THE RACE BREAKDOWN
The Pepsi 500 is 250 laps around the Auto Club Speedway’s mammoth two mile, D shaped, oval.
The race has 45 entries vying for the 43 starting berths. Ten of those entries are on the “go or go home” list meaning they do have a guaranteed start because they are outside of NASCAR’s top 35 in owner’s points. In the event that Friday’s qualifying session is rained out then drivers Regan Smith and Max Papis will be the odd men out and will not make the race.
However weather is not expected to be a huge factor this weekend. The Fontana-California forecast calls for Sunny skies with daytime highs in the high 70’s and low 80’s
The defending race winner ,from August of last year, is Jimmie Johnson who won the race from the pole position. Matt Kenseth won the previous Auto Club race last February after starting 24th. Kenseth, by the way, is tied with Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson for being the only three time winners at the Auto Club Speedway.
When it comes to NASCAR’s four auto makers in the Sprint Cup Series, Ford has the most wins at the Auto Club with ten.
But it’s the Chevrolets from Hendrick Motorsports who has the most team wins with seven.
Friday’s qualifying day will be intense as teams will be looking for the best track position available for the Pepsi 500. Kyle Busch holds the track’s qualifying record, 188.425 MPH, set back in February of 2005.
However the Auto Club Speedway records indicates that being at the front of starting field is not necessarily a guaranteed route to victory lane. For example Matt Kenseth won two of his three races there starting from the 24th and 31st positions. Out of 18 Sprint Cup races at Auto Club, nine of them have been won from starting positions outside of the top ten.
The track record for lead changes at the Auto Club Speedway is 33 set back in February of last year. In comparison the lowest amount of lead changes is 18 set in 1998. There were a record high 16 race leaders in the fall of 2007 but the race lead only changed hands eight times in the spring of 2002.
For a 500 mile event on a two mile track, caution flags and laps have been on the low side over the years at the Auto Club Speedway. The largest amount of yellow flags in a race there was 12 in 2008. The race in September of 2004 had 51 caution laps. On the opposite extreme there were only four yellow flags in 1997 and 22 laps of caution in the race held in the spring of 2000.
The element of attrition, despite the presence of start and park teams, has been relatively low at the Auto Club Speedway over the years. At the conclusion of the fall race in 2006 there were a record 42 cars still running at the finish. In two occasions, the latest being February of 2005, the lowest amount of cars running at the finish was a still healthy 32 teams.
One of the huge points of interest to Sunday’s Pepsi 500 will be the debut of NASCAR’s new double file, “shoot out style”, restart program. Considered by many to be one of NASCAR’s best ideas in quite some time, this new restart procedure is expected to add a lot of excitement to this race.
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THE TRACK BREAK DOWN
The official ground breaking ceremony for the track, then known as the California Speedway, was held in November of 1995.
The first race at the speedway was held in June of 1997. The event featured the NASCAR Camping World West Series and was won by NASCAR veteran Ken Schrader.
The first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race was held at the Auto Club Speedway in June of 1997 and was won by Jeff Gordon. Joe Nemechek set the fast time in the first ever Sprint Cup qualifying session.
Since that point there has been 18 Sprint Cup events that has sent 12 different winners to the speedway’s Gatorade victory lane.
Following an impressive endorsement deal, the track was renamed the Auto Club Speedway in February of last year.
The Auto Club Speedway is a two mile, D shaped, super speedway with 14 degrees of banking in the turns.
The frontstretch is 3,100 feet long with 11 degrees banking. The backstretch measures 2,500 with only three degrees of banking.
The pit road measures 2,200 feet with 44 available pit stalls. The pit road speed is 55 MPH.
The speedway currently has seating for 92,000 fans with an additional 1,800 for RV camping in the infield.
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