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NBC’s wild and wildly popular obstacle course show "American Ninja Warrior" is coming to the biggest stage in NASCAR, Daytona International Speedway, to film as part of Season 9.

 

Daytona is a true modern motorsports stadium and will now serve as a proving ground not only for race car drivers but also for athletes in city qualifying and city finals rounds for the show. Competitors who make it out of the finals course will move on to the national finals rounds in Las Vegas with a chance at a $1 million prize.

 

"We’re excited to serve as a host location for the filming of ‘American Ninja Warrior’ and add another new event to an already busy schedule," Daytona International Speedway President Chip Wile said. "We’re thrilled to welcome the competitors to the world’s only motorsports stadium and provide an electric atmosphere as individuals attempt to navigate these challenging obstacles. To succeed, they are going to need strength, speed and perseverance, very similar to what we see on the high banks of the Speedway."

 

The TV tapings will begin each night at approximately 8:30 p.m. ET in between the Axalta and Chevrolet Injectors at the speedway. There will be two different sessions for each night of taping, both of which are available for guests to view. To sign up for free tickets to attend the event, visit http://on-camera-audiences.com/shows/American_Ninja_Warrior.

 

The qualifying episode filmed at Daytona will air June 26, and the city finals will air Aug. 7.

 

The only remaining question is whether "Stenja" will compete again. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who is a fan of the show along with girlfriend and fellow racer Danica Patrick, competed in 2016.

 

MORE: @nascarcasm Q&A with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — aka "Stenja"

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RELATED: Full starting lineup | See every car | Recap all of Junior’s wins

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is making his 600th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). However, he will do so from the rear of the field and not from his 18th-place starting position earned in Friday’s Coors Light Qualifying session, Hendrick Motorsports confirmed.

A cut on his right-front tire is the culprit, according to a tweet from the driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

 

 

Earnhardt’s crew chief Greg Ives told NASCAR.com the team wasn’t sure how or when the damaged happened, but he was glad they at least found the problem first thing Sunday morning, before final inspection and before starting the race.

 

Under rules put in place for the 2017 season, drivers now start the race using the tires on which they qualified. Also starting from the rear of the field for the Auto Club 400 are Paul Menard (unapproved tire change, was slated to start 23rd), Jeffrey Earnhardt (unapproved transmission change, was slated to start 32nd) and David Ragan (backup car, was slated to start 27th).

 

Those names join a host of others who will start in the lower ranks of the 39-car field because they did not make qualifying attempts. Jimmie Johnson, a six-time Auto Club Speedway winner, crashed during opening practice and opted against qualifying with an untested car. Joey Logano, Trevor Bayne, Gray Gaulding and Matt DiBenedetto also failed to make qualifying attempts because their cars did not pass technical inspections in time.

RELATED: Tire limits among tweaks in 2017 rules updates

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What channel is NASCAR programming on this week? We answer that and provide all the weekly NASCAR television listings here.

RELATED: Find NBCSN in your area | See Martinsville Speedway races live

All times ET

Monday, March 27
1:30 a.m., NASCAR Victory Lane (re-air), FS1
6:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 (re-air), FS1
9:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 (re-air), FS2
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Tuesday, March 28
6 a.m., NASCAR XFINITY Series: NXS 300 (re-air), FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR K&N Pro West Series: Kern (taped), NBCSN

Wednesday, March 29
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, March 30
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub

Friday, March 31
11:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1
1 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, FS1
2 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition, FS1
3 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS1
4 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition, FS1
4:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1

Saturday, April 1
5:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice (re-air), FS1
6:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice (re-air), FS1
7:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice (re-air), FS1
9 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying (re-air), FS1
10 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1
11 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS1
12:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub Weekend Edition, FS1
1:30 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1
2:30 p.m., NCWTS SetUp, FOX
3 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Alpha Energy Solutions 250, FOX

Sunday, April 2
12:30 a.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Alpha Energy Solutions 250 (re-air), FS1
2:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice (re-air), FS1
11:30 a.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice (re-air), FS1
12:30 p.m., NASCAR RaceDay, FS1
2 p.m., Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500, FS1

 

3

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Entry list for STP 500 | Entry list for Alpha Energy Solutions 250

NASCAR heads to Martinsville Speedway for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Check out the full weekend schedule below.

 

Note: All times are ET

 

SUNDAY, APRIL 2:

ON TRACK

— 1:20:00 p.m.: MENCS Driver Introductions w/ NASCAR Special Awards

— 2:00:00 p.m.: Presentation of Colors by: Local Law Enforcement and Public Safety Honor Guard

— 2:00:20 p.m.: Invocation by: Martinsville Speedway Track Chaplin, Mike Hatfield

— 2:01:00 p.m.: National Anthem by: Martinsville, Bassett and Magna Vista High School Marching Bands

— 2:02:30 p.m.: Flyover: The Bandit Flight Team (Turn 4 to Turn 1)

— 2:07:30 p.m.: “Drivers, Start Your Engines” by: From Hit FOX TV Show “Prison Break,” Rockmond Dunbar

— 2:13:30 p.m.: Start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 (500 laps, 263 miles), FS1 (Results)

 

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 10:45 a.m.: Rockmond Dunbar
— 11 a.m.: Edsel Ford
— 11:15 a.m.: STP availability with Richard Petty, Aric Almirola, Steve Letarte and Katina Walker, STP Director of Marketing
— 5:30 p.m.: (approx) Post-Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 31:

ON TRACK
— noon-1 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1 (Results)
— 1:10-2 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series practice, FS1 (Results)
— 3-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice, FS1 — Canceled due to rain
— 5:05 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, FS1 — Canceled due to rain

PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 10 a.m.: AJ Allmendinger

— 10:30 a.m.: Kyle Larson

— 10:45 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson

— 11 a.m.: Timothy Peters, Harrison Burton

— 1:15 p.m.: Denny Hamlin

— 2 p.m.: Joey Logano

— 2:30 p.m.: Kyle Busch

— 2:45 p.m.: Daniel Suarez

SATURDAY, APRIL 1:

ON TRACK
— 11-11:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, FS1 (Results)
— 12:05 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying, FS1 (Results)
— 1:30-2:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series final practice, FS1 (Results)
— 3 p.m.: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Alpha Energy Solutions 250 (250 laps, 131.5 miles), FOX (Results)

 
PRESS CONFERENCES (Watch live)
— 5:45 p.m.: (approx) Post-Camping World Truck Series race

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: FAQ for race format

Stage 2 saw the top-two finishers of Stage 1 switch places with Martin Truex Jr. putting down a blistering pace for the stage win with Kyle Larson finishing second and Chase Elliott getting by Clint Bowyer late in the stage for third. Truex led all but five laps in the stage as he earned the lead on pit road on Lap 64 for a segment that stayed green throughout its run. Truex swept all three stages of the NASCAR Goes West opener at Las Vegas to take the checkered flag.

Larson and Truex traded the lead back and forth during Stage 1 of the Auto Club 400 and combined to be out front for 55 of the 60-lap segment (Larson led 43 laps, Truex led 12 laps). It ultimately was the polesitter Larson who took the top spot. This was the Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stage win, and he earns a playoff bonus point. The driver of the No. 42 Chevrolet entered this weekend’s action at Auto Club Speedway as the series points leader.


The top 10 finishers in both Stage 1 and Stage 2 receive race points. The race winner will receive 40 points and five playoff points at the conclusion of the Final Stage.


MORE: 2017 season stage points

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RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Detailed breakdown
MORE: Buy Larson gear

 

FONTANA, Calif. — What a difference one position makes.

 

After three straight second-place finishes in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, polesitter Kyle Larson finally found Victory Lane, pulling away after an overtime restart to win Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.

 

Larson took the checkered flag at the end of the second extra lap as team owner Chip Ganassi celebrated from his perch atop the pit box.

 

"It’s great to be Kyle Larson right now," said the 24-year-old driver.

 

Resilient Brad Keselowski, whose spin on Lap 3 caused the first caution of the afternoon — and damaged his No. 2 Team Penske Ford — rolled home in second place, .779 seconds behind the driver variously known as "Young Money" and "The California Kid."

 

Larson, who led a race-high 110 laps, kept his cool through four cautions and subsequent restarts over the final 21 laps, giving up the lead to pit for fresh tires on Lap 193 of a planned 200, as Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Jamie McMurray stayed on the track. 


RELATED: Stages 1,2 results from Auto Club

But Larson quickly surged back to the front after a Lap 196 restart, passing Hamlin for the top spot through Turn 2 a lap later and holding it through the overtime.

 

"I was staying as calm as I could be, but also frustrated at the same time," Larson said of the late-race stops and starts. "It seems like every time I get to the lead at the end of one of these things, the caution comes out and I’ve got to fight people off on restarts. Our Target Chevy was amazing all day. We were able to lead a lot of laps today. Truex was better than us that second stage by quite a bit. We were able to get the jump on him the following restart and led pretty much the rest of the distance. 

 

"I had to fight them off there after the green flag stops (before the final caution), and that was a lot of fun. This is just amazing. We’ve been so good all year long, three seconds in a row. I’ve been watching all the TV like ‘He doesn’t know how to win,’ but we knew how to win today, so that was good."

 

In posting his second career victory (the first coming at two-mile Michigan last year), Larson completed his first weekend sweep, having won Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series event.

 

Larson extended his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series lead to 29 points over second-place Chase Elliott, who finished 10th.

 

Clint Bowyer ran third, posting his best finish since June 2015 at Sonoma, where he also came home third. Truex, who opened a lead of more than eight seconds in winning the second 60-lap stage, was fourth, with Joey Logano recovering a lost lap with a late wave-around to finish fifth.

 

Keselowski cut a tire during a jam-up at the start of the race, the went for a ride off Jimmie Johnson’s bumper on Lap 3.

 

All things considered — among them a suspension to crew chief Paul Wolfe for an infraction last week at Phoenix — Keselowski was happy with his second-place result.

 

"We were tore all to hell," Keselowski said. "Got tore up there really early in the race. Went all the way to the back, just clawed all the way up to second … The last few restarts were obviously key for us. We seemed to get settled into about 10th there, maybe seventh or eighth. 

 

"Then kind of just executed the last few restarts. Good pit calls and so forth. Good timing with the yellows. We caught a few breaks, for sure, and made good adjustments to our car to make up for the damage. It takes a little bit of everything: good execution, good work by the team, and a little bit of luck on the last few yellows."

 

NOTES:
— Before the race, the track announced a three-year extension of its race entitlement sponsorship, keeping the name Auto Club 400 through 2020.

 

— With Keselowski having early troubles, Larson is now the only driver who has scored points in both the first and second stages in each of the five races this year.

 

— Twenty-first Jimmie Johnson maintained his perfect record at Fontana — but just barely. After a litany of issues throughout the race, Johnson got back on the lead lap as the "lucky dog" under the final caution. He has now finished on the lead lap in all 23 of his starts at Auto Club, completing all 5,306 laps raced at the speedway during his career.

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Race results | Updated series standings

 

FONTANA, Calif. — Brad Keselowski will be the first to tell you it was "quite the day" at work on Sunday at Auto Club Speedway. After making contact with cars on the race start, then taking an infield spin — all within the first five laps — Keselowski rallied to a runner-up finish, only .779 seconds behind race winner Kyle Larson.

 

To hear Keselowski tell the story, it was simply a matter of keeping at it no matter the circumstance. And boy, did it pay off.

 

MORE: Watch Keselowski’s early spin

 

"Great perseverance from this team," Keselowski said on pit road. "I got out of the car and looked at the damage. It’s torn to pieces. I feel lucky to finish second and curious what we could have done if we weren’t torn up. Great day for us to persevere, despite adversity. You’ll have that in a 36-race season, so proud of team for that."

 

Keselowski’s late race rebound was certainly noted by his competitors. What looked like a Larson vs. Martin Truex Jr. trophy run, turned into an all-out scramble with a dozen cars in two laps of overtime.

 

"The 2 car, I went by him the first run, I just knew his day was over," third-place finisher Clint Bowyer said after the race. "I’ll be damned if he didn’t finish in front of me.

"How did he do that?" he continued, smiling. "Did you see that?"

 

MORE: Bowyer takes third at Auto Club

 

Keselowski’s No. 2 Wurth Ford didn’t lead a lap all day and spent time in the pits early in the race repairing damage from the opening-lap "adventures."

 

"The last few restarts were obviously key for us," Keselowski said. "We seemed to get settled into about 10th there, maybe seventh or eighth, then kind of just executed the last few restarts. Good pit calls and so forth. Good timing with the yellows. We caught a few breaks, for sure, and made good adjustments to our car to make up for the damage.

 

"It takes a little bit of everything: good execution, good work by the team, and a little bit of luck on the last few yellows.

 

"Glad I got the race on record on the DVR so I can see it."

 

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Race results | Detailed breakdown | Driver standings

 

FONTANA, Calif. — Even though he had just posted his best Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series finish since 2015, Clint Bowyer didn’t expect effusive praise from the driver he succeeded in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

 

So when Bowyer pulled onto pit road at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday after running third behind race winner Kyle Larson and runner-up Brad Keselowski in the Auto Club 400, Stewart’s reaction, as a car owner, was predictably restrained.

 

"Good job," Stewart said to his driver.

 

Bowyer hadn’t expected anything more.

 

"Tony wins a lot of races," Bowyer elaborated. "He’s won a lot of races. Anything less than a win, you know …  he expects that. And I love that about Tony. Obviously, I know he’s proud. He was happy with that. But that’s what you want in an owner. You know what I mean? To have that instilled in everything, in your DNA, I mean, this is the way I was raised. 

 

"Anything else but a win is a bad day. You are miserable with anything less than that. It’s just the way we’re wired as a race car driver from 5 years old and on. The problem is, is everybody else on that race track is wired the same way. So there’s really only one guy happy, and everybody else is pissed at the end of the day. That’s what it boils down to."

 

In his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing, and back in top-of-the-line equipment, Bowyer earned his best result since June 2015 at Sonoma, where he also ran third.

 

But to get a bona fide celebration, he knows he’ll have to improve two positions.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Race results | Detailed breakdown | Driver standings


FONTANA, Calif. — When Corey LaJoie’s brush with the Turn 2 wall brought out the sixth of seven cautions on Lap 192 of a scheduled 200, Martin Truex Jr. and crew chief Cole Pearn gambled.


They stayed out on old tires for a restart on Lap 196, but only two other drivers — Denny Hamlin and Jamie McMurray — followed suit. That left race winner Kyle Larson in the fourth starting position, and one lap after the resumption of action, he had the lead.


Truex considered himself fortunate to hold onto fourth place on old rubber, after the race went to overtime and extended two laps beyond its posted distance.


"It was definitely not the situation we wanted to be in, but we thought more guys would stay out there (under the sixth caution)," said Truex, who led 73 laps, second only to Larson’s 110. "I think we only ran a few laps. It was definitely a disadvantage at the end and just really tight.

"Holding on for fourth was good for points. Overall, it was a good day for everybody. We just had that one pit stop and I slid a little bit — a foot or so further than I had all day. The guys got the air hose caught on the splitter and we lost six spots or whatever it was (during a stop under caution on Lap 181). All in all, it was a good day, and we ran up front and led laps. The 42 (Larson) and I felt like we were the class of the field — he just got it done, and we didn’t."