Auto Club 400 Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – Let the debate begin. Recovering from a pit road speeding penalty with the help of a timely caution, Kyle Busch collected his 200th NASCAR national series victory with a dominating win in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. At the same venue that gave Busch his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory in 2005, the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota beat runner-up Joey Logano to the finish line by a comfortable 2.354 seconds to earn his 53rdRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – Austin Dillon didn’t make it to the Start / Finish line in time to turn a lap in the final session of knockout qualifying at Auto Club Speedway. And yet the driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet won the pole for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at the two-mile track (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)—because no one else made it to the stripe in the final round, either. In a bizarre money round in Friday’sRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor The annual NASCAR Goes West campaign reaches the end of its three week run this weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Southern California for Sunday’s running of the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. Built on the site of an old steel mill featured in the movie “Terminator”, the two-mile oval has been a part of the NASCAR schedule since opening in 1997. During its 20+ years on the circuit, the track has gone through ownership changes, as well as expandingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The final leg of the “West Coast Swing” will be an important one for Garrett Smithley, driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, as he’ll have a special partnership for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Smithley’s major partnership will be the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and 10 Tanker Air Carrier, with a goal of raising awareness for the CDF Benevolent Fund. What makes the deal significant for the 26-year-old is that hisRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – Martin Truex Jr. drove three things on Sunday afternoon at Auto Club Speedway. First, he drove the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota to a dominating victory in the Auto Club 400, the fifth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season. Second, he drove a time machine, turning back the clock to 2017 when his mastery of stage racing propelled him to his first series championship. Truex’s effort in Sunday’s race was every bit as overwhelming as his most convincingRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Kyle Larson has put a stranglehold on his competitors at the two-mile circuits, winning the last four races, but his bid for a fifth victory (Larson’s second at Fontana) came to an end in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway after finishing second behind race winner Martin Truex, Jr. Despite being his best finish of the season and only his second top-five, Larson failed to put his No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet on top of the leaderboard. “We had a lot of weirdRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Heading into Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway, Kevin Harvick had the hot hand, having won the three of the first four races on the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule, but for the California native, making it four wins in a row was not to be after an early race incident sunk his chances of winning. After starting 10th, Harvick quickly began marching his way toward the front of the field, entering into a thrilling side-by-side battle with Kyle Larson, butRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For the second week in a row, Martin Truex, Jr. will lead the field to green after powering his way to the pole during Friday’s qualifying session for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. With a lap of 38.592 seconds, 186.567 mph, Truex was the only driver in the final round of qualifying to put up a faster lap than the round before, paving his way toward his 17th career pole and his first at the two-mile California track. “It’s definitely pretty cool,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rolling into Southern California this weekend for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway, the time has come again to dive into the past at the two-mile oval in this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”. This week, with Kevin Harvick on a hot streak, winning the last three races in a row, we look back at the 2011 running of the Auto Club 400 and the fantastic finish between two California natives, Harvick and Jimmie Johnson.Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After stops in Las Vegas and Phoenix, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wraps up their venture to the West Coast this weekend as they roll into Southern California to do battle on the two-mile Auto Club Speedway in Sunday’s Auto Club 400. Built on the site of an old steel mill featured in the movie “Terminator”, the two mile oval has been a part of the NASCAR schedule since opening in 1997. The track has gone through ownership changes throughout its history, as wellRead More