5-wide racing on tap for fans at Auto Club 400

When we say “don’t blink, you might miss a great finish at Auto Club Speedway,” we really mean it.  Or maybe Clint Bowyer said it best following October’s NASCAR Sprint Cup event: “They say you’re only as good as your last race.  Well, for this place, that was a heck of a race.”

Based on margins of victory in the past eight races at Auto Club Speedway, it’s a safe bet that the Auto Club 400 on Sunday, March 27 will go down to the wire — again.

In October, in what many agree was the most exciting show Auto Club Speedway ever put on,  Tony Stewart in his No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet took his first checkered flag at Southern California’s premier motorsports facility with a 0.466 win over Clint Bowyer.  Those types of finishes seem to be the standard at ACS lately as the past eight races have ended in margins of victory of just over one second or less.

Need proof?  Following is a chart for the past eight races at Auto Club Speedway.

DATE

RACE

MARGIN OF VICTORY

WINNER

Oct. 2010 (NSCS)

Pepsi MAX 400

0.466 seconds

Tony Stewart

Oct. 2010 (NNS)

Camping world.com 300

1.034 seconds

Kyle Busch

Feb. 2010 (NSCS)

Auto Club 500

1.523 seconds

Jimmie Johnson

Feb. 2010 (NNS)

Stater Bros. 300

0.051 seconds

Kyle Busch

Oct. 2009 (NSCS)

Pepsi 500

1.603 seconds

Jimmie Johnson

Oct. 2009 (NNS)

Copart 300

0.514 seconds

Joey Logano

Feb. 2009 (NSCS)

Auto Club 500

1.463 seconds

Matt Kenseth

Feb. 2009 (NNS)

Stater Bros. 300

1.011 seconds

Kyle Busch

Auto Club Speedway PR