The scene is picturesque, but the racing at California Speedway is paint-by-numbers. Credit: Autostock

Cross' Words: Fontana

Reality is perception, but what happens when someone wants to make perception reality?

Welcome to California Speedway, which on Sunday played host to the West Coast premiere of NASCAR for the 2006 season.

Matt Kenseth celebrates in Victory Lane. Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

Auto Club 500 Official Results Pos. Driver Make 1. M. Kenseth Ford 2. J. Johnson Chevy 3. C. Edwards Ford 4. K. Kahne Dodge 5. J. Burton Chevy 6. J. McMurray Ford 7. C. Mears Dodge 8. J.J. Yeley Chevy 9. M. Martin Ford 10. Ky. Busch Chevy • Complete results, click here Victory LaneMatt Kenseth celebrates his California victory Top finishersJohnson, Kahne, Edwards talk about their day Final lapsKenseth holds off the field in a green-white-checkered finish TaggedContact with J.J. Yeley sends Kurt Busch spinning Green flagTroubles for Stewart, Gordon follow them to California Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Think Gigli.

When a four-time champion admits to having trouble staying focused at 180 mph, there's obviously something wrong. "I was a little disappointed in this racetrack," Jeff Gordon said. "Right now, there's no passing. It's just really difficult to put on a good race here."

That's an understatement.

The race should have been sponsored by Select Comfort. Set the alarm, choose your sleep number and Rip Van Winkle it. But that doesn't address the racing issue. Maybe the Car of Tomorrow will. Maybe it won't. In any case, a 2-mile D-shaped oval should be conducive to much better racing.

"I don't know what we've got to do," Gordon said. "I think we've got the cars so good that we're just all running around the bottom of the racetrack."

One after another, single-file.

Speedway president Gillian Zucker said adding banking to the track could be an answer to the freight-train effect. It did wonders for Homestead-Miami Speedway, so maybe NASCAR can catch lightning in a bottle twice.

California is a major component of NASCAR's push toward exposing more people to the sport. The L.A. market could prove to be a boon. But it hasn't yet. The racing -- the thing that fans pay to see -- hasn't been good. The track's midway shopping has been, and that's how Zucker explained the empty seats Sunday.

Nonetheless, owners and drivers understand the importance of being in the second largest market in the United States.

"Los Angeles is a huge, huge market. It's important to NASCAR. It's important to all of our sponsors," team owner Jack Roush said in the post-race news conference. "We've got a reason to want to be here. We need to be here twice a year, but we are building the event.

"There are people that came for the second event last year that hadn't reconciled themselves to buy tickets for the spring event or winter event here, but we have the kind of racing that we're having and gets the coverage that I'm sure that it will receive over a period of time and we'll be able to fill the stands and then in short order they'll be building more stands. That's NASCAR's way.

"If you look at Bristol or Michigan or any of these race tracks that have been around for a while, they just keep building stands in consideration for the ticket sales opportunity they have," Roush said. "This is a big race track. It's a two-mile race track and they've already got a lot of stands up and they'll continue to build it here and it'll be just fine."

Race winner Matt Kenseth didn't want to throw California Speedway under the proverbial bus, but it's clear he understands the problems facing the track.

"I love coming to California," he said, "but when we went to Rockingham ... it's just an awesome race track. You could really race there like we used to race -- spinning the tires and short-track type racing. It was like a week off after being in Daytona for two weeks. I love this place, but I loved going there too."

Getting Hollywood involved with stars and starlets roaming the garages during the prerace festivities is one thing. But fans don't come to see Jewel, Hilary Duff or Fantasia. It's racing, not a pop-culture Who's Who.

Reality is that the racing at California Speedway isn't as good as it should be. Perception is that it could be better. That needs to be the reality.

Eury Jr. and Earnhardt Jr.

Say Anything

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "Yeaaaahhh! I'm the lucky dog! I saw Martin [Truex Jr.] coming in behind me and I thought I was going to have to race for it."

Tony Eury Jr.: "Uhh, Junebug, you're not even close to being a lap down."

Dale Jr.: "What's going on, am I a lap down?"

Tony Jr.: "No, we're on the lead lap. We're 17th, and there are 26 cars on the lead lap."

Dale Jr.: "Oh, I saw that 1 next to my number on the board, and I got nervous because it said there I'm a lap down."

Tony Jr.: "Yeah, that's because nobody is clicking off their deals when they come around. The leaders were so far ahead from the field, I guess it got a little confusing."

-- Radio chatter between the driver and crew chief as the second caution flag flew at Lap 88

Figuratively Speaking

222 -- Career starts for Matt Kenseth. He won his 11th Cup race Sunday, taking the checkers in the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. Kenseth won from the 31st starting position, the deepest a race winner has started at the track.

Sunday was team owner Jack Roush's 90th Cup victory, and he now has won a race in 10 consecutive seasons, dating to 1997. Kenseth has won at least one race in five consecutive years (2002-06).

Inside the Numbers Driver Rankings at Calif. Rank Driver Points 1. M. Kenseth 123.0 2. G. Biffle 120.1 3. J. Johnson 112.7 4. C. Edwards 111.0 5. M. Martin 109.5 6. J. Burton 106.0 7. K. Kahne 102.7 8. T. Stewart 101.9 9. J. McMurray 100.4 10. J.J. Yeley 91.9 Note: Rating formula combines: win, finish, top-15 finish, average running position on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, led most laps, lead-lap finish. Maximum: 150 points per race.

Fast Facts

• Jimmie Johnson has finished first and second in the first two races in 2006. He has ranked among the top-10 in the Cup point standings for 71 consecutive races, a streak that began after race No. 4 (Atlanta) in March 2004. Johnson has finished first or second in four of his seven races at California.

• Kasey Kahne's fourth-place finish vaulted him from 12th to fourth in the point standings, tying his best points ranking set after Atlanta in March 2004. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished 11th, climbed from sixth to fifth in the standings, and returned to the top five for the first time since Daytona in February 2005 ending a 36-race absence.

• Team owner Jack Roush scored the first "triple" since Phoenix in October 2001 when Jeff Burton won the Busch and Cup races and Greg Biffle won the Truck race. At Cali, Mark Martin won the Truck race Friday; Biffle won the Busch race Saturday; Matt Kenseth won the Cup race Sunday.

Up Next

Las Vegas Motor Speedway | 4 p.m. ET | March 12 | FOX

• Only two of the eight races at Las Vegas have been won from a top-10 starting position: the inaugural race in 1998, won by Mark Martin from seventh; and last year's race, won by Jimmie Johnson from ninth. Four of the last five races have been won from starting positions of 17th or further back in the field.

• Jack Roush-owned cars have won five of the eight races at Vegas: Jeff Burton (two), Matt Kenseth (two) and Mark Martin (one). On the flip side, Ken Schrader has yet to score a top-10 finish in eight starts.

• Jeff Green is expected to make his 200th Cup start at Las Vegas, while Jimmie Johnson is expected to make his 150th start.

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Mailbag

Fans sound off:

Get rid of DW's catch phrase. I'm also tired of DW in commercials and in the booth. Hell, I'm just plain tired of DW. It's time for him to finally just shut up! Come to think of it, Jeff Hammond needs to go as well. They both come off as arrogant and biased in their analysis of races. They make you feel like everything is about them and not the racing.
-- Chris Young

How can NASCAR let Tony Stewart brag about taking out Matt Kenseth and do NOTHING. After the race Tony bragged how Kenseth started it and he finished it. Once again we see different punishment for different drivers. I'm not a fan of either 17 or 20 would like to see an even playing field.
-- Robert Simpson

Ryan Newman is as close to a bad loser as it comes. Whining that Jimmie blocked him, of course he did, what was he suppose to do, pull over and say go on by? That's the name of the game. I never thought I'd say this, but, Ryan could take a lesson or two from his new teammate, Kurt Busch. Jeff Gordon did the same thing to him last year, but he didn't whine about saying he should have let me pass. What a wimp.
-- Beth Janousek

Fantasy Perspective

Mark Martin and Tony Stewart have four top-five finishes in eight races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the most among all drivers. Mark Martin has six top-10s, also the most among all drivers, while Stewart has four consecutive top-10s, the longest current streak.

The points front-runners at Vegas:

• Jimmie Johnson has two top-10 finishes in four races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, including one victory (2005). He has never finished worse than 16th and has an 8.5 average finish.

• Casey Mears has posted top-15 finishes in all three of his starts at Las Vegas -- but has yet to lead in 800 laps. His average finish is 9.67.

• Matt Kenseth has scored top-10 finishes in his past three races at Vegas. He has two victories (2003 and '04), and his 9.2 finishing average is fourth among all drivers.

• Kasey Kahne has top-15 finishes in the first two races in 2006; one year ago he ranked 34th in points. In two races at LVMS, Kahne has a second-place and was 38th last year.

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. has just two top- 10 finishes in six starts at Las Vegas. He has finished 35th or worse in his last two races, and has a 21.3 average finish at the 1.5-mile track.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.