Stewart is followed in the standings by Greg Biffle (seventh), Kevin Harvick (eighth), Jeff Gordon (ninth), Matt Kenseth (tenth), Denny Hamlin (11th) and Clint Bowyer (12th).

Biffle, 141 points ahead of 13th, needs to pad his lead by 55 points. Harvick, 129 points ahead of 13th, needs to pad his lead by 67 points. Gordon, 108 points ahead of 13th, needs to pad his lead by 88 points. Kenseth, 78 points ahead of 13th, needs to pad his lead by 118 points. Hamlin, 57 points ahead of 13th, needs to pad his lead by 139 points. And Bowyer, 12 points ahead of 13th, can only clinch a spot if Ragan does not start the race.

There are just 101 points separating the drivers currently in positions 11 through 14. Heading into Fontana within the closest striking distance of the top 12 and Chase eligibility are Ragan --12 points out of the playoff – and Kasey Kahne -- 44 markers shy of the cutoff. Longer shots to rally into the playoff if fortunes and performances are both quite favorable over the next two races are Ryan Newman (181 points from 12th) and Brian Vickers (183 points from 12th).

Keys to success at Fontana
The Auto Club Speedway is a flat track that's super smooth, wide and multi-grooved. These characteristics make passing a lot easier at this venue than at other tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit.

As the track -- which hosted its first Cup race in 1997 -- has seasoned, it has become more and more of a multi-groove layout. That creates opportunities for drivers to try different grooves in their attempts to pass other cars.

A driver’s chassis has to be performing extremely well for him to run the bottom groove for the entire 500 miles but I feel that as the race goes on the groove that's best to run will move towards the top of the track. The optimum groove changes. Whatever works for 200 miles might not work for the next 200 miles. Adapting to the changing best groove to run is critical.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Rough play on the ice, killing giants on the hardwood, a wild boat ride, and more. more photos

Aero push is important as drivers want the front end of their car to be as close to the track as possible, thus making the car fast. If a driver's car is handling well, this is a track where it's certainly fun to watch him race. Front grip will be key to overcoming the aero push and drivers who have solid front grip working on their cars can move around more and use more of the track.

The pit area is wide open with plenty of room for each of the pit stalls and it has two acceleration lanes from which to exit. So there is really nothing about pitting at Auto Club Speedway that should cause time to be lost on a pit stop.

Drivers just have to watch not to speed entering and leaving pit road. Their total focus has to be on how fast they are going entering the pits so they don't get hit with a penalty by NASCAR.

MORE FROM NASCAR

Kyle Busch deserves high praise for '08

Kyle Busch deserves high praise for '08 Benson: Stewart no lock for 2009 Chase NASCAR saw big changes in '08, except at top SMI completes purchase of Kentucky Speedway Benson: Johnson is in a class by himself Sports Biz: NASCAR on the skids   Trouble on the tracks Opinion: Test ban could help Johnson win 4th straight Flying fists: Rating NASCAR's top 5 fights NASCAR has turned into some sort of science   Add NASCAR headlines to your news reader: