POS, CAR, DRIVER, MAKE, SPONSOR, SPEED, TIME, BEHIND
1 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont Cromax Pro 185.735 38.765 Leader
2 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 185.519 38.810 -0.045
3 01 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 185.500 38.814 -0.049
4 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 185.424 38.830 -0.065
5 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 185.404 38.834 -0.069

ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN: “It feels great. It’s something that we pride ourselves on year after year, but they’ve been coming a lot farther and fewer between. We just put a great race car out there on the track today and a really nice lap there. I really thought somebody was going to beat us [...]

Jeff Gordon edged Kasey Kahne by 0.045 seconds to win the pole for Sunday’s Auto Club 500 at the California Speedway. The No.24 Hendrick Motorsports driver circled the two-mile speedway, located 50 miles east of Los Angeles, in 38.765 seconds (185.735 m.p.h.).
Gordon is the only Nextel Cup driver with more than one win at Fontana. [...]

Pos, Car #, Drive,r Manu, Time secs, Speed mph, Fast Lap, Laps Run
1 13 Joe Nemechek CertainTeed/Ginn Resorts Chevy 38.873 185.219 4 7
2 07 Clint Bowyer Jack Daniel’s Chevy 38.965 184.781 9 9
3 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Cromax Pro Chevy 38.980 184.710 9 9
4 20 Tony Stewart Home Depot Chevy 39.086 184.209 17 17
5 01 [...]

NASCAR announced today that one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series crew member has been fined and suspended and two crew chiefs penalized due to rule violations leading up to and during the Feb. 16 event at Daytona International Speedway.
Richard Riley, crew member of the No. 88 Chevrolet, has been fined $5,000 and suspended for the next [...]

Roush Racing’s 50-50 partnership with John Henry’s Fenway Sports Group, finally announced last week at Daytona International Speedway, might show an immediate return. One of the Boston Red Sox’s longtime partners, Gulf Oil, has expressed an interest in a sponsorship position with Roush.
Gulf, a Fenway Sports Group client based in Chelsea, Mass., distributes motor fuels [...]

Might Shell reduce or pull their sponsorship from Childress Racing?
A Shell executive said that Kevin Harvick will have a different uniform that will include the word “Pennzoil” on it more prominently for the race this weekend at California, but the company will explore its options beyond this weekend.
Kevin Ilges, director of U.S. Social Responsibility and [...]

Owner Chip Ganassi said he would like to expand his Nextel Cup stable to four teams by as early as next season, if he can secure sponsorship. Dan Wheldon, who drives for Ganassi’s IndyCar team attended the Daytona 500 and has been fitted for a seat in a Busch car, is intrigued by the possibility.

KEVIN HARVICK:
California has been a little bit of a struggle for us as a race team the last couple years. It’s probably been one of our worst racetracks, to be honest with you, going in there. We want to go in there and have a solid weekend and see where we fall with everything.It doesn’t [...]

While working for General Motors in Brazil in the 1990s, Brent Dewar got a firsthand look at the country’s successful switch from an oil-based economy to ethanol. Dewar wants to see the same thing happen in the United States, and he thinks NASCAR can help. He’s lobbying officials to consider a switch from gasoline to [...]