The 2006 Auto Club 500 was the second race of the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. It was held on February 26, 2006 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

2006 Auto Club 500
Race details[1]
Race 2 of 36 in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season
2006 Auto Club 500 program cover
2006 Auto Club 500 program cover
Date February 26, 2006 (2006-February-26)
Official name Auto Club 500
Location Auto Club Speedway
Fontana, California, U.S.
Course Permanent racing facility
2.0 mi (3.23 km)
Distance 251 laps, 502 mi (807.89 km)
Scheduled Distance 250 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Weather Temperatures reaching up to 75.2 °F (24.0 °C); wind speeds up to 8.9 miles per hour (14.3 km/h)
Average speed 147.852 miles per hour (237.945 km/h)
Pole position
Driver Penske Racing
Time 38.485
Most laps led
Driver Greg Biffle Roush Racing
Laps 168
Winner
No. 17 Matt Kenseth Roush Racing
Television in the United States
Network Fox
Announcers Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, and Larry McReynolds

Qualifying

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Pos[2] Car # Driver Make Primary Sponsor Speed Time Behind
1 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 187.086 38.485 0.000
2 16 Greg Biffle Ford Jackson Hewitt / National Guard 186.186 38.671 -0.186
3 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 185.735 38.765 -0.280
4 18 J. J. Yeley Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 185.180 38.881 -0.396
5 11 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet FedEx Kinko's 184.919 38.936 -0.451
6 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Cingular Wireless 184.871 38.946 -0.461
7 5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet Kellogg's 184.800 38.961 -0.476
8 1 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet U.S. Army 184.758 38.970 -0.485
9 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont Hot Hues 184.720 38.978 -0.493
10 6 Mark Martin Ford AAA 184.450 39.035 -0.550
11 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Mobil 1 184.318 39.063 -0.578
12 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 184.303 39.066 -0.581
13 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 184.219 39.084 -0.599
14 10 Scott Riggs Dodge Valvoline / Stanley Tools 184.209 39.086 -0.601
15 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Icebreakers Ice Cubes 184.195 39.089 -0.604
16 38 Elliott Sadler Ford Pedigree 183.767 39.180 -0.695
17 14 Sterling Marlin Chevrolet CENTRIX Auto Finance 183.613 39.213 -0.728
18 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet Budweiser 183.570 39.222 -0.737
19 88 Dale Jarrett Ford UPS 183.566 39.223 -0.738
20 42 Casey Mears Dodge Texaco / Havoline 183.524 39.232 -0.747
21 19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 183.397 39.259 -0.774
22 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 183.360 39.267 -0.782
23 1 Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 183.173 39.307 -0.822
24 22 Dave Blaney Dodge Caterpillar 183.155 39.311 -0.826
25 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 183.090 39.325 -0.840
26 66 Jeff Green Chevrolet Best Buy 183.020 39.340 -0.855
27 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 183.020 39.340 -0.855
28 25 Brian Vickers Chevrolet GMAC 182.913 39.363 -0.878
29 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Energizer e2 Lithium 182.820 39.383 -0.898
30 95 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet hairofdog.com 182.801 39.387 -0.902
31 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT Power Tools 182.588 39.433 -0.948
32 7 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 182.486 39.455 -0.970
33 55 Michael Waltrip Dodge NAPA Auto Parts 182.454 39.462 -0.977
34 7 Robby Gordon Chevrolet Jim Beam 182.380 39.478 -0.993
35 51 Mike Garvey Chevrolet Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil 182.320 39.491 -1.006
36 78 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing 182.306 39.494 -1.009
37 61 Kevin Lepage Ford RoadLoans.com 182.242 39.508 -1.023
38 4 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet AERO Exhaust 182.007 39.559 -1.074
39 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Wells Fargo 181.461 39.678 -1.193
41 40 David Stremme Dodge Coors Light 181.005 39.778 -1.293
41 21 Ken Schrader Ford Little Debbie 179.341 40.147 -1.662
42 49 Brent Sherman Dodge Serta 178.169 40.411 -1.926
43 96 Terry Labonte Chevrolet DLP HDTV / Tweeter 181.059 39.766 -1.281
Failed to qualify or withdrew
44 32 Travis Kvapil Chevrolet Tide
45 00 Hermie Sadler Ford Aaron's Dream Machine
46 74 Derrike Cope Dodge MyGuardian911
47 34 Randy LaJoie Dodge Front Row Motorsports
48 89 Morgan Shepherd Dodge Victory In Jesus / Dutch Quality Stone
WD 50 Jimmy Spencer Dodge

Summary

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Body styles and engines were the story of the second race of the Nextel Cup season. Kurt Busch won the pole (187.086 mph) using a 2004 Dodge Intrepid-styled body, as opposed to the new Dodge Charger, which his Penske Racing team believed was aerodynamically superior. Bobby Labonte and the #43 team ran the Intrepid as well. Others, including Evernham Motorsports drivers Jeremy Mayfield and Kasey Kahne, drove the Charger.

On race day, Greg Biffle dominated, leading 168 of the first 218 laps. Biffle won last year's spring race at California, finished second in the fall, and had won the Busch race the day before. Tony Stewart was the fastest Chevy in the early going. He overcame the car falling off the jack on a pit stop and an unscheduled stop for a flat tire to claw his way back among the leaders only to have an engine failure at lap 215, ending a string of 30 straight races without a DNF. Biffle continued up front until lap 226. He reported to the crew that his engine had lost a cylinder and a few laps later, he retired to the garage. This left Matt Kenseth to take the lead and only a late-race caution kept him from pulling away. Smoke and oil from the #4 car of Scott Wimmer brought out a yellow with three laps to go. Kenseth easily held off Jimmie Johnson in the green-white-checker finish to earn his 11th career win.

Race results

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Fin St Driver Car # Make Points Bonus Laps Winnings
1 31 Matt Kenseth 17 Ford 185 5 251 $324,991
2 3 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 170 251 $235,936
3 22 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 165 251 $165,550
4 13 Kasey Kahne 9 Dodge 165 5 251 $166,239
5 6 Jeff Burton 31 Chevrolet 155 251 $158,970
6 25 Jamie McMurray 26 Ford 150 251 $142,375
7 20 Casey Mears 42 Dodge 146 251 $140,858
8 4 J. J. Yeley * 18 Chevrolet 147 5 251 $140,075
9 10 Mark Martin 6 Ford 143 5 251 $104,800
10 7 Kyle Busch 5 Chevrolet 134 251 $105,225
11 18 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 8 Chevrolet 135 5 251 $132,366
12 5 Denny Hamlin * 11 Chevrolet 127 251 $104,575
13 9 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 129 5 251 $127,261
14 32 Clint Bowyer * 7 Chevrolet 121 251 $100,425
15 23 Martin Truex Jr. * 1 Chevrolet 118 251 $114,383
16 1 Kurt Busch 2 Dodge 120 5 251 $144,558
17 19 Dale Jarrett 88 Ford 112 251 $133,050
18 28 Brian Vickers 25 Chevrolet 109 250 $97,625
19 14 Scott Riggs 10 Dodge 106 250 $88,925
20 11 Ryan Newman 12 Dodge 103 250 $132,683
21 29 Reed Sorenson * 41 Dodge 100 250 $97,875
22 21 Jeremy Mayfield 19 Dodge 97 250 $116,916
23 16 Elliott Sadler 38 Ford 94 250 $115,083
24 26 Jeff Green 66 Chevrolet 91 250 $121,058
25 39 Kyle Petty 45 Dodge 88 250 $107,333
26 34 Robby Gordon 7 Chevrolet 85 249 $95,075
27 8 Joe Nemechek 1 Chevrolet 82 249 $109,820
28 41 Ken Schrader 21 Ford 79 249 $109,589
29 15 Kevin Harvick 29 Chevrolet 76 249 $116,611
30 24 Dave Blaney 22 Dodge 73 249 $91,583
31 27 Bobby Labonte 43 Dodge 70 249 $116,186
32 17 Sterling Marlin 14 Chevrolet 67 249 $88,592
33 40 David Stremme * 40 Dodge 64 248 $87,775
34 43 Terry Labonte 96 Chevrolet 61 248 $78,625
35 37 Kevin Lepage 61 Ford 58 248 $78,425
36 33 Michael Waltrip 55 Dodge 55 247 $78,275
37 42 Brent Sherman * 49 Dodge 52 247 $78,050
38 35 Mike Garvey 151 Chevrolet 49 247 $77,800
39 38 Scott Wimmer 4 Chevrolet 46 246 $77,680
40 30 Stanton Barrett 195 Chevrolet 43 242 $77,525
41 36 Kenny Wallace 178 Chevrolet 40 237 $77,400
42 2 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 47 10 229 $106,005
43 12 Tony Stewart 20 Chevrolet 39 5 214 $119,453

Failed to qualify: Travis Kvapil (#32), Hermie Sadler (#00), Derrike Cope (#74), Randy LaJoie (#34), Morgan Shepherd (#89)

References

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  1. ^ "2006 Auto Club 500 weather information". The Old Farmers' Almanac. Retrieved 2015-01-31.
  2. ^ "Auto Club 500 Qualifying Results and Starting Lineup Auto Club Speedway NASCAR 2006". NASCAR Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
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Previous race:
2006 Daytona 500
Nextel Cup Series
2006 season
Next race:
2006 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400