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STATISTICAL ADVANCE: ANALYZING THE AUTO CLUB 500 AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

Source — NASCAR Public Relations

Date Posted — February 16, 2009

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DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Daytona 500 champion Matt Kenseth’s victory march might not end any time soon.

The series shifts to the West Coast and Auto Club Speedway, a track at which Kenseth excels.

He has two wins there, and has finished inside the top 10 in seven consecutive races. Since the inception of Loop Data in 2005, he has a Driver Rating of 110.8 and an Average Running Position of 8.3.

When Kenseth isn’t winning at Auto Club Speedway, one of his Roush Fenway Racing teammates usually is. The team has a combined six wins in Fontana, and has won the last four Auto Club 500s.

But while Kenseth attempts to continue his winning ways, Jimmie Johnson is looking to start them.

Johnson finished 31st in the Daytona 500, his third consecutive 500 finish outside the top 25. Of course, the slow starts meant little, as Johnson went on to win his second and third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships the last two years.

The good news: Auto Club Speedway is a two-mile slump-buster for Johnson. His numbers there are astounding: Three wins, four runner-up finishes, one third-place finish.

In his win there last August, Johnson posted a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0 – only the seventh perfect rating since the stat’s inception in 2005. He also led 228 of 250 laps and had an Average Running Position of 1.2.

One result is likely in Fontana – the winner of Sunday’s race will be a proven one. Each of the 12 different winners in the 17 races at ACS has at least one appearance in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Additionally, nine of the 12 have double-digit career wins (Elliott Sadler, Jeremy Mayfield and Kasey Kahne do not).

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2009 Top 12 at Auto Club Speedway

	Driver	Races	Poles	Wins	Top Fives	Top 10s	DNFs	Average Finish	Driver Rating
1	Matt Kenseth	14	0	2	6	10	0	9.6	110.8
2	Kevin Harvick	13	0	0	1	4	1	17.9	89.2
3	AJ Allmendinger	2	0	0	0	0	0	16.0	79.1
4	Clint Bowyer	6	0	0	1	3	0	12.0	84.6
5	Elliott Sadler	15	0	1	1	2	2	23.3	60.8
6	David Ragan	4	0	0	0	0	0	13.8	77.5
7	Tony Stewart	15	0	0	3	7	2	16.4	97.8
8	Michael Waltrip	16	0	0	0	2	3	26.3	48.0
9	Reed Sorenson	6	0	0	0	0	1	28.3	56.7
10	Martin Truex Jr	6	0	0	0	2	1	17.7	78.7
11	Kurt Busch	13	3	1	3	5	0	13.5	90.9
12	Jeff Gordon	17	2	3	8	8	2	11.5	94.0

Selected Driver Highlights – Auto Club Speedway-specific

Note: All driver statistics that follow are from Auto Club Speedway. The Loop Data statistics – Driver Rating, Average Running Position, etc. – in this release, however, cover the last eight races at Auto Club Speedway. NASCAR’s scoring loops began collecting data for statistical purposes in 2005.

Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M Ford)

• One win, three top fives

• Average finish of 18.2

• Average Running Position of 11.9, eighth-best

• Driver Rating of 98.1, seventh-best

• 160 Fastest Laps Run, second-most

• Average Green Flag Speed of 171.291 mph, fifth-fastest

• 1,335 Laps in the Top 15 (66.6%), eighth-most

• 309 Quality Passes, 13th-most

Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota)

• One win, three top fives, seven top 10s,; one pole

• Average finish of 9.9

• Average Running Position of 9.4, third-best

• Driver Rating of 107.6, third-best

• 117 Fastest Laps Run, fifth-most

• Green Flag Speed of 171.401 mph, fourth-fastest

• 1,657 Laps in the Top 15 (82.6%), third-most

• Tied for series-high 431 Quality Passes

Carl Edwards (No. 99 Aflac Ford)

• One win, six top fives, eight top 10s; one pole

• Average finish of 6.7

• Average Running Position of 10.9, sixth-best

• Driver Rating of 105.3, fourth-best

• 133 Fastest Laps Run, third-most

• Average Green Flag Speed of 171.562 mph, second-fastest

• 1,565 Laps in the Top 15 (78.1%), fourth-most

Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet)

• Three wins, eight top fives; two poles

• Average finish of 11.5

• Average Running Position of 10.7, fifth-best

• Driver Rating of 94.0, ninth-best

• 109 Fastest Laps Run, sixth-most

• 659 Green Flag Passes, second-most

• 1,490 Laps in the Top 15 (74.3%), fifth-most

• Tied for series-high 431 Quality Passes

Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet)

• Three wins, eight top fives

• Average finish of 5.9; one pole

• Series-best Average Running Position of 6.3

• Series-best Driver Rating of 119.1

• Series-high 262 Fastest Laps Run

• Series-fastest Average Green Flag Speed of 171.977 mph

• Series-high 1,880 Laps in the Top 15 (93.8%)

• 393 Quality Passes, fourth-most

Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge)

• One win, three top fives, seven top 10s; one pole

• Average finish of 13.1

• Average Running Position of 13.0, 10th-best

• Driver Rating of 99.2, fifth-best

• 96 Fastest Laps Run, tied for seventh-most

• Average Green Flag Speed of 171.177 mph, eighth-fastest

• 1,435 Laps in the Top 15 (71.6%), seventh-most

• 387 Quality Passes, fifth-most

Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DEWALT Ford)

• Two wins, six top fives, 10 top 10s

• Average finish of 9.6

• Average Running Position of 8.3, second-best

• Driver Rating of 110.8, second-best

• 91 Fastest Laps Run, ninth-most

• Average Green Flag Speed of 171.514 mph, third-best

• 1,727 Laps in the Top 15 (86.1%), second-most

• 338 Quality Passes, eighth-most

Mark Martin (No. 5 Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet)

• One win, four top fives, seven top 10s

• Average finish of 13.3

• Average Running Position of 10.3 in six races since 2005, fourth-best

• Driver Rating of 98.5, sixth-best

• 52 Fastest Laps Run, 12th-most

• Average Green Flag Speed of 171.142 mph, ninth-best

• 1,101 Laps in the Top 15 (73.2%), seventh-best percentage

Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet)

• Three top fives, seven top 10s

• Average finish of 16.4

• Average Running Position of 11.1, seventh-best

• Driver Rating of 97.8, eighth-best

• 131 Fastest Laps Run, fourth-most

• Average Green Flag Speed of 171.244 mph, sixth-most

• 1,487 Laps in the Top 15 (74.2%), sixth-most

• 384 Quality Passes, sixth-most

At Auto Club Speedway:

History

• Groundbreaking for California Speedway, as Auto Club Speedway was originally known, took place in November 1995 as a joint project between Kaiser Ventures Inc. and Penske Speedway Inc.

• The first race at Auto Club Speedway was a NASCAR Camping World 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.

• The first NASCAR Nationwide Series race was held on Oct. 19, 1997, won by Todd Bodine.

• The first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was won by Mike Bliss on Oct. 18, 1997.

• September 2004 was the first night-race at Auto Club Speedway and that was also the first year there were two races a year for both the NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series.

• 2005 was the first time the first California race was a tripleheader with all three of NASCAR’s national series competing.

• The track name was changed to Auto Club Speedway in February 2008.

Notebook

• There have been 17 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Auto Club Speedway since the track opened in 1997.

• Five drivers have competed in all 17 races: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Joe Nemechek and Kyle Petty.

• Joe Nemechek won the pole for the inaugural race in 1997.

• There have been 12 different pole winners, led by Kurt Busch (three) and Jeff Gordon (two). Qualifying was canceled in 1999 and 2008-1.

• 12 different drivers have posted victories. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson (three) along with Matt Kenseth (two) have won multiple races there.

• Rick Hendrick has won seven races, more than any other car owner.

• Eight of the 17 races were won from starting positions outside the top 10; only one has been won from the pole.

• Matt Kenseth won the 2006 Auto Club 500 from the 31st starting position, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started.

• There have been no caution-free or shortened races.

• There have been two green-white-checkered finishes at California: 2005 fall (254) and 2006 spring (251).

Hot Fact

Mark Martin has seven top-10 finishes, including one victory, in 15 races at California. He also failed to finish three times. One of Martin’s DNFs was his first top 10. He ran out of gas on the final lap of the inaugural race in 1997, yet still finished 10th.

NASCAR in California

• There have been 123 NASCAR Sprint Cup races in California:

• 404 NASCAR drivers have their home state recorded as California.

• There have been 32 race winners from California in NASCAR’s three national series. Below are those winners, and a breakdown of wins by national series:

Driver	NCSC	NNS	NCWTS
Jimmie Johnson	40	1	0
Marvin Panch	17	0	0
Ernie Irvan	15	3	0
Dick Rathmann	13	0	0
Kevin Harvick	11	32	3
Dan Gurney	5	0	0
Eddie Gray	4	0	0
Eddie Pagan	4	0	0
Parnelli Jones	4	0	0
Robby Gordon	3	1	0
Danny Letner	2	0	0
Marvin Porter	2	0	0
Ray Elder	2	0	0
Casey Mears	1	1	0
Bill Norton	1	0	0
Danny Graves	1	0	0
Danny Weinberg	1	0	0
Dick Brooks	1	0	0
Jim Cook	1	0	0
John Soares	1	0	0
Johnny Mantz	1	0	0
Lou Figaro	1	0	0
Marvin Burke	1	0	0
Ron Hornaday Jr	0	4	39
Jason Leffler	0	2	1
Mike Skinner	0	1	25
Joe Ruttman	0	1	13
David Gilliland	0	1	0
Boris Said	0	0	1
Brandon Whitt	0	0	1
Matt Crafton	0	0	1
Scott Speed	0	0	1