On a night when Hollywood was honoring its best just miles down the road, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series saw a mellowed star continue his rise back to the top.
NASCAR on Fox has had a better start to its broadcast season over 2007, and no one is completely sure why.
The ratings have jumped 5.7% on average -- including the rain-plagued Auto Club 500 -- over last year's numbers. There isn't much that has changed in the sport that I'd think would increase ratings. A new car? More foreign drivers at the back?
Those don't seem like plausible reasons. Maybe it has something to do with Hendrick Motorsports being winless so far, or even the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. even has a legitimate shot to win races right now.
People tire quickly of watching the same winner in each race especially when its Jimmie Johnson winning two of the first five in 2007, or Jeff Gordon starting from the pole in two of those races.
Sure Carl Edwards has won two in 2008, but he's penalty after winning at Las Vegas kept people involved, not bored.
I don't know if the intent was there, but California Speedway Auto Club Speedway president Gillian Zucker sure made waves highly unrelated to the racing held at her track last weekend.
Instead of talking up the record 33 lead changes at the track or the impressive mettle showed by fans who stuck out one of the worst weather weekends in NASCAR history, she instead changed the post-race story but floating the idea that she'd be interested in increasing the banking of the Fontana speedway if significant changes need to be made to alleviate the track's drainage problem.
Such a change would completely alter the track's dynamic and create the potential for NASCAR to need restrictor plates at the 2-mile track because speeds would rise dramatically.
Higher-ups in the parent organization of ACS, International Speedway Corporation, squashed that thought quickly and painlessly on Thursday -- and it didn't necessarily come with an attitude of "thanks but no thanks".
It was a very clean-cut "No" from Wes Harris, ISC's senior director of investor and corporate relations. A "No, Ms. Zucker, please don't talk about these things again before consulting with your bosses"-type of statement.
This incident started so innocently with Casey Mears hitting a slick spot on track and sliding up into the loose stuff in turn 2 Sunday at Auto Club Speedway.
Within the first 20 seconds of the video below Mears has flipped, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s day is ruined, Sam Hornish Jr. is out, and the red flag is waved. Enjoy:
What most impressed me in that crash was around the :50 mark, where the NASCAR safety worker that arrived on scene. When Hornish's engine engulfed in flames, Mears was stuck in an odd position and that worker jumped on to Mears' car with the fire burning behind him to help the driver. Kudos to all of the track safety workers involved.
After a long, rain-soaked weekend at the artist formerly known as California Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, I still don't get it.
Why in the world is NASCAR racing there twice in a season?
Blame the weather, blame the track layout, blame the traffic, blame the writers or blame the awards ceremonies -- but it's really time to face the fact that the racing at California just isn't that good and more importantly, no one shows up to watch it.
I know I was one of those NASCAR fans that stayed up far too late into the night (and early morning) in anticipation of Auto Club 500 being wrapped up in the wee hours of morning, eastern time, on Sunday.
I know I was ticked that after staying up until 2am/ET to hear FOX's Chris Myers tell us that the race had been officially called and would resume some 11 hours later.
After all, the rain had stopped hours earlier, and generally a race track could be dry and raceable within that time.
But it wasn't because water continued to seep through the track and dew was collecting. And that really set a lot of fans off.
They've complained that NASCAR screwed them by making them stay up late (on the east coast) for a race that could have potentially ended when New Yorkers were waking up for coffee. The ones in the stands in California thought they had been strung along for far too long, and booed the decision.
But really, what more can you expect? I can't blame NASCAR in this decision because I've been in the stands at a race track when NASCAR jumped the gun too quickly under a rain delay.
The 2003 Coca-Cola 600 turned out to be the Coca-Cola 414 after a rain delay appeared to be too much for NASCAR. They claimed they couldn't dry the track quick enough and that there was more rain moving in.
Of course, as we left the speedway, there was nothing but starry skies and the rain didn't come again until early the next morning. To make things more disappointing, the 1997 event faced two rain delays -- including one after the halfway mark -- and NASCAR kept racing until well-past 1am/ET.
Rain couldn't do it. Water seeping through the cracks couldn't do it.
Nope, not even a next-generation race car could stop the Roush Fenway Racing from taking its third-straight win at the newly-renamed Auto Club Speedway of Southern California.
Carrying that banner was Carl Edwards, a pre-race favorite, who's No. 99 Ford Fusion came on strong during the sunshine of Monday's racing action to take victory of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.
Johnson led the most laps and Jeff Gordon blew his engine as the caution flew on the final lap when Dale Jarrett spun in turn 4, allowing him to hold his position because the field was frozen and he coasted his way to the finish line.
The Monday afternoon race ended 23 hours later than the scheduled start Sunday due to rain delays and problems with the track seeping water. There were 33 lead changes -- a race record -- in front of what some reports said were roughly 10,000 spectators in attendance. The race started just after 1:00pm/ET with the 87 laps complete and finished around 3:25pm/ET with the full 250 laps complete.
The real troopers of the race though were Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin who both hung around after wrecking their cars heavily on Sunday to turn laps on Monday in a glorified test session.
Nearly 10 hours after the scheduled start of the Sprint CupAuto Club 500, NASCAR officials finally ceded to the weather and track and decided the race on Monday.
It was Sunday night in California and Monday morning on the east coast when the postponement was declared just after 2:00am/ET.
Rain at the Auto Club Speedway had stopped much before that and most of the track indeed was dry. However, the battle that NASCAR and speedway officials have been battling all week with water seeping from the seams on the pavement reared its ugly head.
Before that, though, the action was exciting -- if not a tad unfair for some drivers.
Monday promises to be a better day of racing -- if the seeping water can be corrected -- with a sunny day planned and a high of 67 degrees.
Tune in to FOX at 1pm/ET (10am/PT) to catch the resumption of the race from lap 87. The Nationwide Series race postponed from Saturday will be ran immediately in its entirety following that event on ESPN2.
UPDATE: Tune in to FOX Sports at 1:00pm/ET Monday for the continuation of the Auto Club 500.
For the third time Sunday, the fastest vehicles on the race track were trying to dry the track instead of race around it.
Currently, the Auto Club 500 in California is under its second rain/wetness delay with the race hoping to resume sometime after 1:00am/ET. FOX Sports will have an update at that point.
As of 12:00am/ET, NASCAR is still planning to finish the race on Sunday night/Early Monday morning. The race originally got started at 6:31pm/ET, 2 hours after the scheduled start.
Without weather, the race should be started just after midnight, eastern time.
Jimmie Johnson currently leads the race just 88 laps in to the scheduled 250 laps. Once the race reaches the 125-lap mark, it will be declared official, and any weather after that will result in a shortened race.
The Nationwide Series Stater Bros. 300 which was postponed for a a start one-hour following the Sprint Cup event has been moved back as well to a start on Monday at California. The time for the start will depend on if NASCAR can finish the Sprint Cup event Sunday night.
If nothing else, NASCAR drivers who had plans to party with the Oscars tonight got to watch the program instead.
Thank God for lights and Pacific time, or we'd sitting through a Monday race. Instead, we'll just be tired in the office tomorrow.
NASCAR on Fox has had a better start to its broadcast season over 2007, and no one is completely sure why.
I don't know if the intent was there, but California Speedway Auto Club Speedway president Gillian Zucker sure made waves highly unrelated to the racing held at her track last weekend.
After a long, rain-soaked weekend at the artist formerly known as California Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, I still don't get it.
I know I was one of those NASCAR fans that stayed up far too late into the night (and early morning) in anticipation of Auto Club 500 being wrapped up in the wee hours of morning, eastern time, on Sunday.
Nearly 10 hours after the scheduled start of the Sprint Cup Auto Club 500, NASCAR officials finally ceded to the weather and track and decided the race on Monday.
Race: 
