Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Auto Club Speedway Odds & Ends

At Auto Club Speedway:
History
·         Groundbreaking for California Speedway, as Auto Club Speedway was originally known, took place in November 1995.
·         The first race at Auto Club Speedway was a NASCAR K&N Pro Series, West race won by Ken Schrader on June 21, 1997.
·         The first NASCAR Sprint Cup race was held on June 22, 1997 and won by Jeff Gordon.
·         September 2004 was the first night race at Auto Club Speedway and that also was the first year both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series ran two races in a season there.
·         The track name was changed to Auto Club Speedway in February 2008.
 
Notebook
·         There have been 22 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Auto Club Speedway since the track opened in 1997.
·         Four drivers have competed in all 22 races: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Joe Nemechek.
·         Joe Nemechek won the pole for the inaugural race in 1997.
·         There have been 15 different pole winners, led by Kurt Busch (three). Jamie McMurray and Jeff Gordon each have two poles.
·         Fifteen different drivers have posted victories. Jimmie Johnson leads all drivers with five wins. Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth each have won three races.
·         Hendrick Motorsports has won nine races, more than any other team.
·         Eleven of the 22 races were won from starting positions outside the top 10; only one has been won from the pole (Jimmie Johnson in 2008). The most prolific two starting positions are third and 24th, with three victories each.
·         Matt Kenseth won the 2006 spring race from the 31st starting position, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started.
·         Three active drivers have averaged a top-10 finish: Jimmie Johnson (5.1), Carl Edwards (9.0) and Matt Kenseth (9.9).
·         Jimmie Johnson (9.0) is the only active driver to have an average starting position in the top 10 at Auto Club Speedway.
·         Kyle Busch won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole (2/05) and first race (9/05) at Auto Club Speedway.
·         Jimmie Johnson won his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race at ASC on April 28, 2002.
·         Youngest NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club Speedway winner: Kyle Busch (9/5/2005 – 20 years, 4 months, 2 days). This was Busch’s first career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory.
·         Oldest NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club Speedway winner: Rusty Wallace (4/29/2001 – 44 years, 8 months, 15 days)
 
Auto Club Speedway Data
Race # 5 of 36 (3-29-12)
Track Size: 2 miles
·     Race Length: 200 laps/400 miles
·     Banking/Corners: 14 degrees
·     Banking/Frontstretch: 11 degrees
·     Banking/Backstretch: 3 degrees
 
Top 12 Driver Rating at Auto Club
Jimmie Johnson........................ 123.1
Matt Kenseth............................. 107.2
Kyle Busch............................... 104.0
Mark Martin............................... 100.5
Tony Stewart............................. 100.1
Carl Edwards.............................. 98.3
Jeff Gordon................................ 97.9
Greg Biffle.................................. 95.2
Kevin Harvick.............................. 93.7
Kasey Kahne.............................. 92.8
Clint Bowyer............................... 92.3
Kurt Busch.................................. 89.9
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2011 races (13 total) at Auto Club.
 
Qualifying/Race Data
2011 pole winner: Juan Pablo Montoya, 184.653 mph 38.992 seconds
2011 race winner: Kevin Harvick,
150.849 mph, 3-27-11)
Track qualifying record: Kyle Busch (188.245 mph, 38.248 seconds, 2-25-05)
Track race record: Jeff Gordon (155.012 mph, 6-22-97)

Driver Ratings for Winners
Driver Year Driver Rating Series Driver Rating Rank
Kevin Harvick 2011 92.2 10th
Tony Stewart 2010 Fall 96.8 8th
Jimmie Johnson 2010 Spring 122.3 1st
Jimmie Johnson 2009 Fall 119.4 1st
Matt Kenseth 2009 Spring 131.4 2nd
Jimmie Johnson 2008 Fall 114.7 1st
 * Pre-Race Driver Ratings of the year the driver won at Auto Club Speedway (the past 6 races).
 
NASCAR in California
·         There have been 131 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in California:
·         418 NASCAR drivers have their home state recorded as California.
·         There have been 33 race winners from California in NASCAR’s three national series. Below are those winners, and a breakdown of wins by national series:
Driver
NSCS
NNS
NCWTS
Jeff Gordon
85
5
0
Jimmie Johnson
55
1
0
Kevin Harvick
18
37
13
Marvin Panch
17
0
0
Ernie Irvan
15
3
0
Dick Rathmann
13
0
0
Dan Gurney
5
0
0
Eddie Gray
4
0
0
Parnelli Jones
4
0
0
Eddie Pagan
4
0
0
Robby Gordon
3
1
0
Ray Elder
2
0
0
Danny Letner
2
0
0
Marvin Porter
2
0
0
Dick Brooks
1
0
0
Marvin Burke
1
0
0
Jim Cook
1
0
0
Lou Figaro
1
0
0
Danny Graves
1
0
0
Johnny Mantz
1
0
0
Casey Mears
1
1
0
Bill Norton
1
0
0
John Soares
1
0
0
Danny Weinberg
1
0
0
Ron Hornaday Jr
0
4
51
Jason Leffler
0
2
1
David Gilliland
0
1
0
Joe Ruttman
0
1
13
Boris Said
0
1
1
Mike Skinner
0
1
28
Matt Crafton
0
0
2
Scott Speed
0
0
1
Brandon Whitt
0
0
1

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