For the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, 26-year old Ryan Blaney is leading the championship driver standings as a runner-up in the season-opening Daytona 500 coupled with an 11th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last Sunday have him in the best shape of his young career.

The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford shows up for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway (3:30 p.m. on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) having scored top-10 finishes in the last three races there, but he faces a large and talented group of California drivers eager to please their home-state fans.

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