AUTO CLUB 500 NOTEBOOK: EARNHARDT FEELING FOILED BY NEW SPOILERS.

Byline: A.J. Perez and Louis Brewster Staff Writers

FONTANA - Of all the new rules implemented for the Auto Club 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. took issue with the new spoilers.

``Give me an inch on the spoiler and more font downforce,'' Earnhardt said. ``If we all had good downforce, we could drive our cars really good. They drive like they were built 20 years ago.''

The spoiler was cut down an inch to 4 1/2 inches, a change implemented here this weekend and will be used the rest of the season.

He said he could get used to the other changes NASCAR has made, including the softer tire compound and new qualifying rules.

--Trash talk: One of the results of having 95,000 fans on the grounds is the amount of trash generated. It caught the attention of drivers, several of whom picked up paper wrappers on the front of their cars.

``Overheating was primarily because of all the trash on the track,'' said Ryan Newman, who finished ninth in the Alltel Dodge. ``If we didn't have people throwing trash out there and actually had people picking stuff up, it would have been a lot better and we wouldn't have to worry about that.''

--New deal: The Automobile Club of Southern California signed a three- year agreement with the speedway to continue as sponsor for the Nextel Cup race. The Auto Club has been associated with the Fontana track since 1997.

``It has proven to be an outstanding venue for the Auto Club to showcase its products and services,'' Auto Club president and CEO Thomas McKernan said.

Sunday's race was the third under Auto Club sponsorship. Prior to that, the Auto Club sponsored four Busch Series races.

--No fatback: Although crew chief Michael ``Fatback'' McSwain was back home in North Carolina recuperating from back surgery, he was able to make a few changes to Ricky Rudd's Motorcraft Ford via telephone.

``They made a few adjustments after the car got banged up,'' said Rudd of his early crash. ``I was surprised that we could ride around and meet the minimum NASCAR speed. That was not going to be an issue.

``Some days it's not your day and definitely today was not ours.''

Rudd and Bill Elliott got together and Rudd brushed the wall along the backstretch.

Also: The traditional flyover was conducted by four F-15C fighters from Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. The pilots - Captain Jim ``Scooter'' McGrew, First Lieutenant Matt ``Finch'' Misner, Captain Jon ``Yama'' Shill, and First Lieutenant Jon ``Flood'' Kassebaum - have a combined flight time of nearly 2,000 hours in the jets. ... Paul Sawyer, former owner of Richmond International Speedway, died Saturday at 88. ``He was always fair,'' Richard Petty said of Sawyer, who started promoting NASCAR races in 1955.