CONCORD, N.C.— The moment we have all been waiting for is finally here.
This Sunday, the #HeroFaceOff arrives at Fontana, California, as the No. 48 Lowe’s Superman Chevrolet SS and the No. 88 Batman Chevrolet SS battle alongside their teammates in the Nos. 5 and 24 Chevrolets for Victory Lane at Auto Club Speedway.
Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will debut their “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” paint schemes and their unique, custom-designed firesuits.
Tune in this Sunday to catch all the action and to see who will win the #HeroFaceOff at Auto Club Speedway.
Here is what you should watch for this weekend:
BROADCAST INFORMATION: Sunday’s race will air live on FOX at 3:30 p.m. ET. Can’t make it to the television? Listen to the race live on MRN and SiriusXM to catch the radio coverage. Here is the full broadcast schedule:
Friday, March 18:
1:30 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Practice, FOX Sports 1
7:30 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Qualifying, FOX Sports 1
Saturday, March 19:
11 a.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Practice, FOX Sports 2
2:30 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice, FOX Sports 1
Sunday, March 20:
3:30 p.m. ET: Sprint Cup Series Cup Race, FOX/ MRN/ SiriusXM
THIS WEEK’S PAINT SCHEMES: Kasey Kahne returns No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet SS this weekend. NAPA AUTO PARTS will be the primary partner on board Rookie of the Year contender Chase Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet SS. The “S” shield of Superman will adorn Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS and Earnhardt will be running the No. 88 Nationwide Batman Chevrolet SS.
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT FONTANA: At Auto Club Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports has nine wins, five pole positions, 31 top-five finishes and 47 top-10s. Johnson leads all drivers in wins, top-fives and laps led at the track, and he is tied for the lead in top-10 finishes at the two-mile oval.
DOUBLE DIGITS: Hendrick Motorsports has earned 10 or more wins at 11 different tracks on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series circuit. The organization has earned nine wins at Auto Club Speedway, so a win Sunday would make it the 12th track with double-digit Hendrick Motorsports victories. On April 3, the Sprint Cup visits Martinsville Speedway, where Hendrick Motorsports has a team record 23 wins.
FLAT HEROES: Fans have a chance to take Earnhardt and Johnson on their own adventures by downloading and printing out the "Flat Heroes" -- Earnhardt with the Dark Knight and Johnson with the Man of Steel. For more information and to download the high-res Earnhardt and Batman duo and the Johnson and Superman duo, click here. Select photos with the Flat Heroes posted via social media using the hashtag #HeroFaceOff will be featured on HendrickMotorsports.com leading up to the race at Fontana.
KASEY AT AUTO CLUB: The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series encounters the first two-mile track of the season this weekend at Auto Club Speedway. Kasey Kahne is familiar with Victory Lane at the Fontana, California, track, taking home the checkered flag in the September 2006 race. He is ninth all-time in laps led at the oval with 268. Kahne also has one pole award at Auto Club – May 2004 – which was his third of four pole awards in his Sprint Cup rookie season. Five of Kahne’s 17 wins have been at tracks two miles or longer.
ELLIOTT AT AUTO CLUB: Elliott is coming off of his second top-10 finish of the season heading into this weekend’s race at Auto Club Speedway. The driver earned Sunoco’s Rookie of the Race honors at Phoenix International Raceway after capturing an eighth-place finish. His first top-10 finish of 2016 was at his home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway.
JOHNSON AT AUTO CLUB: Of the 4,899 laps Johnson has attempted at Auto Club Speedway over the last 21 starts at the track, he has completed every single one of them. With his five wins, Johnson has led 955 circuits around the two-mile oval and has 18 top-15 finishes, finishing outside of the top 20 only once -- a 24th-place result.
EARNHARDT AT AUTO CLUB: Dale Earnhardt Jr. has two runner-up finishes at the Fontana, California, speedway, but has yet to earn his first victory there. The 41-year-old veteran earned a sixth-place result in the 2015 event and hasn’t finished outside of the top 12 in his last five visits to the two-mile oval. According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Earnhardt leads among all active drivers in the last 10 years in green-flag passes at the SoCal speedway with 1,487.