2020 Auto Club 400

Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Race 3 of 36 in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series
2020 Auto Club 400 program cover featuring a tribute to Jimmie Johnson, who retired at the end of this season.
Date	March 1, 2020 (2020-03-01)
Location	Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California
Course	Permanent racing facility 2 mi (3.22 km)
Distance	200 laps, 400 mi (640 km)
Average speed	152.753 miles per hour (245.832 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Clint Bowyer	Stewart-Haas Racing
Time	40.086
Most laps led
Driver	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports
Laps	110
Winner
No. 88	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	Fox
Announcers	Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon
Nielsen Ratings	4.789 million[9]
Radio in the United States
Radio	MRN
Booth Announcers	Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Rusty Wallace
Turn Announcers	Dan Hubbard (1 & 2) and Kurt Becker (3 & 4)

The 2020 Auto Club 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on March 1, 2020, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Contested over 200 laps on the two-mile (3.2 km) D-shaped oval, it was the third race of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Auto Club Speedway (previously California Speedway) was a two-mile (3.2 km), low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California which hosted NASCAR racing annually from 1997 to 2023. It was also used for open wheel racing events. The racetrack was located near the former locations of Ontario Motor Speedway and Riverside International Raceway. The track was owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation and was the only track owned by ISC to have its naming rights sold. The speedway was served by the nearby Interstate 10 and Interstate 15 freeways as well as a Metrolink station located behind the backstretch.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.
• (i) denotes driver who are ineligible for series driver points.

Alex Bowman was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 40.125 seconds and a speed of 179.439 mph (288.779 km/h).^[10]

Alex Bowman was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 40.764 seconds and a speed of 176.626 mph (284.252 km/h).^[11]

Clint Bowyer scored the pole for the race with a time of 40.086 and a speed of 179.614 mph (289.061 km/h).^[12]

Stage One Laps: 60

Stage Two Laps: 60

Stage Three Laps: 80

• Lead changes: 16 among 8 different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 3 for 13
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 2 hours, 37 minutes and 7 seconds
• Average speed: 152.753 miles per hour (245.832 km/h)

The race was the 20th race Fox Sports covered at the Auto Club Speedway. Mike Joy and three-time Auto Club winner Jeff Gordon called the race in the booth for Fox. Jamie Little, Regan Smith, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled the pit road duties for the television side. Larry McReynolds and Jamie McMurray provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was also simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle and 2001 race winner Rusty Wallace called the race from the booth when the field raced their way down the front stretch. Dan Hubbard called the race from a billboard outside turn 2 when the field raced their way through turns 1 and 2 & Kyle Rickey called the race from a billboard outside turn 3 when the field raced their way through turns 3 and 4. Kim Coon, Steve Post and Dillon Welch had the pit road duties for MRN.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ryan Blaney 122 2 Joey Logano 111 (–11) 11 3 Alex Bowman 110 (–12) 1 4 Kevin Harvick 110 (–12) 6 5 Jimmie Johnson 106 (–16) 6 Chase Elliott 105 (–17) 2 7 Denny Hamlin 94 (–28) 2 8 Matt DiBenedetto 87 (–35) 5 9 Kyle Larson 86 (–36) 7 10 Aric Almirola 84 (–38) 3 11 Chris Buescher 82 (–40) 7 12 Brad Keselowski 82 (–40) 3 13 Martin Truex Jr. 79 (–43) 7 14 Austin Dillon 76 (–46) 10 15 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 73 (–49) 3 16 Clint Bowyer 70 (–52) Official driver's standings

Manufacturers' Championship standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Ford 107 2 Chevrolet 104 (–3) 3 Toyota 97 (–10) Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.