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On to next week at Martinsville Speedway where 43 drivers will be looking to go to victory lane and claim a historic grandfather clock. Thanks for joining me Mark Smith here on VAVEL USA

What a great race today from the Auto Club Speedway and I hope you enjoyed watching it as much as me

Post race: Good finishes for some unexpected drivers today as Justin Allgaier came home 12th, Chris Buescher finished 20th and Stewart who needed a good result was 14th

Post race: Keselowski told Fox after the race in victory lane: "I think we definitely stole one here today because those other cars were stronger out there."

Post race: It was heart break for Busch who comes home 3rd after having what looked like the strongest car all weekend

Post race: Statistically this was Keselowski's worst track on the schedule but after today's victory he has booked his place in the Chase after leading a total of one lap all race

Post race: Harvick came home 2nd to extend his top two finishes to eight races, fantastic work from the defending champion

Post race: What a finish to the race! Keselowski passed Busch as they came into turn one on the final lap, could have been a caution when Biffle crashed on the front straight but NASCAR let them race

Chequered Flag: ​BRAD KESELOWSKI WINS THE AUTO CLUB 400

White Flag: ​Busch Leads

GWC #2: Green flag back out for the second attempt to finish this AutoClub 400!

GWC #1: Caution #7; Debris on the back straight away as Larson #42 lost his rear fender panel

GWC #1: Here we go for the first attempt at finishing this race with Gordon #24 and Stewart #14 starting on the front row after staying out. GREEN FLAG!

2 to go: This caution sets up a Green White Chequered finish

2 to go: ​Caution #6; Debris in turn four

5 to go: Busch and Harvick are putting some distance on Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 3rd

9 to go: ​Busch back to the lead and the #41 looks very strong

11 to go: Green flag back in the air. Who's going to victory lane at Auto Club?

14 to go: Leaders are on pit road under caution and Harvick goes back to the point as Kenseth breaks an axle leaving his pit box

15 to go: ​Caution #5; Debris on the track in turn two and this changes everything

20 to go: Kenseth remains out front from Harvick, can the driver of the #20 stop the driver of the #4 completing the sweep on the west coast

23 to go: Stewart #14, who has fallen to 20th, reported that Truex Jr #78 drove across his nose and now it has damage

26 to go: Here comes the closer as Harvick is into 3rd and just one second behind Kenseth and Busch

29 to go: Keselowski, Harvick and Johnson battling for 3rd as Busch closes on Kenseth for the lead

32 to go: Four car battle for the lead between Kenseth, Keselowski, Busch and Johnson

37 to go: ​Kenseth has a slender lead out front over Busch as Hornish Jr returns to the track 52 laps down

43 to go: ​Green flag back in the air and Kenseth brings them into turn one

46 to go: Leaders on pit road and Kenseth #20 regains the lead ahead of Busch #41

47 to go: ​Caution #4; Debris on the track at the front straightaway and the yellow is out on lap 153

Lap 150: Three quarter point; Harvick out front by one second over Busch with Kenseth, Logano and Johnson making up the top five

Lap 144: Harvick back to the lead after passing team mate Busch out of turn two

Lap 141: Busch just manages to keep the lead from Harvick as they get caught in lap traffic

Lap 138: Leaders on pit road for their latest stops as Busch reports that he had hit the wall

Lap 130: Paul Menard in the #27 has reported that the gauges on his car are climbing, he is currently 7th

Lap 125: Busch #41 has opened up his lead over team mate Harvick #4 to 1.5 seconds

Lap 118: Busch and Harvick have extended their lead out front over Logano in 3rd to six seconds

Lap 113: Truex Jr #78 and Stewart #14 seem to have stabalised in P6 and P9 respectively

Lap 110: Sprint Cup Series debutant Chris Buescher in the #34 is inside the top 20 after getting back on the lead lap

Lap 107: Busch and Harvick back to 1-2 as Stewart and Truex Jr went backwards on the start

Lap 105: Green flag back out once again in Fontana for the Auto Club 400

Lap 100: Halfway; Martin Truex Jr #78 gets the lead for the first time after the pit stops with Stewart #14, Busch #41, Hamlin #11 and Logano #22 the top five

Lap 98: Caution #3; Sam Hornish Jr in the #9 gets turned into the wall by Trevor Bayne #6 out of turn two

Lap 96: Pole sitter Busch #41 back to the lead out off turn for passing Kenseth #20

Lap 93: ​Green flag back in the air and we are racing again at Auto Club Speedway

Lap 89: Leaders on pit road and Kenseth #20 wins the race off pit road to regain the lead ahead of Busch #41

Lap 87: Caution #2; Debris on the track, Austin Dillon #3 will be the beneficiary of the free pass

Lap 86: The fast pace of the leaders means that Hamlin has already lapped up to 21st place of the 43 drivers

Lap 82: Maybe Biffle was right about Roush Fenway Racing as all three of their cars are a lap down

Lap 75: Couple of shout outs to Brian Scott in the #33 and Stewart in the #14 as they are up to P11 and P15 respectively

Lap 70: Harvick has cut Hamlins lead to just over two seconds as pole sitter Busch is one second further back

Lap 64: More woes for Ragan in the #18 as he is penalised for an uncontrolled tyre in his pit stop and as the stops cycle round Hamlin now has a three second lead over Harvick

Lap 62: Green flag pit stops are underway starting with Stewart from 16th

Lap 58: ​Hamlin has extended his lead over Harvick to around two seconds as they begin too lap the tail end of the field

Lap 50: A quarter of the race is in the books and Hamlin continues to lead from Harvick, Busch, Kenseth and Logano make up the top five

Lap 46: ​Harvick has moved up to 2nd as Kenseth drops to 4th

Lap 41: It has been 30 races since a Toyota went to victory lane but it looks good so far as Hamlin and Kenseth are 1-2

Lap 33: Hamlin to the lead in turns 3 and 4 after passing team mate Kenseth

Lap 31: ​Patrick in the #10 has had a great start to the race and is up to P13

Lap 29: Kenseth holds the lead on the first lap after the restart

Lap 28: Green flag back in the air and we are racing again in Fontana

Lap 25: ​All of the leaders onto pit road under the caution and Kenseth #20 wins the race off pit road followed by Hamlin #11

Lap 24: Caution #1; Trouble for the #18 of Ragan as Gordon #24 gets him loose and he spins out

Lap 20: Leader Harvick has begun to catch the tail end of the field of 43 cars starting with Matt Dibenedetto in the #83

Lap 15: Harvick and Busch now have a five second advantage over 3rd placed driver Denny Hamlin in the #11

Lap 9: Matt Kenseth moves upto 3rd as Ragan drops to 5th as Hamlin passes him as well

Lap 7: Harvick to the lead into turn one, he and Busch have a 2.5 second lead over Ragan

Lap 5: ​Busch has a half a second lead over team mate Harvick as David Ragan is 3rd

Lap 1: ​Pole sitter Busch leads the first lap as they are three wide in the pack

Pace car has pulled off and here they come, green flag is in the air "BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY LETS GO RACING BOYS AND GIRLS!"​

Problems for Jeff Gordon #24 on pit road as he doesn't get rolling and is still getting his helmet and hans device fitted

The engines have been fired and the cars will shortly be rolling off pit road, not long now until 200 action packed laps around this 2 mile oval in Fontana California

Now for the most famous words in motorsports "Drivers start your engines!"

Bit of pre race Auto Club information for you: The most cautions in a race here was 12 and the least was a measly 1 back in 2012

Here we go pre-race ceremonies are underway at Auto Club Speedway starting with the invocation and the American National Anthem

Michael Waltrips grid walk on FoxSports pre-race as entertaining as ever, getting a behind the scenes look at what the drivers are feeling before a race goes green

After his 2nd place finish in this race last year former rookie of the year at Kyle Larson will be looking to go one better and get his first victory in the Sprint Cup Series today

Kurt Busch told FoxSports reporter Matt Yocum: "This is a team effort and without them this #41 team wouldn't be anything but now that I'm on the front row there is a lot more pressure on me."

Greg Biffle driver of the #16 for Roush Fenway Racing made controversial comments about his team the other day when he said they were "dying a slow death", could those comments help him to push on and get to victory lane or will they hinder the #16 team?

Vickers has been speaking to FoxSports reporter Chris Neville before todays AutoClub 400: "Today is okay I just wish I was behind the wheel of this #55 car."

On a FoxSports vote Kurt Busch is the favourite to end Kevin Harvicks sweep here today at Auto Club Speedway with 29% of the vote from viewers

Just one hour to go until 43 drivers will start thundering around AutoClub Speedway at 200+ mph for 200 laps, who will book their spot in the Chase?

Some news just reaching us that driver of the #55 Brian Vickers will be out of action in the Sprint Cup Series for three months. Get well soon Brian

NASCAR's seconds most popular driver Danica Patrick, who drives the GoDaddy #10, is someone who could pick up a good finish today as she normally shines when driving on these fast and wide tracks on the calendar

With just over two hours to go before the drop of the green flag at AutoClub Speedway who are your picks for the race winner? Let me know on Twitter via @Marksmiggzy17

The race starts at 3:30 PM EST, so stay on this LIVE NASCAR Racing on VAVEL for minute-by-minute updates.

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My pick for today's race is going to be Harvick as he has just been so dominant in the west coast swing and I believe that he will complete the sweep and hold off his team mate Kurt Busch when it comes to getting the chequered flag

Today's race coverage will begin on TV at 3:30pm ET on FOX and the green flag is set to drop at around 3:50pm ET when Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick will bring them to the line

The track is a 1.5 mile oval; An average duration for a Sprint Cup Series race is 2 hours and 46 minutes; Kyle Busch was the winner of last year’s race and a fuel window is 40 laps

Some track facts and race facts ahead of today's AutoClub 400:

Stewart will start the race in 20th and has not had a finish inside the top 30 so far this season, but in the last five races at AutoClub Speedway Stewart has gone to victory lane twice and has a good opportunity to do the same today

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Another big name driver who needs a good finish today is Stewart Haas Racing co-owner and driver of the #14 Rush Truck Centre Chevrolet is Tony Stewart

Six time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson in the Lowes #48 Chevrolet will start today's race in 14th after struggling for pace in Friday's qualifying effort

Here is the top 10 starting lineup for today's AutoClub 400: 1st Kurt Busch; 2nd Kevin Harvick; 3rd Matt Kenseth; 4th David Ragan; 5th Kyle Larson; 6th Denny Hamlin; 7th Jeff Gordon; 8th Brad Keselowski; 9th Ryan Newman and 10th Brad Keselowski

In Sprint Cup Series qualifying on Friday night Joey Logano in the #22 of Team Penske failed to make the third round of qualifying for the first time in 18 months and he will start today's race in 13th position

There was some hard luck for Darrell Wallace Jr in the #6 as he drove his way to the lead with 100 laps gone in the race but had some issues on the last restart after the third caution of the race and fell back to 12th where he would finish the race

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Points leader in the XFinity Series Ty Dillon in the #3 car could only manage to finish 14th but still kept hold of the points lead leaving AutoClub Speedway by a slender 5 points over Buescher

Defending XFinity Series champion Chase Elliott in the Napa #9 car was 4th and Chris Buescher in the #60 rounded out the top five after being another driver to battle his way inside the top five after starting outside the top ten

Pole sitter for yesterday's race Erik Jones driving the GameStop #20 came home in 3rd after driving inside the top ten during all of the race, he drove like a veteran and not an 18 year old in his first season

Brendan Gaughan who was driving the #62 was 2nd in last night race after battling through a group of cars on the final restart with 30 laps to go

XFinity Series regulars definitely held their own last night as Harvick was the only Sprint Cup Series driver to finish inside the top five

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He will be looking to complete the sweep this weekend at AutoClub Speedway after going to victory lane in the NASCAR XFinity Series race, the Drive4Clots.com 300, last night after storming to victory by leading 100 of the 150 laps

The last two races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway have been won by Harvick and he has dominated in both of the races

Harvick is the defending Sprint Cup Series champion, after winning the title last season, and is looking to complete a run of three victories in a row during NASCAR's west coast swing

Stewart Haas Racing driver and team mate of Busch, Kevin Harvick, will start alongside him on the front row in the #4 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet

Busch has dominated the weekend so far by being fast in every practice session that has taken place and then grabbing the Coors Light Pole Award on Friday evening

Motorsport.com

Kurt Busch, drivers of the #41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, will start on pole for today's race after returning to the track last week following his ban for domestic abuse to former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll

I'm Mark Smith and I will be bringing you all of the action in today's race from the drop of the green flag until post-race coverage after the chequered has been displayed

Welcome to today’s coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race live from AutoClub Speedway in Fontana California for the running of the AutoClub 400

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About the author
Mark Smith
Writer for VAVEL USA as a NASCAR writer in the Racing section. Contact me via Twitter @Marksmiggzy17 or email: [email protected]