Busch is winless, but remains the only driver with top-five finishes in every race thus far. Considering Auto Club for Busch is like Phoenix for Kevin Harvick, there’s a good chance he adds a sticker to his No. 18 ride this weekend.
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Sure, everyone and their uncle picked Harvick to win Phoenix — for good reason — but this was a particularly hard-fought victory with a thrilling battle to the finish with Carl Edwards. Get used to seeing the 4 car tussling with the Joe Gibbs Racing cars for wins the rest of the season.
Johnson’s Phoenix race was admirable, as he was a factor despite starting from the back. It’s been some time since his last home state win at Fontana, but you can’t quite ever count out a driver at a track where he once won four of six, amid 10 straight top 10s.
Hamlin ran his best race since the 500 at Phoenix, but now heads to a track at which he has less than fond memories (wreck that injured his back; eye issue that forced him to miss 2014 race) despite two poles since 2012.
Edwards came within a hundredth of a second of picking up his first win of the year, but he — and all of us, really — came away with the steadfast realization that the No. 19 car is going to have a heck of a year.
Fontana is a place that should be right up Logano’s alley, but his finishing position is statistically much worse than his starting spot. Think that could change at some point, possibly as soon as this weekend as the team rebounds from a subpar Phoenix showing.
Earnhardt nearly picked up a second straight Phoenix win, lining up on the front row for the final restart before finishing fifth. One place he’s never had back-to-back wins — or any victories, for that matter — is Fontana, in 23 starts.
Keselowski and Team Penske need a rebound after a rough go of it in Phoenix. As the defending Auto Club winner — his last before winning at Vegas earlier this season — this weekend should present a good opportunity to do so.
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Busch’s No. 41 has been perhaps the most consistently fast car on the track in 2016, so you’ve got to think he’ll wind up in Victory Lane sooner than later. He’s a former Fontana winner, but that came 13 years ago.
A top-10 machine in 2015, Truex has just two through the first four races. His history at Auto Club isn’t particularly favorable, either, with just four such finishes in 15 starts.
Kenseth finally picked up his first top 10 of the season — crazy, right? — but the No. 20 still looks like the fourth-best JGR entry right now. That said, the fourth-best JGR entry is still better than the first-best on some teams, especially with a driver of Kenseth’s caliber.
At the rate he’s going, Dillon is well on pace to smash all of his current Sprint Cup Series season-bests — four races in. He’s starting to look like less of a Chase sleeper and more of a Chase lock.
Continuing with the youth movement, we’re seeing consistent improvements weekly from Elliott (and Ryan Blaney, more on that below.) As such, the young guns are already starting to push some of the veterans down the line and out of early Chase contention.
Ryan Blaney’s father, Dave, raced in 473 winless Sprint Cup starts. Going to go out on a limb and say the younger Blaney won’t have to wait that long before finding Victory Lane, and it’s starting to feel like it’s becoming imminent.
While he couldn’t rack up his second top-10, Phoenix may have been Larson’s best race of the year thus far. Now we head to a track that feels tailor-made for him, as evidenced by his runner-up finish in his first start there in 2014.
The fact that he drives for Hendrick Motorsports should lend itself to a rebound at some point for Kasey Kahne, but it certainly doesn’t look likely any time soon.
Mentioned last week Almirola would soon get back to his slightly-above average ways. After a 13th-place finish at Phoenix, looks like he’s back on track. He finished 11th at Fontana last year, so look for things to stay about the same this weekend.
Newman finished dead last after a tire issues caused his No. 31 to wreck. Rough start to the season thus far for the veteran, who has yet to find the top 10.
Stenhouse ran into the same tire issue that many drivers faced, and wound up smashing the right side of his No. 17 ride. He’s never found the top 10 at Fontana, but did finish top 15 last season, in what was a down season overall for he and Roush, so a rebound could be in the works.
McMurray re-enters Power Rankings after matching his best finish of the season, but with just six top-10s in 20 starts at Auto Club, don’t expect him to ride the momentum this weekend.