three-time reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson 18 points behind in second.
Johnson pretty much dominated this race last year. He won the pole and the race. The difference is, because Fontana is in the Chase, the race is in October, not Labor Day weekend. It will be much cooler, and consequently much faster than last year's race.
Weather cooperating, the track should yield some favorable conditions for drivers and crew. In talking to some of the drivers, they are especially looking forward to racing in Fontana without 117 degree temperatures. Surely the fans will appreciate not having to bake in the sun for three or four hours.
Here are some record speeds and times that might fall this weekend:
Brian Vickers holds the qualifying record at Fontana. He recorded a lap at 187.417 mph to win the pole in 2004.
Kasey Kahne holds the race record. He had an average speed of 144.462 mph and won the race in 2006 in 3 hours, 36 minutes and 3 seconds.
Denny Hamlin holds the Nationwide Series qualifying record at Fontana. He won the pole at 180.316 mph in 2007.
Greg Biffle won the Nationwide Series race in 2004 with a record average speed of 138.978 mph and in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 31 seconds.

Photo: Mark Martin (5) leads the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings after three races. He has an 18-point lead over Jimmie Johnson, who won last year's race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, site of Sunday's race. (Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Vickers says worst tracks are behind him

In an exclusive interview, Brian Vickers said his worst tracks are behind him and he hopes to make up some ground in the next few races of the Chase.
Vickers, the driver of the No. 83 Toyota for Red Bull Racing, is making his first Chase appearance. His first two races haven't been that impressive and he sits 10th in the Chase standings. But he said he wasn't expecting to have great finishes at Dover or New Hampshire, tracks that have given his team troubles in the past.
He said he is looking forward to the races at Kansas Speedway, Lowe's Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway, tracks that have been kinder to him in the past and tracks where his team has posted some productive finishes.
Auto Club Speedway in Fontana is similar in distance and design to Michigan International Speedway, the site of Vickers only NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win this season. The Fontana race is Oct. 11 and the fourth race in the Chase.
More to come...

Photo: Brian Vickers (83) and Denny Hamlin (11) were the lowest two finishers among Chase drivers, finishing 18th and 22nd, respectively, Sunday at Dover International Speedway. (Photo Credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images)