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Auto Club 500 Race Report

03.20.16

Auto Club 500 Race Report

Date: March 20, 2016

Event: Auto Club 400 (Round 5 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Location: Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California (2-mile oval)

Start/Finish: 31st/38th (Accident, completed 120 of 205 laps)

Point Standing: 29th (72 points)

Winner: Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports in overtime (Chevrolet)

 

Danica Patrick and the No. 10 TaxAct Chevrolet SS team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) wound up with a 38th-place finish in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, after midrace contact with the No. 5 car of Kasey Kahne sent Patrick into the wall and ended the team’s day.

 

Patrick started the race from the 31st position but quickly moved forward, cracking the top-25 at lap three and breaking into the top-20 at lap 31. She fought a tight-handling racecar for much of the event, and crew chief Billy Scott called for wedge and air pressure adjustments on each trip to pit road to improve the car’s handling. Patrick ran as high as 16th before Kahne made contact at lap 120 with the right-rear quarter panel of the No. 10 Chevrolet, which spun the car directly into the wall.

 

Patrick was evaluated and released from the care center, but her No. 10 TaxAct Chevrolet suffered too much damage to be able to return to the track, relegating the team to a 38th-place finish.

 

“We were on a restart and I had a run on (Kahne), so I went down low,” Patrick said. “I saw him chase me down the track, and then the next thing I know I was getting spun up the track. I don’t know what kind of day he was having, but I just heard he was a lap down. I feel bad if he felt like he was put in a position to have to be that desperate a lap down.

 

“It’s just unfortunate. I was having a pretty good recovery day, kind of like last weekend. I was running good race laps, on the lead lap and back up into the top-20 from a bad starting position. I was looking forward to a good finish and a good off week. Unfortunately, now there is more work to be done at the shop, which is not what they want. We had a good TaxAct Chevy. Billy did a good job with the setup for today, and we were moving forward.”

 

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, led the four-car SHR contingent Sunday by finishing second. He started second and led nine times for 142 laps en route to his sixth top-five in 23 career Sprint Cup starts at the 2-mile oval.

 

Brian Vickers, interim driver of the No. 14 Janssen/Arnie’s Army Charitable Foundation Chevrolet SS for SHR as he subs for the injured Tony Stewart, finished 13th. It was Vickers’ 16th career Sprint Cup start at Fontana and marked his best finish in three races with the No. 14 Chevrolet team.

 

Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevrolet SS for SHR, started 26th and finished 30th. It was his 23rd career Sprint Cup start at Fontana.

 

Jimmie Johnson won the Auto Club 400 to score his 77th career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his sixth at Fontana.

 

Harvick finished .772 of a second behind Johnson in the runner-up spot, while Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top-five. Chase Elliott, Carl Edwards, AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski and Jamie McMurray comprised the remainder of the top-10.

 

There were six caution periods for 33 laps, with four drivers failing to finish the 205-lap race.

 

With round five of 36 complete, Harvick leads SHR in the championship point standings. He is first with 195 points, 11 ahead of Johnson. Busch is seventh with 148 points, 47 out of first. Patrick is 29th with 72 points, 123 out of first. Vickers is 36th with 48 points, 147 out of first.

 

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Martinsville 500 on Sunday, April 3, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX Sports 1.