In Saturday’s Nationwide Series TreatMyClot.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Elliott Sadler are aiming to reach double digits in the win column for their team. If one of the three succeed, it becomes Joe Gibbs Racing’s tenth consecutive victory at ACS.
In February 2008, Tony Stewart, in his last season with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) gave the team owner Joe Gibbs his first victory at the two-mile track in Fontana, CA.
What happens next, is unprecedented and unlike anything anyone else has seen before in the Nationwide Series – JGR’s drivers reel off win after win. In March 2013, Busch took home the last trophy at Auto Club for JGR’s ninth straight win.
Between Stewart’s 2008 and Busch’s victory last season, Joey Logano captured two checkered flags at the track, while Busch claims the other six. Stewart and Logano have since moved on to other organizations. Replacing them are title contender Elliott Sadler, now fifth in the point standings and Sprint Cup regular Matt Kenseth.
Since all three JGR drivers in Saturday’s race have at least one national series victory at Auto Club Speedway, extending their win streak this weekend is reachable. Although Sadler has never won a Nationwide event at the track – his best outcome is a pair of fifth-place finishes – he was victorious in the Sept. 2004 Sprint Cup race.
Kenseth has four victories at the track in the Nationwide Series, most recently in February 2004. He has also visited the track’s victory lane three times in the Sprint Cup Series. All seven of his wins came with Roush Fenway Racing – the team he left to come to JGR before the 2013 season.
With ten total victories among the three national series, Busch reigns supreme at Fontana, especially in Nationwide where he’s racked up six wins. He has two wins apiece in the Camping World Truck and Sprint Cup Series. Busch and Kenseth are 1-2 atop the Nationwide Series wins list at Auto Club Speedway.
The championship battle is heating up at Fontana. Heading into Auto Club Speedway, the fifth race of 2014, a mere one point separates Regan Smith and second-place Trevor Bayne. This time last year, Sam Hornish Jr held a 22-point advantage over second-place Justin Allgaier.
Of course, things change throughout the season and Austin Dillon, who was sixth at this point last year, was ultimately crowned the series’ champion in November. By season’s end, Hornish was second with Allgaier fifth.
Last year, 34 points separated the top-six heading into Auto Club Speedway. This season, the top-eight drivers have a margin of 34 points, with Smith, Bayne, Ty Dillon, Chase Elliott, Elliott Sadler, Brendan Gaughan, Brian Scott and James Buescher making up the top-eight.
What does all this mean? This year’s championship conversation will likely include more drivers, and the points race will likely be tighter, making this another interesting season for fans.
In 14 national series starts at Auto Club, Smith’s best result came in the Nationwide event last year where he finished third. The result was only his second top-ten at the track, the first (a ninth-place finish) coming in the previous year’s Nationwide race. In six series’ starts, Smith’s average finish is 20.5.
Bayne has made six Nationwide starts in Fontana and has six top-20 finishes. His best finish was sixth in 2012. In March 2013, Bayne posted his second top-ten finish at the track, placing ninth.
Looking for more close competition from Nationwide regulars? Check out the Rookie Class. Four races into the 2014 season, Ty Dillon and Chase Elliott are proving why they’re early front-runners for the series’ Rookie of the Year honors.
With the series headed to California, Dillon and Elliott are atop the rookie standings and tied with 51 points apiece. Dylan Kwasniewski is third, 14 points back.
Both drivers are having stellar starts to their rookie campaigns with neither finishing outside the top-15 in the first four races. Dillon, is now third in the point standings, and finished a season-best sixth last week at Bristol. His lowest finish, so far, is 11th in Las Vegas. One spot behind Dillon in the point standings is Elliott, with three top-tens and a 15th-place finish in four races. Dillon and Elliott have never competed in a NASCAR national series event at Auto Club Speedway.
It’s no secret that the Nationwide team at Richard Petty Motorsports isn’t getting the finishes they expect, but they’re looking to change that this weekend at Auto Club Speedway. With new driver Dakoda Armstrong, the team is still working on matching the set up to Armstrong’s driving style and as they head into Fontana, there is a lot of change on the No. 43 Ford Mustang as Crew Chief Philippe Lopez is taking the setup in a new direction from year’s past.
Fontana is one of seven tracks on the Nationwide schedule that Armstrong has competed, and he has a fondness of the track. His campaign last year for Richard Childress Racing was impressive for his first trip to the two-mile track where he earned a 15th-place finish.
“Fontana is actually one of my favorite tracks that I’ve raced so far. My first time there was last year in the Nationwide Series, and I was really worried about it because everyone says it’s a really rough track and there’s no grip, but I actually thought it was fun with the multiple grooves. The track wore out tires quickly, so I made it really racey and slowed the pace down, but you’re able to try different things and grooves on the track.
“I think the key will be to make sure that we’re good on the long green-flag runs. Usually Fontana has a lot of green flag pit stops, so we’ll need to make sure we bring our A-gme to pit road to help us gain positions on the track.”
Five Nationwide Series’ drivers return to their home state for Saturday’s race: Matt DiBenedetto (Grass Valley), Kevin Harvick (Bakersfield), Kyle Larson (Elk Grove), Ryan Reed (Bakersfield) and Josh Wise (Riverside).