FONTANA, CALIF. - Matt Kenseth goes for his third straight win in the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. Still, he's not sure he should be considered a favorite.

"I never thought we'd win two, so you never really know," Kenseth said, coming off a 36th-place finish in last weekend's season-opening Daytona 500.

But the 2003 NASCAR champion certainly hasn't lost confidence as he approaches Sunday's race at a track that has treated him well.

In his last five Cup races on the 2-mile California oval, Kenseth has seventh-place finishes in the last three fall events to go with those two wins. He will also go into today's Nationwide event having won four times and added six other top 10s in 13 starts at the track in what was previously the Busch Series.

With qualifying rained out Friday, Kenseth will start fourth, based on last year's car-owner points.

"I always feel pretty confident going to California," Kenseth said. "It's been one of our better tracks throughout our time in the Nationwide Series and in the Cup series, and it's one I certainly look forward to.

"It's just a real big, wide track. You get a lot of speed, especially this new car has less drag, so you really go fast down the straightaways. It's got some pretty big corners where you can run around the bottom or you can run up high and you're always kind of searching for a groove, so it's always a lot of fun."

Kenseth is also hoping that the return to the track 50 miles east of Los Angeles will help him build some momentum after a crash ended his race early at Daytona.

Kenseth this year is no longer working with longtime crew chief Robbie Reiser, who was promoted last fall to general manager of Roush Fenway. Reiser stayed on as crew chief to the end of 2007. Replacement Chip Bolin, who has worked with Kenseth and Reiser the past 10 years, was given more responsibilities during those events to acclimate him to the new job.

"We got to do a five- or six-race trial last year and everything was good there," said Kenseth, who finished the season with five straight top-five finishes, including a season-ending victory at Homestead.

QUALIFYING RAINED OUT: Qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway was rained out Friday, with the 43-car field determined by the rulebook instead of laps on the 2-mile oval.

NASCAR uses car owner points from the past season for the first five races of each year, so two-time reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, who finished second in 2007, will start from the front in Sunday's Auto Club 500 at the track formerly known as California Speedway.

"There's more pressure on the crew chiefs than on the drivers at this point," said Johnson, who started the season with a disappointing 27th-place finish Sunday in the Daytona 500. "A lot of guys came out here with different setups than in testing and that makes it a lot tougher for the guys who work on the cars."

ROBBY GORDON FIGHTS PENALTIES: Robby Gordon has appealed the penalties handed down earlier this week by NASCAR, hoping the move will at least reduce the punishment for his Sprint Cup team.

Gordon was docked 100 points and crew chief Frank Kerr was suspended for six races and fined $100,000 after NASCAR inspectors found an unapproved front bumper cover on his No. 7 Dodge during opening day inspection for the Daytona 500.

The deduction in points dropped the only owner/driver in NASCAR's top series from ninth in the standings to 40th.

Gordon knew the penalty was coming, but he said Friday he was shocked by the severity.

"I hate to lose any points, but I was kind of content with, 'OK, well I guess if we get 25 that will drop us to 16th in the championship and we can probably deal with that,' " he said. "A hundred could be life threatening for our race team."

A date has not yet been set for the appeal, which will be heard by George Silbermann, chairman of the National Stock Car Racing Commission chairman, and two others commission members he will appoint.

Gordon, who switched from Ford to Dodge during the winter, said his team got the unapproved part from the Dodge/Evernham Performance Parts warehouse.

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