It’s time to move on from NASCAR’s “West Coast Swing”, but not before we conclude the trip this week with one last stop in California for the Auto Club 400.
The Auto Club Speedway at Fontana is one of the fastest tracks on the calendar, so we should expect some great action ahead. Old-timer Jimmie Johnson won this race last year, but will one of the circuit’s younger stars exhibit greater speed and poise this Sunday than the living legend? Let’s find out more below about this week’s drivers worth keeping our eyes on.
If you thought we could easily write off 41-year-old Jimmie Johnson in 2017, think again.
Although the all-time great has yet to taste gold this season, he’s gradually improved his finish since ending up a distant 34th at Daytona, recently ending up a decent ninth at Phoenix last week. And if there’s a event wherein the California native can get back on the winning path, it would be this week’s race.
Simply put, there’s nobody else that can compare to Johnson’s resume in Fontana. He leads all active drivers with six wins on the course – five coming from his last 13 starts – as well as laps led (980) and driver rating (119.7 – over 10 points better than the driver behind him).
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson sure have a lot in common. They haven’t been their dominant selves this season thus far, and both of them grew up in Cali and have had great success on this week’s course.
Harvick may have only one win at Fontana to his credit from back in 2011, but it’s not as if he’s been taking races in his hometown for granted. In fact, the Bakersfield-born standout has secured back-to-back runner-up finishes on the course in his last couple of starts.
Sleepers
Kyle Larson
Speaking of back-to-back runner-up finishes, how does three-straight second-place finishes sound? Well, that’s exactly what sizzling-hot up-and-comer Kyle Larson has put together across his last three starts.
With such fantastic form, Larson is now the current leader in the drivers standings. An unfortunate accident wasn’t in his plans for his debut in Fontana last season, but he did pick up his first and only Cup Series win that same year at Michigan International Speedway, which is a 2.0-mile track that runs very similarly to this week’s course in Fontana.
Oh, and did we mention that Larson is a Golden State product as well? The stars are aligning for the 24-year-old to finally win his first race of the season indeed, so it’s also a good time right now to bank on Larson at +1,200 as this season’s Cup Series champion before his price shoots through the roof.
Kyle Busch
Harvick’s Stewart-Hass Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, appears to have set his competitive nature into overdrive after his minor brawl with Joey Logano in his hometown of Las Vegas. He finished a superb third last Sunday in Phoenix after failing to crack the top 15 in the three prior races.
Like Jimmie J, you’ll be banking on Busch this week given his terrific track record in Fontana. He has three lifetime wins on this week’s course, has secured no less than a podium finish in four of his last five starts, and he’s actually that guy right behind Johnson from we mentioned earlier with his sweet driver rating of 109.0.
Long Shot
Cole Whitt
With three full seasons of Cup Series experience under his belt already, you’d think that 25-year-old Cole Whitt would’ve found relative success by now. Sadly, he doesn’t have a single top-10 finish to his credit to date just yet. We can’t even count his top-10 finishes at this year’s and 2015’s Daytona-qualifying races at the Can-Am Duel either, as those races did not merit any race points for the season whatsoever.
By the way, Whitt is the fourth of five California natives on this here feature. However, this is one West Coast driver that you’d rather want to steer away from with your weekly NASCAR wagers in general.
Writer’s Prediction
Time to buy into all the hype! Larson wins his first race of 2017.
