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Track Facts:
Banking/Turns: 14°
Distance: 2.0 miles / 250 laps
Shape: D-Shaped Oval

Auto Club 500
California Speedway
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Fontana, California
Sunday, 4:00 p.m. EST

Schedule
Practice
3:00 to 4:30 p.m. EST, Friday, February 22
5:00 to 6:55 p.m. EST, Final Practice Saturday, February 23

Qualifying
5:40 p.m. EST, Friday, February 22, Two laps all positions

Race Day Sunday, February 24
4:00 p.m. EST Sunday
TV: FOX 4:00 p.m.
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN), XM Radio
2007 winner: Matt Kenseth

Check the SPEED Channel schedule (speedtv.com) for various programs on the race this weekend.

Race Preview

Quotes from Kyle Petty:
 “When we roll through the tunnel at California, the real season will officially begin.  Daytona is an anomaly.  We’ll see how well the new car will do on tracks that make up a vast majority of our schedule, places like California, Las Vegas and Atlanta.  But, if Daytona is any indication, it’ll be fine.  That was one of the most competitive races we’ve had in a long time.”
 
“Everyone on the No. 45 team has been looking forward to California.  I think our winter test session there went really well.  (Crew chief) Billy Wilburn had a long list of things to try on the Dodge Charger.  It was a busy couple of days out there.  But the guys on the team put their nose to the grindstone and worked hard.  We left with a positive feeling about California and the next several races.”
 
“Everyone knows that Petty Enterprises has been busy since we left Homestead last year.  Our move to Mooresville, N.C. was well-publicized.  That was a big undertaking for my father and everyone that had been a part of our legacy in Level Cross.  But we also hired a lot of new people to supplement the talented guys that have laid the foundation for the resurgence of Petty Enterprises.  I think it showed in how both cars drove at Daytona.  We had a fuel system problem that plagued us, but the car handled great all week.”
  
Kyle Petty at California Speedway

• In Petty’s four most recent appearances at Fontana he has finished at least 10 positions ahead of where he began the race
  
• At this event in 2007 Petty came from 37th at the start of the race to secure a 22nd place finish
  
• In 15 starts at California Speedway Kyle Petty has completed 3,251 of 3,755 laps (86.6%)
  
• Petty’s best finish at the track came in 2002 when he finished 17th
  
• The driver’s average start and average finish at Fontana are 29.0
  
• Petty has started within the top 20 on four different occasions at the California track
  

Qualifying Results

Auto Club 500 Qualifying Report
February 22, 2008

QUALIFYING RESULTS:
1. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet
2. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet
3. Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet
4. Matt Kenseth, Ford
5. Casey Mears, Chevrolet
19. Bobby Labonte, Hamburger Helper “My Hometown Helper” Dodge
35. Kyle Petty, Wells Fargo Dodge

Friday’s qualifying session for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was rained out. The starting lineup will be set using 2007 NASCAR Sprint Cup owner points. This gives Hendrick Motorsports the front row with Jimmie Johnson on the pole and Jeff Gordon along side.

On a day when not one lap was turned by any driver, the most exciting news came with the announcement of a new name to the two-mile speedway in Fontana, Calif. The track, which first hosted a NASCAR event in 1997, will now be known as Auto Club Speedway (ACS).

Bobby Labonte and the #43 Dodge team will start the race from the 19th position. After a test session at ACS early this month, the team left with an empty feeling about the setup underneath the car. After the qualifying session for the Daytona 500, they picked up and went to the Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway for more practice. Crew chief Jeff Meendering hit on a setup that Labonte really liked. This becomes even more important as practice time for Sunday’s event has been cut in half by rain.

“Obviously we are disappointed that we didn’t get on track today because we’re still learning this new car,” said Labonte. “But we left Mooresville (N.C) with a good feeling about our setup and that hasn’t changed. We’ll just have to maximize our practice time tomorrow.”

Kyle Petty and the No. 45 Dodge Charger will roll off 35th for Sunday’s event. Petty has competed in every Sprint Cup race held at ACS. That experience will be crucial, given less practice time to fine-tune the setup from crew chief Bill Wilburn.

“I was pretty happy with the way our car drove during the test session here,” sounded Petty. “We picked up a few things from the ‘43’ after their test at Nashville. But races here always come down to having enough motor to come off these flat corners and get down the straights. That hasn’t changed with this new car. In the test session that was not an issue for us.”

Race Results

Auto Club 500 Race Report
February 25, 2008

RESULTS:
1. Carl Edwards, Ford
2. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet
3. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet
4. Kyle Busch, Toyota
5. Matt Kenseth
25. Bobby Labonte, Hamburger Helper “My Hometown Helper” Dodge
38. Kyle Petty, Wells Fargo Dodge

The rain showers that washed out all but 87 laps of the Auto Club 500 at the newly-named Auto Club Speedway (ACS) on Sunday were gone by Monday morning. The race was able to resume just after 10 am under blue skies. However, the drivers at the front of the field did not waver. Carl Edwards continued the dominance of Roush-Fenway Racing at the 2-mile venue as he held off Jimmie Johnson for his first win of the season.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup teams were held at ACS until around 11 pm on Sunday in an effort to complete the race. However, the track continued to seep rain water and that posed a problem for the high-speed venue. Several cars fell victim to this before NASCAR deemed the track unsafe.

Bobby Labonte and the #43 Dodge team finished the race in the 25th position. Labonte had his hands full early in Sunday’s portion of the event as the car was very inconsistent in what it would do in the corners. Crew chief Jeff Meendering continued to bring Labonte down pit road during every caution period to adjust the handling of the car. As usual, Meendering’s adjustments did the trick. By lap 74, Labonte was running in the 10th position. Then came the rain and the delay until Monday morning. The car was just not the same the next day on the “green” racetrack. The adjustments from Meendering would help only for short runs. On lap 166, Labonte received the “Lucky Dog Award” to put the team in position for another top-15 finish. However, the car would not respond like Labonte would have liked.

“Well, everyone is trying new front-end stuff with shocks and springs in order to get this car to turn,” sounded Labonte. “Last year it was coil-binding the front springs. Now we’re working with bump stops on the front shocks. We’re working hard to get a grasp of this, but we just missed a little bit somewhere today. I know we didn’t get the finish we wanted, but I think all of us learned a lot.”

Kyle Petty and the No. 45 Dodge team finished Sunday’s event in 38th place. Crew chief Bill Wilburn gave Petty a car that was racy during the early portions of the race. However, just like Labonte, the adjustments that were made on Sunday had the car difficult to drive under the sunlight on Monday. On lap 178, Petty radioed to his crew that he had lost his brakes. The team did a masterful job in repairing this problem. They got Petty back on track after losing minimal laps.

“You know, the rain delay hurt us,” said Petty. “In all honesty, we probably shouldn’t have started the race until Monday. The track wasn’t ready and a lot of good cars were torn up as a result. We had a good car early, but it was too loose on Monday morning. We did figure out that these cars need pretty big changes for you to feel it from the seat. That should help us at Las Vegas next week and at Atlanta.”

The next race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be Sunday’s UAW-Dodge 400 from the Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway. Sunday’s race will be televised live on FOX and broadcast live on PRN. Race coverage will begin at 3:30 EST.

Kyle Petty name and/or likeness used under license by Petty Marketing Company, L.L.C.
Richard Petty name and/or likeness used under license by Petty Marketing Company, L.L.C.