Posted on by Staff Report

Furious finish benefits Dillon, rookie Kyle Larson

Practice results

It’s difficult to catch Kyle Busch at Auto Club Speedway, but Austin Dillon was among the drivers to do just that in the first NASCAR Nationwide Series practice for Saturday’s Royal Purple 300.

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After Busch set the pace early with a blazing first-lap time that was the best for nearly two hours, Dillon finished with the best time of Friday afternoon.

Driving the No. 3, Dillon turned a lap time of 40.728 seconds, a speed of 176.783 mph. It capped a furious finish to the practice that saw Kyle Larson post the best time with about two minutes to go, before Dillon topped Larson’s mark 20 seconds later.

Larson settled for second place, with his best time of 40.960 seconds (175.781) coming on his final of 52 laps.

That sequence of events knocked Elliott Sadler down a peg, although the No. 11 driver still finished third (175.683 mph, 40.983 seconds).

Justin Allgaier, who is second in NASCAR Nationwide Series points standings, was fourth and series points lead Sam Hornish Jr. finished fifth on the speed chart.

Busch, who sat atop the leaderboard for most of the day, posted the sixth-best time after running 38 laps.

Busch has won five of the past seven Nationwide Series races at Auto Club Speedway; Joey Logano won the other two, including last year’s race, but he’s not in this year’s Nationwide Series event.

Busch has already won two races this year, including last week’s Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The practice lasted for more than two hours in advance of Saturday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. ET.

The Royal Purple 300, to be televised on ESPN, is Saturday at 5 p.m.

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Posted on by Nascar

Media relations vice president passes away after battle with cancer

John Cardinale, vice president of media relations for Sonoma Raceway, passed away March 21 following a two-year battle with gastric cancer.

Cardinale, 47, is survived by his wife, Andrea, and two daughters.

“John Cardinale was as true a friend, as loyal a colleague, as devoted a husband and father and as fine a human being as you could ever hope to know,” Sonoma Raceway President Steve Page said.

“John has been a part of every good thing that has happened at this track over the last 15 years. We are all so fortunate to have had him in our lives and to have shared in his intelligence, his wit, his integrity and his brave spirit.”

Cardinale joined the staff of the track then known as Infineon Raceway in 1998. He was a graduate of San Francisco State University and spent 10 years in the newspaper business as a sports reporter and editor in the Bay area.

This past January, Sonoma Raceway hosted the second annual John’s March Against Stomach Cancer, an event established to honor Cardinale while raising awareness and funds for stomach cancer research. The inaugural event raised nearly $17,000.

According to track officials, for those who would like to make a donation in Cardinale’s honor, a memorial fund has been set up on behalf of his family.  Donations may be sent to the John Cardinale Memorial Fund, care of Sonoma Raceway, 29355 Arnold Drive, Sonoma, CA 95476.

Sonoma Raceway is a property of Speedway Motorsports Inc.

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Posted on by Staff Report

Three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers in top five; Keselowski, Biffle will move to rear

Auto Club 400 lineup

FONTANA, Calif. — Denny Hamlin edged Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway, but of the three top qualifiers, Hamlin will be the only driver starting at or near the front of the field.

Overcoming an early draw, Hamlin toured the 2-mile track in 38.410 seconds (187.451 mph) to win the 13th Coors Light pole award of his career and his third at Fontana.

Biffle (187.217 mph) was second fastest and Keselowski, the defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and current points leader, ran third at 187.149 mph. However, both Biffle and Keselowski will start from the rear of the field after changing their Ford engines before qualifying.

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As time trials ended, Biffle’s team was tearing down his motor to determine the cause of a failure that occurred early in Friday’s opening practice. Keselowski’s team changed engines after the conclusion of practice because of an issue Biffle believed was similar to his, although neither engine had been analyzed by Friday afternoon.

Though Biffle and Keselowski drive for different organizations — Roush Fenway Racing and Penske Racing, respectively — their power plants come from a common source, Roush Yates Racing Engines.

Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, Hamlin’s teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing, qualified fourth and fifth, respectively. Joey Logano, Keselowski’s teammate, claimed the sixth starting position but will move closer to the front of the field — and to Hamlin, his nemesis from last Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway — when Biffle and Keselowski drop to the rear.

Though conventional wisdom says that drivers will post faster laps later in the day as the track cools, Hamlin, the third driver to make a qualifying attempt, felt the quality of his No. 11 Toyota made the difference.

“Honestly, I think our car was really fast,” said Hamlin, who started from the pole at Fontana last year. “I knew, talking to a few people in my motor home… it’s cocky to say, but I said, ‘Man, I can almost guarantee a pole, if we have a late draw.’ When they told me we were third, I was like, ‘OK. Well, just never mind. Forget that.’

“I knew, after running so well here in qualifying before, you kind of get a feel for what you need to do as a driver to hit your points and be fast, and I think our car was just exceptional for a lap or so today.”

Keselowski expressed concern of the engine issues that will send him and Biffle to the back.

“I’m a little bit nervous about the engine issues the 16 (Biffle) and the 2 cars had in practice,” said Keselowski, who has finished in the top five in each of the first four Cup races this season. “Hopefully, those will subside for the race.

“It’s unfortunate, but it’s kind of what it is, and we’ll have a good time, hopefully, racing to the front.”

Martin Truex Jr., defending race winner Tony Stewart, Mark Martin and Kurt Busch will start from positions seven through 10 on the grid, respectively.

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Posted on by Staff Report

Re-watch the best moments from Friday’s Nationwide Series Garage Cam

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Nationwide Series driver Kyle Larson speaks to the media at Auto Club Speedway.

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Posted on by Staff Report

Need to set up your fantasy lineup for the Auto Club 400? Check out what the experts are saying.

 

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Dog-loving driver takes part in apprehension, narcotics exercises

Even as the defending champion at Texas Motor Speedway, Greg Biffle returned to the track as a "criminal suspect" on Wednesday. A known dog lover, Biffle suited up in padded armor and took part in a training exercise with members of the Fort Worth Police Department K-9 Unit and their canine partners. Two veteran dogs, German Shepherds Moro and Rocky, were put on the chase of the "suspect" Roush Fenway Racing driver.

“I was just hoping he was just going to bite me where the suit was,” Biffle said. “That’s all I was worried about. He wasn’t going to go for the hands or the feet. I did it twice and they asked if I wanted to do it again. I didn’t get bit or fall down … so let’s put it this way, you can play with fire but you are going to get burnt sooner or later."

"It’s incredible to see what dogs can do."

— Greg Biffle

Biffle also witnessed the skills of Kelev, a narcotics dog, and gave her commands to detect an illegal substance.

“It’s incredible to see what dogs can do,” Biffle said. “Their sense of smell and being able to train a dog with commands and being able to say the commands and the dog do it, it’s incredible. For situations like that for these police officers to have a safety net of an animal and to be able to get into places and get people is super important.”

In 2005, Biffle started the Greg Biffle Foundation as an advocate for the welfare of animals. The foundation’s yearly NASCAR Pets calendar, which features images of drivers and their pets, helps raise money for the foundation.

“There are a lot of cruelty cases with animals and you have to have a strong stomach for this story,” Biffle said. “We saw on the news one night that this lady was breeding Rottweilers in her back yard and she got tired of doing it and wanted to get rid of the pets. So she poured gasoline on them and lit them on fire to kill them while they were tied to a tree. That was kind of the turning point for me and we started the foundation shortly after that.”

See more images from Biffle’s "Dog Day Afternoon" below. Photos by Tom Pennington, Getty Images.

 

Greg Biffle speaks to the media alongside Lily, a dog from the SPCA of Texas.

Moro, a German Shepherd, helps her unit apprehend the Roush Fenway Racing driver at Texas Motor Speedway.

Forth Worth Police Department canine Kelev and officer Harald Cussnick show the driver of the No. 16 3M Ford a narcotic detection exercise.

"Suspect" Biffle tries to escape the bite of a member of the Fort Worth Police Department K-9 Unit, Moro.

Greg Biffle and Maura Davies, vice president of communications at the SPCA of Texas, play with two dogs that are looking for a loving home.

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Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

Larson would become first CA native to win Auto Club Speedway Nationwide Series race

After a thrilling race to the finish line in last Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Bristol, Kyle Larson, who finished runner-up to Kyle Busch, returns to his home state for this Saturday’s Royal Purple 300 (5 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Auto Club Speedway.

In 23 NASCAR Nationwide races, no California native has ever won at Auto Club. Larson, of Elk Grove, hopes to build on his performance in Bristol to become the first. However, it will be his first visit to the track.

"I haven’t raced at Auto Club Speedway, but I’ve watched a bunch of races and it looks like a lot of fun to me," said Larson, who is currently second in the NASCAR Nationwide Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings. "There’s more than one groove, which makes for great racing."

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If Larson finds his way to Victory Lane, he would be just the fourth driver to win in their first NASCAR Nationwide start at the track. Mark Martin was the most recent, winning in February 2005. Scott Riggs and Todd Bodine also accomplished the feat, with Bodine winning the inaugural series event.

In Larson’s first four races of the 2013 season, coincidentally also the first of his NASCAR Nationwide career, he opened the season with a pair of 13th-place finishes at Daytona and Phoenix followed by a 32nd-place finish at Las Vegas after an accident ended his day 18 laps shy of the scheduled 200.

Larson currently ranks ninth in the points standings, 49 points behind leader Sam Hornish Jr. Of the eight drivers in front of him, none have wins at the track while only three have top-five finishes (Austin Dillon, Brian Scott, Brian Vickers). Vickers is the only driver with multiple top fives (two). 

His finish at Bristol moved Larson up five positions in the standings and had some considering him as a possible dark horse in the championship race. The way in which he raced Busch in the closing laps drew praise from the driver of the No. 54 Toyota and opened a lot of eyes throughout the garage.   

He’ll be looking to do more of the same this Saturday.

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Posted on by Zack Albert

With just 13 Nationwide starts under his belt, Travis Pastrana already exudes the confidence of a seasoned driver

To hear the ever-excitable Travis Pastrana talk can be a mile-a-minute experience. It’s almost as if this trait prepared him for last weekend’s racing at Bristol Motor Speedway, where NASCAR’s best cover roughly two miles a minute.

The learning curve for Pastrana in this, his rookie Nationwide Series season, remains steep, primarily because of the strength of competition. If his ability to speak the lingo is any indication, Pastrana is catching on at an accelerated pace.

In last Saturday’s Jeff Foxworthy’s Grit Chips 300, Pastrana’s communication with his crew nearly resembled that of a veteran, not someone with just 13 Nationwide starts in his portfolio. The full-time NASCAR driver with the extreme sports following is no stranger to speed in a variety of vehicles, but telling his Roush Fenway Racing crew which adjustments to make to his No. 60 Ford has been a huge component of his stock-car racing education.

"We’re getting there," Pastrana said Saturday after his 16th-place finish. "I know what I want the car to do to make it more comfortable, but I don’t know what I want to do to make the car faster. A lot of times, they’re two completely different things."

Finding comfort in the confines of the World’s Fastest Half-Mile was a significant starting point for Pastrana in his Bristol Nationwide debut. Even as he learns the secrets of speed through communication, his familiarity with the terminology is clear.

Turning four laps roughly every minute at high G-forces with 39 other cars on the .533-mile short track makes transmitting detailed information about a car’s handling nearly impossible during green-flag conditions. But during each of the race’s eight caution periods, Pastrana radioed in to crew chief Chad Norris and terms such as "loose on entry," "tight center" and "loose off" rolled off his tongue.

"…when we come back (to Bristol), we’ll be a little quicker."

— Travis Pastrana

While the adjustments didn’t help Pastrana pick off his rivals on his way to the top 10, it did help him survive 300 laps at one of NASCAR’s most demanding tracks with all four corners of the car intact at the finish.

"It felt really good there at the end, so I learned a lot," Pastrana said. "I feel like if we could start the day over again with the knowledge we have now, we would be better but that’s my goal — more knowledgeable at the end of the day."

That was plenty for car owner Jack Roush, who gave Pastrana two thumbs up and a pat on the back after the checkered flag.

"Solid, really solid," Roush said.

"I’m trying," Pastrana said. "We learned a lot, Jack, so when we come back, we’ll be a little quicker."

"You didn’t have the best car today," Roush concluded, "but you did a nice job with it."

The other end of the communication cog that helped keep his brightly colored machine clean by day’s end happened to be veteran spotter Joel Edmonds, who also acts as the second set of eyes for Greg Biffle in the Sprint Cup series. The near-constant chatter from Edmonds was nothing entirely new for Pastrana, who became well conditioned to highly vocal spotters in rally-cross competition.

"I’ve just got to keep remembering when I can’t see people and he’s saying ‘outside’ or ‘inside,’ I tend to kind of push the envelope with how far I can go," Pastrana said, "and because I can’t see them physically and I’m hearing ‘they’re still there, still there.’ It could be three or four laps and I’m like, ‘I don’t see this imaginary person that you’re talking about! I feel fine. I want that line!’ I just need to listen better, understand it better. We’re on a pretty good pace right now."

Pastrana hasn’t forgotten to have fun along the way, adding a dose of levity to his radio transmissions. "Do we want to do something crazy here, stay out and lead a lap?" he asked during an early yellow flag. "Whatever you did there, yeah, don’t do that again," he cracked after an midrace adjustment went awry. Then, after lining up for a restart as the second car one lap down to defending Cup champ Brad Keselowski: "Augh! That’s not the guy I want to be racing for the lucky dog."

The lighter moments aside, Pastrana’s fierce determination has impressed teammate Trevor Bayne thus far. As all sides of the communication begin to click, Bayne says there’s no limit to how far Pastrana could go.

"He didn’t come here just to make laps and get experience; he wants to be good at it," Bayne said. "To be good at something you have to be a listener and you have to be able to put it into action, and that’s two things he’s shown me so far this year."

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