Welcome to The Pace Lap, your catchall preview post! Let's get you started on race weekend with a metric truckload of stats, facts, opinion and innuendo.
The race: Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, California, 3:30 on Sunday, Oct. 11
The specs: 250 laps on a two-mile track
The broadcasts: ABC, plus the live chat right here on Yahoo! Sports.
Defending champ: Jimmie Johnson. It's the Chase, remember. He never ever ever loses in the Chase. And that photo does so much to disprove the whole "robot" thing.
The standings leaders: Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson (-18), Juan Pablo Montoya (-51)
Previously, at Auto Club Speedway: Matt Kenseth won the second race of the season and his second in a row after taking the Daytona 500. And he was off and running, beginning a season-long run of triumph that would culminate in, um ... you know what? Let's move along ...
The appropriate video: Here's a video that I think captures perfectly how exciting and thrilling the California race is:
Ha! Kidding! Of course that wasn't California, there was far too much threat of violence. No, here's a shot from last year of -- get this -- actual action on the track! Play 'em off, Keyboard Casey:
Guy with the most to gain: Juan Pablo Montoya. He's hung around the top of the rankings for the first three races, longer than pretty much anybody could have possibly expected. So every week that he's in the top 5 is gravy for him. And everyone knows Montoya loves gravy! (Actually, I have no idea if he loves gravy or not.)
Guy with the most to lose: Denny Hamlin. Last week in this space, we picked Gordon and Tony Stewart. Smoke went out and won the race, putting himself back in the championship hunt, and Gordon finished second, which is pretty good too. So now the burden shifts to Hamlin to put himself back in the hunt.
Our pick to win: Johnson. Yes, I'm going as safe as possible. Deal with it.
All right, you're up. Who's your pick for this weekend? Go!
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