MARTINSVILLE, Va.– Brian Vickers posted the fastest time in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway.
The driver of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was fastest in the first practice session with a time of 19.485 and a speed of 97.182 mph. Denny Hamlin was second in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 19.500 and a speed of 97.108 mph. Joey Logano was third in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 19.504 and a speed of 97.088 mph. Ryan Newman was fourth in his No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 19.511 and a speed of 97.053 mph. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 19.517 and a speed of 97.023 mph.
Kasey Kahne was sixth in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney was seventh in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Matt Kenseth was eighth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Paul Menard was ninth in his No. 27 RCR Chevrolet. Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-10 in his No. 1 CGR Chevrolet.
Larson posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 94.369 mph.
Trevor Bayne crashed his car after locking up the brakes going into turn 1.
“We had a really good car in race true and the long run,” Bayne said. “It was lacking short-run speed and I felt like I was really being held up on my brakes. I was having a lot of rear wheel hop getting into the corner. We were giving up two to three-tenths into both corners and I tried to just push the braking zone a little bit more and it started wheel-hopping really bad. There was nothing I could do about it. Once it started bouncing, I tried to save it and once it got backwards stood in the gas and it just backed in. You never want to tear one up, especially not in practice, but maybe that rear wheel-hop won’t be in our backup car and we can go qualify OK.”
The team opted to roll out the backup car. Because this took place prior to qualifying, the driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford won’t be required to drop to the rear of the field.
The Sprint Cup Series will be back on track later this evening for qualifying at 4:15.
NSCS Complete Practice 1 Results – Martinsville Speedway
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the Camping World Truck Series travel to Martinsville Speedway this weekend while the XFINITY Series is off. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, April 1:
On Track:
10-10:55 a.m.: Camping World Truck Series Practice – FS1
11 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Practice – FS1
12:30-1:55 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Practice – FS1
3-3:50 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Final Practice – FS1
4:15 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
Garage Cam: (Watch live)
10:30 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series
Press Conferences: (Watch live)
9 a.m.: Parker Kligerman
9:15 a.m.: John Hunter Nemechek
9:30 a.m.: Ryan Blaney
1 p.m.: Denny Hamlin
1:15 p.m.: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
5:45 p.m.: Post-Sprint Cup Series Qualifying (time approx.)
Saturday, April 2:
On Track:
10-10:55 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series Practice – FS1
11:15 a.m.: Camping World Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
1-1:50 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – FS1
2:30 p.m.: Camping World Truck Series Alpha Energy Solutions 250 (250 laps, 131.5 miles) – FS1
Press Conferences: (Watch live)
12:15 p.m.: Jamie McMurray
4:45 p.m.: Post-Camping World Truck Series Race (time approx.)
Sunday, April 3:
On Track:
1 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series STP 500 (500 laps, 263 miles) – FS1
MARTINSVILLE, Va.– NASCAR is back from the left coast and ready to go bumping and banging at the Virginia paperclip.
This week, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series comes off the Easter holiday and rolls into Ridgeway, Virginia to run the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. The 500 lap race on the .526 mile (.847 km) short track will be the sixth race of the 2016 season.
After spending the previous month on the western end of the United States, Martinsville is the first stop of what I like to call the short track gauntlet. Over the course of April, the Sprint Cup Series will also visit Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway with Texas Motor Speedway sandwiched between Martinsville and Bristol.
Opened in 1947, Martinsville Speedway is the last remaining track from the NASCAR’s first season in 1948. It’s a throwback to a bygone era when race tracks were located in the middle of nowhere in the most remote parts of America. During that stretch of 68 years, many tracks have come and many more have gone. The only two constants in NASCAR are change and Martinsville. In a way, Martinsville serves as a bridge that connects the past to the present.
When people say Martinsville never changes, they’re right to a very large degree. Nine-time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon once said that of all the tracks he’s raced at in his entire 23-year Sprint Cup Series career, Martinsville was the one track that changed the least. He said the way you drove the track in 1993 was virtually the same as the way he drove the track in his last start at the Virginia paperclip in 2015.
At Martinsville, the outside line is the kiss of death. Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/NASCAR via Getty Images
Martinsville is a rhythm-heavy race track. Once you figure out the rhythm, you can conquer all who race on it. You run against the wall on the straights and hug the yellow curb in the turns. Protecting the inside line is vital at Martinsville. You pass someone by diving underneath them going into turn 1 or turn 3 or you use your chrome bumper to gently nudge them out of the way. If you’re caught on the outside line, you’d better fall behind another car and get to the bottom or you’ll drift towards the back.
While you could run a 500 lap event on just three or four pit stops with a fuel window of 130 laps, you’ll be stopping for tires at least double-digit times. If you’re the race leader when the caution flies and forces overtime, you’re pretty much a sitting duck. If you pit, everybody behind you stays out. If you stay out, everybody behind you pits. To put it shortly, you have to pick your poison.
Carnage lurks around every turn at Martinsville. Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images
Like most short tracks, the tight confines and low banking means passing is at a premium at Martinsville. As I mentioned earlier, there are two primary ways to pass someone at Martinsville; dive underneath someone going into turn 1 and/or turn 3 or use the chrome bumper to nudge someone out of the way.
Many times in a race, one driver will nudge another out of the way, collect another driver and cause a multi-car pileup. Other times, one car will dive too deep into turns 1 or 3, hop the curb, slam into another car and cause a chain-reaction crash that way. This type of accordion-effect wrecking will happen multiple times in a 500 lap race at Martinsville.
Controlling your temper is vital at Martinsville. Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/2015 Getty Images
With all the bumping and banging, it’s very easy to lose your composure. Keeping your temper in check is important to success at Martinsville.
Most of the time, it leads to a lead lap car forcibly nudging a lapped car out of his or her way. Sometimes, it can give us classic Martinsville moments like Brad Keselowski rubbing up against Kurt Busch for about five laps.
Other times, though, it can lead one driver who’s running nine laps down losing focus of reality, intentionally taking the race leader and getting that driver parked for two races.
I believe we’re going to see our first real test of the updated NASCAR behavioral policy this weekend in Martinsville. While I doubt we’ll see a repeat of what happened last November, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of drivers taking out one another at Martinsville.
Now let’s talk about drivers to watch this weekend.
Few drivers have mastered the Virginia paperclip like Jimmie Johnson. Photo: Sal Sigala Jr.
The odds-on favorite at 9/2 is Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (Vegas Insider).
In his 28 career starts at Martinsville, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has eight wins, 18 top fives (64.29 percent) and 22 top-10s (78.57 percent). He’s led nearly 3,000 laps (2746) and has a 7.5 average finish.
However, he hasn’t led a single lap at the Virginia paperclip since 2014 and has finished second, 32nd, 35th and 12th. That’s a 20.3 finishing average in the last four races.
I don’t see this trend continuing for a few reasons. First, the 48 team is on a roll right now having won 40 percent of the races so far this season. Second, Johnson is historically no slouch when it comes to Martinsville. Finally, his mentor was Jeff Gordon who made Martinsville his playground through his 23-year career.
I expect Johnson to be up front and contending for the win on Sunday.
Denny Hamlin has also found success at Martinsville. Photo: Nick Laham/NASCAR via Getty Images
Next, at 6/1 is James Dennis Alan “Denny” Hamlin.
In 20 career starts at Martinsville, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has five wins, 11 top fives (55 percent) and 16 top-10s (80 percent). He’s led over 1,000 laps (1315) and has an average finish of eighth.
Unlike Johnson, the last four races have been kind to the Virginia native with finishes of 19th, eighth, first and third. That’s a 7.8 finishing average.
He’s also the defending race winner having led 91 laps on his way to scoring his first checkered flag of the 2015 season. He enters Martinsville with a win in the Daytona 500 and three top-10s. He’s finished on the podium in the last two races and looks to continue that run this weekend.
I expect Hamlin to contend for the win on Sunday.
Joey Logano looks to continue his strong runs this weekend at Martinsville. Photo: Todd Warshaw/NASCAR via Getty Images
Next, at 6/1 is one Joseph Thomas Logano.
Since 2014, the driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford has been arguably the best at the Virginia paperclip with finishes of fourth, fifth, third and 37th. In those four races, he led 39, 60, 108 and 207 laps.
In the last visit to Martinsville, he and teammate Brad Keselowski had the field in check the entire afternoon before Keselowski suffered a suspension failure and crashed out of the race. Logano was in total control with 47 laps remaining, but then he was eliminated from the race after being intentionally wrecked by Matt Kenseth.
Both drivers are smart enough to know that it wouldn’t be in the best interest of either of them to re-light that fire and force NASCAR to step in again, so I don’t expect anything to come about from it this time around.
I see no reason as to why he won’t be a force on Sunday.
Kevin Harvick should be a threat to win at Martinsville. Photo: Robert Laberge/NASCAR via Getty Images
The final driver to keep your eye on this weekend at 7/1 is Kevin Michael Harvick.
In 29 career starts at Martinsville, the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet has amassed one win, three top fives (10.35 percent) and 14 top-10s (48.28 percent).
That might not seem like much, especially compared to the success of Johnson, but in his last four starts, he’s finished seventh, 33rd, eighth and eighth. That’s an average finish of 14th. In the last two trips to the Virginia paperclip, he’s led 154 and 38 laps.
At any other track, Harvick would be my outright pick to win. I’m not as willing to go out on that limb at Martinsville. He’s only finished in the top-five three times and those were during his time at Richard Childress Racing. While I do expect him to be leading at some point Sunday, I wouldn’t pick him over someone like Johnson to win.
Tune into the STP 500 on Sunday to see who takes home the grandfather clock. You can watch the race beginning at 12:30 p.m. on FOX Sports 1 or at noon on the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM (subscription required for the latter). If you’re within a few hours of Ridgeway, Virginia, hop in your car, drive to the track and watch the action in person. I’m on assignment at Martinsville this weekend, so I’ll be bringing you all the happenings from the media center.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In case you missed it, Brian France says there’s “some interest” among outside car makers to join NASCAR.
Yesterday, Dave Moody, host of SiriusXM Speedway, told the Chairman and CEO of NASCAR that he regularly gets calls from fans asking about any chance of Dodge returning to the sport or any other potential manufacturers joining Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.
He didn’t name any specific manufacturers, but France said that there was “some interest” among other car makers.
“There is some interest by a couple of different manufacturers, and we would be open to that in the right conditions,” France said. “A lot of the car companies are understandably looking at the terrific job that Toyota has done by partnering with NASCAR and the success and all the things that come along with that.
“They’ve been an incredible success story for a car manufacturer looking to come into a sport that’s very difficult to come in, compete and win every weekend. But there’s interest and this is obviously the biggest opportunity in auto racing in North America and we would probably say the world, so it’s always on some attention span one way or the other.”
He also spoke about the Sprint Cup Series finish between Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick last week at Phoenix International Raceway.
“Another thing that we’ve talked about this week is the finish at Phoenix and the contact in that, and you’ve heard me say many, many times; that’s classic NASCAR racing when that happens, but it’s interesting to note that not all the drivers — present or past — would’ve made the move that Carl Edwards tried to do to get around Harvick, and they both did a great job.
“But that’s classic NASCAR. We expect that. Sometimes that’s misunderstood when I say that, but it’s a great example of that part of NASCAR when you’re late in the race, a little faster, you’re going to have some contact to either scrub off speed or move somebody around a little bit. Carl’s one of the best at that, and it gave us a great finish.”
On the search for a new entitlement sponsor in the Cup Series, France said it was going “good.”
“It’s the most coveted position in sports because of the rights that are granted,” he said. “We’ve got a good group of companies that are on our short list and so hopefully in the coming weeks or months, we’ll get to the right place on that.”
Asked about where NASCAR stands on Cup drivers in the XFINITY Series, France said it’s “a real strong debate, depending on which side you’re on.”
“Mark Martin, back in the day, was known to dominate that series known as the Busch Series back then,” France continued. “We’ve always had some of that. Kyle has just got a mastery of that division. On the other hand, it makes the younger drivers better. They get to compete with one of the best of the business every weekend. Obviously, we have a new championship Chase format that will reward the eventual champion in the end; it’ll have to be somebody other than Kyle. I can get on either side of it, but right now that’s the rules.”
Austin Dillon will lead the field to the green flag for Sunday’s race in the Golden State.
The driver of the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet scored the pole for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway with a time of 38.200 and a speed of 188.482 mph. This is the second career Sprint Cup Series pole for the third-year driver out of Lewisville, North Carolina. His first came in the 2014 Daytona 500.
“A Daytona 500 pole sitter, now I got a pole somewhere else,” Dillon said. “To do it at a driver’s race track like this at Fontana, it means a lot to me. Just proud of this American Ethanol team. We’ve had fast cars all year long. I knew going into that third session if I didn’t make mistakes I would have a shot. I just stayed with it off of 4. I kept my locker locked as much as I could with the gas just keeping as much fuel to the car as I could. It worked out for us.”
Kevin Harvick will start second in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 38.231 and a speed of 188.329 mph.
“Good effort by Rodney and the team getting the car ready,” Harvick said. “This track is a challenge with its bumps and rough surface and the lower downforce makes them harder to drive but we’ve got a good car and looking forward to Sunday. Our goal was to run the same lap time all three rounds. That is going to put you in a spot to have a chance. All in all, it’s been a good start to the weekend and really looking forward to the race on Sunday.”
Denny Hamlin, who broke the track record in the second round of qualifying, will start third in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 38.372 and a speed of 187.637 mph. Ryan Newman will start fourth in his No. 31 RCR Chevrolet after posting a time of 38.446 and a speed of 187.276 mph. Carl Edwards will round out the top-five in his No. 19 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 38.457 and a speed of 187.222 mph.
Kyle Busch will start sixth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota followed by Trevor Bayne in seventh in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Chase Elliott will start eighth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Joey Logano will start ninth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford and Jamie McMurray will round out the top-10 in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
AJ Allmendinger will start 11th in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet while Kasey Kahne will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 5 HMS Chevrolet.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series travel to Auto Club Speedway this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series is off. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, March 18:
On Track:
1:30-2:55 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Practice – FS1
3-4:25 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Practice – FS1
5:30-6:25 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Final Practice – FS1
7:45 p.m.: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
Press Conferences: (Watch live)
Noon: Brian Vickers
12:30 p.m.: Kevin Harvick
1:05 p.m.: Brandon Jones
1:15 p.m.: Daniel Suarez
3:30 p.m.: Carl Edwards
4:30 p.m.: Kyle Larson
4:45 p.m.: Austin Dillon
9 p.m. (approx.): Post-NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying and Brad Keselowski Garage Cam: (Watch live)
1 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series
2:30 p.m.: XFINITY Series
Saturday, March 19:
On Track:
11-11:55 a.m.: Sprint Cup Series Practice – FS2
12:15 p.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
2:30-3:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – FS1
4 p.m.: TreatMyClot.com 300 by Janssen (150 laps, 300 miles) – FS1
Press Conferences: (Watch live)
6:30 p.m. (approx.): Post-XFINITY Series Race
Sunday, March 20:
On Track: 3:30 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 (200 laps, 400 miles) – FOX
Press Conferences: (Watch live)
7 p.m. (approx.): Post-Sprint Cup Series Race
