Auto Club Speedway Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief It was a wild afternoon at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, which saw Jimmie Johnson surge past Kevin Harvick on a late restart to win the Auto Club 400. Here are the five takeaways from Sunday’s race at the 2-mile oval. 1) Kevin continues Auto Club collapse Heading into Sunday’s Sprint Cup race the driver that led the most laps failed to win five of the last six races, Harvick made it six of seven after failing to find Victory Lane in Fontana. It isRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer With one of the best rookie classes in recent memory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series occurring during the 2016 season, each week we’ll take a look at the five rookies battling for Rookie of the Year and track their progress throughout the season. In this Auto Club Speedway edition of the “Rookie Report,” Chase Elliott finds himself at the top of the rookie mountain once again. With his sixth place finish in the Auto Club 400, Elliott posted his best finish of the seasonRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The last leg of the “NASCAR Goes West” tour at Auto Club Speedway proved to have mixed results for Roush Fenway Racing and it’s three drivers. Trevor Bayne was the star of qualifying for Roush Fenway in the Auto Club 400, posting a seventh place starting spot. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified 18th, with Greg Biffle 22nd. The weekend quickly started going downhill for Biffle in Saturday’s final practice, where he slammed into Kyle Larson’s Chevrolet off of turn four with just 24 minutes left inRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer Heading into Sunday’s Auto Club 400, two drivers in the field would be going to battle with each other in what would be dubbed the #HeroFaceOff in promotion of the upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson each sported a superhero paint scheme, with Earnhardt carrying the Batman colors on his No. 88 Chevrolet and Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet adorned with the familiar red and blue colors of Superman. “The greatest gladiator match in theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – Jimmie Johnson won the battle between hometown heroes on Sunday, outdueling Kevin Harvick in overtime at Auto Club Speedway. “Awesome teamwork, boys!” Johnson shouted on his radio after taking the 77th checkered flag of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, breaking a tie with the late Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all-time victory list. “There’s nothing like winning at home.” The six-time series champion from El Cajon got the chance he needed when Kyle Busch blew a tire and hitRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Kevin Harvick, and his crew chief Rodney Childers have brought arguably the fastest cars to the track week-in and week-out since they were first paired at Stewart-Haas Racing over two years ago. The duo has already won a championship together, they’ve collected nine victories along the way, and they’ve already clinched a place in this year’s Chase by winning in Phoenix last week. Yet even with how much they’ve already accomplished, the team has fallen flat in several race-clinching scenarios over the past couple of seasons. Sunday’sRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer It was a quite and uneventful final practice for most on Saturday for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. This was not the case however for both Greg Biffle and Kyle Larson. Very late into the session, Larson’s No.42 Target Chevrolet SS broke loose in the middle of turns three and four. Larson fought to save the car, just tagging the outside wall. Running just behind Larson, Biffle was on new tires, and didn’t see Larson until it was too late. Unfortunately forRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – Seconds after crossing the finish line .715 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon summed up Saturday’s TreatMyClot.com 300 by Janssen in one short sentence. “I’d rather be lucky than good,” Dillon chortled on his team radio after ending evading Busch’s last-ditch attempt to pinch the winning No. 2 Chevrolet into the outside wall at Auto Club Speedway. And that was just the final stanza of a crazy final lap that saw: 1) Busch slow to a crawl, short onRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor A race team with a once sterling reputation on the track, is now fledgling. Richard Childress Racing hasn’t won a race since Kevin Harvick packed his bags for greener pastures at Stewart-Haas Racing more than two years ago. For a team that housed cars for the legendary Dale Earnhardt for nearly 20 seasons, and for years was a championship contender with drivers like Kevkn Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton turning the wheel, this is absolutely unacceptable. While Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, Joe Gibbs RacingRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – Austin Dillon delivered a parting shot that turned out to be a called shot. After taking questions from reporters after Friday’s opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Auto Club Speedway, Dillon paused to watch the last minute of Middle Tennessee State’s upset victory over Michigan State in the NCAA basketball tournament. On his way out the door, Dillon was asked about his prospects for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX) at the two-mile track. “Ask me tomorrowRead More