NASCAR drivers to watch in the Auto Club 400

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana this weekend for its one and only stop in Southern California.

Danica-mania has died down a little since the Daytona 500 last month when she won the pole and finished in the top 10.

That has been Danica Patrick’s best race so far this season. She crashed at Phoenix International Raceway the following weekend. She was 33^rd at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks after Daytona.

She was 28^th and five laps off the lead lap in Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.

She has cooled off tremendously since Daytona.

Here is a look at the drivers who are hot coming into the Auto Club 400 in Fontana on Sunday.

Kasey Kahne: He won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol and was second in the race in Vegas. Neither track compares to Fontana though. Auto Club Speedway in a wide-open 2-mile oval. Bristol is one of NASCAR’s tiniest tracks, a half-mile bullring. Vegas is a 1.5-mile oval, a tad smaller than the Fontana track.

In Kahne’s favor, though, is his history at Fontana. He won the Cup race at Auto Club Speedway in September of 2006 and had a ninth-place finish in 2010.

Those were before his Hendrick Motorsports days. Still, he is the hottest driver entering the Fontana weekend. His second season with Hendrick didn’t start off so well either. He was 36^th at Daytona and 19^th at Phoenix.

“Since Las Vegas, the test day went really well,” Kahne said after winning at Bristol on Sunday. “I thought we learned some things there, were able to put a really good weekend together, and again this weekend.”

With the win in Bristol, coupled with his runner-up finish in Las Vegas, Kahne is in seventh place in the Sprint Cup Series standings after four races.

“We’ve gained a lot of spots here in the last two weeks and feel really good about where we’re at, where our team’s at,” Kahne said. “There was a lot that went on during the off‑season to get a little bit better. I felt like each one of us needed to get a touch better. So far it’s all paying off. The guys are doing an awesome job.”

Brad Keselowski: The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has yet to finish outside of the top five in the first four races.

He was third at Bristol on Sunday. He won the pole and finished in third place at Las Vegas the previous race. He posted a pair of fourth-place finishes at Daytona and Phoenix. He holds a nine-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Sprint Cup Series standings after the first four races.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: He has four top 10s in the first four races of the year and probably should have won the race at Las Vegas. He led the most laps, but came in fifth place.

His best finish came at Daytona, where he was the runner-up to Jimmie Johnson. Junior is coming off a sixth-place finish at Bristol.

Carl Edwards: He won the Cup race at Phoenix and was fifth at Las Vegas. His only real setback came at Daytona with a 33^rd-place finish.

He comes into the race at Fontana in eighth place in the Sprint Cup Series standings and is coming off an 18^th-place finish at Bristol.

Matt Kenseth: He won the Cup race at Las Vegas, but has been very inconsistent in the other three races. He was seventh in Phoenix, but 35^th at Bristol and 37^th at Daytona.

Still, he is another driver with a successful record at Auto Club Speedway. He also has a new team. Perhaps Joe Gibbs Racing equipment combined with Kenseth’s experience can produce a winning weekend.

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On a more local NASCAR note, Canyon High graduate Greg Pursley won the K&N Pro Series West season opener at Phoenix International Raceway.

The 2011 Pro Series West champion was part of a 1-2 finish for Gene Price Motorsports at the race in Phoenix. Pursley’s teammate, Cameron Hayley, a teenager from Canada, was second in the Phoenix race.

Photo: Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on Friday in Fontana, Calif. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/NASCAR via Getty Images)

Down day for Danica; bright days ahead for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. If you’re Danica Patrick, it’s better to be well-funded than lucky.
Patrick would not be making her second career NASCAR Nationwide Series start if she didn’t have a provisional starting spot based on owners points. She was slower in qualifying than two drivers who had to pack up and go home. Six drivers did not make the starting field for today’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.
Too bad for Morgan Shepherd and Danny O’Quinn. They were both faster than Patrick in qualifying. Patrick didn’t actually have to use a provisional spot to start the race, but she still got in despite posting one of the slowest times in qualifying.
In Patrick’s defense, Shepherd and O’Quinn were faster than seven other drivers not named Danica Patrick in qualifying.
What might be an even bigger surprise than Patrick’s qualifying effort is Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s rise.
Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray won the pole for Sunday’s Auto Club 500. His Earnhardt Ganassi teammate Juan Pablo Montoya will start next to him on the front row.
Perhaps this is the year Earnhardt Ganassi can challenge the traditional powerhouses of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing.
Montoya arrived last year when he made the Chase and was a Cup title contender.
But McMurray has come out of nowhere to become the surprise of the Cup scene in recent weeks.
McMurray was the odd-man out at Roush at the end of the 2009 season. He lost his car when Roush went from a five-car team to four. He was without a team at the end of last year.
He landed with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, the team that gave him his first chance in the Cup Series. McMurray was a substitute driver for the old Chip Ganassi Racing team, filling in for an injured Sterling Marlin. McMurray won his first Cup race in his second start for Ganassi.
But McMurray left Ganassi for Roush in what amounted to a disappointing stint. One of McMurray’s highlights with Roush was winning at Talladega Superspeedway in last year’s Chase race. It was one of only three Cup wins for Roush last year. Despite the low win total for Roush, McMurray said he was encouraged by the direction of the team.
"Well a year ago it was really high because I finished third in the last three races and we qualified in the top five and our cars were really quick,” McMurray said. “Obviously we just didn't have the set-ups toward the end of the year that we needed. Everybody struggled; all five cars were struggling to get speed. But racing is so strange because you can win one week and you can have two or three bad weeks and you just don't ever seem to remember all the good stuff.”
He struggled with Roush, but it was not a successful year for any of the drivers at Roush. Matt Kenseth started out hot, winning the Daytona 500 and the Auto Club 500. He sputtered after that and didn’t make the Chase.
Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle did get into the 12-driver Chase field, but neither driver won a race and neither was really in contention for the Cup championship.
McMurray got into Victory Lane, but it wasn’t enough for him to keep a seat at Roush. Lucky for him, he landed at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing where it looks like he might be on his way to making his first Chase.
“But what I had tried really hard over the last couple of years to do is not base my confidence on performance or results,” McMurray said. “When the day is over, as long as I feel like I did everything I could all weekend long leading up to the race, that there are certain factors that determine the outcome of a race and you can have a flat tire. You can get stuck in the wrong line on a restart. You can have problems in racing that sometimes are out of the driver's control. As long as I feel like I did everything at the end of the day, my confidence is fine.”

Photo: Jamie McMurray does donuts in the Daytona International Speedway tri-oval grass to celebrate his Daytona 500 victory.(Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Biffle looking forward to racing against Danica Patrick

Greg Biffle made the Chase, finished seventh in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings and is always a favorite to make a run at a Cup championship, but like everyone associated with NASCAR these days, he was asked about Danica Patrick.
It wasn’t the only question he was asked when he spoke with the media on Wednesday, but this is going to be a familiar pattern all year. Every driver in NASCAR is going to be asked his opinion of Patrick.
Biffle was gracious, as these questions have yet to become tedious. But make no mistake, they will become tedious by February, when NASCAR teams converge on Daytona.
Biffle recognizes that Patrick will bring some much-needed attention to a sport that has seen attendance at races and TV ratings shrink in recent years.
“I think we all know it’s gonna be great for our sport as far as recognition and awareness and bringing some popularity over, and bringing some of her fans,” Biffle said. “It’ll be our first female driver in a while, so that will be good for us. I’m looking forward to seeing how she performs on the race track. I think it’s a win-win for everybody. I’m glad she’s decided to come over and give it a try. It’s very difficult. I hope she does well, and I’m looking forward to racing with her a little bit.”
There have been a few female drivers in NASCAR, although most of them are racing at the Truck Series level. Patrick will be an anomaly at the Nationwide Series level and Biffle will get his chances to race against here there, perhaps for the first time at Auto Club Speedway in February.
Biffle rattled off a long list of open-wheel drivers who have made the transition to NASCAR and struggled. Only two drivers have had any kind of success making that transition. Tony Stewart went for IRL champ to NASCAR Spring Cup Series champ and is the only driver to do that.
Juan Pablo Montoya made the Chase for the first time in his career last year. Aside from Stewart and Montoya, open-wheel drivers have not fared well in NASCAR. Biffle said Patrick will have a challenging first season in NASCAR.
“The same things some of these other guys have – Sam Hornish, Juan Montoya and some of the other open-wheel guys, like Scott Speed, who have come over and really tried to get a handle on these cars,” Biffle said. “These cars are very hard to drive and the list goes on. Max Papis and right on down the line, there are a bunch of guys – Boris Said and Ron Fellows, very successful road course drivers, not necessarily like open-wheel or anything like that, but very talented.”
Biffle said Patrick will have a hard time adjusting to oval racing in stock cars. It’s something other open-wheel drivers have struggled with.
“The oval track with these cars are very, very difficult,” Biffle said. “We’ve seen them have huge success in road racing and won road races, but then have a tough time competing on the ovals. I don’t know what it is about it, but it is difficult and if it’s not what you’ve grown up with or not what your reflexes and your instincts and your car control and everything that you’re used to in your environment, it makes it difficult to adapt to.”
Patrick has never been a strong open-wheel road racer, so there’s no reason to think she will be a strong stock car road racer. But Biffle said Patrick has a chance to impress.
“Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman – a lot of those guys come from those type of cars and have been very, very successful, so certainly it’s possible,” he said.

Photo: NASCAR driver Greg Biffle said he is looking forward to racing against Danica Patrick, but her first season in NASCAR will be challenging. (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

Women in NASCAR

Danica Patrick won't be the the first woman to drive in NASCAR, but maybe she can help out in the stats department.
There have been 12 women who have raced in what is now the Nationwide Series. Patrick is going to be the 13th when she makes her first start, perhaps at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.
Diane Teel was the first woman to start a race in NASCAR's second tier division in 1982. She made 11 starts in five years and posted two top-10 finishes.
Patty Moise made 133 starts from 1986 to 1998 and had four top 10s.
Tammy Jo Kirk made 15 starts all in one season, in 2003. Unlike Moise and Teel, she never finished in the top 10.
The last woman to start a Nationwide Series race was Jennifer Jo Cobb in 2008.
As for women drivers in Cup, there have been 15 of them. Janet Guthrie made 33 starts in five years from 1976 to 1980. She posted five top 10s in those five years.
Sara Christian made seven starts in 1949 and 1950 and managed one top-five finish. She also had two top 10s.
It looks like 1949 and 1950 were boom years for women drivers in NASCAR. Six women made starts at the highest level of NASCAR in those years. In addition to Christian, Louise Smith, Ethel Mobley, Ann Chester, Ann Slaasted and Ann Bunselmeyer started at least one Cup race in 1949 or 1950.
In the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and its earlier versions, 13 women have started at least one race. Five of them raced in 2009. Chrissy Wallace, daughter of NASCAR driver Mike Wallace and niece of Rusty Wallace, made seven starts last season.

Danica isn't the hottest girl in NASCAR

With Danica Patrick officially set to make her NASCAR debut, the big question is when will she win her first race. Time will only tell when that might happen.
As for the questions on the minds of NASCAR fans in 2009, Ask.com put together a list of the top 10. Most had nothing to do with racing. Two had to do with girlfriends of Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
How NASCAR drivers go to the bathroom was the top question. For the record, they go like everyone else – in a urinal.
Other questions included: What does NASCAR stand for and how do you become a NASCAR driver. NASCAR is the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. As for becoming a NASCAR driver, it’s as easy as buying a late model car, putting in a roll cage and finding a little bullring to race it at. Be forewarned, becoming a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver is no easy feat and racing at your local bullring can easily become a very expensive habit.
Ask.com also compiled a list of questions about the girlfriends and wives of some of the top NASCAR drivers.
If the questions are any indication, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is not only the most popular driver in NASCAR, he is also the most sought after.
Here is a list of the drivers who garnered the most attention:
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2. Tony Stewart
3. Kasey Kahne
4. Kyle Busch
5. Michael Waltrip
6. Carl Edwards
7. Denny Hamlin
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Robby Gordon
10. Joey Logano
What do you know? Finally list of top NASCAR drivers that doesn’t include Jimmie Johnson.

Patrick promotes, Johnson takes care of fans

While talk and Tweets of Danica Patrick’s return to the Indy Racing League for another three years, and her deafening silence on her plans for NASCAR, circulated from TVs, PDAs and PCs, Jimmie Johnson was visiting his childhood school in El Cajon to award grants from his foundation to 11 schools in the San Diego area.
Patrick has created quite a buzz with her impending entrance into the stock car arena. She is reportedly close to a deal with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Nationwide Series team, JR Motorsports. The details have yet to surface, but her potential move into NASCAR is already creating a stir.
How well she will perform is anybody’s guess. But if history is any indication, it won’t be an easy transition. The only driver who has been able to make a seamless switch from IRL to NASCAR is Tony Stewart. It took Juan Pablo Montoya three years to become a top 10 driver, a Chase driver. It chewed up and spit out Dario Franchitti. Sam Hornish Jr. is in the way more than he is out front these days.
Patrick will have her struggles in NASCAR, even at the Nationwide Series level. But unlike Hornish, Franchitti and even Montoya, Patrick will draw attention. Even if the curiosity level is to see when she crashes and who she takes out, the interest will be there. Montoya is starting to draw that kind of attention, but it took time to build. Patrick has that already established. She will be a topic of conversation, on TV and in cyberspace, every time she gets in a stock car.
As for Johnson, he is doing some pretty amazing things this week. It must feel like Groundhog Day to him, this being his fourth time making the NASCAR championship rounds. His week started today with a visit to Crest Elementary School in El Cajon, the elementary school he attended.
He will make visits to the Camp Pendleton Marine base and a Lowe’s store in Santee to visit with fans and supporters before heading out to Las Vegas for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series awards banquet this weekend.
He will also mix in visits to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana and Las Vegas Motor Speedway before Friday’s award ceremonies at Wynn’s Las Vegas.
It’s a lot of pomp and circumstance, but Johnson is making an effort to give back to his community and his fans. His visit to Crest Elementary will end up doing more good than any NASCAR race Patrick decides to enter.
As much criticism as Johnson has received since taking the lead and winning his fourth Chase in a row, he deserves the same amount of praise for going out of his way to do some good deeds this week.

Photo: Four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson holds his Tiffany-made Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup trophy 103 floors and 1,454 feet above Manhattan on Tuesday -- Jimmie Johnson Day -- in New York City. (Photo Credit: Empire State Building)

Shaq in the passenger's seat

After challenging Danica Patrick to a race, Shaquille O’Neal will be on the same race track with her this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
O’Neal will be the grand marshal and ride in the pace car for the IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. He will be riding with three-time Indy 500 champion Johnny Rutherford in the pace car to start the Bombardier Learjet 550k.
At least for part of the race, O’Neal will be ahead of Patrick.
“I am excited about being the grand marshal and coming to my first IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend,” O'Neal said. “Since they won’t let me enter the race, I’ll do the next best thing and start the race in the pace car. I’m sure Johnny Rutherford can teach me a few things during the ride so when the day comes and I do get to race an IndyCar, I’ll be ready.”