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TRACK FACTS
Date Opened: June 20, 1997
First Winston Cup race: California 500, June 22, 1997
Qualifying record: Ryan Newman, 187.432 mph, (38.414 sec.), April 26,
2002
Race record: Jeff Gordon, 155.012 mph, June 22, 1997
TRACK CONFIGURATION
Distance: 2-mile oval
Banking in turns 1-4: 14 degrees
Banking on trioval: 11 degrees
Banking on backstretch: 3 degrees
Length of frontstretch: 2,500 feet
Length of backstretch: 3,100 feet
Grandstand seating: 92,000
Miles/laps: 500 miles, 250 laps
Purse: $5,030,261
Last year's winner: Jimmie Johnson
Jeff Gordon has the best average finish for California, with 2 wins and 4 top 10 finishes. Jeremy Mayfield has the 2nd best finish, but don’t count on seeing him up front….Ricky Rudd is 3rd best, with Rusty coming in 4th. Please note, these drivers have been in all 6 races to date.
Rusty Wallace leads Ricky Craven and Jeff Gordon during last year's race at California
Speedway. Credit: Autostock
By The Numbers: California
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
FONTANA, Calif. -- Whether it's Ascot, Gardena, Ontario or Riverside, the greater Los Angeles area has been a hotbed for stock car racing for over 50 years.
The newest southern California racing facility, California Speedway, staged its first Winston Cup race in 1997, and despite its short history its springtime Auto Club 500 has created a sizeable log of statistical nuggets interspersed with facts and notes about the sport's best drivers.
0 -- The number of Winston Cup victories at California Speedway by either a Dodge or a Pontiac.
1 -- The number of times Bud Pole
Qualifying has been rained out at California Speedway. Jeff
Burton started from the pole in 1999 after the rainout.
2 -- The length in miles of a lap at California Speedway. The track has 14-degree banking in its four turns, 11-degree banking in its trioval and three-degree banking on its straightaways. The frontstretch is 3,100 feet long and the backstretch is 2,500 feet long.
3 -- The number of Winston Cup race victories by Chevrolet and Ford at California Speedway -- and victories by car owner Rick Hendrick.
4 -- The number of top-10 starts so far in 2003 by Bobby Labonte, who had only four top-10 starts in all of 2002.
5 -- The number of different Winston Cup race winners in six previous races at California Speedway.
6 -- The number of different Bud Pole sitters in as many Winston Cup races at California Speedway.
7 -- The number of consecutive top-10 starts by Ryan Newman, the leader in that category after one quarter of the season.
8 -- Tony Stewart's starting position
four times in 2003.
9 -- The number of different winners in nine Winston Cup races this season.
10 -- Mark Martin's finishing position in the inaugural Auto Club 500, when he ran out of gas on the final lap and failed to finish.
14 -- The number of races Jeff Gordon has won from the Bud Pole in his career.
18 -- Jeremy Mayfield's best finish since finishing eighth in the Daytona 500.
22 -- The number of drivers that have competed in all six races at California Speedway.
24 -- The farthest back a race winner has started at California, by Jeremy Mayfield in 2000.
25 -- The position in the 2003 Winston Cup owners' standings that is the cutoff for being charged with a provisional starting position.
26 -- The position in the Winston Cup standings for Johnny Benson, the highest position of any driver who has started all nine races without a top-10 finish.
33 -- The number of consecutive races in which Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been running at the finish, the longest active streak.
36 -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s finishing
position in 2002 at California Speedway, when he suffered a
head injury that he later blamed for his poor streak of finishes that took
him out of the Winston Cup championship race.
42 -- The number of races in which sophomore driver Jimmie Johnson has remained in the top 10 in the Winston Cup standings, the longest such streak among active drivers.
43 -- The number of career Bud Pole Awards in 338 career starts by Jeff Gordon, the series' most recent pole-winner.
45 -- The number of entries at California this weekend, including Kerry Earnhardt and Hideo Fukuyama.
48 -- The number of drivers who have made at least one Winston Cup field in 2003.
52 -- The distance in miles from California Speedway to downtown Los Angeles.
56 -- The number of different drivers who have attempted to qualify for at least one Winston Cup race in 2003.
62 -- The number of career victories by Jeff Gordon, the series' most recent winner.
67 -- The percentage of winners who have started in the top five starting positions at California Speedway.
71 -- The number of races since Rusty Wallace last won -- at California Speedway in 2001.
139 -- The number of points separating third-place Jeff Gordon from leader Matt Kenseth.
150 -- The number of career Winston Cup starts by defending NWCS champion Tony Stewart, if he starts Sunday's Auto Club 500.
155.012 -- The Auto Club 500 race
record average speed, set by Jeff Gordon in 1997.
187.432 -- The Auto Club 500 Bud Pole Qualifying record, set by Ryan Newman in 2002.
250 -- The number of laps it takes to cover 500 miles at California Speedway.
329 -- The number of laps led in six California Speedway Winston Cup races by two-time winner Jeff Gordon
568 -- The acreage of the property on which the California Speedway sits.
92,000 -- The grandstand seating capacity of California Speedway.
100,000 -- The value of the NASCAR Winston Cup Leader bonus at California Speedway.
5,120,261 -- The posted awards for the Auto Club 500.
120,000,000 -- The cost to build the California Speedway, which started life as a Penske Speedway facility before that company merged with International Speedway Corporation.
Last Year’s Race
Gas-only call propels Johnson
to first win
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
FONTANA, Calif. -- Jimmie Johnson is California dreamin’ personified.
Having won the Bud Pole for the Daytona 500, Johnson’s rookie year in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series has been dreamy from the outset. But with Sunday’s victory in the NAPA 500, in the sunny surroundings of his home state no less, he’d be perfectly content to never wake up.
“To do this and be this competitive in Winston Cup racing has always been a dream of mine,” said an ecstatic Johnson in Victory Lane. “I can’t believe it actually happened, here, in front of all my friends and family up there in the grandstands. Thank you California!”
Johnson was fast all weekend and led 47 laps early on, but ran incognito among the top-10 for much of the day. Then, as the race neared the 40-to-go mark, Johnson stormed into the top-five to join the lead pack with Kurt Busch, Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd.
Busch had been untouchable in clean air all day -- building as much as a 15-second advantage at one point -- so when he grabbed the lead from Jarrett with 31 laps remaining, most thought the race was history.
Not so. Johnson locked onto Busch’s rear bumper, heckling him before taking the lead at the start/finish line with 23 laps to go. Busch regained the lead on the very next lap, just before the caution flew for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s violent wreck in Turn 3.
The wreck occurred when Kevin Harvick blew a left rear tire, and in trying to correct his swerving car, tapped Junior into the wall.
"I popped the left rear getting into Turn 3,” Harvick said. “I was doing everything I could to save it. On the last save attempt, I hit the 8 car. I think he’s okay. Hope so.”
Earnhardt said the hit was arguably the hardest of his career, but he managed to walk away under his own power with a bruised right ankle, which he hit on the brake pedal during the accident.
After the accident, the leaders pitted with 17 laps remaining, ending speculation as to whether or not teams had enough fuel to go the distance. Johnson could not. Nor could Busch. Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, called for a gas ‘n go stop to gain track position, while Busch took two tires and fuel.
It won him the race. Johnson restarted behind Bill Elliott with 14 laps remaining, and by Turn 3 was out front for good.
“We were almost into our pit box and Jimmie was yelling ‘What are we going to do, what are we going to do?’ I just yelled out fuel only,” Knaus said. “I about got sick to my stomach after I made the call, but thank goodness it worked out. I really almost threw up.”
With the win, the first of his career, Johnson becomes the fifth different victor in six events at California, the second first-time winner of the 2002 campaign, and, of course, earns Jeff Gordon his first win as a team owner.
“Thankfully, with the job Jimmie and those guys are doing, the business side of this deal isn’t going so bad,” joked Gordon.
Busch finished second, marking his second-straight top-three finish and third such run since he won Bristol five weeks ago. He had the most dominant car for the vast majority of the event, but couldn’t get around Johnson in the final stages.
“That was one awesome (car),” said Busch, donning a Jack Roush-like straw hat. “Unbelievable. The amount of people it takes to compete is big, but there’s only one I need to mention. Jack Roush. We can do this without him, but it’s so nice to have him here.
“This is what it’s all about. We’re running for that championship. I made the call for two (tires) and Jimmy wanted four. It’s sad we lost it by pit strategy. We had the best car.”
Ricky Rudd finished third, and Bill Elliott, who opted to stay out on the final caution, finished fourth. Mark Martin was fifth.
“Heck yeah I am (surprised),” Johnson said. “You always hope, wish, think you have the ability to do this, but you don’t know until the right opportunity presents itself. This is that opportunity for me. I feel like I’m dreaming.”
Good luck everyone. Enjoy the races. Have a great weekend, and see ya on Monday.
Your
Momma
"Don't come here and grumble about going too fast. Get the hell out of the race car if you've got feathers on your legs or butt. Put a kerosene rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up there and eat that candy ass." - Dale Earnhardt – 1998
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