This Week in Auto Racing February 19 - 21

This Week in Auto Racing February 19 - 21
By Chris Symeon

Daytona Beach, FL (Sports Network) - With a wacky and wild Speedweeks at Daytona now in the rear-view mirror, it's time for NASCAR to head to the West Coast, with the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series running in Fontana, CA.

Sprint Cup Series

Auto Club 500 - Auto Club Speedway - Fontana, CA

Slowly but surely, Jamie McMurray has realized his victory in last Sunday's Daytona 500 wasn't a dream. It's real, and he's enjoying every minute of it.

More than six hours after the start of the Daytona 500, McMurray joyfully hoisted the famed Harley J. Earl Trophy in Victory Lane at Daytona International Speedway. McMurray endured lengthy delays for potholes that surfaced on the track, survived a crash-filled affair in the closing laps and held off a hard-charging Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap.

Last year, McMurray didn't know for whom he would drive in 2010 after his Roush Fenway Racing No.26 team folded tent at the end of the season. He landed a ride with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing in the No.1 car shortly after, and what a debut he made with the team.

"The thing that I'm going to remember is getting out of the car and running up and grabbing the flag and then running back down and seeing the Daytona (painted) in the infield (grass) and seeing 'Daytona 500'," he said. "I don't think I'll ever forget that. That's the memory I have burned in my head right now of the 500. That's something I'll never forget."

McMurray was honored at Daytona on Monday with a champion's breakfast and then a car induction ceremony at the track's museum. Later in the day, he headed to New York for media obligations and television appearances, including the Late Show with David Letterman. McMurray also appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly on Tuesday.

"I think getting to go do David Letterman and Regis and Kelly, when you walk in, you meet them and then they tell you they maybe watched the race, they know who you are immediately, and it makes it all real," he said.

McMurray then traveled to Southern California for additional obligations before heading to Auto Club Speedway -- located 60 miles east of Los Angeles -- for Sunday's 500-mile race there.

With Daytona in the history books, California now shines in the stock car racing spotlight.

Matt Kenseth won last year's rain-shortened Daytona 500 and then followed up with a victory one week later at California; however, he faltered from there and missed last year's championship chase.

"After California we were on the way home, and I've been around long enough to know that nothing is for sure, but yet before last year, we made the chase every year and even sometimes without winning any races," he said. "So to be able to come out of the box and win the first two, and one of them being a plate race, I wasn't even really considering we were going to fall out of the top-12 in points with as consistent as we usually are. And then to go to Vegas and break on the first lap and finish last, that was kind of a reality check."

Roush Fenway Racing has been strong at California, particularly in the spring race there. Kenseth (2006, '07 and '09), Greg Biffle (2005) and Carl Edwards (2008) have given Roush the victory in each of the last five spring events at California.

Jimmie Johnson, the four-time defending Sprint Cup champion and a native of nearby El Cajon, CA, has been the dominant driver at this two-mile track lately. Johnson has finished no worse than 11th in the last eight races there. He has won the fall event at California the last three years. His first Cup win came there during his rookie season in 2002.

Rick Hendrick has the most car owner victories at California, with Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch combining for eight wins. Busch drove for a Cup car for Hendrick from 2004-07 before moving over to Joe Gibbs Racing.

Roush has second most owner wins with seven.

Johnson is looking to rebound at California after a broken rear axle led to a disappointing 35th-place finish at Daytona.

With his second-place run, Earnhardt Jr. was the highest finisher among the four Hendrick drivers. Earnhardt Jr., hoping to snap a 57-race winless streak, charged from 10th on the final two-lap overtime restart to second on the last lap, but McMurray held him off by 0.12 seconds.

California has not been one of Earnhardt Jr.'s best tracks, based on his previous performances there.

"I don't like going out west, but it's much easier to go there after you run good somewhere else," Earnhardt Jr. said.

Earnhardt Jr. has finished 25th or worse in three of the last four races at California.

Forty-six teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Auto Club 500.

Nationwide Series

Stater Bros. 300

Danica-mania, part two.

Once again, Danica Patrick will be the center of attention in the garage this weekend at California where she will compete in her second Nationwide Series race.

Patrick originally scheduled California as her first Nationwide start, but after a stellar performance in the February 6 ARCA race at Daytona, she decided to make her NASCAR debut one week earlier. Patrick finished 35th in the DRIVE4COPD after getting caught up in a 12-car wreck on Lap 68.

While McMurray celebrates his Daytona 500 victory with several obligations in Los Angeles this week, Patrick will do the same in "La La Land" prior to NASCAR's weekend at California. She will appear on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Bonnie Hunt Show on Wednesday. CNN and The CBS Evening News have scheduled a taping session with Patrick, with the segments airing on future dates. Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel will have her as one of his guests on Thursday.

This will not be the first time Patrick has raced at California. She competed there during her sensational 2005 rookie season in the IndyCar Series. Patrick started fourth and finished 18th in the series' season finale that year. IndyCar has not run at California since then.

Patrick will be in the spotlight at California, but Joe Gibbs Racing will try to keep its winning streak alive there this weekend. Gibbs has won the last four Nationwide Series races there with drivers Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Tony Stewart. Busch won back-to-back races at California from August 2008 to February 2009. Logano took the checkered flag there last October, and Stewart picked up the victory in the spring 2008 event when he drove for Gibbs.

Logano and Busch will compete in the 300-mile race this weekend.

Busch, the 2009 Nationwide champion, made NASCAR history at California one year ago. He became the first driver to win a Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series race on the same day. The truck event there was schedule for Friday, but rain pushed it back to Saturday.

The Truck Series is not running at California in 2010, instead choosing to run at Pocono on July 31.

Kenseth has the most Nationwide victories at California with four, followed by his Roush Fenway Racing teammate Biffle with three.

Kevin Harvick, who grew up in nearby Bakersfield, CA, has yet to win a Nationwide race at his hometrack. Harvick has finished 11th or better in each California race since 2001. His best finish there is second, which came in 2005.

"I think it would be a cool place to win just for the fact that we've run really good there over the past few years and have never been able to close the deal and get it done," he said.

Fifty teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Stater Bros. 300.