There are certain dates on the Cup schedule that I circle every year and eagerly anticipate.

The races at Auto Club Speedway are not among them. Actually, it's quite the opposite. Every time I see NASCAR racing at the two-mile facility in Southern California, I say words that, if she heard them, would make my momma very, very unhappy.

Sorry, momma. It's that time again.

If you have been a faithful reader of this space over the years - and I would like to thank all three of you - you know I have an unnatural disdain for this race and all that it represents. Even though I must admit that track president Gillian Zucker is quite entertaining with her musings explaining the track's struggles to attract fans to what locals refer to as "Fontucky" (the track is located in Fontana, Calif.). Whatever she is drinking, give me a double.

My reasons for hating Auto Club are numerous and are echoed by most NASCAR fans. The track, formerly called the California Speedway, is the primary culprit for NASCAR moving races from Rockingham and Darlington six years ago.

NASCAR wanted to make a splash in the bigger, sexier Los Angeles market. The track hosted one race date from 1997 until 2004. Then in 2004, the second race of the year, traditionally hosted at the former North Carolina Speedway, was shifted to California and, like magic, people stopped showing up. Imagine that. They can't sell out two races in a market that couldn't support an NFL team - and, as we all know, the NFL is the most popular sport ever.

I apologize. You can probably tell that this little diatribe gets my blood pressure up a bit.

NASCAR moved to rectify the schedule problem a bit. Starting in 2011, Auto Club will again only host one event. NASCAR gave them all manner of chances to make two races work there; moving dates around, even giving them the coveted Labor Day weekend slot. The track got all the scheduling breaks that NASCAR refused to give Rockingham.

Schedules and lost dates aside, there is another compelling reason why I hate California: the racing is abso-freaking-lutely terrible. Just awful. It is a stretch to even call it racing. It's more like a parade at 200 miles-per-hour.

Those responsible for this travesty should be sacked.

There is a bit of silver lining to this whole situation with NASCAR in California. While the Cup and Nationwide boys and girl are toiling around Auto Club, there will be racing at Rockingham this weekend.

While NASCAR has managed to put on a race in the second-largest media market in the country with very little fanfare, Rockingham Speedway is putting on not one, but two championship crowning races this weekend. The ARCA Racing Series and the UARA Stars Late Model Series will both crown champions at the track on Saturday.

While it's not NASCAR, I guarantee it will be better racing than what you will see if you tune in to catch the Nationwide or Cup races from California.

If you are a race fan, you should be there. Rockingham, that is. Not California. No one should - or does - go to Auto Club Speedway.