NASCAR’s Auto Club four hundred in Southern California – 2016
NASCAR’s Auto Club four hundred in Southern California – 2016
On a beautiful, sunny day in Fontana, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series made its one and only stop in Southern California for the two thousand sixteen season.
Pre-race tech inspection.
Popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., before he was sidelined for most of the season due to an injury (click on the photo to see utter screen)
Gigantic crowds pour onto the track and into the infield before the big race.
The drivers stream into trucks and join the parade around the track.
The Auto Club four hundred was a poke biter right until the end, when California driver and local dearest Jimmie Johnson in his Hendrick Motorsports # forty eight Lowe’s/Superman Chevrolet got quick service in a late race pit stop – under the watchful supervision of his long time team chief Chad Knaus. Jimmie then outsmarted the competition and charged from a few catches sight of back in the field to pass Kevin Harvick – who had led most of the race – for the lead when it counted, on the last lap, to take the checkered flag and victory!
That was how the race ended but for fans of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing, the race to the checkered flag is only the highlight of their weekend. There is so much more to see and do.
Many dedicated NASCAR fan families go after the circuit across the country in their motor homes, taking in as many race weekends as they are able. Long before they take their seats in the grandstands, they park in the grassy infield and set up for the weekend in instant towns, with their kids railing around on their bikes and food cooking on the BBQ.
A large fan zone offers live entertainment, contests, opportunities to meet beloved drivers, all sorts of souvenirs of the various race teams, and a diversity of food to eat and beverages to drink – much like at a county fair.
Standing by for trouble (note the company name — the same as mine!).
The race does not always go according to plan. That's racing.
A big part of going to the races is getting to spend time in the garage area, up close to the colorful race cars as the teams make adjustments to prepare them for qualifying and the race. Guided tours are readily available and, at Auto Club Speedway, race fans may inject a garage and walk along an elevated walkway to see from overhead the teams as they work on their racecars below.
Qualifying is held to determine how the cars will line up to begin the race, but before the cars are permitted to race they must pass tech inspection. Lined up and shoved along by team members, the cars proceed leisurely towards the NASCAR Tech Inspection tent, where an overhead framework is lowered close to the car. Brand-specific templates (Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota) are linked to the framework and placed next to each car, to make sure that their bod dimensions and shapes are in compliance with NASCAR’s rules. Shortly before the big race, fans are permitted to walk along pit lane to see all of the cars lined up. They also gather on the front open up to observe and cheer as the drivers are introduced on the stage, just before they are paraded in pickup trucks around the track.
(Click on the photo to see the entire pic.)
In NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, some rules have the effect of keeping cars close to each other during the race, which makes the racing more arousing. Caution laps, driven at diminished speed for anything from major wrecks to debris spotted on the racetrack, tighten up the field. Under certain circumstances, when there is a caution the nearest lapped car to the leader gets a “free pass” that advances that car by one lap. This gives drivers who have gone laps down the possibility to make up laps.