Keselowski, Harvick top practices at Auto Club

Posted on March 16, 2019March 16, 2019 by Staff Report

Brad Keselowski topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Auto Club Speedway at 176.648 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford in preparation for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Keselowski will start 13th.

Right behind him was Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Daniel Hemric in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet at 176.548 mph. Hemric was at the top of the charts for a majority of practice and will start 17th on Sunday.

Rounding out the top five were Daniel Suarez in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford (176.293 mph), Aric Almirola in the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford (176.168 mph) and Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford (176.130 mph).

Hemric was the only Chevrolet among a Ford-dominated top five.

Kevin Harvick, who led the second practice at Auto Club in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, finished final practice in 17th, followed by Jimmie Johnson, who paced the first practice in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, in 18th.

Series points leader Kyle Busch was 11th fastest with a speed of 175.820 mph in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Kevin Harvick paces second practice at Auto Club

Kevin Harvick topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Auto Club Speedway at 175.867 mph in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford in advance of Sunday’s Auto Club 400.

Harvick has one win at the 2-mile California track in 2011 and is still looking for his first victory of the 2019 season.

Right behind him was series points leader Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at 175.773 mph. Busch is one victory away from logging 200 NASCAR career wins in all three series and could make NASCAR history at Auto Club.

Rounding out the top five were Brad Keselowski in the No. 2 Team Penske Ford (175.644 mph), Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (175.550 mph) and Daniel Hemric in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (175.409).

Kyle Larson in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet got into the wall in Turn 4 late in practice after a tight squeeze by Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He scraped the right rear quarter panel of his Chevrolet but didn’t suffer from any significant damage.

MORE: Best 10-lap averages from practice

Posted on March 16, 2019 by Staff Report

See where your favorite driver will pit in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on March 16, 2019March 16, 2019 by Chase Wilhelm

Jimmie Johnson said he believes he and the No. 48 team are taking steps in the right direction, just in time for one of his best tracks on the circuit.

Last weekend at ISM Raceway, Johnson hovered around the top 10 — and even the top five, leading four laps — for much of the day before finishing in eighth place. The result was a welcome sight after finishes of 24th and 19th at Atlanta and Las Vegas, respectively.

The seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion hopes for more of the same in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he’ll take the green flag from the 11th position after opening up the weekend with the fastest lap in first practice.

“I think last weekend showed that if we have a mistake-free race that we can run in the top five and in the top 10,” Johnson said. “So, we do have some pride in that. Clearly, we’re putting a lot of time and work and effort to get better. So, it’s nice to have those better runs. But it’s not where we want to be. It’s not where I want to be, or Mr. (Rick) Hendrick or (crew chief) Kevin (Meendering) or this whole team (wants to be).”

Fortunately for Johnson, the fifth stop of the 2019 season is one where he has a history of success. In 24 starts at the 2-mile Southern California track, Johnson has six victories, with the latest coming in 2016. With that kind of track record, the El Cajon native is cautiously optimistic about his chances of breaking a 63-race winless streak in his home state.

“There are tracks that a driver can make a difference at,” Johnson said. “Dover has always been one for me. This track has been one. The one thing that is so different right now is we’re back to a package we’ve run two other times this year. We’re on a high-wear track. I look at Atlanta. It did not go well. Atlanta is similar to this place. So, I’m hopeful that we’ve made our car better since Atlanta for this type of environment.”

As the 48 team continues to search for its old winning ways, Johnson’s assertiveness hasn’t changed, but it’s the timing of that assertiveness that has shifted over the years.

MORE: Is Johnson a fantasy sleeper pick in Fontana?

“We’ve always been aggressive, but for me aggression has changed to short run,” Johnson said. “When I first started, you absolutely had to be aggressive. But it would wear your car out. It would wear your tires out. There are other elements. And you’ve spent 450 miles playing a chess game and respecting one another and then it was all out and restarts didn’t matter as much.

“Now, restarts are everything. When you get close to somebody you have to capitalize and get by and not lose momentum. As soon as you lose momentum, you literally just stall out wherever that is in the running order. So, I think we’ve always been this aggressive, but it’s just changed to different parts of the run and different parts of the race.”

As unknowns swirl around the complexion of Sunday’s 400-miler with the 2019 rules package, Johnson is focused on what it will take to get to the front and on beating drivers such as Kyle Busch with fast cars and restart prowess — two elements that take on extra importance in Fontana.

“We’re trying to celebrate the small victories, but at the same time if you look at the speed that the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) had on the field and his ability to pass, we want that,” Johnson said. “And we’re not going to stop until we get that.”

Posted on March 15, 2019March 15, 2019 by Chase Wilhelm

FONTANA, Calif. — NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Scott Miller addressed the media Friday afternoon after all 12 drivers failed to make it back to the start/finish line to post a time in the final round of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Auto Club Speedway.

He didn’t mince words, either.

“I saw what our fans don’t want,” Miller said. “Having the last 12 cars wait until they couldn’t get a time posted on the board and kind of making a mockery out of the qualifying is not what we expect for our fans. It’s a little bit on us in that we hoped things would go better than that.

“It’s an exciting show when they’re out there on the race track, but obviously, we have a little work to do on our part to get a little bit better format so things like can’t happen,” he added. “We certainly want to provide our fans with what they deserve. We and the teams didn’t do a very good job of that today. We’re really disappointed.”

Miller noted that no decisions have been made regarding how the current qualifying procedure will be tweaked at this time, but single-car qualifying would be a last resort.

“I think we definitely make some tweaks to it,” Miller said. “… We really don’t want to go back to single-car qualifying. There may not be another way, but we want to try to exhaust every possibility before we do that because it’s not as fun and not as intriguing of a show as the group situation. We’re going to try to figure out a way to adjust the group qualifying thing and not go back to single, but we’ve got some work to do on that.”

Miller expects no changes will be made prior to the race weekend at Martinsville Speedway, but rather NASCAR officials will shift their attention to enhancements in time for Texas Motor Speedway.

“We won’t see this sort of situation at Martinsville, so I would say by Texas we’re going to have to because it will be a little bit of the same scenario with wanting to go out there and run together and draft. I would say by Texas we will have something different in the queue.”

Miller also noted he was surprised by how drivers and teams were unable to begin a lap before time expired in the final round.

“It surprised me that they weren’t smart enough to go out and actually get back to the start/finish line in time to post a time,” Miller added. “Yeah, that surprised me.”

Posted on March 15, 2019March 16, 2019 by Holly Cain

At this point, NASCAR history properly teed-up, Kyle Busch is simply ready to buckle up, fire up, and hopefully raise a 200th trophy up.

The 33-year old has combined to win 199 times in NASCAR’s three national series – Monster Energy NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Gander Outdoors Truck Series. The historic mark could come at California’s Auto Club Speedway in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Fans and historians are eager to see if and when he sets the mark. Busch figures he’s more ready than anyone to see where his fortunes take him. But then again, he stressed Friday, his desire to win races has little to do with historical numbers and everything to do with personal high expectations.

“It doesn’t change anything,” Busch said of being on the verge of win No. 200 this weekend. “Just come out here and we’re entered in both races. We come out here and try to do the best we can to win.”

Certainly Busch’s record at the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway – located a little more than three hours from his Las Vegas hometown — should provide plenty of confidence and optimism.

Busch has three Monster Energy Series wins at the track – including his very first series win in 2005. He has a record six Xfinity Series wins, too – including three consecutive from 2010-11. And he is a perfect 2-for-2 in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series at the track too, even though the Trucks aren’t racing this weekend. Busch’s 11 combined national series victories at Auto Club Speedway make him the winningest driver at the facility and that’s not a bad stat to carry into a potentially sport-changing race.

His 199 wins are as varied as his work at this particular track. He has 52 Monster Energy Series wins (11th-most all-time) and his 94 Xfinity wins and 53 Truck Series victories are most ever in those respective series. He won both the Xfinity and Cup race just last week in Phoenix. He swept the two series at Auto Club Speedway in 2013.

His competitors do not doubt that Busch may score win 200 this weekend. And at the young age of 33, with a multi-win pace established for the past 15 years, Busch will likely add many many more victories – and probably more championships — to his future NASCAR Hall of Fame trophy total.

“I hate to see Kyle Busch win as much as anybody does,” 2017 Auto Club Speedway winner Kyle Larson said with a laugh.

“It’s just amazing to see how good he is in all types of series and race cars and his win percentages are unbelievable even with all the restrictions that you have now with the amount of races you can run.

“He still wins just as much, if not more. For him to be as good as he is at every race track is pretty spectacular. You can look at most drivers and pinpoint their best race tracks, and I don’t know if you can really do that with Kyle Busch.

“Every race track is his best race track.”

As reverent as Busch has been regarding his win total and where it places him historically in the sport, he is quick to remind that he just wants to win. Period. The headlines, record books and buzz about the accomplishment — none of that is what has motivated him. He did, though, concede trackside Friday afternoon, it will be special.

“Certainly, I have had a few of my friends and stuff send me some links of things they saw this week of some articles and things,” Busch said. “I read what [200 Cup race winner] Richard [Petty] said the other day, which was cool. He talked about how if I was thrown back in their era with [David] Pearson and Petty, I could compete with those guys.

“That’s very respectful and I appreciate that. I am honored he said that. I feel I’d like to think the same way, that I could do it. It doesn’t matter. It’s a different time and place. Overall, excited to just continue on and keep winning.”

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Holly Cain

It’s not as if Kyle Larson needs any extra motivation.

One of NASCAR’s most popular recent breakout stars, Larson has enjoyed a good six-year run in the big leagues. Approaching the fifth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the 2019 season, he’d like to regain form and regain his footing as a perennial can’t-miss player in the championship.

What better place to restore winning ways than his home state’s Auto Club Speedway – about a seven-hour drive south from the small Elk Grove community where he grew up and began his career. Two years ago, he won the Auto Club 400 (Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) from the pole position – one of the most popular victories in the track’s history.

He’d love to repeat that this weekend to get back in the win column for the first time in two seasons and regain that title form. He figures there’s no better place. He has two runner-up finishes (2014 and 2018) and a victory (2017) in five starts at California.

“We won here a couple years ago and ran second here last year, got my first Xfinity win here and I have a [Cup] pole,” Larson said. “It’s been a good track for me, it’s Southern California and I’m from Northern California – about six hours away. I still have a lot of Central and Southern California sprint car fans that are here walking the garage and taking pictures and I sign a lot of autographs of sprint cars I ran in the past.

“It’s cool to have support anywhere you go, but your home state is nice. I guess it gives me a little bit of extra motivation maybe to go out there and win for all the California people out there.”

After earning Rookie of the Year honors in 2014 with 17 top-10 runs in 36 races. He claimed his first Monster Energy Series trophy two years later (at Michigan) and put an exclamation point on the showing with a four-win 2017 season, when he swept both Michigan races and had a win from the pole position at this week’s Auto Club Speedway venue.

He was championship bound – a title favorite – in 2017 only to have four consecutive DNFs in the 10-race playoff portion of the schedule from Kansas to Phoenix.

Last year was a challenge for Larson’s No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet team. He had a healthy total of top-fives (12) and top-10s (19) but winless for the first time in three years and ended up ninth in the Playoff run.

This season Larson has stealthily been a big time player. He’s been ranked seventh or better all year in the championship with top-10s in the Daytona 500 (seventh) and last week at Phoenix (sixth). In fact, for the first time in team history Larson and his new teammate Kurt Busch (ninth) have both been ranked among the top-10 in the standings all season long.

Larson led a race high 142 laps at Atlanta – and won the first stage – only to finish 12th after receiving a heart-breaking pit road speeding penalty late in the race.

Only championship leader Kyle Busch (227) and Ryan Blaney (148) have led more laps than Larson’s 142 this season.

He’s been a legitimate contender in every race and wonders what the outcome might be if not for little missteps along the way. The encouraging thing is how far up in the standings he is – even with the extra work of overcoming miscues.

“We haven’t had the greatest last three weeks when it comes to execution,” Larson said. “We just try to learn from it, talk about it and figure out how not to make it again.

“I think I had only one speeding penalty all last year then I sped at Atlanta (three weeks ago).

“This series is so tough you have to be perfect all weekend long,” he continued. “From Friday to Sunday you can’t make any mistakes. You’ve got to make all the right decisions just to maximize your potential of winning. Putting us back and starting 31st last week hurt us. We could have a lot more points right now and be top-three or four in points, but didn’t do a great job. Just have to clean that stuff up. And I’m confident our team can do that.”

Posted on March 15, 2019 by Staff Report

With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, it’s only right to highlight what we consider to be the top 10 luckiest moments in NASCAR history.

They say it’s the luck of the Irish, right? Well, what about the luck of the guy in front of you running out of gas on the final lap or the race being called for fog while you’re in the lead? How lucky would it be if the car in front of you cut a tire with one to go?

NASCAR Digital and NASCAR Productions take you back in time through some of the luckiest (and some, the unluckiest) wins in history, some dating back to a battle between Bill Elliott and the late Dale Earnhardt and others as recent as the 2018 Daytona 500.

Watch the video below, or head to our YouTube channel to check it out.

Do you agree with our choice for No. 1?

Posted on March 15, 2019March 15, 2019 by Reid Spencer

FONTANA, Calif. – Austin Dillon didn’t make it to the start-finish line in time to turn a lap in the final session of knockout qualifying at Auto Club Speedway.

And yet the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet won the pole for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at the 2-mile track (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) — because no one else made it to the stripe in the final round, either.

In a bizarre money round in Friday’s time trials, all 12 drivers waited too long on pit road before starting their runs, with none wanting to be first in the draft. The cars were exiting Turn 4 when time expired, and that meant a reversion to Round 2, which Dillon led.

Hence, Dillon won the fourth Busch Pole Award of his career, his first since 2016 and his second at Auto Club. In a sense, it was poetic justice that Dillon was the top qualifier for Sunday’s 200-lap race. He was the only driver in either round to break 40 seconds (39.982), and the only driver to top 180 mph (180.081) in either round.

To post that lap in the second round, Dillon and crew chief Danny Stockman adjusted for a strong wind blowing across Turns 3 and 4. Then Dillon hit a perfect position in the draft.

“It was really pushing you in the corner in 3 and 4,” Dillon said. “In the middle of the corner, I had a tight balance most of my day. I couldn’t run wide open. I talked to Stockman through it, kind of telling him where that point was.

“I thought the wind changed going into practice (earlier in the day). I felt like it was coming from Turn 2 to 4. When I got out of the car after practice, it was really shooting right into the middle of 3 and 4. So I went and told him the reason we were tight had to be the wind. We freed up around that, and I changed a little bit of my driving style to accommodate the car … and we ended up on top.”

Kevin Harvick qualified second at 179.386 mph, based on his second-round speed. Aric Almirola (179.082 mph) claimed the third starting spot, followed by Kyle Busch (178.895 mph), who can earn his 200th NASCAR national series victory this weekend with a win in either Saturday’s Production Alliance Group 300 Xfinity Series race or in Sunday’s Cup event.

RELATED: Busch on the verge of history

As the seconds counted down in the final session, Dillon waited, knowing he had the pole if no one else moved in time. When the clock ticked below 47 seconds (the time it would have taken to get from the end of pit road back to the start-finish line), the pole was his.

“When the 18 (Kyle Busch) made a little bit of a move there, I just rode on his door, because I was going to follow him and just have one car to beat,” Dillon said. “I didn’t have to make it back around. And then the 12 (10th-place qualifier Ryan Blaney) came through the grass — I thought he demolished his car. It looked like he left the ground over there. I don’t know what he did, but it was pretty wild.

“At that point my spotter said, ‘It’s over. You can bring it around here,’ and I knew we had gotten the pole.”

Joey Logano qualified fifth, Denny Hamlin sixth and Ryan Newman seventh. Chase Elliott, Clint Bowyer, Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed the top 12, as Ford drivers accounted for seven of the final-round positions.

RELATED: No. 6 car chief ejected

Posted on March 15, 2019March 15, 2019 by Staff Report

NASCAR officials ejected the car chief for the Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford team Friday after the car failed pre-qualifying inspection twice at Auto Club Speedway.

Todd Brewer, car chief for driver Ryan Newman, was removed from the team’s roster for the remainder of the race weekend.

RELATED: Auto Club schedule

Previously, a car chief was not ejected unless a team failed inspection three times. Under NASCAR’s 2019 deterrence model, two failures lead to a car chief ejection.

Last month NASCAR introduced a system where race-winning teams found in violation of the rule book post-race would be disqualified. Additionally, post-race inspection is done at track following the event, with penalties — if any — handed out then instead of following a mid-week teardown at the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.

Newman finished 18th in opening practice earlier in the day.

MORE: Full practice speeds

Posted on March 15, 2019March 15, 2019 by Staff Report

Jimmie Johnson led three Chevrolets in the top five at the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Auto Club Speedway on Friday.

Johnson, a six-time winner at the 2-mile track in Fontana, California, recorded the fastest lap at 179.386 mph in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in the first practice session in preparation for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Practice results

Austin Dillon was second-fastest in the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after logging a lap of 179.350 mph amid windy conditions at the Southern California facility. Chris Buescher in the No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet (178.975 mph), Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (178.802 mph) and Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 JGR Toyota (178.767 mph) rounded out the top five.

Busch, who has Auto Club entries in both the Monster Energy Series and Xfinity Series this weekend, is seeking his 200th career NASCAR victory this weekend.

The Monster Energy Series returns to the track at 5:40 p.m. ET for Busch Pole Qualifying (TV: FS1).

MORE: Full weekend schedule