Chase for the Cup continues Sunday night in Fontana

Posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 5:36 AM EDT.

The Race: Pepsi 500
The Place: Auto Club Speedway
The Date: Sunday, Aug. 31
The Time: 8 p.m. (ET)
The Track: 2-mile oval
The Distance: 500 miles/250 laps
TV: ESPN, 7 p.m. (ET)

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to Southern California this weekend for the Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway. With only two races remaining before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the 12 Chase participants are far from set.

Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Budweiser Dodge) was caught up in a seven-car accident at Bristol and finished 40th, dropping him to 14th in driver standings. Only 101 points separate the drivers currently in positions 11 through 14. Denny Hamlin (11th), Clint Bowyer (12th) and David Ragan (13th) each moved up one position as a result of Kahne’s Bristol mishaps.

For Kahne, a ninth-place finish earlier in the year at the Auto Club 500 in Fontana is an encouraging sign heading into the weekend. In Kahne’s nine prior races at the Auto Club Speedway, he has one win, three top-five and six top-10 finishes, including the win in 2006 where he led 130 laps en route to victory.

“I like California,” said Kahne. “We’ve usually been pretty strong on that type of track and we’ve had some success there before, so coming off a disappointing weekend at Bristol, it’s definitely good to be going to a track you feel you can run well at.”

Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman (No. 12 Kodak Dodge Charger) moved up two spots (15th) in the NSCS driver standings after his hard fought sixth-place finish last weekend in Bristol. Despite being 181 points out of the final Chase position, Newman’s outside chance of making top-12 won’t discourage his spirits on the final races of the season.

“It’s really important to me that we finish on a strong note with this Kodak Dodge team,” said Newman. “We are still battling for that last spot in the Chase, and even though we have quite a bit of ground to make up, we’re not giving up. If we don’t get that spot, then our goal will be to finish 13th in points. Whatever the situation, I’m here to win and so are the guys on this team. Last weekend, the guys did a great job. We didn’t have a great car in practice, but they hustled and really battled and we ended up finishing sixth. I was really proud of them because that is a good day at Bristol. We’re going into California with momentum and the mentality that we are going to do whatever we can to get a solid finish — just like we were able to do last weekend at Bristol.”

Other notes:

• Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 77 Penske Truck Rental Dodge) who finished 37th last weekend in Bristol, currently sits 35th in owner point standings and the final locked-in position. Hornish Jr. is second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings, two points behind Regan Smith.
• Elliott Sadler’s (No. 19 McDonald’s Dodge Charger) last trip to Victory Lane came four years ago this weekend at California Speedway. In 2004, Sadler started 17th and raced his way through the field to lead 59 laps and record his third career win. He currently sits 20th in driver points.
• Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) has one win, three top-five and five top-10 finishes in 12 career starts in Fontana. He has three career poles, including the pole for last year’s September race.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 5:36 AM EDT and is filed under Motorsports. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are currently closed.