Weighing in on the gravity of Kyle Busch’s 200 national series wins

Posted on March 18, 2019March 18, 2019 by Staff Report

Kyle Busch’s quest for a huge milestone of national series wins has drawn comparisons — right or wrong — mainly because of the iconic nature of the number he’d been chasing: 200.

It’s been nearly 10 years since Busch first casually mentioned reaching the double-century mark, coming on the occasion of his 50th national win at Richmond Raceway. “It would be sure nice to get that,” Busch said back on May 2, 2009, on the occasion of his 24th birthday. “I know it’s not 200 Cup victories like Richard Petty has, but it will still be a phenomenal mark for me.”

RELATED: Full schedule for Auto Club

Ten years later, after making history at Auto Club with win No. 200, Busch still isn’t trying to draw direct comparisons to Petty, whose all-time win mark of 200 is arguably as important a number as his iconic No. 43. But the number 200 doesn’t come around often in stock-car racing. Asterisk or not, it’s a mark worth celebrating.

Is it worth taking the great risk of trying to compare the two, achieved in different eras with different levels of competition, different technology, different tracks? Our Zack Albert and Jonathan Merryman discuss.

Albert: As tempting as it might be to try to force a false equivalency between Kyle Busch and Richard Petty and their accomplishments, I’m not taking that bait. Petty’s 200 wins stand on their own as triumphs in the sport’s top division. Busch’s 200 over three series are remarkable on their own level, impressive for their consistency and the speed with which he’s reached that plateau.

In the preseason, Busch himself mentioned Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James as an unsolvable problem, that while he’d like to be mentioned among NASCAR’s all-time greats, there’s no formula or opinion meter that calculates stats and achievements across the eras to arrive at a clear-cut No. 1. If Rowdy isn’t willing to try an apples-to-apples comparison with Petty’s feats, I’ll sit this one out, too.

Merryman: Kyle Busch may not be on board with the apples-to-apples comparison, but I’m all for it. So, is Kyle Busch’s 200-win mark equal to that of Richard Petty’s? I may be in the minority, but I vote yes. Why, you ask? Well, like Richard Petty did back in the day, Kyle Busch shows up to race anywhere, anytime and in anything with four wheels, a motor and a steering wheel.

In 1964 there were 62 races on the Cup Series schedule. Petty raced in 61 of those. Kyle Busch doesn’t have that opportunity. The most Monster Energy Series races he’s ever run in a single season is 36.

Having said that, Petty’s commitment to the sport is unmatched. He showed up and raced at places his biggest competitors didn’t. To me that is equivalent to Kyle racing at the Xfinity Series and Gander Outdoors Truck Series level. Is it Richard Petty’s fault David Pearson didn’t race full time his entire career? Does that take away from his 200? No. So why is it Kyle’s fault that Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr. don’t run more races against him in the other series?

All in all, Richard Petty, on 200 occasions, won at a national level in NASCAR. Kyle Busch has done the same.

Posted on March 17, 2019March 18, 2019 by Chase Wilhelm

FONTANA, Calif. — In every sport, fierce debates circulate on who the greatest of all time might be in their respective disciplines.

In basketball, Michael Jordan has the championship triumphs (six) that earned him a rightful place as the “G.O.A.T.” Well, at least until LeBron James came along.

What’s unique about that debate is it doesn’t solely rest on Jordan needing six fingers to put on his championship rings, compared to James’ three so far in his career. James has broken a number of other records — big and small — and has the breathtaking athleticism to be worthy of a place in the conversation.

But in NASCAR, the greatest driver of all time discussion always seems to include three legends — Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jimmie Johnson — because each has seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series titles. No other records are even considered.

Where, then, does Kyle Busch’s legacy lie after tying Richard Petty’s record with his 200th NASCAR national series victory in Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway?

For Denny Hamlin — whose fire suit dons the Jordan “Jumpman” logo each weekend — it isn’t fair that in NASCAR the G.O.A.T. is only subject to the number of championship trophies accumulated.

“No, because the championship format has changed,” Hamlin told NASCAR.com. “It’s come down to a one-race thing where it used to be an entire season. … But right now, I think the competition is better right now than it ever has been. It’s harder to win than it ever has been. The cars are closer together than it’s ever been. When you look back in the older era, I think, with all due respect to some other competitors — the Pearsons and Pettys and those guys — they were the best drivers and they had cars that were extremely fast compared to the field.”

With Busch’s milestone now official, that solidifies Hamlin’s belief that Busch is the greatest right now.

“There’s no one better,” Hamlin said. “I’ve kind of got to watch and race against what I argue is the best. At the time, I would have said Jimmie ‘X’ amount of years ago. I battled him through some championships and stuff and I was like, ‘This guy is on another level.’ I was very unfortunate to race in the Jimmie Johnson era. But now it seems like it’s kind of a Kyle Busch era in the sense that he has taken over as undoubtedly the best driver in the Cup Series.”

Maybe it’s the Kyle Busch Era now, but Alex Bowman, Johnson’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, said the accomplishments achieved in the Jimmie Johnson Era shouldn’t be minimized. He deserves to be in the greatest of all time conversation, too.

“It’s frustrating from my point of view to watch everyone kind of almost blow Jimmie off and think that other guys are better,” Bowman told NASCAR.com. “I think Jimmie is the greatest our generation is going to see. If there is a comparison that is going to be made, it should be Jimmie Johnson. I’m not trying to take away anything from Kyle Busch. I think he’s a great race car driver and probably the most raw-talented guy in the sport. Jimmie … the knowledge that he has and the way he handles himself, the way he leads that race team, it’s pretty incredible.”

And there lies the greatest question in NASCAR: Can you still be the greatest of all time without seven championships? What’s more, should the G.O.A.T. conversations be era-specific only? Is there even such a thing as a G.O.A.T. at all, or can it just be as simple as having multiple greats?

Let’s ask the new Mr. 200, himself.

“In different eras, there’s so many different things,” Busch said after his milestone victory. “Jimmie Johnson should be the G.O.A.T, right? He should be the greatest of all time because he won the most championships in the most different ways of having to win a championship in the most different cars he had to drive in to be able to win races.

“Before 2004, it was always the whole season was the champion,” he added. “Then, we had the 10-race playoffs and now we have the three, three, three and then one (championship finale). Unfortunately for me, I’ve made it to the final four of the last four years and I’ve only won it once. I feel like LeBron James because I can make it to the Finals, but once I get there, I can’t quite close it out and get it all done.”

WATCH: What’s next for Busch? How about 300?

According to Busch, “the greatest” is all relative.

“There’s so many different comparisons that not every single person is going to have every single one of them,” Busch said. “I think that makes it where you can’t always say there’s a greatest, that there’s greats.”

Whether you like it or not, Rowdy cemented his place in NASCAR history as one of the sport’s great Sunday in Southern California. Time will tell if he can become a G.O.A.T. — because there can be more than one.

Posted on March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 by Reid Spencer

Sixth-place Kurt Busch had the highest-finishing Chevrolet in Sunday’s Auto Club 400, but his strong performance in the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Camaro was overshadowed by the accomplishment of his brother, Kyle Busch, who claimed his 200th NASCAR national series victory in the same race.

Nevertheless, older brother Kurt shared in his brother’s achievement.

“This is a big day,” Kurt said. “For my little brother to have 200 wins, they’re all added up through his hard work and his dedication to perfection. Not bad for two kids with an attitude from Vegas.”

Though each driver has one championship to his credit — Kurt in 2004 and Kyle in 2015 — Kyle now has 53 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victories to 30 for his brother. And Kurt is well aware of the gap.

“I’ve got to hold up my end of the bargain,” Kurt quipped after falling from fourth to sixth in the final two laps of Sunday’s race. “I’ve gotten too nice, and I’m not winning enough — but I’m having fun.

“I love the Ganassi guys. (Crew chief) Matt McCall wants more. I know he does. I want more. I was hoping for a top five today, but we’ll take it. All in all, we’re running where we need to be running.”

Posted on March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 by Reid Spencer

FONTANA, Calif. — On Lap 43 of Sunday’s Auto Club 400, Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Team Penske Ford brushed the outside wall and fell back in traffic.

Keselowski was 22nd for a restart with one lap left in the first stage of the race, but he didn’t stay there. Through a combination of pit strategy and determined driving, Keselowski charged forward after dodging a wreck on Lap 60.

On Lap 72, he passed teammate Joey Logano for second. And when eventual race winner Kyle Busch was slapped with a pit road speeding penalty under caution during the break after Stage 2, Keselowski led 38 straight laps and built a four-second lead before a timely caution on Lap 164 put Busch back in the mix for the win.

RELATED: Auto Club results

Ultimately, Keselowski finished third behind Busch and Logano, but he wasn’t fully satisfied with the performance of his car.

“We were a little off, really, all day,” Keselowski said. “We got a lot better from the first run to the end. We were so strong in practice. The track changing kind of threw us for a loop with the wind. Just never could get right off Turn 2. Ended up kind of costing us the race there with the 22 (Logano). I couldn’t stay in front.

“But the team, Team Penske, these guys worked really hard on this car to get it back. I brushed the wall a little bit earlier. They fixed it, got us back. They kept working on it and (we) still had a solid day.”

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Staff Report

The race-winning No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for driver Kyle Busch has passed post-race inspection at Auto Club Speedway with no issues.

The No. 18 Toyota was found to be compliant with the 2019 NASCAR Rule Book after Sunday’s Auto Club 400. With the post-race teardown complete, the race results are official and Busch’s 2ooth NASCAR national-series victory stands.

The only issue noted in post-race inspection was one lug nut not safely secured on the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for driver Denny Hamlin after a post-race check. According to the guidelines in the rule book, the infraction should result in a fine this week for Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gabehart.

The post-race process is part of a new, more timely approach to inspection for all three NASCAR national series. Competition officials announced in February that thorough post-race inspections would take place shortly after the checkered flag at the track instead of midweek at the NASCAR Research & Development Center in Concord, North Carolina.

Those inspections come with a stiffer deterrence structure that includes disqualification for significant rules infractions — “a total culture change,” according to Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer. In the past, race-winning teams found in violation of the rules were penalized with post-race fines, points deductions and/or suspensions, but victories were allowed to stand.

Competition officials introduced the quicker post-race inspection timetable in an effort to make the results official on race day, aiming for a 90-minute target time frame to complete their scrutineering. The new post-race inspection process was also designed to deal with potential violations more promptly, avoiding any midweek news that might cloud the previous week’s results or the build-up to the following week’s event.

NASCAR will still inspect cars and parts at the R&D Center as needed to monitor trends, but the more comprehensive at-track inspection will take priority. Sunday at Auto Club, NASCAR officials noted that two cars would go to the R&D Center this week: the No. 2 Team Penske Ford of third-place Brad Keselowski and the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet of sixth-finishing Kurt Busch.

According to NASCAR statistical archives, the last time a premier series driver was disqualified occurred in 1973, when early retiree Buddy Baker was demoted to last place in the National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The last time an apparent race winner in NASCAR’s top division was disqualified came on April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis’ victory at Wilson (N.C.) Speedway was thrown out because of an oversized fuel tank on his No. 85 Chevrolet.

Posted on March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 by Reid Spencer

FONTANA, Calif. – Let the debate begin.

Recovering from a pit road speeding penalty with the help of a timely caution, Kyle Busch collected his 200th NASCAR national series victory with a dominating win in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.

At the same venue that gave Busch his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in 2005, the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota beat runner-up Joey Logano to the finish line by a comfortable 2.354 seconds to earn his 53rd win in the series and his second straight this season.

RELATED: Race results | Stage recaps

With 53 victories in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and 94 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series — both records — Busch reached the milestone a day after a pit-road penalty cost him a chance to hit the magic number in the Xfinity race at the 2-mile track.

But on Sunday, he overcame the pit road speeding penalty incurred during the break after Stage 2 and powered back to the lead with 26 laps left. Now Busch will leave it to others to debate where his 200 victories stack up against the record 200 Cup wins accumulated by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty.

Driving a Day-Glo green Camry carrying the livery of longtime sponsor Interstate Batteries, Busch led 134 of 200 laps despite the penalty and became the season’s first multiple winner.

“Feels just like number one,” Busch said after taking the checkered flag. “Feels just like yesterday. Man, that was such an awesome race car. I mean, dang! This Interstate Batteries Camry was awesome today. I’m glad we put on a heck of a show for all these fans out here in California at Auto Club Speedway.

“It takes green to get in Victory Lane today. Today is St. Patty’s day. All these other guys were at a disadvantage. The Interstate Batteries Green Machine was flying today. Just awesome. Just awesome. To win 200, I mean, whatever it means, it means a lot to me. It means a lot to all my guys, everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. You guys are all the best.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to drive for Joe Gibbs. I cherish every minute of it, love it always. Just wish that we could keep it going, keep it going like this, running strong, running well, and winning these races.”

Busch’s crew chief, Adam Stevens helped put the milestone in perspective.

“Two hundred is just another number,” Stevens said. “He was going to get there — it was inevitable. But it’s an honor to be the guy on the pit box when he does it.”

MORE: Busch lands 200th win | SHOP: Kyle Busch gear

Brad Keselowski came home third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney, as Ford drivers grabbed the next four positions behind Busch’s Toyota. Sixth-place Kurt Busch, brother of the race winner, drove the highest-finishing Chevrolet.

As he had done a day earlier in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race, Kyle Busch swept the first and second stages of the Auto Club 400. But if Busch sailed to the stage wins with relative ease — finishing more than five seconds ahead of second-place Brad Keselowski in Stage 2 — other potential contenders had issues in the early going that cost them dearly.

For Clint Bowyer, it was simply a matter of a sour engine that caused him to fall two laps down by the end of the second stage. For pole winner Austin Dillon, it was a flat right-rear tire that interrupted a promising top-five run with four laps left in the first stage. Dillon battled back to finish 10th.

For defending race winner Martin Truex Jr., it was hard contact with the No. 17 Ford of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in Turn 2 after a restart on Lap 60. The accident, which caused extensive damage to the right rear of Truex’s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, took the 2017 champion out of contention. Nevertheless, Truex soldiered on to an eighth-place result.

The race winner had a turn with adversity, too. His stroll to victory in the Inland Empire hit a major obstacle with the pit road speeding penalty under caution during the break after Stage 2, as his No. 18 was just .04 mph over the speed limit tolerance leaving pit lane. After restarting 18th on Lap 128, Busch diced his way through the field and was running fifth at the start of a green-flag pit stop cycle on Lap 160.

Stevens kept Busch on the track after all the other front-runners had come to pit road, and on Lap 164, the gamble was rewarded. The left-front tire on Bubba Wallace’s Chevrolet exploded, strewing debris on the track and causing the caution Busch desperately needed.

With fresh tires after a pit stop on Lap 166, Busch restarted second on Lap 170, fell back to fourth briefly and but charged forward and passed Logano for the lead on Lap 175. Game over.

“We only raced for two laps before the 18 blew our doors off and drove away from us,” Logano said. “Fastest car in the race. We’ve got a little bit of work to do.

“Solid run for the Auto Club Mustang here. You want to win at your sponsor’s home track. Gosh, we came so close. Proud of the effort. Hung in there all day, hung strong. Just didn’t have enough for the green car.”

The next race for the Monster Energy Series comes next Sunday with the STP 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Martinsville Speedway. It’s the sixth of 36 points-paying races for the series this season.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on March 17, 2019March 19, 2019 by Staff Report

NASCAR has another Bicentennial Man.

Kyle Busch picked up his 200th career NASCAR national series victory by virtue of his win in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway, the same track where he notched his first career Monster Energy Series victory in 2005. His 200-win mark in NASCAR’s national series equals that of Richard Petty, who won 200 races in NASCAR’s premier series.

The win is the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s 53rd in the series. Busch also has piled up 94 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and another 53 in NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Series competition.

“Feels just like number one. Feels just like yesterday,” a jubilant Busch said after climbing out of his car Sunday. ” … Just awesome. Just awesome. To win 200, I mean, whatever it means, it means a lot to me. It means a lot to all my guys, everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s an amazing opportunity to drive for Joe Gibbs. I cherish every minute of it, love it always.”

The Las Vegas native notched his first of 200 victories in 2004 at Richmond Raceway in what is now the Xfinity Series, starting from the pole and leading 236 laps in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Win No. 2 wasn’t too far behind, as Busch led 93 laps a Charlotte Motor Speedway two weeks later for his second victory.

MORE: Unofficial results

NASCAR’s 2015 Monster Energy Series champion added his first victory in the premier series in 2005 at Auto Club Speedway, leading 95 laps after starting 25th to take the checkered flag and celebrate for the first time at the sport’s highest level. Earlier that year, Busch picked up his first Gander Outdoors Truck Series win at Charlotte, followed up a week later by another trip to Victory Lane at Dover.

Busch has won at least one Monster Energy Series race in every season since 2005 and only missed out on scoring victories in the other two series during that time frame in 2012. He’s also the 2009 Xfinity Series champion.

“I think the original goal was just to get to NASCAR and then once I got here, it was to win a race,” Busch said. “Once it was winning a race then it was about trying to sustain and being able to be a winner here and to be a champion here. To have the opportunities to continue down the line to be able to be successful each, and every year and we’ve been doing that. We’ve only won one title, but certainly I feel like I have the best team out there right now and we just have to be able to do it all year long.”

MORE: Busch firmly plants himself among all-time greats

Seven-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty also has 200 career national series wins, all of which came at the premier series level. The comparisons between the two milestones was inevitable, but one that even Busch himself doesn’t consider parallel.

“What I said from the beginning of all this is it’s not a comparison to Richard Petty’s 200 wins. It is not,” Busch said in March at ISM Raceway. “It is my own and an accomplishment for myself that should stand alone separate from Richard. Hell, I could say right now that I’m the winningest driver on pavement in NASCAR ever in the top-three series because Richard doesn’t have 200 pavement wins, right? …

“I think it’s a pretty cool accomplishment. There’s so many different ways you can argue it or debate it or whatever and it has nothing to do with Richard, it’s just solely a number. I think it’s an accomplishment of its own. With Richard’s accomplishment and what he’s been able to do and what he’s done for the sport, that’s huge,” Busch continued. “I feel as though I’ve been in this position to win as many races as I have due to a lot of great people and being able to go out there and celebrate 200 wins, I don’t know that it will happen again, but if it does, that person should certainly cherish that moment. I hate that you get beat up so much about an accomplishment, but I guess that’s part of life. Haters gonna hate.”

Now that Busch has crossed No. 200 off his list — and he’s still just 33 years old — what’s next on his agenda?

“I don’t know. 250 I guess — the race to 250,” he said. “It’s about being able to win on Sundays and I feel like I’ve won a bunch of races on Sundays — I’ve got (53) of them and the race there is going to be the race to 100 on that side. I think that’s kind of what the next goal will be, is to try to get 100 Cup wins. …

“Might as well set your goals high, go out there and achieve. Let’s set it at 100 and see if we can’t get there. That would certainly put us up there with the top guys, being one of the best of the best. But overall that’s a long ways to go. You got to win a lot of races, a lot of years, to be able to tally up that many. I’m not quite as good as Jeff Gordon any more with being able to win 10 races a year or 13 races a year. I don’t know if those details will happen that much any more. Last year we gave it a shot with eight. See if we can’t keep firing them off like we are right now and living the dream, baby.”

Posted on March 17, 2019March 22, 2019 by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give you the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App | How to find NBCSN

Monday, March 18
Midnight, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
7 p.m., Unrivaled: Earnhardt vs. Gordon, FS1/FOX Sports App

Tuesday, March 19
1 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
5 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
7 p.m., Beyond the Wheel (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
10 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App

On MRN:
9 a.m., The Tough Trucks of NASCAR: Episode 5
7 p.m., NASCAR Live

Wednesday, March 20
5 p.m., NASCAR America: Motormouths Call In, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN:
1 p.m., NASCAR Coast to Coast

Thursday, March 21
1 a.m., IMSA Auto Racing: 12 Hours of Sebring (re-air), NBCSN/NBC Sports App
4 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
5 p.m., NASCAR America: Motorsports Hour, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1/FOX Sports App
6 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On MRN:
1 p.m., MRN Classic Race

Friday, March 22
4 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App

Saturday, March 23
9:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
10:30 a.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series qualifying, FS1/FOX Sports App
11:30 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub: Weekend Edition, FS1/FOX Sports App
12:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN 1, 3, 5)
1:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FOX/FOX Sports App
2 p.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Martinsville, FOX/FOX Sports App
5 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole qualifying, FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN App)
8:30 p.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Martinsville (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
11 p.m., NASCAR Master of the Clock: The Legend of Martinsville, FS1/FOX Sports App

On MRN:
9:30 a.m., STP 500 practice
12:30 p.m., STP 500 final practice
1:30 p.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series 200 at Martinsville
5 p.m., STP 500 pole qualifying

Sunday, March 24
2:30 a.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Martinsville (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
5 a.m., NASCAR Master of the Clock: The Legend of Martinsville (re-air), FS2/FOX Sports App
7:30 a.m., NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race at Martinsville (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
10 a.m., NASCAR Master of the Clock: The Legend of Martinsville (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
11 a.m., NASCAR Presents: The Adventures of Janet Guthrie (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
11:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Busch Pole qualifying (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App
12:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay: Martinsville, FS1/FOX Sports App
2 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville, FS1/FOX Sports App
11 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville (re-air), FS1/FOX Sports App (Canada: TSN 1)

On MRN:
1 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville

Posted on March 17, 2019March 18, 2019 by Staff Report

Stage 2 recap

Kyle Busch swept the opening stages of Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway, leading a total of 100 laps and taking both green-and-white checkered flags.

The stage win is his series-leading fourth of the season. The 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion pitted from the lead on Lap 93 but regained it shortly after green flag stops cycled through.

RELATED: Full Stage 2 results

Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Aric Almirola rounded out the top five stage finishers.

Early in the stage, Daniel Hemric was forced to pit road after taking a flat tire in the same fashion as his teammate Austin Dillon saw in Stage 1. Clint Bowyer and Corey LaJoie got into each other with less than 10 to go, but both drivers were able to maintain control of their rides. It was a clean stage otherwise, with no cautions.

Finish	Driver	Team	Race Points
1	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	10
2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	9
3	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	8
4	Joey Logano	Team Penske	7
5	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	6
6	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	5
7	Erik Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	4
8	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	3
9	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	2
10	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	1

Stage 1 recap

Looking for his 200th career NASCAR national series victory, Kyle Busch got off to the right start by scoring the win in the first stage of the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday.

Busch moved up from his starting position of fourth quickly before trading the lead a few times and re-claiming it on a restart at the end of the stage. The stage win is his third of the 2019 season.

Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola finished second through fifth, respectively.

RELATED: Full Stage 1 results

The first stage saw four race leaders, with Hamlin, Almirola and William Byron also spending time out front.

With five laps remaining, Busch Pole Award winner Austin Dillon suffered a tire issue, forcing him to pit from fifth place. The incident brought out the first caution of the stage. Busch re-started fourth, but moved his way to the front of the field before a Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spin brought out the caution to end the stage.

Finish	Driver	Team	Race Points
1	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	10
2	Joey Logano	Team Penske	9
3	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	8
4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	7
5	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	6
6	Erik Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	5
7	Daniel Suarez	Stewart-Haas Racing	4
8	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	3
9	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	2
10	Daniel Hemric	Richard Childress Racing	1

Posted on March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 by Staff Report

The Front Row Motorsports No. 34 Ford of Michael McDowell will start Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race from the rear of the field after failing pre-race inspection twice at Auto Club Speedway.

The team will also compete in Sunday’s event short one crew member after NASCAR officials ejected a race engineer as part of the penalty. The No. 34 team will also serve a 15-minute hold during practice next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

McDowell was scheduled to start 29th in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), but will instead fall to the rear of the 38-car field in pace laps. He’ll be joined at the back of the pack by teammate Matt Tifft, whose No. 36 Ford underwent an engine change in Saturday practice. Tifft was set to line up 32nd in Sunday’s field.