Posted on by Data Skrive

Alex Labbe finished 13th in the Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway Saturday.

Labbe’s result added 24 points to his season total.

Labbe qualified in 17th position at 173.934 mph. The fifth-year driver has three top-10 finishes in his career.

Saturday was Labbe’s second career start at Auto Club Speedway. Though he’s completed two of those races, he has never managed to crack the top 10 at the track.

The Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada native’s starting and finishing positions compared favorably to his career averages, starting eight spots higher than his career mark of 24.8 and completing the race eight places ahead of his 21.3 career average finish.

Labbe’s 13th-place finish came against a field of 36 drivers. The race endured eight cautions and 36 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 13 lead changes.

Harrison Burton took the checkered flag in the race, and Riley Herbst took second. Austin Cindric placed third, Ryan Sieg took fourth, and Justin Haley finished off the top five.

Brandon Jones got off to a great start in the race, winning both of the first two stages, but couldn’t hold on to end up in Victory Lane.

Alex Labbe Driver Page | Get Alex Labbe Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Myatt Snider finished 11th in the Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway Saturday.

Snider’s result added 26 points to his season total.

Snider qualified in 19th position at 173.699 mph. The first-year driver has no top-10 finishes in his career.

Saturday’s race was the first of Snider’s career at Auto Club Speedway.

The Charlotte, North Carolina native began the race 12 spots behind his career mark of seven, but finished nine places ahead of his career average of 20.

Snider took on a field of 36 drivers on the way to his 11th-place finish. The race endured eight cautions and 36 caution laps. There were 13 lead changes.

Harrison Burton secured the win in the race, and Riley Herbst finished second. Austin Cindric placed third, Ryan Sieg secured fourth, and Justin Haley rounded out the top five.

Brandon Jones got off to a great start in the race, winning both of the first two stages, but couldn’t hold on to end up in Victory Lane.

Myatt Snider Driver Page | Get Myatt Snider Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Josh Williams rounded out the top 10 in the Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway Saturday.

The top 10 finish for Williams added 27 points to his season total.

Williams qualified in 25th position at 172.393 mph. The fifth-year driver has two top-10 finishes in his career.

The tenth-place result on Saturday was the first time Williams has cracked the top 10 at Auto Club Speedway.

The Port Charlotte, Florida native’s starting and finishing positions compared favorably to his career averages, starting four spots higher than his career mark of 29.2 and completing the race 16 places ahead of his 26.3 career average finish.

Williams took on a field of 36 drivers on the way to his tenth-place finish. The race endured eight cautions and 36 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 13 lead changes.

Harrison Burton earned the victory in the race, and Riley Herbst took second. Austin Cindric crossed the finish line third, Ryan Sieg took fourth, and Justin Haley finished off the top five.

Brandon Jones got off to a great start in the race, winning both of the first two stages, but couldn’t hold on to end up in Victory Lane.

Josh Williams Driver Page | Get Josh Williams Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Anthony Alfredo finished sixth in the Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway Saturday to collect his first career top-10 finish.

The top 10 finish for Alfredo added 31 points to his season total.

Alfredo qualified in 13th position at 176.939 mph. The first-year driver has one top-10 finish in his career.

Saturday’s race was the first of Alfredo’s career at Auto Club Speedway.

The Ridgefield, Connecticut native made only his second career start in the race, equaling his debut finish after starting at the same position in both races.

Alfredo’s sixth-place finish came against a field of 36 drivers. The race endured eight cautions and 36 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 13 lead changes.

Harrison Burton secured the win in the race, and Riley Herbst finished second. Austin Cindric placed third, Ryan Sieg took fourth, and Justin Haley grabbed the No. 5 spot.

Brandon Jones got off to a great start in the race, winning both of the first two stages, but couldn’t hold on to end up in Victory Lane.

Anthony Alfredo Driver Page | Get Anthony Alfredo Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Data Skrive

Ryan Sieg finished fourth in the Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway Saturday.

Sieg’s top five finish added 39 points to his season total.

Sieg qualified in eighth position at 178.037 mph. The eighth-year driver has earned seven top-five and 24 top-10 finishes in his career.

The fourth-place result on Saturday was the first time Sieg has cracked the top five at Auto Club Speedway. It also marks his first top-10 finish at Auto Club.

The Tucker, Georgia native’s starting and finishing positions compared favorably to his career averages, starting 12 spots higher than his career mark of 19.6 and completing the race 13 places ahead of his 17.3 career average finish.

Sieg’s fourth-place finish came against a field of 36 drivers. The race endured eight cautions and 36 caution laps. There were 13 lead changes.

Harrison Burton finished first in the race, followed by Riley Herbst in second place and Austin Cindric in third place. Sieg placed fourth ahead of Justin Haley’s finish to secure fifth.

Brandon Jones got off to a great start in the race, winning both of the first two stages, but couldn’t hold on to end up in Victory Lane.

Ryan Sieg Driver Page | Get Ryan Sieg Gear | Race Center

Posted on by Staff Report

Golfing buddies. Shopping buddies. Still buddies?

It appears that way judging by Denny Hamlin’s post on social media that was a reference to his on-track collision with Kyle Larson during Sunday’s Auto Club 400 in the NASCAR Cup Series.

But if you had Larson in your Fantasy Live lineup you weren’t smiling. His day was ruined after the incident, despite having a car that was strong in practices and qualifying.

 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

FONTANA, Calif. — The pit stop during the break between the first and second stages of Sunday’s Auto Club 400 certainly didn’t go the way Kurt Busch or his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing team had planned.

Under caution on Lap 63, Busch missed his pit stall, failed to get service and had to return to pit road to correct the mistake a lap later. From fifth at the end of the stage, Busch dropped to the back of the lead-lap cars for the subsequent restart on Lap 67.

AUTO CLUB: Race results | Alex Bowman wins | At-track gallery

The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion spent the rest of the race working his way forward, and by the time Alex Bowman took the checkered flag at the end of Lap 200, Busch was third, behind only Bowman and brother Kyle Busch.

“Yeah, really happy,” Kurt Busch said. “All weekend, the car just had a good vibe to it. The way it unloaded and the way we made small changes on our Monster Energy Chevy, I was really proud of this effort. To race and to do different things in the draft and to be able to gain speed with cars on the straightaway and then once you get all by yourself you actually lose speed, it’s a whole type of different racing, and I’m glad that I had a good car to do it all with, and just thanks to my guys. 

“I messed up on a pit cue, but to have a third‑place run right here in (sponsor) Monster Energy’s backyard, this was a solid run for our Chevy.”

 

Posted on by RJ Kraft

FONTANA, Calif. — Through the first three weeks of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, Ryan Blaney has been one of the strongest drivers week in and week out.

He battled for the lead on the last lap of the Daytona 500 and finished second to Denny Hamlin. He held the lead at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with five to go before an untimely caution led to a strategy split among the field in which he pitted from the lead and finished 11th. In Sunday’s Auto Club 400, Blaney spent the bulk of the race running in the top two, won a stage — his first of the year — and then had a tire go down in the closing laps to finish 19th.

“It’s been a good three races for us, but the last two we haven’t gotten the finishes we deserve,” Blaney said on pit road. “Hope our luck turns around.”

Blaney holds the points lead through the first three races and also has accumulated the most stage points so far. For much of the Auto Club 400, Blaney was the only driver who put up much of a challenge to race-winner Alex Bowman. His 54 laps led were the second most to Bowman, and they were the only drivers to lead more than 10 laps.

RELATED: Full race results | Blaney, Bowman split stage wins 

Those details, plus the speed Blaney has shown in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford, are things crew chief Todd Gordon says the team can build on rather than focus on the disappointment of good runs spoiled late.

“Ryan, I give him kudos,” Gordon told NASCAR.com. “He drove his guts out to try and get there, and we had the right rear come apart trying to do it. I think it’s positive. You are looking at a group that this is our third race together. We’ve been in contention to win all three of them.

“What more can you ask for? You can ask for wins, right? I really feel like the team is doing a great job. Ryan’s doing a great job. Wins will come. They’re coming. We’re doing the right things and building notebooks.”

In January, Team Penske announced it was shuffling the deck with its crew chiefs and Gordon moved from Joey Logano — who he won the 2018 Cup championship with — to Blaney. While this may just be his first year with Blaney, Gordon has gotten a good look at the young driver for a long time and was familiar with his tendencies before he became his crew chief.

“I’ve been around Ryan since he drove the Xfinity car,” Gordon said. “We’ve got great knowledge. As an organization, we look at where everybody is every weekend. I’ve looked at Ryan’s data for four years. I’ve seen what he wants in setups for four years.

“The communication part was already there. The shuffle makes it a little different on what you focused on. I think there’s a lot of positives to come yet. Looking forward to what we can do going forward. I think Phoenix will be a good race track for us and I’m loving Atlanta and Homestead when we get that. I don’t feel like there’s any place I don’t want to go.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

FONTANA, Calif. — Before the green flag waved Sunday at Auto Club Speedway, Jimmie Johnson took prime position behind the pace car as the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series field fanned out five-wide behind him in a respectful salute to the seven-time champion.

When the green flag waved to signal the beginning of the Auto Club 400, Johnson saw his wife, Chandra, and daughters, Genevieve and Lydia, doing the honors from his second-place starting position.

AUTO CLUB: Race results | Alex Bowman wins | At-track gallery

The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet responded with three stints in the lead for a total of 10 laps. He spent the afternoon near the front of the field and finished seventh in what could be his last start in Fontana, California, given Johnson is retiring from full-time Cup racing at the end of the 2020 season.

“This team is going in the right direction,” Johnson said. “I know in my heart what I’m capable of and what this team is capable of. It’s just taken a little bit to get the right people in the right places and rebuild and get this Ally Chevy exactly where it needs to be. We just couldn’t adjust this car on the pits stops quite enough to get the ‘tight’ out of it.

“It was really competitive and racy at the start of a run, and then we would fade at the end. At the end, I thought I was going to blow a tire. I think I had cords on the fronts, and I thought I wasn’t going to finish the race. So to salvage a top 10 out of it and two thirds in the stages … so we are headed in the right direction. I want to thank the fans here in California. There have been some great vibes all weekend.”

 

Posted on by Staff Report

The No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Alex Bowman passed post-race technical inspection Sunday after winning the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

Bowman’s race-winning car was found to be compliant with the 2020 NASCAR Rule Book after the 200-lap event at the two-mile track. 

RELATED: Official Auto Club results

Tyler Reddick’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and Cole Custer’s No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford were both found with one lug nut not safely secured in a post-race check.

With post-race teardown complete, the race results are official.

This is the second year of a post-race process to bring a more timely approach to inspection for all three NASCAR national series. Competition officials announced before the 2019 season thorough post-race inspections would take place shortly after the checkered flag at the track instead of midweek at the NASCAR Research & Development Center. Those inspections come with a stiffer deterrence structure that includes disqualification for significant rules infractions.

NASCAR will still inspect cars at the R&D Center as needed to monitor trends and parts compliance. Officials indicated post-race no cars would be taken to the R&D Center for further evaluation this week.