Posted on by Team Release

MOORESVILLE, NC — Team Penske announced today that Auto Club of Southern California and AAA will continue its partnership with the team as sponsor of the No. 22 Ford Fusion driven by Joey Logano in the NASCAR Cup Series. The multi-year extension with Team Penske follows an announcement earlier this year that Logano will remain a driver for the team through the 2022 season and beyond.

Through the partnership with Team Penske, AAA will continue its primary sponsorship of the No. 22 Ford Fusion driven by Logano for three races over the next several seasons, including the events at Auto Club Speedway in March, Kansas Speedway in May and Texas Motor Speedway’s playoff event in November.

In addition, AAA will continue as a full-season associate sponsor for Logano and the No. 22 Ford team.

“Our relationship with AAA and The Auto Club has been an important one that dates back to our years when we owned California Speedway,” said Roger Penske. “We are excited that we are able to continue on with the successful partnership that we have established with such a great group of people and the thousands of members they represent. They have been terrific partners and cornerstones in our success across the board. We look forward to many more winning seasons together into the future.”

AAA utilizes its platform with Team Penske and racetracks across the United States to activate in a variety of ways geared towards increasing membership and informing the public about the dangers involved with distracted or impaired driving. In addition, AAA works to promote “move over laws” nationwide, where motorists are required to move over and change lanes to give safe clearance to law enforcement officers, firefighters, ambulances and other emergency response vehicles to save lives.

“AAA has been a great partner for Team Penske over the years and it’s been an honor to represent them since I joined Team Penske,” said Logano. “Being passionate about cars, I don’t just carry the AAA colors on Sunday afternoon – I’m a proud, card-carrying member of the AAA and I’ve used their award-winning road side assistance on more than one occasion. It’s great that they’ll continue to be such a big part of our program going forward.”

The extended agreement with Team Penske allows the Auto Club of Southern California and its affiliated clubs to not only better serve its members, but will also provide an effective, highly-visible way to promote its insurance options. The Auto Club’s partnership with the team also includes member and employee benefits, discounts and community outreach initiatives.

”The Auto Club and Penske have been long-time partners, not just on the race team but in many other aspects of our businesses that brings value to our members. We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with Team Penske for many more years to come,” said John Boyle, President and CEO of the Automobile Club of Southern California. “Our organization’s mission is to deliver legendary service and valuable products to our members, a philosophy shared by the Penske organization. Motorsports has proved to be an effective place for us to promote our Insurance products, and Team Penske’s high level of performance is a perfect fit.”

The 2018 NASCAR Cup Series regular season begins with the 60th anniversary running of the Great American Race, the Daytona 500, on February 18. Auto Club of Southern California’s first primary race will be the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, March 18.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Race results | Jones wins at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas — A hundred feet away from the bright lights and post-race driver interviews on pit road, two NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers — veteran Brendan Gaughan and Ross Chastain — were having a discussion of their own that turned physical following Saturday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.

After trading paint amid frustrating, close-quarter racing for much of the night, the two drivers took their on-track feud off the track. With their cars parked alongside one another, literally in the shadows behind Victory Lane, both drivers said punches were thrown and there was plenty of shoving as multiple crew members from both teams got involved.

Neither driver said he was hurt after the incident and certainly the stories varied by the storyteller, as to who started the situation. Gaughan finished with the upper hand on the race scoreboard, finishing 17th in his No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet while Chastain was 19th.

“I’m getting ready for the radio show tomorrow morning and if anyone wants to know my thoughts, Chase Elliott is a lock for the week and my value pick is Ty Dillon and I’m heading to Mexico,” said Gaughan, offering his fantasy picks for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race and obviously avoiding the subject with reporters after walking out of the NASCAR hauler following a discussion with the sanctioning body.

On his show Sunday morning, Gaughan said: “It isn’t the first issue that we’ve had or the first issue that others have had and I finally just had enough. It is what it is. We move on, and life goes on and racing goes on. … Nothing other than grown men being grown men.”

Chastain remained in the hauler a little longer and when he emerged was open to discussing the situation — noting several times that he races hard in his No. 4 JD Motorsports Chevrolet and wishing that was what the group of reporters had gathered to speak to him about.

“Race with him every week and we probably could have handled it a little better,” said Chastain, who is ranked 13th in the season championship with two races remaining. “But this is NASCAR man. I hate that my name pops up in the news for this. People that know me know this is not me to be getting in arguments and stuff.

“I was calm. It would make me look better if there had been cameras. Some derogatory things were said beyond just cuss words. I’ll go on to Phoenix and I’ll just race him. This doesn’t help me moving up in my career but I’ll just have to work harder to show them this isn’t who I am. I’m on my way up and I’m just going to go race.”

A NASCAR spokesman said no penalties were levied against either driver Saturday night but did not rule out further action after the sanctioning body finds and reviews any video showing the confrontation.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Results | Detailed report | Playoffs standings

FORT WORTH, Tex. — There was no keeping up with Erik Jones on Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway — though Ryan Blaney tried his level best over the closing laps of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300.

Jones, the pole winner, swept the first and second stages of the event, led 142-of-200 laps and completed the season sweep of NASCAR XFINITY Series races at the 1.5-mile track — the first time that’s happened since Kyle Busch won both races in 2009.

The victory was Jones’ third of the season, his third in six starts at TMS and the ninth of his career. Though the race was decisive in Jones’ favor, it settled little with regard to the XFINITY Series Playoff, with no driver clinching a spot in the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Regaining the lead after a cycle of green-flag pit stops, when Ty Dillon pulled onto pit road on Lap 192, Jones kept Blaney behind him the rest of the way and powered his No. 20 Joes Gibbs racing Toyota across the finish line 1.018 seconds ahead of Blaney’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

After last year’s fall race, the track was repaved. If anything, the new configuration made Jones even faster.

“It’s sure been a good race track to me,” Jones said. “On the old track and the repave now. It’s just been a place I’ve enjoyed coming to. The first time I came here in a truck, I’ll never forget, I never thought I’d like the place, and ever since then it’s just kind of clicked for me.

“Just excited to get back to Victory Lane. It’s been a few months since I’ve grabbed a win and the 20 guys have got a win, so happy to get them back here. They’ve brought fast cars for the last month, and we just haven’t found Victory Lane, so cool to get back here again and just happy for these guys.”

WATCH: Jones celebrates with a big Texas burnout

After Blaney made his last stop for fuel on Lap 185, and Jones pitted a lap later, Blaney trailed the race winner by less than a car length when they both regained top speed. Passing was another matter.

“It just stinks we couldn’t get around him,” said Blaney, who is in the thick of the battle for a Championship 4 spot in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. “I thought we had a shot after the green-flag stop. I thought we were way better, but we got held up a couple times by traffic.

“I thought we had the car to win — just a matter of trying to get in front of him, and I couldn’t pass anybody. I tried to get him loose a couple times and couldn’t do it. I about wrecked myself trying to get him loose. It’s really hard to get around anybody. Hopefully, that gets a little better for tomorrow.”

Kyle Larson came home third after two snafus on pit road cost him a chance to win. Under caution on Lap 92, after the end of the second stage, Larson came to pit road before it was open. Though he didn’t stop for service, Larson lost positions when he blended back in line.

And after a stop on Lap 127, Larson had to return to pit road to allow his crew to tighten a loose lug nut. With the race going green to the finish after the subsequent restart on Lap 131, Larson ran out of time in his pursuit of the winner and runner-up.

Elliott Sadler ran fourth and took the series lead by five points over JR Motorsports teammate William Byron, who ran ninth. Justin Allgaier, the third JR Motorsports Playoff driver, is nine points behind Sadler after an 11th-place finish.

“My car was really good tonight,” Sadler said. “Erik and Blaney were so much better into (Turns) 1 and 2. They had it figured out. I’ve got to go to work before we come back here in the spring. But all in all, it was a great night for us.”

Cole Custer finished fifth, recovering from a punctured tire that dropped him rapidly from his front-row starting position but the driver of the No. 00 Ford leaves Texas in sixth place, 13 points behind fourth-place Brennan Poole, with the Playoff field to be cut to the top four after next Saturday’s race at Phoenix.

Matt Tifft ran eighth and is fifth in the standings, five points behind Poole.

RELATED: Cole Custer has trouble at Texas

 

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: AAA Texas 500 starting lineup | Full Texas schedule

FORT WORTH, Texas — For a fellow who has won a record seven Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races on the Texas Motor Speedway high banks — his most recent just this April — Jimmie Johnson still somehow remains a bit of a wild-card pick for many heading into Sunday’s AAA Texas 500.

As Johnson says, “I always smile when I see Texas coming up on the schedule.”

And it’s a little puzzling how the seven-time and reigning champion can’t be considered the odds-on favorite here, but even Johnson acknowledges his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet team needs to pick up the pace if he is to defend his title in the Nov. 19 Homestead-Miami season finale and make history as the first eight-time Monster Energy Series champion.

“I do feel good about getting in [to NASCAR’s playoff round of four],” Johnson said Friday morning at Texas. “I think we are all just so used to momentum and we haven’t had that extremely high, positive momentum, race-winning momentum on our side just yet.

“One thing I know about our team is when we get hot — and we can get hot quick — great things can happen. As we all know, the summer wasn’t fun for us and as the playoffs started we have been able to ratchet it up some and clean up some areas, but we are still searching a little bit and looking for more speed.”

PHOTOS: All of Johnson’s Monster Energy Series wins

Johnson needs to find that speed in his car this weekend. Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports crew had to repair a fuel pressure issue just as the first practice opened at Texas on Friday. He was only able to turn three laps in the session, but was still 19th fastest of the 40 drivers.

He qualified ninth, however, Friday evening. And that gives him a much better start than in April when he won the race despite starting from the rear of the field for an unapproved tire change.

Much attention this weekend may be focused elsewhere – on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s final Texas Cup start and on the verbal tussle between playoff drivers Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin a week ago at Martinsville – but Johnson acknowledged that whenever he shows up at Texas, he thinks he can win. And it’s hard to imagine an eighth cowboy hat could somehow be won “under the radar.”

RELATED: Johnson a champion at Texas

 

“I mean, we are a victim of our own success in some regards, the expectations are high,” Johnson said. “A 20-race winless streak is considered a big thing when it’s hard to win just a [single] race.

“So, there are expectations put on us and I will accept them, that is fine; I have high expectations for myself, but the sport isn’t easy. It really isn’t and I think it speaks to how when a team or an organization is on like we see right now with a couple of teams how special that is.

“When I reflect back on what the No. 48 has been able to accomplish just how special that is. It is not easy to do. But, we are not done, no one on this team is and we are ready to get back on top and whatever work that needs to go into it we are ready. We have been trying extremely hard to get there.

“We just haven’t got there yet, but we will get there.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Erik Jones to drive JGR No. 20 in ’18 | Texas schedule

FORT WORTH, Texas — NASCAR veteran and 2003 Monster Energy Series champion Matt Kenseth revealed Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway that he does not expect to race full-time in 2018 after 18 accomplished seasons in NASCAR’s premier ranks.

Kenseth, 45, didn’t want to go so far as to call it “retirement” in the truest sense of the word, but he did say he fully intended to take time off to spend with his family, in a story first reported by NBC Sports. It may be a year or more, or, he said, it could be only three or four months should the right situation arise.

“I don’t know if I’d necessarily call it an announcement,” Kenseth said after final practice for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500. “I’m not looking at anything for 2018, the retirement word doesn’t really make a lot of sense in this sport really because you don’t officially retire and get a pension.

“Mostly, that’s for people like Junior, when you have to fill a seat and find a sponsor. For me it’s different, I didn’t really have that option. My seat got filled before I had that option.”

Kenseth is referring to the decision this summer that his Joe Gibbs Racing team made to replace him in the No. 20 Toyota with 21-year-old driver Erik Jones beginning next year.

RELATED: Key players in Silly Season | Kenseth’s Monster Energy Series wins

Kenseth’s friend Earnhardt announced in April he will step away from full-time Cup competition after the Homestead-Miami season finale in two weeks. The two will end their NASCAR careers as they began them — together.

Kenseth finished runner-up to Earnhardt in the XFINITY Series in 1998 and third place to him in 1999.

Kenseth then moved up into the Cup ranks in 2000 with the same Roush Fenway Racing team he drove for in the XFINITY ranks and quickly established himself of Cup championship caliber. He won five races in 2002 then the Cup championship trophy the following year. He was runner-up in 2006.

He moved from the Roush Ford team to Joe Gibbs Racing’s Toyota operation in 2013 and quickly flourished, earning a career-best seven victories that year and finishing runner-up in the Cup championship once again.

He is currently ranked 10th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup standings after falling out of playoff contention two weeks ago in Kansas.

Kenseth said he had no specific plans after this race season, other than anticipating the birth of his fifth child — news he also revealed this week.

“I’m just going to take some time off, whatever that means, take a year or two … or three months, four months,” Kenseth said. “You never really know what happens. Something could come up that makes me excited and looks like a fit and I’m not going to rule that out.

“But I’m not making any plans for 2018 just going to take some time off.”

Kenseth conceded that at times his future plans seemed out of his hands and that before this month, he had genuinely not made a decision about his career.

“Obviously it’s not a situation I want to be in because I don’t really feel like I’m ready to retire or step away,” Kenseth said. “In other ways, I do. It’s been a really really long and frustrating season on a lot of levels.

“With the way everything ended up, I’m just going to take some time for me and my family.”

Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: Full lineup | See every car in the field | Schedule for Texas | Playoff standings

What: AAA Texas 500
Where: Texas Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth, Texas
Green flag: 2:16 p.m. ET
TV/Radio: NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Forecast: 88 degrees at drop of green flag, according to Weather.com. South-southwest winds at 15 mph.
National Anthem: Air National Guard Band of the Southwest
Grand marshals: 60 AAA emergency roadside assistance techs that helped in Hurricane Harvey relief efforts
Honorary pace car driver: Chip Gaines, star of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper”
Race distance: 334 laps, 501 miles
Pit road speed: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 55 mph
Stage lengths: Stage 1 ends on Lap 85. Stage 2 ends on Lap 170. Final stage is scheduled to end on Lap 334.

Where the playoff drivers will line up:

Driver Starting spot Wins at Texas
Martin Truex Jr. 7th 0
Kyle Busch 5th 2
Brad Keselowski 10th 0
Kevin Harvick 3rd 0
Jimmie Johnson 9th 7
Ryan Blaney 8th 0
Denny Hamlin 2nd 2
Chase Elliott 34th 0

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Full schedule for Texas

A look at the drivers who ran 10 consecutive laps and their average speeds over that run at Texas Motor Speedway.

Final practice: Full results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 42 Kyle Larson 1 10 189.145
2 77 Erik Jones # 1 10 189.009
3 4 Kevin Harvick (P) 13 22 188.967
4 11 Denny Hamlin (P) 1 10 188.699
5 78 Martin Truex Jr. (P) 4 13 188.688
6 5 Kasey Kahne 7 16 188.030
7 22 Joey Logano 5 14 187.483
8 1 Jamie McMurray 1 10 187.404
9 14 Clint Bowyer 16 25 187.311
10 2 Brad Keselowski (P) 16 25 187.270
11 24 Chase Elliott (P) 1 10 187.001
12 21 Ryan Blaney (P) 1 10 186.953
13 19 Daniel Suarez # 1 10 186.891
14 41 Kurt Busch 18 27 186.858
15 48 Jimmie Johnson (P) 22 31 186.487
16 10 Danica Patrick 1 10 186.037
17 95 Michael McDowell 1 10 185.603
18 34 Landon Cassill 23 32 185.319
19 37 Chris Buescher 23 32 185.068
20 31 Ryan Newman 19 28 185.027
21 38 David Ragan 13 22 184.689
22 27 Paul Menard 24 33 183.713
23 32 Matt DiBenedetto 1 10 182.593

 

Practice 2: Full results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 42 Kyle Larson 20 29 189.152
2 77 Erik Jones # 1 10 188.864
3 18 Kyle Busch (P) 1 10 188.629
4 11 Denny Hamlin (P) 1 10 188.511
5 20 Matt Kenseth 20 29 187.206
6 5 Kasey Kahne 25 34 187.010
7 41 Kurt Busch 15 24 186.725
8 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1 10 186.429
9 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 16 25 186.223
10 24 Chase Elliott (P) 12 21 186.022
11 3 Austin Dillon 21 30 185.682
12 34 Landon Cassill 23 32 183.391

Practice 1: Full results

Pos Car Driver From Lap To Lap Avg Speed
1 14 Clint Bowyer 1 10 190.653
2 27 Daniel Hemric (i) 11 20 187.642
3 10 Danica Patrick 2 11 186.615

* Car must run 10 consecutive laps on the track to be included in the above chart.
(#) Driver is running as a Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate.
(i) Driver is not eligible for points in this series.
(P) Driver is running in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Final practice results | 10-lap averages | Full schedule for Texas

Denny Hamlin landed atop the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leaderboard in Saturday’s final practice at Texas Motor Speedway.

Hamlin drove the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota to a best lap of 191.469 mph around the 1.5-mile track. He was also second-fastest in Saturday’s earlier practice.

Rookie Erik Jones captured the second-fastest lap at 190.860 mph in the Furniture Row Racing No. 77 Toyota. Ryan Blaney was third-fastest, rookie Daniel Suarez fourth and points leader Martin Truex Jr. fifth in the 50-minute session.

Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM) is the middle event in the three-race Round of 8 in the series’ playoffs, bookended by last week’s race at Martinsville Speedway and next weekend’s event at Phoenix Raceway. After the Phoenix race, the field will be trimmed to the final four drivers who will compete for the championship.

Several Monster Energy Series teams had time deducted from Saturday practice because of failed inspections from Friday’s qualifying at Texas and last weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway. That list included 30-minute holds from each practice for the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 (Hamlin) and No. 18 (Kyle Busch) Toyota teams.

No other teams were held out of Saturday’s early practice. The full list of teams with 30-minute deductions from final practice:

  • Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin
  • Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch
  • Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota of Matt Kenseth
  • Furniture Row Racing No. 77 Toyota of Erik Jones

The following teams sat out 15 minutes in final practice:

  • Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford of Kevin Harvick
  • Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet of Kasey Kahne
  • Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford of Trevor Bayne
  • Premium Motorsports No. 15 Chevrolet of Reed Sorenson
  • Team Penske No. 22 Ford of Joey Logano
  • BK Racing No. 23 Toyota of Corey LaJoie
  • Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet of Chase Elliott
  • BK Racing No. 83 Toyota of Gray Gaulding

Kurt Busch stays fast in first Saturday practice

RELATED: Practice 2 results

Kurt Busch backed up his show of speed in qualifying by leading Saturday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch powered the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford to a lap of 191.768 mph in the 55-minute session. He’ll start Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM) from the first spot after winning the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday qualifying.

Denny Hamlin was second-fastest at 191.110 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota. Erik Jones, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five on the 1.5-mile track.

Playoff contenders took five of the first eight spots in the series’ second practice of the weekend. In addition to Hamlin’s and Elliott’s performances in the top five, the rest of the postseason-eligible drivers were: Kyle Busch (sixth), Martin Truex Jr. (seventh), Ryan Blaney (eighth), Kevin Harvick (12th), Jimmie Johnson (16th) and Brad Keselowski (23rd).

Daniel Hemric was 29th-fastest as a fill-in driver for the Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet. Regular driver Paul Menard is expected back in the cockpit for final practice, having taken time off for the birth of his second child this week.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: Sauter wins at Texas | Race results | Playoff standings

FORT WORTH, Texas — It was a night of good fortune for Austin Cindric, but the opposite held true for fellow playoff drivers Ben Rhodes and John Hunter Nemechek.

Cindric scored a second-place finish to vault past Rhodes for the final provisional transfer spot into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 17, and the Brad Keselowski Racing driver holds a five-point lead. The Round of 6 finale is next Friday night at Phoenix Raceway.

“It’s personally my best mile-and-a-half race to date,” Cindric said. “Not just finishing position but how we worked through the weekend. … We weren’t the best off the truck and I felt like we were one of the best trucks by the end of the practice so I’m proud of that and proud of my guys.

“I think it was youth vs. experience tonight and experience won. Johnny (Sauter, eventual race winner) taught me a few things, but at the same time he basically passed me for the race win.”

Cindric led a race-high 36 laps thanks to a pit strategy that saw him stay out with Sauter at the end of Stage 2. From there, the race ran green and Sauter passed Cindric for the lead on Lap 109. As pit stops cycled through, Sauter regained the lead but Cindric couldn’t quite reel him in for the pass.

During that sequence of stops, Nemechek tried to gamble for the race win and stay out on a fuel strategy play as he inherited the lead on Lap 127. The driver of the No. 8 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet was already in a points hole in the playoffs following a 30th-place finish due to a crash at Martinsville last week. A team representative confirmed that Nemechek had been told they were a gallon short, but he ran dry on Lap 135 and suffered a pit-road penalty on the ensuing stop.

“Can you say deja vu all over again?” Nemcheck said. “We’re pretty much in the same spot we were going into Talladega before we advanced to the Round of 6. We just have a deeper hole to dig ourselves out of now.”

Nemechek’s 19th-place finish leaves him 39 points outside the fourth-place position in the standings heading to Phoenix.

For Rhodes, it was shaping up to be a solid run before a slow green-flag stop on Lap 126. The driver of the No. 27 ThorSport Racing Toyota had to come back down pit road for an apparent lug nut issue on the right front tire and finished the race in 18th-place, two laps down.

“Everything that we could control we’re doing right,” Rhodes said. “The stuff that is outside our control seems to be hindering us on speed. Tonight, we had a couple bad pit stops, we had a loose wheel, a pit gun broke and then a miscommunication on pit road. We took off and we had to come back in.

“… Just a tough night and now we’re outside the playoffs looking in. We’ll have to make something happen at Phoenix.”