Auto Club Speedway

Three NASCAR tracks will swap dates on the 2009 Sprint Cup schedule released yesterday, while Dover and Pocono tracks will retain two races each. Atlanta Motor Speedway will move its fall race from October to Labor Day weekend, with Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., giving up that date to move into the Chase for the Championship and Talladega Superspeedway moving its second race nearer the end of the season. Atlanta will run a Cup race at night for the first time on Sept.

FONTANA, Calif. - Kyle Busch used pit strategy to take a late lead and held off Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick to win his third straight Nationwide race at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday. Edwards and Harvick traded leads for most of the 150-lap race around the wide 2-mile oval before deciding to get four tires on their final stop with less than 20 laps left. Busch came in after and opted for two tires, putting him nearly a straightaway ahead after leaving pit road. He had just enough speed to survive a final-lap bump into the wall, winning for the fifth time in his past six races at Fontana.

Next year's NASCAR Chase for the Championship will have a new opening race. Chicagoland Speedway will launch the 10-race Chase in mid-September. The Joliet, Ill., track has hosted Cup races in mid-July. Since the Chase began in 2004, New Hampshire Motor Speedway has hosted the Chase opener. Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's senior vice president of racing operations, said Chicagoland is the only new venue in next year's Chase. Kentucky Speedway, with its first Cup race, takes over Chicagoland's mid-July date with a 400-mile event.

Auto Club 500 Auto Club Speedway Fontana, Calif. When: Sunday, 3 p.m. TV/Radio: Fox/WNPV (1440-AM) Race course: 2-mile oval Race distance: 250 laps/500 miles Last year's race winner: Matt Kenseth Last year's pole winner: Brian Vickers, 183.439 mph Track qualifying record: Kyle Busch, 188.425 mph (February 2005) Track facts: Veteran Todd Parrott is the new crew chief for Matt Kenseth, who opened last year with victories at Daytona and California, then failed to win the rest of the year and missed the Chase for the first time.

Vijay Singh made three long birdie putts and closed with an 8-under 63 at the TPC Boston to finish at 22-under 262 and beat Mike Weir by 5 strokes to win the Deutsche Bank Championship yesterday in Norton, Mass. It was Singh's second straight victory in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoff system. That gave him such a big lead that he could win the $10 million prize without even showing up at the Tour Championship. The victory meant that after more than two months with Tiger Woods sidelined by season-ending knee surgery, someone finally toppled him on the PGA Tour money list.

Danica Patrick will ease her way into NASCAR by skipping the Nationwide Series opener at Daytona International Speedway in favor of a less-stressful debut 1 week later at California. The IndyCar star is still working on piecing together a 13-race schedule for JR Motorsports in NASCAR's second-tier series, but announced yesterday she's marked the Feb. 20 race at Auto Club Speedway for her debut. JR Motorsports also will field a car for Patrick in the Feb. 27 race at Las Vegas.

FONTANA, Calif. - Denny Hamlin went low when most drivers went high at Auto Club Speedway, and he ended up in the pole position for Sunday's 400-mile race. On Saturday, Hamlin followed up Friday's pole-winning performance by leading the way in the first practice session. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver turned a fast lap of 186.018 m.p.h. to top the 43 drivers taking part in the practice. Hamlin won his 10th career pole in Friday's qualifying session, and teammate Kyle Busch joined him in the top two spots.

FONTANA, Calif. - Tony Stewart got his second NASCAR victory of the season Sunday when rain shortened the race at Auto Club Speedway by 71 laps. The defending Sprint Cup champion has won seven of the last 15 races in a remarkable stretch of dominance, including Las Vegas last month. Stewart's Chevrolet passed Kyle Busch 44 laps before the race was stopped when the looming rain clouds finally halted a race run entirely on green flags to that point. The race was called after a short delay, giving Stewart his 46th career win and his second at Fontana.

FONTANA, Calif. - Tony Stewart got his second NASCAR victory of the season Sunday when rain shortened the race at Auto Club Speedway to 129 laps. The defending Sprint Cup champion has won seven of the last 15 races in a remarkable stretch of dominance, including Las Vegas last month. Stewart passed Kyle Busch on the 85th lap, and led when the looming rain clouds finally halted a race run entirely on green flags to that point. Busch finished second, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. added to his strong start to the season in third.

FONTANA, Calif. - Denny Hamlin went low when most drivers went high at Auto Club Speedway, and he ended up in the pole position for Sunday's 400-mile race. On Saturday, Hamlin followed up Friday's pole-winning performance by leading the way in the first practice session. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver turned a fast lap of 186.018 m.p.h. to top the 43 drivers taking part in the practice. Hamlin won his 10th career pole in Friday's qualifying session, and teammate Kyle Busch joined him in the top two spots.

The buzz surrounding Danica Patrick still is running on all cylinders even though the popular driver, essentially a rookie in her first full season in NASCAR's minor leagues, is off to a so-so start on the racetrack this year. So as she pushes deeper into the long NASCAR season, Patrick is trying to focus more on what she's learning each week than where she's finishing - at least for now. She has yet to post a top-10 finish after four races in NASCAR's second-level Nationwide Series this year.

Auto Club 400 Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, Calif. When: Sunday, 3 p.m. TV/Radio: Fox/WNPV (1440-AM) Race course: 2-mile oval Race distance: 200 laps/400 miles Race forecast: partly cloudy, low 60s Last year's winner: Kevin Harvick Last year's pole winner: Juan Pablo Montoya, 184.653 mph Track qualifying record: Kyle Busch, 188.245 mph (February 2005) Track facts: Kevin Harvick passed Jimmie Johnson on the final lap to win last year's race.

FONTANA, Calif. - Kevin Harvick isn't one of those drivers who jumps out front and stays there all the way to the checkers. He's more of a lingerer and closer, someone who's able to stay close to the front then make his move at just the right time. Harvick was at his pass-at-the-end best yesterday, overtaking California king Jimmie Johnson on the final turn at Auto Club Speedway to win after trailing the entire race. "I wish we could just go out there and wear 'em out one day, just not have to worry about waiting until the last lap," Harvick said.

FONTANA, Calif. - Kyle Busch used pit strategy to take a late lead and held off Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick to win his third straight Nationwide race at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday. Edwards and Harvick traded leads for most of the 150-lap race around the wide 2-mile oval before deciding to get four tires on their final stop with less than 20 laps left. Busch came in after and opted for two tires, putting him nearly a straightaway ahead after leaving pit road. He had just enough speed to survive a final-lap bump into the wall, winning for the fifth time in his past six races at Fontana.

Kevin Harvick landed a familiar NASCAR sponsor, Budweiser, this season for the car he drives in stock-car racing's premier Sprint Cup Series. But when Harvick sought backing for a separate race team he owns, he searched "outside of that box" of conventional sponsors, he said. The result: TapouT, an apparel brand tied to mixed martial arts, debuted this month as the main sponsor of a Harvick-owned car. "That's a whole different group of fans we're going to cross-promote with," he said of mixed martial arts' following.