MARTIN AT FONTANA: Mark Martin, driver of the No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg’s Chevrolet, will make his 16th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Auto Club Speedway this Sunday. Martin won the 1998 Sprint Cup event at the track after leading 165 of 250 laps. He has posted four top-five finishes and seven top-10s at the two-mile oval.
FIRSTS FOR GUSTAFSON: Crew chief Alan Gustafson earned his first career Sprint Cup victory as a crew chief in September 2005 at the Fontana, Calif., racetrack when the No. 5 team led 95 laps. Earlier that season, he captured his first Sprint Cup pole position as a crew chief.
THE NO. 5 TEAM AT FONTANA: Under Gustafson’s direction, the No. 5 team has scored one win (2005), one pole position, two top-five finishes and five top-10s in the last eight Sprint Cup events at Auto Club Speedway. In the 17 total events that have been held at the track, the No. 5 team has scored one win, one pole position, four top-five finishes and nine top-10s.
GROUNDBREAKER: With a Camping World Truck Series win in 2006 at Auto Club Speedway, Martin became the first NASCAR driver to win a Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Camping World and IROC Series race at the same track. Martin won the Nationwide Series event in 2005 and the IROC races in 1997 and 1998.
HENDRICK DEBUT: In his first two weeks as a Hendrick Motorsports driver, Martin earned a career-best second-place starting position for the prestigious Daytona 500. He also paced 36 laps of the 60-lap Gatorade Duel qualifying race before finishing second.
LOOP STATISTICS: Although he finished 16th in the Daytona 500, Martin held an average running position of ninth throughout the 152-lap race, ranking him fourth out of 43 drivers in NASCAR’s loop data statistics. The No. 5 team also spent more than 90 percent of the race in the top 15—the most of any team.
POINT STANDINGS: Martin and the No. 5 team enter the second race of the season ranked 15th in the Sprint Cup Series standings. This is the highest point position the team has left Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in since 2000, when Terry Labonte finished seventh.
WEST COAST CHASSIS: Gustafson has chosen Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-527 for Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway. This chassis never has been raced, but was run during a Goodyear tire test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in December.
WINNING HISTORY: Rick Hendrick’s drivers have won more races at Auto Club Speedway (seven) than at any other track on the West Coast—six at Phoenix International Raceway, five at Infineon Raceway and four at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports has won seven events out of the 17 the track has hosted since 1997, when Jeff Gordon won the first race held there.
HENDRICK AT FONTANA: Gordon won the first Sprint Cup event held at Auto Club Speedway on June 22, 1997, and teammate Johnson captured the most recent race there last August. Overall, Hendrick drivers have tallied seven wins—the most for any Sprint Cup owner at the Fontana racetrack—21 top-five finishes and 29 top-10s. Hendrick Motorsports drivers have finished in the top-five or better in 15 of the 17 races that have been held there.
JUST DOWN THE ROAD: In its first four seasons, Hendrick Motorsports competed at nearby Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway nine times and won three events. Geoff Bodine took the checkered flag in November 1984, while Tim Richmond went to Victory Lane twice—November 1986 and June 1987. Overall, Hendrick drivers combined for two pole positions, seven top-five finishes and 10 top-10s at the now closed racetrack, which was just 18 miles southeast of Fontana.
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