Robby Gordon led the first laps of the season for JR Motorsports two weeks ago at Michigan. Credit: Autostock

California trip has Robby Gordon dreamin' of win

To lift trophy at Fontana, everyone must dethrone Roush Racing

Saturday sounds like a repeat of two weeks ago.

A 2-mile racetrack; a large stage for sponsors and manufacturers to show their progress; and the ringleader of everyone is Jack Roush.

California Boys Drivers from the Golden State Driver Hometown Stanton Barrett Bishop Robby Gordon Orange Kevin Harvick Bakersfield Jimmie Johnson El Cajon P.J. Jones Torrance Burney Lamar W. Sacramento Jason Leffler Long Beach Casey Mears Bakersfield Auggie Vidovich Lakeside BACK FOR WORK Auggie Vidovich is glad to be going home. Almost as glad as he was to get away.  Vidovich, who is from Lakeside, Calif., will make his first trip to California Speedway in a Busch car for Saturday's Ameriquest 300.  "Returning home to SoCal means In and Out Burgers, checking in on my favorite San Diego baseball and football teams, and hanging out with my family, friends and all the guys I worked construction with earlier this year," he said.  He won the Southwest Series championship in 2003 and has finished second in the points three times. After working with his father in the family's construction business, Vidovich got his Busch Series break halfway through this season when he was named the driver of the No. 4 Dodge.  Now he's back for some more work in his old stomping ground. And although California Speedway is a different animal from the other Southwest tracks he's tamed, he said he will be ready.  "Every weekend we race against the best in the business on tracks that I have never driven on," Vidovich said. "This weekend, my confidence will be up and I am hoping to put together a run that will be fun to watch for my friends and family in the grandstands."

The only thing missing is Dale Earnhardt Jr. spinning Carl Edwards to win in controversy. Earnhardt's absence is another man's strength. Edwards? Perhaps. Unless Robby Gordon has something to say about it.

"After my last run in the No. 88, I'm ready to get back in the Navy Chevy at Fontana and try to improve on our last run," said Gordon, who sat in the JR Motorsports ride for the first time at Michigan and finished third.

He was running for the lead and pushed it three-wide with Earnhardt and Edwards. But after a green-white-checkered restart, Edwards went spinning, Earnhardt was booed in Victory Lane and Gordon wound up third behind Casey Mears.

"I really thought we were going to get the win, but the team owner beat me to it," said Gordon, who is substituting for the team while driver Shane Huffman gets approved by NASCAR to compete on 1.5-mile tracks and larger.

After leading 11 laps at Michigan -- a track often considered California's cousin -- the JR Motorsports team is shipping the same No. 022 chassis to Gordon's backyard this weekend.

As the Busch Series shifts to its near-Hollywood night-time appearance for Saturday's Ameriquest 300 (10 p.m. ET, TNT), Gordon, who is from nearby Orange, is far from the only local who'll make an appearance.

Nine of the 44 drivers entered are from California; 28 are from west of the Mississippi River. In contrast, Stephen Leicht is the only driver entered whose hometown is listed in NASCAR-rich North Carolina.

But for the ringleader who's drooling at California's Saturday race, Roush may as well count California, like Michigan, as his team's home track. Five of his six drivers are from west of the Mississippi. The only exception is David Ragan, who's filling in this weekend for Danny O'Quinn Jr. for experience purposes, Roush said.

What's more, Roush drivers have won the past six Busch Series races at California, although Matt Kenseth's 2003 victory came while driving a John Reiser-owned car.

Mark Martin has one Busch race at the track -- a victory. He's the only driver to have wins at the track in Cup, Busch, Trucks and IROC.

Edwards has an average finish of 3.3 in three races and won this race a year ago.

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Greg Biffle has won three of the past five races there, including the second race this season. His average finish is 8.7.

Kenseth has won three races at the track and has a 6.0 average finish in 10 races. And he's coming off a weekend at Bristol where he took two-thirds of a sweep for Roush Racing.

"Well, it's going to be hard to top last weekend at Bristol," said Kenseth, who won the Busch and Cup races. "The win last week in the Busch race was pretty special to me."

Before Bristol, Kenseth hadn't won a Busch race in 22 starts, yet he had collected 10 top-five finishes during his part-time schedule the past two seasons.

"It was great to be back in Victory Lane and hopefully we can carry that momentum over into this weekend," said Kenseth's veteran crew chief, Jimmy Fennig.

But to do that, as Edwards found out at Michigan, they'll have a battle on their hands no matter how much room there is to race.

"[California] is a very fast track similar to Michigan with a lot of room to race," Edwards said.

How much room is yet to be determined.

"The car was really strong at Michigan, and with a few small changes it'll be even better at Fontana," Gordon said. "It would be nice to get a win back home, so we'll see what we can do."