RACING REPORT
NASCAR preview: A look at the Auto Club 400 in California
Trey Campbell
Mar 16, 2018, 7:19 am
NASCAR heads to Fontana, Calif. this week. NASCAR.com
This week the Monster Energy series heads for the high banks of Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. for the Auto Club 400. Designed in 1996 by legendary car owner Roger Penske, this track is MASSIVE; it's two miles in length and has fourteen degrees of banking. This place has plenty of room, so it is not uncommon to see three or four wide racing.
Last year Kyle Larson went on to his second career victory after beating Brad Keselowski, a victory that kicked off a career year for the third-year driver. This year you can expect a lot of the same type of racing, lots of passing for position and long green flag runs. The race, however has a trend of late race cautions. (Some for questionable reasons but that’s for a different article) Since 2012, there has been a caution within the final four laps of every race, and as the great Darrell Waltrip always said, "Cautions breed Cautions."
When there is a chance for a restart there is an even likelier chance for another yellow flag, and that was case last year when something as simple as a Corey Lajoie's single car spin lead to a multi-car crash involving Kasey Kahne, Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The favorite going into this race is clearly the man who has won the last three races, Kevin Harvick.
I have been watching NASCAR as far as I can remember being alive and I do not recall someone having this dominant of a start to a season. It was always known that Harvick is good on the West Coast part of the season, but never did I imagine he would have a shot to sweep all four races and sure enough here we are. Auto Club is another track that holds a lot of sentimental value because it's his home track. Harvick grew up two hours away in Bakersfield, so getting a victory in front of his home state crowd would be a signature win for his career, especially considering he has never won here before.
Regardless he has ran great here at this track with a 7.50 since average finish since 2016 which is fifth all time amongs active drivers so look for the Jimmy John's Ford to be freaky fast this weekend. The driver I think that will go to victory lane. however. is Martin Truex, Jr. Truex is coming off three consecutive top five finishes, and while this is not a track that he has been great on, last year he had a good run going as he led the second most laps in the race with 77 and won the second stage.
This weekend will be the race where Truex breaks through and gets his first win of the season as he defends last year's championship. A dark horse to watch for this weekend is Daniel Suarez. In his debut at Fontana he went on to a seventh-place finish, and the sophomore driver is coming off his best finish of the year last week. He looks to be turning a corner as one of the next great young drivers in NASCAR so look for him and his bright orange Toyota Camry to be up front.
This race is one that I always look forward to due to the amount of lead changes we have seen in years past -- last year this race had 17 and the year before that had 26. With the aero package that NASCAR has brought to this race track over the last few years it is strange that there is only one race here. Nonetheless look for it to be a good race.
(All stats and information used in this article is brought to you by the good folks at driveraverages.com and Racing-Refrence.com the best website for all NASCAR stats)
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Cam Smith’s reaction to making the Astros Opening Day roster is priceless
Mar 25, 2025, 4:16 pm
It’s go time! While the Astros are not the juggernaut they were over the more than half-decade stretch from 2017 through 2022 that yielded regular seasons with 101, 103, 106, and 107 wins, four American League pennants, and two World Series Champions, as the saying goes, they ain’t dead yet. There is no superpower in the American League West the Astros need to overcome. In fact, the American League as a whole is grossly inferior to the National League. As a result, a fifth Astros’ AL title in this era is not some absurd fantasy, though it is certainly unlikely. But winning the pennant is unlikely for every AL team, so if you’re a fan of the Astros there is nothing wrong with a “Why not us?” mentality. On the other hand, the floor for the 2025 Astros is lower going into a season than it has been in almost a decade. The lineup has numerous question marks, and if the terrific trio atop the Astros’ starting rotation (Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, and Ronel Bronco) runs into injury or performance issues the Astros would have serious problems. That the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners both finish ahead of the Astros is clearly plausible. Play ball!
Astros history lives in these moments
It is simple fact that time marches on, but it is still amazing that the Astros are beginning their second quarter-century of play at what for its first two seasons was called Enron Field, then for the past 23 seasons Minute Maid Park, and now Daikin Park. That’s 25 seasons in the books, at least 26 more to come, with the Astros a few years ago having extended their lease through 2050. In non-specific order, I have twenty easily come-to-mind most spine-tingling moments at the ballpark. If you want 25 for 25 years, I leave five more to you.
Not all spine-tinglers on the home field are generated by the home team. Here are three produced by visiting players. In 2001, Barry Bonds smashed his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire’s single season Major League record. We know what went into the home run numbers of that era, but it was still jaw-dropping stuff. Bonds would finish the season with 73 homers. Game five of the 2005 National League Championship Series, with the Astros one out from winning their first ever pennant, Albert Pujols launched a Brad Lidge hanging slider that might still be airborne if not for the glass wall above the train tracks. It may be the most instantaneous crowd delirium to utter silence moment ever. It turned a 4-2 Astros’ lead into a crushing 5-4 loss. But, the next game Roy Oswalt pitched the Astros to that pennant in St. Louis. Lastly, the second game of the 2013 season, Rangers’ pitcher Yu Darvish retired the first 26 Astro batters before Marwin Gonzalez smacked a ball through Darvish’s legs up the middle for a base hit. Soooooo close to a perfect game. Only 22 perfect games have been thrown in MLB’s modern era (1900-today).
Now to Astro achievements. Fudging a bit by including Roger Clemens since it’s not for one specific moment. But the Rocket’s starts with the Astros were events. Speaking of Hall of Famers, Craig Biggio’s 3000th hit is an obvious list-maker. Jeff Kent is not a Hall of Famer but he was better in the batter’s box than any second baseman elected after Joe Morgan. Kent won game five of the 2004 NLCS with a bottom of the ninth three-run bomb to end what had been a scoreless game. Alas, the Astros would lose the next two games and the series in St. Louis. The crowd went much wilder over Kent’s homer than over Chris Burke’s series-winning homer over the Atlanta Braves in a 2005 NL Division Series. Burke’s homer came in the 18th inning, so sheer exhaustion held down the decibel level a little. A sleeper for the list occurred earlier in that same game, when Brad Ausmus of all people hit a two-out game-tying homer to get the game into extra innings.
Four no-hitters have been thrown by Union Station. Working backwards: Ronel Blanco last season, Framber Valdez in 2023, a combined job started by Aaron Sanchez in 2019, and the first in 2015 by Mike....yes, Fiers.
And now to the grandest home park moments of this Platinum Era in Astros’ history. Carlos Correa authored two of them, each in a game two of the American League Championship Series. In 2017 he doubled home Jose Altuve with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. That came off of Aroldis Chapman who shall appear once more in this column. In 2019 Correa tied the series at one win apiece with a walk-off homer. Yordan Alvarez also gets a pair of entries. You know, Yordan hit just .192 in the 2022 postseason. But talk about making your hits count. In game one of those playoffs, ALDS vs. Seattle, it was a two-out three-run walk-off blast off of Robbie Ray to give the Astros an 8-7 win. Then in the final game of those playoffs, it was a sixth inning gargantuan three-run launch to dead center turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead.
That leaves four moments that are 100 percent non-negotiable entries. While not dramatic (4-0 final score), the payoff warrants inclusion of the Astros winning Game seven of the 2017 ALCS over the Yankees. Similarly, while the moment of victory lacked drama (4-1 final), how could one exclude the Astros winning the World Series on home turf in 2022. Finally, for my money the two most pulsating, goosebump-inducing, viscerally exciting moments at 501 Crawford Street. In one of the most scintillating games ever played in any sport, Alex Bregman’s bottom of the 10th inning single gave the Astros’ their epic 13-12 win over the Dodgers in game five of the 2017 World Series. Then in 2019, Jose Altuve’s game six homer ended the ALCS (I warned you Aroldis).
Here’s to the new season! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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