The NASCAR drivers in the Sprint Cup series will be chasing their California dreams of a win at Auto Club Speedway in the Auto Club 400 Sunday, March 20th.
So far this season there have been four drivers get that all important win to put their names at the top of the Chase Grid. There rest of the drivers are still searching for the winning combination of speed and handling to earn that trip to Victory Lane and relieve the pressure of making The Chase.
The new low down force package has given the drivers what they said they wanted, cars that are harder to drive and force them to use their skills behind the wheel to move forward during the race. This weekend could be one of the most challenging tracks for the drivers with this new package.
Auto Club Speedway is a two-mile track with 14 degrees of banking through the turns. The racing surface is wide enough for cars to not only go two and three wide, but it is possible to go four, five and even six wide. However, just because the room on the track is there for that many cars to get side-by-side it doesn’t mean that is a good idea. If just one car gets loose and there are that many cars next to each other the result could be a big pile of bent metal and a lot of California Dreams crushed along with the cars.
Which Sprint Cup drivers have had the most pleasant dreams at the track? Here are the top 10 active driver ratings at Auto Club Speedway.
Top 10 Driver Rating at Auto Club Speedway
Jimmie Johnson – 119.6
Kyle Busch – 110.0
Matt Kenseth – 106.1
Carl Edwards – 97.1
Kevin Harvick – 96.8
Kurt Busch – 93.2
Denny Hamlin – 91.7
Greg Biffle – 91.6
Kasey Kahne – 90.6
Clint Bowyer – 90.5
(NOTE: Driver Ratings compiled from 2005-2015 races (17 total) among active drivers at Auto Club Speedway)
There are 10 active drivers who have won at least one time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series at Auto Club Speedway. They are led by California native Jimmie Johnson as the all-time leader at the track with five career wins. You could call Jimmie the “Superman of Auto Club” which would be fitting since he will be running a Superman paint scheme this weekend at the race in promotion of the new Batman Vs. Superman movie. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be running a Batman paint scheme this weekend. It would be interesting if the two finished first and second in the race.
Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth both have three wins at the track while Tony Stewart has won at Auto Club Speedway twice.
The six other drivers have a single Sprint Cup win in their NASCAR careers at Auto Club Speedway and are Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and last year’s winner of this race Brad Keselowski.
What kind of craziness will transpire with a very wide track and the low down force package? We will find out when the NASCAR Sprint Cup series goes “California Dreamin’” in the Auto Club 400 Sunday afternoon, March 20th starting at 2:30 PM central time (3:30 PM eastern) for 200 laps (400 miles) at Auto Club Speedway.
By: Buck Stevens
