Auto Club Fantasy NASCAR Contender or Pretender
[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=auto+club+speedway&iid=8042764″ src=”http://view3.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/8042764/auto-club-500/auto-club-500.jpg?size=500&imageId=8042764″ width=”380″ height=”253″ /]Jimmie Johnson (Contender) – How can you bet against Jimmie Johnson this week at Auto Club Speedway? He’s getting into his traditional Chase roll and he’s won three out of the last four races at California. Auto Club Speedway is Jimmie Johnson’s home track and is the site of his first career win. In the five COT races at Auto Club Speedway Jimmie Johnson has only finished outside the top two once, and that was a ninth place finish.
Kasey Kahne (Pretender) – Kasey Kahne is a previous California winner but I don’t trust him. The consistency of this team hasn’t been there all season long so I certainly don’t expect it to show up now. Kasey Kahne has only led 1 lap in the COT and has finished 34th in the last two Auto Club races.
Kevin Harvick (Contender) – Harvick arguably had the best car the last time the series visited this venue. Unfortunately for him Jimmie Johnson had his lucky horseshoe that day. Other reasons to be optimistic about Kevin Harvick this week are that he won at Michigan, and was very impressive at Kansas.
Ryan Newman (Pretender) – Since 2006 Ryan Newman has only finished in the top ten once at Auto Club Speedway. His lone top ten over this time period was a tenth place finish in the February 2008 race. Since his last top ten Ryan Newman has only finished in the top fifteen once and has an average finish of 23.75.
Jeff Gordon (Contender) – Jeff Gordon is another California native who I think will contend for the win. Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson won the races last year, but Jeff Gordon finished second twice. Gordon’s average running position in both races last year was 3.5.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Pretender) – With no shake up coming in this lame duck portion of the season expect nothing to change about the 88. In the COT era Earnhardt Jr. probably has about the worst average finish. In the COT his average finish is 29.4. He’s finished 11th, 25th, 32nd, 39th, and 40th in the COT.
