Martin Truex Jr. drove three things Sunday afternoon at Auto Club Speedway.

First, he drove the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota to a dominating victory in the Auto Club 400, the fifth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.

Second, he drove a time machine, turning back the clock to 2017 when his mastery of stage racing propelled him to his first series championship.

Truex’s effort in Sunday’s race was every bit as overwhelming as his most convincing triumphs of last season. He started from the pole, then swept the first two stages and the victory, leading 125 of 200 laps and beating runner-up Kyle Larson to the finish line by a whopping 11.685 seconds.

Finally, Truex drove home a point, that those who doubted he could continue the excellent performance that led to the 2017 title just might be wrong!

The Fraternal Order of The Go Fast

This week two of our players are “walking on sunshine”!  Both Karen The Highly Opinionated Southern Belle and Carlton The Doorman picked an excellent day to select Martin Truex, Jr. as their choice to win a race.  Both maximized their scores by racking up 60 points at ACS.

The Movers and Shakers

Bernie The Bay Area Bandit and Ol Skid-Marc were rooting loudly for “Rowdy” this week.  Each player received 51 points for Kyle Busch’s third place finish in thw Auto Club 400.

There was a quartet of players, Don The Engine Builder, A&M Aggie Sue, David The Mudslinging Throttle Jockey, as well as Dan The Numbers Cruncher were solidly behind “Blazingly Bad” Brad Keselowski.  “Bad Brad” delivered 39 points for these four players Sunday.

Meanwhile, Edie The Las Vegas Super Star and Leon The Retired Airline Captain, Part-Time Strawberry Picker and Elephant Driver, as well as Your Most Humble Sheriff had all of their marbles in the marble sack of Joey Logano at Fontana.  For their support they were rewarded with 45 cool points.

Lastly, the trio of Kathy The Church Forecloser, Jim, aka Chiefy, and Doug The Gandy Candy Man were fully behind “Young Money”, Kyle Larson.  Despite a few bad decisions early in the race “Young Money” fought back to slice through the field and charge up to second place as the green flag flew, and awarded these three with 43 points.

The single largest mover this week is Carole, aka Rudy.  Rudy racked up just 10 points this week which facilitated a plunge of nine (9) places putting her squarely sitting in 19th place this week.

With the 60 points scored this week, Karen The Highly Opinionated Southern Belle moved up four (4) places to sit in 7th place now.

Next up on the list is a trio that includes Lonna The Quilt Angel, Kathy The Church Forecloser, and Carlton The Doorman.  All three of these players moved three (3) places this week.  Both The Church Forecloser and The Doorman moved up the leaderboard three spots to sit in 15th and 18, respectively.  However, The Quilt Angel stumbled and fell three places to sit in 12th position.

There was a quartet of players, Jerry The Buschwacker, Bernie The Bay Area Bandit, Ol Skid-Marc, and Jim, aka Chiefy moved two (2) places.  The Bay Area Bandit, Skid-Marc, and Chiefy all stepped up their game and moved up three positions to reside in 10th, 11th, and 14th respectively.  Whereas The Buschwacker dropped three spots and sits in 9th place.

Lastly, another quartet of players, Dan The Numbers Dude, Jeremy The Coach, Snoopy Dawn, and Linda B. The Cookie Mom, all shifted one place.  The Numbers Dude was the only one of the group who moved up in the standings resting now in 13th place.  The Coach, Snoopy, and The Cookie Mom all slipped down one place to sit in 16th, 20, and 21st, respectively.

Straight From The Crapper

This week “The Crappiest Pick of The Week” and “The Outhouse Award” both go to Linda R. The Lemonade Lefty!  It appears that The Lemonade Lefty is having a bad start to this segment!  Nevertheless, it is safe to say that “The Outhouse” is in good hands again this week!

The “NASCAR Goes West” segment of the early season is now in the record books and it is time to migrate back from the warm California Sun to the East Coast.  I will leave you with some very interesting thoughts from the Inglewood, CA philosopher, Brian Wilson.

TIL NEXT TIME, PULL YOUR GLOVES UP, FLIP YOUR VISOR DOWN, AND LET’S GO RACIN’!