Auto Club 400

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Auto Club 400
AutoClub400.png
Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway) - Speedway.svg
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Venue Auto Club Speedway
Location Fontana, California, United States
Corporate sponsor Automobile Club of Southern California
First race 1997 (1997)
Distance 400 miles (643.737 km)
Laps 200
Previous names California 500 Presented by NAPA (1997–1999)
NAPA Auto Parts 500 (2000–2002)
Auto Club 500 (2003–2010)
Auto Club 400 (2011–present)
Most wins (driver) Jeff Gordon
Jimmie Johnson
Matt Kenseth (3)
Most wins (team) Roush Fenway Racing (7)
Most wins (manufacturer) Ford (10)
Circuit information
Surface Asphalt
Length 2.0 mi (3.2 km)
Turns 4

The Auto Club 400 is a 400-mile (643.737 km) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Prior to 2005, the race was held in late April or early May, and until 2010, the race was run at a length of 500 miles. When the NASCAR Realignment of 2005 was made, the race was moved to February and the week following the Daytona 500.[1] The February date stayed until the 2011 season when the date changed to March. After being pleased with the results of the shortening of the track's former fall race date, the Pepsi Max 400, from 500 to 400 miles Auto Club Speedway decided to do the same thing to its spring race.[2]

Jimmie Johnson is the defending winner of the event.

Past winners

Year Date Driver Team Manufacturer Race distance Race time Average speed
(mph)
Report
Laps Miles (km)
1997 June 22 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 250 500 (804.672) 3:13:32 155.012 Report
1998 May 3 Mark Martin Roush Racing Ford 250 500 (804.672) 3:33:57 140.22 Report
1999 May 2 Jeff Gordon (2) Hendrick Motorsports (2) Chevrolet 250 500 (804.672) 3:19:38 150.276 Report
2000 April 30 Jeremy Mayfield Penske Racing Ford 250 500 (804.672) 3:20:50 149.378 Report
2001 April 29 Rusty Wallace Penske Racing (2) Ford 250 500 (804.672) 3:29:37 143.118 Report
2002 April 28 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports (3) Chevrolet 250 500 (804.672) 3:19:53 150.088 Report
2003 April 27 Kurt Busch Roush Racing (2) Ford 250 500 (804.672) 3:34:07 140.111 Report
2004 May 2 Jeff Gordon (3) Hendrick Motorsports (4) Chevrolet 250 500 (804.672) 3:38:33 137.268 Report
2005 February 27 Greg Biffle Roush Racing (3) Ford 250 500 (804.672) 3:34:45 139.697 Report
2006 February 26 Matt Kenseth Roush Racing (4) Ford 251* 502 (807.89) 3:23:43 147.852 Report
2007 February 25 Matt Kenseth (2) Roush Fenway Racing (5) Ford 250 500 (804.672) 3:36:41 138.451 Report
2008 Feb 24/25* Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing (6) Ford 250 500 (804.672) 3:46:04 132.704 Report
2009 February 22 Matt Kenseth (3) Roush Fenway Racing (7) Ford 250 500 (804.672) 3:40:51 135.839 Report
2010 February 21 Jimmie Johnson (2) Hendrick Motorsports (5) Chevrolet 250 500 (804.672) 3:31:24 141.911 Report
2011* March 27 Kevin Harvick Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 200 400 (643.737) 2:39:06 150.849 Report
2012 March 25 Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet 129* 258 (415.21) 1:36:39 160.166 Report
2013 March 24 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 200 400 (643.737) 2:57:19 135.351 Report
2014 March 23 Kyle Busch (2) Joe Gibbs Racing (2) Toyota 206* 412 (663.05) 3:05:53 132.987 Report
2015 March 22 Brad Keselowski Team Penske (3) Ford 209* 418 (672.706) 2:58:18 140.662 Report
2016 March 20 Jimmie Johnson (3) Hendrick Motorsports (6) Chevrolet 205* 410 (659.831) 2:59:17 137.213 Report
2017 March 26 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 202 404 (650.175) 2:57:46 136.359
  • 2006, 2014, 2015, and 2016: Race extended due to a green–white–checker finish. The 2015 race took two attempts.
  • 2008: Race started on Sunday but was finished on Monday due to rain.
  • 2011: Race distance changed from 500 miles to 400. Kevin Harvick passed Jimmie Johnson on the last lap to win, the first last lap pass in ACS history.
  • 2012: Race shortened due to rain.

Multiple winners (drivers)

Wins Driver Years won
3 Jeff Gordon 1997, 1999, 2004
Matt Kenseth 2006, 2007, 2009
Jimmie Johnson 2002, 2010, 2016
2 Kyle Busch 2013, 2014

Multiple winners (teams)

Wins Team Years won
7 Roush Fenway Racing 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
6 Hendrick Motorsports 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2016
3 Team Penske 2000, 2001, 2015
2 Joe Gibbs Racing 2013, 2014

Manufacturer wins

Wins Manufacturer Years won
10 Ford 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015
9 Chevrolet 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017
2 Toyota 2013, 2014

History

  • 1997: After nearly a decade, NASCAR came back to Southern California on June 22 with the inaugural California 500. The race featured 21 lead changes among a dozen different drivers. Jeff Gordon passed Mark Martin with 11 laps remaining and sped to victory. Terry Labonte took second, giving Hendrick Motorsports another 1-2 finish.
  • 2002: There were ten drivers who failed to finish the race; with five of the drivers forcing to leave the race due to terminal crashes while five other drivers had engine issues. Nearly 10% of the 199-minute race was held under a caution flag and the average green flag run was approximately 38 laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s unfortunate accident forced NASCAR to pass a regulation forcing drivers to take the ambulance ride to the infield care center every time they crashed; he did not admit to have this injury until mid-September. At the end, Jimmie Johnson holds off Kurt Busch to score his first career win.
  • 2008: The race started on Sunday, completing only 87 laps with 7 yellow flags and 2 red flags. One red flag was caused on lap 21 during the first day when Casey Mears spun upon hitting water that had seeped up through cracks in the track, collided with Dale Earnhardt Jr., then got turned over on his roof by Sam Hornish Jr.. NASCAR postponed the remainder of the event to Monday due to a lengthy red flag for rain. The rain delay on Sunday also delayed the Stater Brothers 300 to Monday. Carl Edwards would go on to win the event, while he finished 5th in the Nationwide Series race.
  • 2013: Kyle Busch won after Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin crashed fighting hard for the lead on the last lap. Busch also took the weekend sweep by winning the Nationwide race the day before. It is the first Fontana victory in the Sprint Cup Series both for Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. From 2011-2013, Busch finished in a reverse order: 3rd (2011), 2nd (2012) and 1st (2013). The last lap crash between Logano and Hamlin sent Hamlin into the inside wall (without a SAFER Barrier) head-on. As a result, he suffered a compression fracture of his L1 vertebra in his back, which forced him to miss four races.
  • 2014: Denny Hamlin missed the race when he came down with a sinus infection that impacted his vision about an hour before the race, necessitating Joe Gibbs Racing to hire Sam Hornish, Jr. to drive the car. The race was marred by a massive rash of tire failures, with over 20 tire failures happening in the race itself. Multiple drivers, like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Marcos Ambrose, and more, fell victim to tire failures and had to work their way back through the field to salvage a lead lap finish. A spin by Clint Bowyer with two laps to go set up a dramatic green-white-checkered finish. Over the second-to-last lap, the field went five wide, with Kurt Busch leading. Over the last lap, Kyle Busch and Nationwide race winner Kyle Larson overtook Kurt for the lead. A side-by-side battle for the lead between Busch and Larson nicknamed the "Kyle and Kyle Show" unfolded. Larson looked like he was going to win his first Sprint Cup race, but Busch cleared and moved in front of Larson out of turn 4 and took his second straight win at Auto Club. There were a race high 35 lead changes among 15 leaders.

Television broadcasters

Year Network Lap-by-lap Color commentator(s)
1997 ABC Bob Jenkins Benny Parsons
Ned Jarrett
1998
1999
2000
2001 Fox Mike Joy Darrell Waltrip
Larry McReynolds
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016 Darrell Waltrip
Jeff Gordon

References

  1. NASCAR announces schedule realignment for 2005 Cup season
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links


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Good Sam 500
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Auto Club 400
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STP 500