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Author: Tucker White

The White Zone: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not After Five Races

“The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and I need to unload on who’s been performing and who’s been lacking so far in 2016.

After a wild first five races of the 2016 NASCAR campaign, we’re taking a weekend breather for Easter. Since I haven’t done one of these in awhile, I decided to climb atop my soapbox and tell you whom I believe is hot so far and who’s not so far.

For this list, I’m only counting drivers that weren’t expected to be driving at the level they are as drivers who are hot. I won’t include drivers like Kevin Harvick or Jimmie Johnson because we all expect them to perform well. For drivers who are not, I’m only including those who were expected to perform better than they are at the moment. That means you won’t see Danica Patrick on this list.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

Who’s hot #1: Austin Dillon

Austin Dillon is looking great so far. Photo: Brian Lawdermilk/NASCAR via Getty Images

I think it’s safe to say that 2016 is looking to be a career season for Austin Dillon.

The driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet has had finishes of ninth, 11th, fifth, ninth and 24th to start out his third full season in the Sprint Cup Series. He had an average finish of 17.5 in 2014 and 21.0 in 2015 through the entire 36-race stretch. In 2016, his average is 11.6 through five. At this point in 2014, he had just one top-10 finish and no top-five. At this point in 2015, he had neither a top-10 nor top-five finish. He’s easily bested both through five races in 2016.

This would appear to be a sign that RCR is finally making ground and becoming a competitive organization again, but teammates Paul Menard and Ryan Newman have been lagging toward the back-end of the front half of the field with a finishing average of around 20th for both drivers.

Either way, I have no reason to believe Dillon won’t continue his strong run as we head into Martinsville. I even believe that he’ll finally break through and win a race or two this season.

Who’s not #1: Kyle Larson

2016 has not been too kind so far to Kyle Larson. Photo: Getty Images

While things are looking great for one driver of the 2014 rookie class, Kyle Larson has been unable to mount any great drives.

After a seventh-place finish in the Daytona 500, the driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet and 2014 rookie of the year was looking to rebound from a disappointing 2015 season with the low downforce package that many said would favor drivers like Larson. This, however, has not been the case.

With finishes of seventh, 26th, 34th, 12th and 39th, 2016 is looking to be a continuation of 2015. But by this point in 2015, he already had two top-10 finishes and those were at tracks other than Daytona.

After starting out with so much promise in 2014, he seemed to regress in 2015 and it’s not looking to be any better after five races in 2016. While he’s signed on with Ganassi through 2017, I believe he’s getting to the point where he’s about to be declared the NASCAR equivalent of an NFL draft “bust.” In a nutshell, it means someone who probably had tremendous potential, but it never materialized.

Who’s hot #2: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is showing signs of life early in 2016. Photo: Getty Images

The upgrade in performance from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. appears to be a sign that Roush Fenway Racing is starting to turn the ship around.

While teammates Trevor Bayne and Greg Biffle continue to lag behind, the driver of the No. 17 RFR Ford is potentially showing that the organization that once put all five of its drivers into the Chase is starting to return to competitive form.

Now if you look at his finishes of 22nd, 10th, 12th, 37th and fifth, you might think this is par for the course for Stenhouse. When you look at his career statistics, the answer would appear to be yes. However, after five races in each of his previous three seasons, he never had more than one top-10 finish and only once did he have one top-10 finish in the first five races.

I’m not ready to say if the two-time XFINITY Series champion is ready to fight for a win just yet, but if he continues to have strong runs like he’s had in the first five races of 2016, he’ll continue to accumulate top-10 finishes.

Who’s not #2: Matt Kenseth

Matt Kenseth has been dealt awful luck so far in 2016. Photo: Noel Lanier

The last driver I’ll talk about is one Matthew Roy Kenseth.

I almost didn’t include the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on my list because I could chalk up his lousy start to the season to incredibly bad luck. When you look at all his bad finishes after five races, there was a reasonable catalyst that was beyond his control in almost each of them and he was running up front in most of those races. But as I stated in my criteria for this list, I’m looking at drivers that had high expectations and have so far fallen short.

Let’s go back to the start of the season in Daytona Beach, Florida. Kenseth had the race lead on the final lap and was in good position to score his second Daytona 500 victory. With two laps to go, however, teammate Denny Hamlin broke formation and moved to the high line. By the time the field was in turn 3, Kenseth moved up to block Hamlin. By that time, Hamlin got under Kenseth who came down, got loose and fell back to a 14th-place finish.

Then came Atlanta where he had a car that could win. Unfortunately, he fell afoul of an unusual rule when his gas man placed a wrench on the back deck lid of the car while the fuel can was engaged. NASCAR deemed this “improper fueling” and Kenseth was shown the black flag. While crew chief Jason Ratcliff argued the call, nobody relayed the penalty to Kenseth. After three laps, he was shown the black flag with white cross marks which meant he would no longer be scored until he served his penalty. This process took him from fourth in the running order to 31st two laps down. The best he could do was rally back to a 19th-place finish.

In Las Vegas, Kenseth was running toward the front when he was sent up toward the wall and rear-ended by Chase Elliott near the end of the Kobalt 400 and finished 37th.

In Phoenix, he finally did enough to post his first top-10 of the season with a seventh-place finish in the Good Sam 500.

Last week in Fontana, Kenseth was largely a non-factor as he finished 19th.

Unlike Larson, I don’t expect the 2003 Sprint Cup Series champion to continue having rotten finishes. His team will find a way to have more consistent finishes and get him to victory lane. In the month of April, he’ll be visiting four tracks at which he has a combined eight wins and an over 50 percent top-10 average at two of the next four tracks.

Now five races is, by no means, a representative sample of the 36-race season. If I were to do this again in five weeks time, this list could look very different. So don’t freak out if your driver isn’t living up to his expectations after five races because it could all change for better or worse on any given Sunday.

My plane is about to take off, so I must wrap this up. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. Most toilets flush in E flat.

The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the author. They may or may not be shared by SpeedwayMedia.com.

March 26, 2016
Darrell Wallace Jr. Says His Football Position Would be ‘Water Boy’

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.– Asked what position he’d like to play, Bubba Wallace said “water boy.”

Practicing with his beloved Tennessee Volunteers, the driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford said after his “lousy” performance, he’d rather be the water boy or cheerleader.

He said that he wasn’t having any luck, but it was “still cool though to be out there with the squad as part of Team 120 (the 120th team fielded by the University of Tennessee in college football) here at UT and just take it all in. This is a different attire than what I usually wear, but I’m glad I was able to suit up and go have some fun and make a fool out of myself for a little bit.”

When asked if he expects to hear any other drivers critique his performance, he said, “oh absolutely, especially Ryan Blaney.”

Wallace also took to Twitter to express his appreciation for the opportunity.

He was at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville Thursday as part of a cross-promotion with Bristol Motor Speedway to promote the upcoming race weekend and the Battle at Bristol in September at Thunder Valley.

Jerry Caldwell, the general manager of Bristol Motor Speedway, said that tickets are sold out for the upcoming Sept. 10 contest between the Virginia Tech Hokies and the Tennessee Volunteers and there’s still a growing demand for more seats. He also stated that ticket sales for the Food City 500 Sprint Cup Series race were going well.

He also gave an update on the construction of “Colossus,” the new center-hung jumbotron that will hang over the .533 mile concrete short track. Colossus will be turned on for the first time about a week and a half before NASCAR comes to Thunder Valley.

March 24, 2016
Busch and Patrick Fined for Actions in California

Kyle Busch and Danica Patrick have been penalized for their respective action’s from this past weekend in the Golden State.

The driver of the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was fined $20,000 and placed on probation through the next four races for violating NASCAR’s behavioral policy.

Patrick crashed out of Sunday’s Auto Club 400 with 79 laps to go when her car was hooked into the outside wall on the front stretch by Kasey Kahne. After exiting from her car, she walked toward the racing surface to show her displeasure to the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. This was found to be in violation of the on-track incident procedure section (10.4.2.1) of the 2016 NASCAR rule book.

Busch was fined $10,000 and placed on probation for the next four races for failure to fulfill post-race media obligations.

The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led 133 of the 150 laps and was leading when the white flag was shown, but suffered a cut left-front tire and finished second to Austin Dillon.

In addition to the fines, six teams were issued warnings for failing inspection twice over the weekend. Four of them – the No. 3 of Dillon, the No. 20 of Matt Kenseth, the No. 21 of Ryan Blaney and the No. 27 of Paul Menard – failed the Laser Inspection Station in pre-qualifying inspection. The No. 19 of Carl Edwards failed the LIS twice during pre-race inspection. The No. 95 of Michael McDowell was cited for a truck trailing arm not meeting specifications.

March 24, 2016
Fontana in the Rear-View

It’s time to put a nice little bow on the events of Fontana from this past weekend.

Superman…I mean Kal-El…I mean Clark Kent…I mean Jimmie Johnson was up front when it counted at the end of the race to score his 77th career victory in the Sprint Cup Series. With it, he moved past the late Dale Earnhardt and took sole possession of seventh-place on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. He’s now six wins from tying Cale Yarborough for sixth, seven from tying Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for fourth and 16 from tying his mentor Jeff Gordon for third.

If there was still any shred of doubt that Johnson is not a first-ballot bound NASCAR Hall of Famer, it’s gone now. There is nothing that will stop him from going down as one of the greatest in NASCAR history.

Kevin Harvick once again led the most laps in a race only to come up short. Despite leading 142 of the 205 laps, the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet couldn’t hold off Superman in overtime and had to settle for runner-up. This is the 14th time Harvick and Johnson have finished first and second together. Of those, Harvick came up short in nine.

If he continues to run like this, he’ll win more than three races this season and show why he’s still a threat to win the title.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. continues to show his muscle this season with a fifth-place finish in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Granted, it came as a result of the overtime finish. But he had been running in the top-15 to top-10 for most of the afternoon. I don’t think Stenhouse is to the point that he’ll be a threat to win just yet, but he’s getting there.

After starting from the rear, AJ Allmendinger and his 80 pounds of hair gel rallied back to finish eighth. His day wasn’t really anything spectacular but he was toward the front when it counted. He leaves Fontana 19th in points,87 back of Harvick.

I’ll end by talking about the XFINITY Series race.

The finish was spectacular, but the race overall was serviceable. It wasn’t the best of all time, but it’ll keep me satisfied until they return at Texas.

That about sums up the events of this past weekend. NASCAR is taking its first off-week this Easter weekend. In two weeks, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series kick off what I like to call the “Short Track Gauntlet.” Three of the next four races will be at the three short tracks and we start at the Virginia paperclip of Martinsville Speedway. I’m on assignment that weekend so I’ll be bringing you all the NASCAR news on location in Ridgeway, Va.

The opinions expressed in this piece are solely those of the writer and may or may not be shared by SpeedwayMedia.com.

March 21, 2016
Kyle Larson Involved in Hard Wreck During Auto Club 400

Kyle Larson walked away from a scary wreck in the early stages of today’s race in Fontana.

Hurtling down the backstretch, the driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet cut down his left-rear tire, turned into the outside wall, turned down the track and slammed the wall head-on. The car actually got airborne for a few seconds before coming back to Earth.

“I was going down the back stretch and I think it was my left-rear tire got cut,” Larson said. “It must have ripped the brake line because I went to push the pedal and it went straight to the floor board. I couldn’t slow down. It was definitely a hard hit there, probably one of the harder ones of my career. Even before that we were pretty sub-average there, we were pretty bad. Disappointed in our run today, but glad I’m alright.

“It was really good for about 20 laps on each run. The take-off speed was awesome and I don’t know I just couldn’t get the thing to last for a whole run. We just kind of struggled there at the end of each run, that kind of hurt us, but short-run speed that was a lot of fun. I thought we were as competitive as anybody on short-run speed. We just needed something there for the last 10 to 15 laps. We will work on it. The pit crew was awesome. They bounced back with great stops all day.”

It added to a miserable weekend that included being wrecked by Greg Biffle the day before in final practice.

“We were struggling all day,” Larson said. “We were really bad. And just on that backstretch, my left rear tire got cut and spun me to the outside wall and then spun me back into the inside wall. By the time I could hit the brakes it must have ripped the brake line and I had no brakes. They just went to the floorboard. I couldn’t slow down and had a hard hit there; head-on. I’m okay. I’m thankful for SAFER barriers and thankful that I’m all right. That was definitely probably the hardest hit I’ve ever had in my career. I’m glad to be on my feet right here.”

Larson leaves Fontana, California 24th in points trailing Kevin Harvick by 108 points.

March 20, 2016
Superman wins in Fontana

Jimmie Johnson may not be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but he was up front when it counted and scored the victory in the Golden State.

The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Superman Chevrolet led 25 laps and beat Kevin Harvick in overtime to win the Auto Club 400. It’s the sixth career victory at Auto Club Speedway and 77th of his career.

“Man, this is cool…I knew we had great car and that caution fell at a bad time the run before,” Johnson said. “I just didn’t have the tires on the car to race with those guys. To go there at the end and have good tires on the car, Harvick and I got by I guess Joey there at the start. I got a great run off of Turn 2 and I thought ‘man, I’ve got a shot at this thing.’ Which I didn’t expect to have, Harvick has been so fast. I cleared him and kind of got away. We saved our best for last for sure. I told everybody Superman kicked Batman’s butt and it happened. I’m very thankful for Lowe’s and the amazing relationship we have had over the years, Chevrolet, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports, this is going to be a good time.”

With it, he moves past Dale Earnhardt into sole possession of seventh-place on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.

“Man, it’s hard to believe,” he said. “I grew up out in the desert as a desert rat having fun and going to the river a little bit and having some fun over there too. To have those early childhood memories kind of shape me into the racer I am today and to be here in Victory Lane is pretty awesome.”

Despite leading nearly three-quarters of the laps, the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet had to settle for runner-up. It’s the ninth time he’s finished brides maid to Johnson.

“That was the worst it has taken off on restarts, but we weren’t very good on restarts for four or five laps unless we were all by ourselves,” Harvick said. “The No. 48 was able to hang with us and we just weren’t able to drive it in like I needed to, just didn’t’ have the front tires turning and the back wouldn’t grip. Still a good day for us, just have to thank everybody from Jimmy John’s and Busch. We will keep at it.

“They just had us beat for a couple of laps. That was even worse than it was the previous restarts. I don’t know. We just had a really good car today with our Jimmy John’s Chevrolet. It would just take us five or six laps to get going. That was worst case scenario for us.”

Despite being busted for speeding early in the race, Denny Hamlin took his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota home to a podium finish.

“Disappointing third, I can tell you that, but two penalties, radio changes, just a lot of mistakes on my part early on and gave us ourselves a shot a there,” Hamlin said. “I just – the 22 (Joey Lugano) for the one time he time didn’t get a good restart, we didn’t have that push there and that hurt us. I thought going early in the zone was probably the thing to do – hindsight maybe later, but who knows? Those two (Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick) linked up on the bottom and there’s really nothing we could have done at that point, but thanks Sport Clips, Toyota, the Greenbrier, the Jordan brand, Coca-Cola, Toyota for everything they do. Good day – just not a great day.”

Joey Logano brought his No. 22 Team Penske Ford home to a fourth-place finish. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. continued his run of great finishes to start the season by bringing his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford home to round out the top-five.

“It was really good for us,” Stenhouse said. “That was a crazy restart there at the end. We had a really good Fastenal Ford on the long run and that’s where we excelled – kind of like Atlanta and Las Vegas. On the long run we excelled and that really paid off today. Our tires were good every pit stop, which was good for us, and we made the right adjustments there at the end. Nick did a great job. The pit crew did a great job and we were able to get the adjustments that we needed and was able to really rip the top there and gain a few extra spots at the end.”

Chase Elliott was the highest finishing rookie with a sixth-place finish in his No. 24 HMS Chevrolet.

“We were able to get up to third,” Elliott said. “I thought we had a really good car. Just need to get going a little bit better on those restarts and try to maximize that opportunity. Jimmie did a great job. Congrats to him. It’s good to see Hendrick in Victory Lane. We’ll try again at Martinsville.”

Carl Edwards finished seventh in his No. 19 JGR Toyota.

“Some of those restarts were just a blast,” Edwards said. “That’s what it’s about. We were really – I was having a blast. At the end, I just got choked up one time behind Brad (Keselowski), he got really loose and kind of killed our momentum. We had a really fast Subway Toyota. I wish we could have done better with it.”

After starting from the rear of the field, AJ Allmendinger rallied to finish eighth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski finished ninth in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

“We seemed to be about a fifth to 10th-place car, probably with everybody having some troubles we should have finished fifth,” Keselowski said. “I slid back to eighth there, which was frustrating, but, all in all, it was a decent day.”

Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10 in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

Martin Truex Jr. had a race-winning car for most of the event after leading 21 laps. But in the closing laps, he made contact with the wall in turn 1. This would lead to him cutting down a tire and finishing 32nd. Although FOX showed that he got loose on his own, the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota believed it was due to contact with Logano.

“We had a good run going until the No. 22 (Joey Logano) put our car into the fence,” Truex said. “There was a lot of right-side damage to the car, and we were pretty much toast after that incident. Not sure what he was thinking about at the time, but that hit spoiled our day. We went from being a contender to the back of the field. Really frustrating to have a good car and not have anything to show for it. I think we were running in or close to the top five when the 22 rammed our Furniture Row/Denver Mattress Toyota.”

While Logano took the blame, he said he never touched Truex.

Danica Patrick finished 38th after being hooked into the wall by Kasey Kahne on lap 122. She was turned into the outside wall on the front stretch and slammed it head-on. Her car got airborne and came to a halt off the track in turn 1. Understandably upset with Kahne, Patrick approached the racing surface to show her displeasure. As Dustin Long of NBC Sports pointed out on Twitter, that’s a violation of NASCAR rules.

https://twitter.com/dustinlong/status/711672033168371713

If any penalty results from this, it will be announced either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Kyle Larson cut down his left-rear tire early in the race. He kissed the outside wall, turned down the track and slammed the inside wall head-on. Just like Patrick, Larson’s car got airborne after collision.

The race lasted two hours, 59 minutes and 17 seconds at an average speed of 137.213 mph. There were 26 lead changes among eighth different drivers and six cautions for 33 laps.

March 20, 2016
Rosberg wins down under

Nico Rosberg picked up right where he left off at the end of 2015 to take the top step of the podium in Melbourne.

Thanks to a red flag period just before halfway in the race, the driver of the No. 6 Mercedes AMG Petronas car used tire strategy to beat out teammate Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel to score his 15th career victory in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

“The strategy was crucial today,” said Rosberg. “So I’m really thankful. The team did a great job on that side as well. We are really strong in strategy amongst other things. I don’t want to single out one thing, we’re strong in nearly all areas, but that did it today.

“It was the tire choice also on the red flag. I was glad to see that they were on the supersoft. I wasn’t sure that was going to be the case. I was happy that I was able to follow quite well with the medium. I was a bit concerned about the restart with the medium, that that tire would be too cold, but it worked out OK.”

Despite winning the race, it wasn’t the typical Mercedes dominant clinics we’ve become accustomed to in the last two years. Despite winning his 50th career pole, the driver of the No. 44 Mercedes car stumbled on the start and failed to lead a single lap. It was the No. 5 Scuderia Ferrari of Vettel that dominated the race from the get-go.

Fernando Alonso extracts himself from his destroyed McLaren Honda. Photo: Sutton-Images

At first, it appeared the four-time world champion would put on a vintage clinic of his own. It all changed on the 19th lap of the race when Fernando Alonso, who was running ninth at the time, was making a pass on Esteban Gutiérrez. He mis-timed the move, clipped the left-rear tire of the No. 21 Haas F1 Team Ferrari and sent both of them crashing in turn 3. Gutiérrez’s car came to a halt in the sand trap, but Alonso’s No. 14 McLaren Honda turned sideways, dug into the sand and barrel-rolled into the tire barrier.

Thankfully, despite the damage sustained to his car, the two-time world champion extracted himself from the cockpit and walked away uninjured. He said afterwards that he felt lucky to be alive.

“It’s frustrating on one side because we lost an opportunity and probably we lost a power unit and the whole car because of the damage,” Alonso told NBC Sports. “The second point is that I’m super happy I’m alive. I’m talking to you and I’m so, so thankful to the FIA and the safety of the cars that we have right now. Try to learn from today and try not to repeat it.”

The race was red-flagged to allow for extensive cleanup. During this time, most teams opted to change onto the medium tire compound. Vettel was the exception. He opted to change onto a new set of the super soft tires.

When the race restarted, he was significantly faster than Rosberg, but taking the super softs also meant he would need to make one more stop to get fresher tires and to meet the race regulations. When he made his stop on lap 35, his team had a miscue that caused the stop to go longer. That ultimately cost Vettel the victory.

With no real challenge, Rosberg drove on to win the race.

Hamilton finished second. Vettel rounded out the podium in third. Australian native Daniel Ricciardo brought his No. 3 Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer car home fourth. Felipe Massa rounded out the top-five in his No. 19 Williams Mercedes.

Despite a lousy qualifying run the day before, Romain Grosjean brought his No. 8 Haas F1 Ferrari home to a sixth-place finish. This was the best debut result by a startup team since Panasonic Toyota Racing in 2002.

“We did it. A bit lucky in the race with the red flag but nonetheless we had a good car,” Grosjean told NBC Sports after the race. We threw it on track with no setup work, no chance to do anything during the weekend and here we are, P6 at the end. I told the guys that this is a win for you, this is a win for the whole team, for the work that has been done in the last few weeks, few months. They haven’t slept much. They made it possible and this is incredible.”

Nico Hülkenberg finished seventh in his No. 27 Sahara Force India Mercedes. Valtteri Bottas finished eighth in his No. 77 Williams Mercedes. Carlos Sainz Jr. finished ninth in his No. 55 Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari. Max Verstappen rounded out the top-10 in his No. 33 Toro Rosso.

The next race will be in two weeks in Bahrain.

March 20, 2016
Austin Dillon Scores XFINITY Series Victory in California

Austin Dillon led only a single lap, but he played the fuel game correctly to lead the final lap and find himself in victory lane in the Golden State.

The driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet took advantage of other’s misfortunes in the closing laps of the XFINITY Series race to win the TreatMyClot.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway. He was 10-seconds behind race leader Kyle Busch when he took the white flag.

“They said he (Kyle Busch) had a flat,” Dillon said. “I was worried about our fuel and stayed focused on that the whole time. He tried to screw me right there at the end, but it didn’t work out for him, did it? I’m proud of these Rheem guys. Man that was fun. I didn’t think we had a car to do that, and we didn’t, but we did what we needed to do, and that was to win the race.”

While the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota didn’t run out of gas, it suffered a right-front tire blowout just past the line and had to limp all the way back. Teammate Daniel Suárez passed him easily but ran out of gas on the backstretch and Busch took back the reigns of the field going into 3. The slow pace allowed Dillon to make up the deficit, scrape the wall in Turn 4, get tapped by Busch and score the victory.

Busch didn’t make himself available to the media post-race as the top-five finishers are required to do, so crew chief Chris Gayle spoke in his place.

“We had a really good NOS Energy Camry all day. I think Kyle and the team did a great job, led the most laps. It’s just really kind of sour right now to have that good of a car and not win the race. We obviously did everything right on fuel mileage, we made it past the checkered flag and we knew we would be close. Just unfortunate, I don’t know if we ran over something or if it was just wear with the left front tire. It would have been nice to get a caution on that last lap and to be able to come down and fix that, but kind of everyone’s strategy was played out and it was what it was. It happened after we crossed for the white flag on the apron just before we got into turn one.”

Suarez, who came up a half-lap short of the win, said, “In the whole run we were saving fuel. I knew that we were one to one-and-a-half laps short. I was saving fuel. I wasn’t worrying about the 20 or 18, I was just trying to finish the race because I knew that we were short. I knew that the 20 was a little bit shorter than us and eventually he ran out. When he ran out I started saving more because I knew that I had more fuel than him, but not a lot. I was just trying to save as much as I can. I passed the 18 when he blew the left front tire in (turns) one and two and on the exit of two I ran out of fuel and on the exit of four, the 2 and the 18 passed me back. Very unfortunate but it’s part of racing. I really think that our first victory is coming and hopefully we can get it very soon.”

Darrell Wallace Jr. tied his career best finish in the XFINITY Series with a third-place finish in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

We weren’t where we wanted to be in practice, but this was our better day of the two this week,” he said. “I messed up in qualifying and that put us behind a little bit, but I knew we had a decent EcoBoost Ford Mustang to work with. The grip level that felt like we were lacking in practice was there for qualifying so I knew we’d have a good race today. It didn’t fire off like it did in qualifying, but we never gave up. I just kept talking to myself and singing to myself – anything I could do to stay calm and not get into the wall. This is a great day for our Ford EcoBoost team.”

Suárez came home fourth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-five in his No. 5 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

Kevin Harvick finished sixth in his No. 88 JRM Chevrolet followed by Brendan Gaughan in seventh in his No. 62 RCR Chevrolet. Kyle Larson finished eighth in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Brandon Jones finished ninth in his No. 33 RCR Chevrolet and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-10 in his No. 7 JRM Chevrolet.

Wallace’s car failed post-race inspection. Any penalties from that will be announced on Wednesday.

The race lasted two hours, five minutes and 52 seconds at an average speed of 143.008 mph. There were 12 lead changes among eight different drivers and four cautions for 16 laps.

Complete Finishing Order:

1. (6) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 150.
2. (3) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 150.
3. (13) Darrell Wallace Jr., Ford, 150.
4. (1) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 150.
5. (5) Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, 150.
6. (17) Kevin Harvick(i), Chevrolet, 150.
7. (15) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 150.
8. (4) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 150.
9. (14) Brandon Jones #, Chevrolet, 150.
10. (20) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 150.
11. (16) Aric Almirola(i), Ford, 150.
12. (8) Blake Koch, Chevrolet, 150.
13. (9) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 149.
14. (10) Ryan Reed, Ford, 149.
15. (2) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 149.
16. (7) Jeb Burton, Ford, 149.
17. (12) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 149.
18. (32) Corey LaJoie, Toyota, 149.
19. (19) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 149.
20. (11) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 148.
21. (18) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 148.
22. (21) Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, 148.
23. (27) Garrett Smithley #, Chevrolet, 148.
24. (26) Spencer Gallagher(i), Chevrolet, 148.
25. (24) Ryan Preece #, Chevrolet, 148.
26. (35) Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 147.
27. (25) JJ Yeley, Toyota, 147.
28. (31) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 145.
29. (23) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 145.
30. (39) Todd Peck, Ford, 141.
31. (40) Cody Ware #, Chevrolet, 140.
32. (38) Mike Harmon, Dodge, 139.
33. (37) BJ McLeod #, Ford, Engine, 95.
34. (34) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, Engine, 89.
35. (36) Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, Engine, 84.
36. (22) Dylan Lupton, Chevrolet, Accident, 56.
37. (33) Ray Black Jr. #, Chevrolet, Accident, 44.
38. (29) David Starr, Toyota, Engine, 30.
39. (28) Josh Wise(i), Toyota, Vibration, 18.
40. (30) Matt DiBenedetto(i), Toyota, Brakes, 2.

March 19, 2016
Matt Kenseth fastest in final practice at Auto Club Speedway

Matt Kenseth topped the chart in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Auto Club Speedway. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 38.831 and a speed of 185.419 mph.

Carl Edwards was second in his No. 19 JGR Toyota with a time of 38.846 and a speed of 185.347 mph. Ryan Blaney was third in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 38.885 and a speed of 185.161 mph. Joey Logano was fourth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 38.898 and a speed of 185.099 mph. Aric Almirola rounded out the top-five in his No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford with a time of 38.904 and a speed of 185.071 mph.

Austin Dillon was sixth in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr. was seventh in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Jamie McMurray was eighth in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Kasey Kahne was ninth in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Ryan Newman rounded out the top-10 in his No. 31 RCR Chevrolet.

Late in the session, Kyle Larson got loose exiting turn 4. Trying to go to the outside of the No. 42 CGR Chevrolet, Greg Biffle slammed into the rear of Larson. Larson went to a backup car and will start tomorrow’s race from the rear of the field. Biffle’s team has yet to go to their backup as of the publishing of this piece.

The next time the Sprint Cup Series cars are back on track will be tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. for the Auto Club 400.

March 19, 2016
Carl Edwards fastest in second practice at Auto Club Speedway

Carl Edwards topped the chart in second Sprint Cup Series practice at Auto Club Speedway. The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 38.317 and a speed of 187.906 mph.

Martin Truex Jr. was second in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 38.373 and a speed of 187.632 mph. Ryan Newman was third in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 38.577 and a speed of 186.640 mph. Kyle Busch was fourth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 38.578 and a speed of 186.635 mph. Austin Dillon rounded out the top-five in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet with a time of 38.588 and a speed of 186.587 mph.

Paul Menard was sixth in his No. 27 RCR Chevrolet. Brian Scott was seventh in his No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was eighth in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Casey Mears was ninth in his No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet. Batman (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) rounded out the top-10 in his No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

After posting a qualifying run good enough for 26th, Kurt Busch made contact with the wall. The team opted to roll out the backup car. Because this change took place after qualifying, the driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet will start from the rear of the field.

March 19, 2016