Posted on by Pat DeCola

FONTANA, Calif. — NASCAR Cup Series cars took the green flag for Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway with no prior laps put down this weekend after both practice and qualifying were washed out from Saturday’s heavy rain. The only on-track activity for the season so far came in an exhibition race on a quarter-mile, temporary track inside a stadium that has held a range of events from the Olympics to the World Series, followed by the 65th Daytona 500 at the World Center of Racing … not exactly the kind of notebooks that translate to the 2-mile high banks in Southern California.

Despite all that, No. 1 Chevrolet driver Ross Chastain knew he had a car capable of winning coming around Turn 1 … of Lap 1.

And he almost did.

RELATED: Auto Club results | At-track photos

“Yeah, it’s incredible; we drove it in Turn 1, Lap 1 and passed like two or three cars and I was like ‘OK, this is gonna be really good,” Chastain said on pit road after finishing third in Sunday’s 400-miler. “And we just managed the race well, I thought we did a lot of things … that we did everything right. Balance-wise or any race adjustments, I don’t think we could have done any better. … Besides winning today, I couldn’t be much happier with how these two races have went. I love it. I’m not sure what it says other than we’re learning and we’re improving and we’ve got a long way to go.”

If Chastain and Trackhouse Racing have a long way to go from here, watch out. The Florida native nearly put the No. 1 in Victory Lane but was unable to reel in the No. 8 Chevrolet in the closing laps as Busch pulled away and Chase Elliott scooted by for second.

Ross Chastain reacts post-race after notching a top-five finish at Auto Club Speedway
Susan Wong | NASCAR Studios

Chastain still led a race-high 91 laps en route to his third-place finish and, oh yeah, his teammate Daniel Suárez was right behind him on the results sheet in fourth. It’s the second consecutive race to open the year that the duo has turned in dual top-10 finishes, and it kind of begs the question if Trackhouse is the — admittedly early — team to beat in 2023.

“You know, I’m very, very proud of everyone at Trackhouse; we have fast race cars no matter where we go and it’s a lot of fun,” Suárez told NASCAR.com on pit road after his fourth-place finish. “That’s thanks to all the men and women here at the track and also back at the shop. We have to continue to build because there are a few things that I felt like I could have done better. I don’t feel like we had the best car, but we had a car that if we were in the right situation was probably capable of winning the race, so we just have to continue to build. There is no perfection here. You know there is always room for improvement, so I will have to continue to be better and I’m sure that next week we’re going to have another shot.”

Trackhouse’s ascension has been remarkable to watch happen in real time, evolving from a fledgling, one-car startup operation to a two-car, championship-ready powerhouse faster than team co-owner Pitbull can say “fireball.”

For years now, it’s felt like there was a core four of teams capable of being elite for a whole season — Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing — but clearly, a fifth wheel has entered the equation, and Trackhouse appears dead set on disrupting the party. It could only be a matter of time before it’s the belle of the ball.

“I don’t think there is a limit (to our potential),” Suárez continued. “I think the limit, we’re gonna push ourselves to the limit and we shouldn’t even put up limits. You know, we have to continue to build and continue to get better, but you know, we’re already showing that we went to work in the offseason and we’re gonna continue to do that.”

With such a surge of momentum to start the season — fresh off an unexpected, sensational run to the Championship 4 last year — NASCAR.com asked Chastain what Trackhouse’s potential ceiling could be.

He took a second to think about it, then offered a wry smile before issuing quite the prognosticating mic drop.

“You’ll watch it when we do it.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Kyle Busch found his way back to Victory Lane at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

That should surprise nobody — but it should concern the rest of his NASCAR Cup Series competition.

RELATED: Auto Club results | At-track photos: Fontana

‘Rowdy’ was not contending for wins often last year, his final of 15 seasons driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. His last victory came 28 races ago at the dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway — a victory that frankly fell into his lap when leaders Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe tangled in Turn 4 on the final lap, allowing Busch to scoot through to the checkers. He led significant laps at Gateway, Nashville and Darlington but couldn’t close the deal.

There was no backing into his Sunday win in Fontana, his first driving for the storied Richard Childress Racing. Busch led 27 laps, including each of the final 21 circuits en route to the triumph. It was his most Busch-esque performance in recent memory, stalking oft-leader Ross Chastain for the lead late but showing patience in his attack.

An early pit-road speeding penalty mired Busch at the rear of the field for a Lap 47 restart after originally exiting the pits third. Busch powered the No. 8 Chevrolet all the way back to 11th place in the remaining 22 laps of Stage 1, an immediate warning shot to the rest of the field of how quick his machine was.

Busch capitalized on that speed and limited further mistakes, a note that became particularly pertinent on the final round of green-flag pit stops at Lap 166. Moments after nabbing the lead from Chastain, the duo darted for pit road together — but Busch was notably conservative, likely to avoid another penalty. Chastain took as much ground as he could and drew even with the No. 8, but Busch and his crew won the race off pit road anyway.

The two-time champion used that track position to his advantage and held off second-place runner Chase Elliott by 2.998 seconds as Chastain fell to third.

It’s been an incredible start to Busch’s new chapter with RCR — seemingly no need for a get-to-know-each-other period. The exhibition run at the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum produced a podium finish with a third-place result, parlayed into an impressive Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway that saw the No. 8 Chevrolet lead laps in the Bluegreen Vacations Duel and Daytona 500.

The team left Daytona without the results to show for its dominance, which included the most laps led in Duel No. 2 and heading the field at Lap 200 of the Daytona 500. No opportunity was blundered in Fontana.

His competition knows he’s back — and how dangerous a confident ‘Rowdy’ can be.

Some, though, showed their respect after the two-time Cup Series champion made his return to his winning ways after departing the JGR powerhouse.

“Congratulations to Kyle. For him to leave and then to go get the job done like that is pretty cool,” said Elliott, the 2020 series champion. “He’s always been really good to me, so happy for them and looking forward to getting to Vegas and hopefully competing for some more wins.”

Elliott’s teammate and 2021 title winner Kyle Larson offered similar praise.

One of the best to ever strap into a NASCAR stock car, undoubtedly. Busch’s victory makes history — 2023 now marks 19 straight winning seasons for the Las Vegas native, breaking Richard Petty’s long-standing record after winning in 18 consecutive years.

Busch’s domination has been dense, a career overflowing with some of the most impressive statistics the sport has ever seen. His 225 national series wins — 61 in Cup, a staggering 102 Xfinity victories and 62 Craftsman Truck Series triumphs — tower over anybody else’s tally, including The King’s 201 career wins.

Those 61 premier-series victories rank ninth-most all-time, more than Hall-of-Fame champions Rusty Wallace, Lee Petty, Tony Stewart, and Bill Elliott. Kevin Harvick, who is competing in his final full-time NASCAR Cup Series campaign in 2023, is the only active driver that joins Busch in the top-10 wins list, sitting 10th with 60 himself. Busch notched No. 61 in 644 starts; Harvick has 792 starts.

But for all his success, the rate at which he won had slowed in recent years: He won at least four races per year from 2015 through 2019, bookended by championship seasons, but won just four Cup races between 2020 and last year (once in 2020, twice in 2021 and once in 2022).

That’s why winning Sunday — so early in his tenure with Richard Childress Racing — feels like a statement that Rowdy may have returned to form.

“It ranks high, just because it ranks to the fact that I can do it,” Busch said of his Auto Club win. “I never doubted myself, but sometimes you do. You kind of get down on it. You wonder what’s going on and what’s happening. And you put yourself in a different situation, and you’re able to come out here and reward your guys.”

Anyone lulled into believing his winning ways were in the past seems to be sorely mistaken.

“Why is anyone surprised by this?” Chase Elliott said. “I mean, that’s mind-boggling to me that anyone is surprised that Kyle is fantastic, one of the best race car drivers to ever do this. That didn’t change overnight, so I’m not surprised, and anybody who is should rethink their NASCAR knowledge, in my opinion.”

Rowdy rejuvenated? That’s dangerous for everybody else.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

FONTANA, Calif. – The Kyle Busch era at Richard Childress Racing began three weeks ago at the Los Angeles Coliseum, but the coronation was reserved for Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 in the last NASCAR Cup Series race at 2-mile Auto Club Speedway.

Busch grabbed the lead from Ross Chastain on Lap 165 and regained it on Lap 180 at the end of a cycle of green-flag pit stops, as the race ran under green for the final 55 laps. He crossed the finish line on Lap 200 with a 2.998-second advantage over runner-up Chase Elliott.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

The victory was the 61st of Busch’s career, most among active drivers and ninth all-time. For the 19th straight season, Busch has won at least one NASCAR Cup Series race, breaking a tie with seven-time champion Richard Petty for the series record.

“Welcome to RCR, baby,” the No. 8 radio reported as Busch crossed the line. “First of many.”

Kyle and Kurt Busch now hold the record for most combined Cup victories by brothers with 95, one more than the total accumulated by Bobby and Donnie Allison.

Coincidentally, Busch claimed the first Cup win of his career at Auto Club, the bulk of whose property was recently sold — with plans to replace the 2-mile speedway with a short track.

Busch’s victory at Auto Club came in his second start in the No. 8 Chevrolet for RCR, the team he joined after 15 seasons and two series championships with Joe Gibbs Racing.

“I can’t thank Richard and Judy (Childress) enough, Austin (Dillon) for calling me and getting me talking and getting me the opportunity to come over here to RCR,” said Busch, who had to overcome a pit-road speeding penalty under caution on Lap 43.

“The guys did a great job. (Crew chief) Randall (Burnett) — everybody that worked so hard in the offseason. We did a lot of sim stuff, a lot of testing in general, just trying to get up to speed. There is nothing more rewarding than being able to go to Victory Lane. …

“You put yourself in a different situation and you’re able to reward your guys. It’s not about me always winning, but about the guys. I’ve worked with a lot of great people who’ve given me a lot of great opportunities in my career. It’s awesome to be able to reward them.”

With qualifying rained out on Saturday, Elliott started 31st according to a metric formula based on owner points and performance in the previous race (the Daytona 500). Throughout the race, Elliott’s crew made the No. 9 Chevrolet better. By race’s end, it was competitive with the fastest cars in the field.

“Yeah, just really proud of our team,” Elliott said. “We obviously didn’t run very good there toward the end of the year last year, and just everybody really went to work hard over the winter to try and get better. Obviously, I think we still have some work to do, but it was really nice to just see a lot of that hard work pay off and have the car driving like we were wanting it to do. So that’s always a good thing. …

“Congratulations to Kyle. For him to leave and then to go get the job done like that is pretty cool. He’s always been really good to me, so happy for them and looking forward to getting to Vegas and hopefully competing for some more wins.”

Chastain led a race-high 91 laps to Busch’s 27 and finished third after sweeping the first two stages, the second by 6.673 seconds. Chastain’s Trackhouse Racing teammate, Daniel Suárez ran fourth, followed by Kevin Harvick in his 750th consecutive Cup Series start. Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and Joey Logano completed the top 10.

A multicar accident during a restart on Lap 86 eliminated pole-sitter Christopher Bell, as well as Ryan Preece, Aric Almirola and Tyler Reddick. Ryan Blaney, who ran at or near the front of the field in Stage 1, sustained heavy damage to his No. 12 Ford during the wreck and finished 26th.

MORE: Pileup mars Stage 2 restart

Note: Post-race inspection was completed in the Cup Series garage without issue, confirming Busch as the race winner.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Staff Report

Several cars stacked up in a Stage 2 restart, thinning the field of potential contenders in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway.

When the green flag flew on Lap 86 of 200 in the Pala Casino 400, the middle of the pack jammed up behind Joey Logano’s No. 22 Ford, sending several cars skidding on the frontstretch. Eliminated were the No. 10 Ford of Aric Almirola, the No. 41 Mustang of Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Ryan Preece, the No. 45 Toyota of 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and pole-starter Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

Reddick was among those drivers dipping low to take evasive action, but Bell’s car ricocheted off the outside retaining wall, sweeping the Fords of Preece and Almirola into his path.

“I saw it stacked up pretty bad,” Reddick said after a check at the infield care center. He finished 34th in the 36-car field. “I saw the car behind me kind of laid off to get a really big run, so I kind of elected to make the decision to go to the bottom and get around it. Unfortunately, I think Ryan (Blaney) had the same idea. We just got collected and went through the grass and the right front of The Beast Unleashed Toyota Camry TRD was broke.”

Bell led just the first lap, but finished 32nd after completing just 88 of the 200 laps.

“Yeah, just the same thing that everybody already said – you can’t see what’s going on,” Bell said of the clogged track in the mishap. “You are just going off the guy in front of you and all of sudden he slows down and I got into him, and other guys got into me.”

Teammates Almirola and Preece were critical of the circumstances.

“I took off on the restart and went from second to third gear and all of a sudden everybody in front of us just stopped,” said Almirola, who wound up 35th. “I think the leader was just playing games, trying to prevent the runs coming from behind and they stopped in the middle of the restart zone was right about where they should have been accelerating.  It was just a huge accordion effect.  We were back in 16th, so everybody just started stacking up and you can’t stop on a dime. It’s disappointing to get wrecked out of the race like that on a silly Mickey Mouse restart, but I should have known better.”

Said Preece, who finished 33rd to open his SHR tenure with two straight DNFs: “It’s kind of stupid, to be honest with you on a professional level and we all wreck on a restart. I don’t know what happened, but just a victim of circumstances. It sucks. I was racing around Aric and we were just trying to be smart and get to the end of the race. Something like that, you’re not expecting everyone to wreck coming to the restart line.

“It’s unfortunate. That adjustment could have gotten us a lot better and we could have kept on making little gains. That was our goal, not to beat ourselves and just be there in the last 50 or 60. That’s why we stayed out that run, to see what our car would do in clean air and if we needed to work on it, which we did, and I felt like we just kept on making it better and better. It’s really a bad ending for this HaasTooling Ford Mustang, and even Aric, so we just have to go to Vegas and be on offense and start digging out of this hole we’re in right now.”

Other drivers sustaining damage were Ryan Blaney, Justin Haley, Todd Gilliland, Cody Ware and Ty Dillon.

Posted on by Staff Report

Kyle Larson’s hopes for a home-state victory Sunday faded early with mechanical trouble at Auto Club Speedway.

RELATED: Official results | At-track photos

Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet slowed on the 13th of 200 laps in Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 for the NASCAR Cup Series. He brought the car to pit road, where his crew raised the hood to assess the issue. Larson eventually returned to the race, but could not keep a competitive pace. After a competition caution period at Lap 15, the No. 5 Chevy was pushed behind the wall to the garage for repairs.

Larson, a two-time Cup Series winner at the 2-mile Fontana, California, track, returned to the track 15 laps down. He finished 29th in the 36-car field, completing 185 laps.

The outcome marked two consecutive subpar finishes to start the 2023 campaign. Larson placed 18th in the season-opening Daytona 500, crashing out in the final lap of an overtime finish.

Larson ranks 24th in the early Cup Series standings.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

FONTANA, Calif. — The 1990 film “Days of Thunder” is etched in both Hollywood lore and the deep memories of racing fans worldwide. It only makes sense then, that actor Michael Rooker often has fans come up to him and address him as his notorious character from the picture — Rowdy Burns.

Rooker, on hand at Auto Club Speedway for grand marshal duties in Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX), was asked before the race how he felt about two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch co-opting the nickname he made famous.

MORE: Pala Casino 400 sold out | Top photos from Auto Club weekend

Turns out he’s cool with it … but also kind of wants to win it back for himself.

“You know what? That’s okay. He’s kept the name alive. Rowdy, what a great name,” said Rooker, who also attended the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum earlier this month. “First of all, great name. And he’s been making it proud as far as I could tell. Although, I just saw him during the race over at the Coliseum. And you know, I posed the challenge. Him and I, one-on-one. Wheelchair race, anywhere, anytime, Mr. Rowdy.”

While Busch has the upper hand in the overall racing experience department, Rooker might get the edge if this fantasy race were to ever happen — he’s the only one with a win (or at least a photo finish) in that particular discipline.

Clearly, the popularity of “Days of Thunder” has not waned over the years and in some respects only seems to be growing. Seeing the major worldwide success of 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick” — a revival of 1986’s “Top Gun,” also starring Tom Cruise and also produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, as “Days of Thunder” was — it only begs the question if Rowdy Burns and Cole Trickle are also due for a reboot.

Is Rooker up for it? You could say so.

“Ching ching,” he said, rubbing his thumb and fingers together in a press conference before the race. “That’s a good answer for you. Of course I would! … But you know, when you do these things, the older guys that were who they were, they always want to get it back. You know, and the fans would want to see me and Tom racing against each other, you know they would.”

Classic Rowdy.

Posted on by PJ Walsh

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

Speedweeks provided a shockingly profitable start to the NASCAR season for me.

I say “shockingly” because, frankly, that is not usually the case.

And yes, I’d be remiss if I failed to disclose that my wife’s bet on Ricky Stenhouse to win the Daytona 500 at 40-1 NASCAR odds did most of my bankroll’s heavy-lifting.

But remember, #SameBankAccount.

Turning my attention to NASCAR odds for Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) at Auto Club Speedway, I’m taking a very conservative approach for three key reasons:

  1. The Cup Series visits Auto Club just once per season, meaning teams haven’t raced here in a year — a race that was also the first at an intermediate track in the Next Gen car.
  2. The combination of a new nose and whatever gains teams made over the offseason will not be known until cars go green this afternoon.
  3. Rain and snow washed out practice and qualifying on Saturday, so we have no data to analyze ahead of Sunday’s race.

As a result, I’m essentially sitting out of Sunday’s race at Auto Club except for the following group bet that’s posted at Caesars Sportsbook.

RELATED: Updated odds from BetMGM

NASCAR Odds, Pick for Auto Club

*Odds as of Sunday morning

Here are the drivers and latest NASCAR odds included in Group D at Caesars:

  • Erik Jones: -105
  • Aric Almirola: +500
  • Chris Buescher: +500
  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: +500
  • Justin Haley: +700

There’s no denying Jones should be the favorite of the group, but his -105 odds are steep.

A price tag of -105 translates to an implied probability of 51.22%, which is way too rich for my blood considering the uncertainty I detailed in the introduction.

I’m instead opting for Almirola’s +500 odds, and here’s why.

Jones was the best driver in 2022 in the four races at Auto Club, Darlington and Homestead, which are universally known for their high tire wear, but it was Almirola who posted the best average finish of the group in these races.

Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez and Denny Hamlin were the only full-time Cup Series drivers who bested Almirola’s average finish of 12.3 in these events last year.

In addition, the driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford ranked second in average running position (behind Jones) among drivers in this group at high tire wear races in 2022, which, combined with the best average finish, suggests he should be shorter than the other two drivers listed at +500 and priced closer to Jones.

Again, I believe Jones should be the favorite for the best finish among these five drivers; however, Almirola should easily be the second-most likely to win the group and has better than a 16.67% chance, which is what his +500 odds imply, to do so.

The bet: Almirola (+500) to Win Group D

Posted on by Reid Spencer

FONTANA, Calif. – Heavy rain and a freak California snowstorm forced postponement of Saturday’s Production Alliance Group 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Auto Club Speedway until Sunday night.

Rescheduled for 8 p.m. ET, the race will follow the Pala Casino 400 NASCAR Cup Series race as the second leg of a Sunday doubleheader. The Production Alliance Group 300 will be broadcast on FS2, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

RELATED: Leaderboard | At-track photos

A mid-afternoon lull in the rain allowed driver introductions and opening ceremonies to be completed. After the command to start engines, the Xfinity Series cars took pace laps, but the rain returned, and NASCAR officials brought the cars to pit road.

Continued rain forced NASCAR to announce the postponement at 7:06 p.m. ET.

Qualifying for both races was canceled early Saturday morning as rain pelted the 2-mile track and then turned to snow in the late morning. After snowfall that lasted approximately one hour, the rain returned.

Because of the qualifying rainouts, the fields for both races have been set according to the rule book using a metric that combines owner points rank, finish in the previous race and rank of the fastest lap in the previous race.

Christopher Bell will start from the pole position in Sunday’s Cup race (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM), with Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. beside him. Conversely, adverse circumstances in last Sunday’s DAYTONA 500 have relegated the cars of Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick to positions 31 through 35, respectively.

Only once in 32 previous Cup races at Fontana has a driver won from deeper in the field than 25th on the grid. Matt Kenseth won from the 31st starting position in 2006, when the race was scheduled for 500 miles.

The top two finishers from last Saturday’s Xfinity Series season opener will start from the front row in Sunday evening’s race, with Austin Hill on the pole and Daytona runner-up John Hunter Nemechek beside him.

Double-duty drivers Austin Dillon, Reddick and Ross Chastain will start 15th, 24th and 38th, respectively. The 300-mile event is the second of 33 events for the Xfinity Series this season.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Pat DeCola

FONTANA, Calif. — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start Sunday’s Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway in the same place he finished last Sunday’s Daytona 500 — at the front of the field.

The No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet driver and reigning “Great American Race” champion will start alongside pole starter Christopher Bell in Sunday’s final race at the 2-mile facility in Southern California (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) after practice and qualifying were canceled Saturday with heavy rain pelting the track. The Mississippi native will look to make it two wins in a row but enters the weekend with an alternative mindset — that he’s still winless.

MORE: Rain washes out Saturday sessions | Full Auto Club lineup

“I think, you know, for us as a team we met and we want to run the next 25 races before the playoffs like we don’t have a win,” Stenhouse said Saturday in a video conference with reporters. “We want to average a 14th, 15th place finish (the rest of the regular season). We know that that generally puts you in a good position to make the playoffs based on points over the last few years. And then obviously another win would be, you know, nice to have in your pocket.”

As the only driver provisionally locked into the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Stenhouse and Co. could theoretically spend the next 25 races fortifying their plan to capitalize on his first tentative postseason appearance since 2017. As a single-car operation with coffers that don’t quite go as deep as some of the bigger, four-car teams, however, JTG realizes that its best shot is to keep its foot on the gas, so to speak, and not just run out the clock on the regular season — there are still insights to be learned and trophies to strive for.

“I do feel like there’s race tracks that we’re still capable of winning on, especially with the things that we’ve learned this offseason, the extra support that we’ve gotten from Chevy and our alliance with Hendrick, there’s some really good race tracks for us that we feel like if we were just a little bit better last year then we could have pulled off a win. So we still feel like we can win again. But you know, we definitely feel like we need to average kind of like that 15th-place-finish over the next 25 races.”

RELATED: Full Auto Club preview | Where Stenhouse is projected to finish

It’s likely a wise strategy, as the series nearly saw 20 different winners a season ago and it’s very much in the realm of possibility too many unique winners could squeeze Stenhouse out of postseason contention if his points are lacking. For comparison’s sake, ’17 stands as Stenhouse’s best year to date — with not one, but two wins that year — and he averaged a 17.1 finish across the full season while landing 13th in points.

Still, there’s something to be said about the mojo that comes along with winning the Daytona 500 and at least starting out ahead of everyone else. Don’t go mistaking this as any sort of false confidence, however — it’s been earned through countless hours of dedication and grit. It just finally paid off.

“Yeah, I mean, my confidence is definitely higher right now. Anytime you come off of a win, especially the beginning of the season, is always nice. Try and carry that momentum on,” said Stenhouse, who picked up his second career Fontana top 10 in last year’s race. “For me, it’s confidence in myself that hey, you stuck it out. You kept pushing hard and showed up to the race track, putting your hours in the gym, putting in your hours studying data, you know, rewatching races and then obviously, feeling like we assembled the right group of people around us and here at JTG Daugherty Racing. So, confidence that you know we got things going in the right direction.”

We’ll get back to racing soon enough, and Stenhouse will have his chance to show this wasn’t just a fluke superspeedway win — the No. 47 has a legitimate shot at multiple race wins this year and won’t just be happy to be there come playoff time. For now, even though he and the team are choosing to view last weekend for the life-making moment it was and not necessarily the playoff implications that come along with it, Stenhouse has spent the last week soaking in the limelight of being heralded as the sport’s 500 champion.

Quinn Harris/Getty Images

“I think the coolest thing is just being able to represent our sport all week, all over the country and you know, I take pride in that. I don’t take that lightly,” Stenhouse said. “Going to Chicago … to the Field Museum or the Children’s Hospital, to opening NASDAQ and ringing the bell. I mean, I take that all very seriously and they wanted to promote our race team, our partners at Kroger you know, and then obviously, all of NASCAR and I think that’s just been the coolest thing is being able to celebrate this win all week long.”

MORE: Stenhouse tours Chicago as Daytona 500 champ