NASCAR Tag

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor A.J. Allmendinger had a tough road ahead of him in Sunday’s Auto Club 400. Allmendinger recorded the 11th-fastest speed in qualifying, but before the race his team noticed a issue with a rear-end gear. “It was a good catch by our crew to see the burnt gear, from the sound of it; it wasn’t something you really notice, the detail they put into building these race cars and going over them was big. They caught it and saved our day,” Allmendinger said. The No. 47Read More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor It seemed like everything was lining up for Austin Dillon heading into Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. Dillon was off to the best start to a season in his NASCAR Sprint Cup career through four races, he also won Saturday’s XFINITY Series event in dramatic fashion and he was starting from the pole in the Sprint Cup Series race. Despite starting from the top spot, Dillon was unable to lead a lap in Sunday’s race as he dealt with a loose-handling racecarRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Martin Truex Jr. had one of the strongest cars in Sunday’s Auto Club Speedway before close-quarters racing from Joey Logano’s Ford sent him into the outside wall on Lap 152. Truex insisted Logano hit him. Though Truex was able to continue, things went from bad to worse for the driver of the No. 78 Toyota, who was flagged for speeding when he brought his car onto pit road two laps later to deal with the damage. “We had a good run going until theRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service FONTANA, Calif. – A collision with Kasey Kahne’s Chevrolet ruined a promising afternoon for Danica Patrick in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. Patrick started 31st and had worked her way up to 19th before wrecking hard into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 121 after contact from Kahne’s Chevy. Kahne was a lap down at the time, thanks to an earlier unscheduled pit stop. “We were on a restart, and I had a run on him so I went down low,”Read More

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 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 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