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  • Kyle Larson Inducted into Auto Club Speedway Walk of Fame

    Kyle Larson Inducted into Auto Club Speedway Walk of Fame

    Defending winner of the 2017 Auto Club 400, Kyle Larson, was inducted into the Auto Club Speedway’s Walk of Fame on Friday.

    Larson dominated last season by becoming the first driver to sweep both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and the Monster Energy Cup Series races, as well as earning the pole during Cup qualifying. He is the first driver to earn this feat, and propelled himself to an eighth place finish in the season standings. His career at the two-mile oval has been solid. In four starts, he has one career win, one pole and two top-5 finishes. In the Xfinity series, he holds five career starts with two trips to victory lane.

    “I didn’t even know they did this until I got the announcement a few weeks ago,” Larson stated during the Walk of Fame induction ceremony, which took place just outside the main gate fan entrance. “Looking at all the names who have won here, it’s nice to have my name next to Jimmie [Johnson], Jeremy Mayfield and Jeff Gordon.”

    After pictures were taken with his plaque and track president, Dave Allen, Larson put on his race shoes for the tradition of placing his footprints into the cement next to his plaque. A special addition was having his son, Owen, join with him and place his hands underneath his footprints on the same slab of concrete.

    “There was a lot of fans out there, which was real cool, and a lot of my fans,” he shared in a press conference later that morning. “Getting awarded that and getting my permanent mark on this racetrack, and to have Owen’s little handprints there, which I think is funny too. I have my footprints and his hands are right below it, so people are going to look at that and think, ‘Man, Kyle Larson has really small hands.’

    “It was cool to do that and to get the surfboard. The trophy that I won from this race last year is still the coolest trophy I’ve got in my collection. This race does a lot for their winner, so it’s cool to see that.”

    Auto Club Speedway, located in Fontana, California, opened the track’s Walk of Fame in 1997 and began their tradition with Jeff Gordon. He was the initial inductee the following year after winning the inaugural race.

  • Full Weekend Schedule for Fontana

    Full Weekend Schedule for Fontana

  • Larson Talks About Car Wreck after Fontana Race

    Larson Talks About Car Wreck after Fontana Race

    MARTINSVILLE, Va. — For most drivers, the post-race routine — if it doesn’t include talking to the media — is getting into a vehicle and heading back to Charlotte via land vehicle or airplane and nothing more. For race winner Kyle Larson, however, his post-race departure involved a collision.

    He was heading to the airport when a driver ran a red light and hit him. He believes the person who hit him was one of the traffic coordinators.

    “I don’t think he realized that they picked the cones up from the side where we were coming from,” Larson said. “I don’t think he expected anybody to be coming from where we were and he just darted out in the intersection.”

    Larson made contact with him in his right-front, but was able to veer slightly before contact. So, as he put it, “it honestly didn’t even hurt that bad, or at all, really.”

    “Our Chevy Suburban was good. The hood was buckled and the left front was messed up. The tow was out of it quite a bit,” Larson added. “But, that guys truck, the right front was not a part of it anymore. So, it is a funny story. Just the irony of it, I guess, having a near perfect weekend and a quarter-mile from the track to get in a car accident.”

    Asked if the person who hit him knew who he was, Larson said he didn’t “think he did. But, once the cops showed up, I think he realized who I was. And it was pretty funny.” He was asked if the cops realized who he was, he said “Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, that was cool. They were quick about it, too.”

  • Race Recap: Auto Club 400

    Race Recap: Auto Club 400

    Kyle Larson won his second career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race yesterday in Fontana, California. Famous for running right next to the wall, Larson showed his dirt racing skills yesterday by running the top groove of the track and making that work very well.

    Michigan of 2016 was Larson’s first win in Nascar’s top series so Larson was able to take what he learned from Michigan and transfer that to Sunday’s Auto Club 400. Winning both the XFINITY Series race and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway, Larson is beginning to showcase his talent each week.

    After his win Sunday, Larson says he’s surprised that he pulled off the weekend sweep.

    ”I’m more surprised that I won the race yesterday than I am I won the race today. I was very confident going into today’s race. I knew our race-car was extremely good throughout the practices yesterday. In the Xfinity race, I struggled in practice, then struggled in the first half of the race. Didn’t really expect to win that one. We were able to find the speed at the end to do it. But, yeah, it was a solid, solid weekend. Definitely the best of my NASCAR career,” he said.

    Brad Keselowski had another strong showing in Sunday’s Auto Club 400, however, it wasn’t any easy task. Contact with Denny Hamlin caused Keselowski to have a tire rub and shortly after that he lost control of his car. This season to date he has four top 10 finishes and one win at Atlanta.

    Keselowski spoke to members of the media after Sunday’s run.

    “We really turned a corner here,” he said. “The first few races I ran here, we were awful. I think I learned a lot, the team learned a lot, have put together just a much more robust effort for this type of track. I like coming to places we run well. But beyond that, I think this track is known for having great races and great racing. I thought we saw that here at the end today. It’s fun to be a part of those races.”

    Clint Bowyer, after nearly two years, ended his long drought of a top-five finish with a third place run. Bowyer, who was with HScott Motorsports last year didn’t have the season he would have hoped for with no top five finishes and missing the Chase. Bower, who took over for retired three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, is now beginning to turn heads as he performs better and better each week.

    Bowyer had this to say about his new team and his performance Sunday.

    ”It’s just a lot of fun to be out there,” he said after the race. “Very challenging track. Trying to balance those front tires, the rear tires, not push ’em off. You can overdrive your car. I did one run, thing fell away. You know, you learn from your mistakes and go on.

    ”But just to have the organization behind me, everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. My teammates, to have these teammates like this, at this point in your career and everything that I’ve been through, you know how fortunate you are when you get this opportunity. You know, Gene Haas, and Tony Stewart getting out of the car, giving me this opportunity, appreciative of everything.”

    Next Sunday the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will go from one of its largest tracks to its shortest, Martinsville Speedway. Coverage starts at 12:30 p.m. E.T. on your local FOX channel.

  • Late Race Incidents Affect Outcome of Cup Race in Fontana

    Late Race Incidents Affect Outcome of Cup Race in Fontana

    A Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway that was light on the caution count for 90 percent of its running was altered by cars spinning and/or hitting a wall in the closing laps.

    In the first 180 laps, the caution flew only three times. It flew twice for the stage breaks and once on the third lap for Brad Keselowski spinning out on the frontstretch. Other than that, it was mostly clean.

    With 20 laps to go, however, Gray Gaulding suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the outside wall in Turn 1, bringing out the fourth caution of the race.

    On the ensuing restart, Martin Truex Jr. made contact with Matt Kenseth and sent him spinning down the track, where he slammed the inside wall driver-side.

    With nine to go, Corey LaJoie spun out in Turn 2 and brought out the race’s sixth caution.

    With three to go, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun out in Turn 2, setting up the overtime finish.

    It’s the fourth straight race this season to have the final caution fly with 16 or fewer laps to go. The final caution flew with 16 to go at Atlanta Motor Speedway when Austin Dillon’s car stalled on the apron in Turn 2, 16 to go at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when Danica Patrick’s engine expired on the frontstretch and six to go at Phoenix International Raceway when Joey Logano suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 1.

  • Keselowski Rallies from Spin to Finish Runner-up

    Keselowski Rallies from Spin to Finish Runner-up

    The day for Brad Keselowski started with a spin through the frontstretch grass, then ended with a second-place finish at Auto Club Speedway.

    On the initial start, Denny Hamlin spun the tires and forced Keselowski off the gas. The resulting accordion effect led to the front bumper of Ryan Newman, who turned Keselowski up the track. It left him with a damaged left-rear corner panel.

    Exiting Turn 4 on the third lap, Keselowski got loose trying not to hit Ty Dillon, and was tapped in his left-rear by Jimmie Johnson, and spun down the track and through the frontstretch grass, bringing out the first caution of the race.

    “I got ran into the back of and it did a lot of damage to the car and we were in a lot of trouble and started to freefall through the field and then I got ran over again,” Keselowski said in his post-race press conference. “I got ran over, so I’m not really sure who, why, what. I haven’t seen any of that.”

    With his damaged race car, he fought his way back into the top-10 just past halfway through the race and was in the top-five when the final caution flew with three laps to go.

    Keselowski restarted third on the overtime restart and passed Hamlin to finish second.

    “The last two restarts we really hit pretty well,” Keselowski added. “I don’t know if I would have had a shot at Kyle, but I would have liked to have seen. We came from third on that last one and a couple of three-wide passes and what-not. Kyle was smart. He picked the outside lane and kind of pinned me behind a guy that had older tires, so by the time I cleared everybody Kyle was just too far gone.”

  • Larson Sweeps Weekend in Fontana

    Larson Sweeps Weekend in Fontana

    Instead of bridesmaid status for the fourth straight week, Kyle Larson dominated most of the day at Auto Club Speedway and took the lead in the closing laps to return to victory lane in NASCAR.

    He led 110 laps from start to the finish of the Auto Club 400 and beat Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski on the final restart to score his second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory.

    “I was staying as calm as I could be, but also frustrated at the same time,” Larson said. “It seems like every time I get to the lead at the end of one of these things, the caution comes out and I’ve got to fight people off on restarts. Our Target Chevy was amazing all day. We were able to lead a lot of laps today. Truex was better than us that second stage by quite a bit. We were able to get the jump on him the following restart and led pretty much the rest of the distance. I had to fight them off there after the green flag stops and that was a lot of fun.

    “This is just amazing. We have been so good all year long; three seconds in a row. I’ve been watching all the TV like ‘he doesn’t know how to win’, but we knew how to win today, so that was good.”

    This win is in addition to his victory in the XFINITY Series race the day prior.

    Keselowski overcame a spin on the third lap to finish runner-up. Clint Bowyer came home third.

    “It was a good weekend for us,” Bowyer said. “We never showed the speed in practice, but I wasn’t worried about it because I knew the car was really comfortable on the long run and things like that. I was proud of the effort that (Mike) Buga and all the guys give me each and every week.

    “I’m just having fun again. That’s what it’s about.”

    Starting on pole, Larson lost the lead only during the green flag cycle in the middle of the first stage. But he quickly regained it and won it.

    Though Larson dominating Stage 1, Truex took command of the race under the stage break and easily won the second stage.

    “Well, I had slid through my (pit) box at the end of that first stage and I had to overdrive some to get to second and then Truex was just really good that run and I had run the top of (Turns) 3 and 4 and probably wore my tires out too much,” Larson said. “When I got to the lead in the third stage I knew to just commit to the bottom of (Turns) 3 and 4 and save my tires the best I could. Our long run was really good the rest of the race.”

    On the ensuing restart, Larson made a power move on Truex in Turn 1 to take the lead back. Other than surrendering it to Kyle Busch and Ty Dillon during a cycle of green-flag stops with 45 laps to go, which he took back with 37 to go, he was in command the entire run to the finish.

    The complexion of the race changed when Corey LaJoie spun out in Turn 2, bringing out the penultimate caution with nine to go. Hamlin, Truex and Erik Jones elected to stay out while everyone else pitted.

    Restarting with five to go, Larson powered by Truex for second with ease. He had a run on Hamlin but was boxed in by Truex to his inside and the outside wall. This only delayed him momentarily as he passed Hamlin to take the lead exiting Turn 2 with three to go and held him off on the overtime restart to win.

    On the initial start, Hamlin got a bad start, forcing Keselowski to back into Ryan Newman. Keselowski was turned up into Kevin Harvick, who then made contact with Newman. Two laps later, Keselowski, with some help from Jimmie Johnson, spun out exiting Turn 4 and spun through the grass.

    With 20 to go, Gray Gaulding suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 2.

    With 16 to go, Truex hooked Matt Kenseth exiting Turn 2, turning him down the track where he slammed the inside wall driver-side.

    Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun out exiting Turn 2 with three to go, setting up the overtime finish.

    The race lasted two hours, 57 minutes and 48 seconds at an average speed of 136.359 mph. There were 17 lead changes among eight different drivers and seven cautions for 29 laps.

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  • Danica Patrick Chimes in on NASCAR not Punishing Austin Dillon

    Danica Patrick Chimes in on NASCAR not Punishing Austin Dillon

    NASCAR elected not to punish Austin Dillon for his actions against Cole Custer in last weekend’s XFINITY Series race at Phoenix International Raceway in which Dillon ran his car into Custer’s under caution as retaliation for contact just minutes prior.

    The no penalty decision raised eyebrows as just the day prior, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said that NASCAR wouldn’t allow drivers to use cars as a weapon.

    It came after a meeting with Kyle Busch and Joey Logano, who were involved in a post-race brawl on pit road the preceding week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where the former punched the latter in the face, and NASCAR chose not to fine either for their involvement.

    The driver most vocal about NASCAR’s ruling was Danica Patrick, saying NASCAR should “Give me my money back.”

    Last year, she was hooked into the outside wall by Kasey Kahne and fined for walking onto the apron to show her displeasure to him.

    “I also got fined here last year for Kasey Kahne right-rearing me on the front straightaway at 215 miles an hour and I gave him this sign, and I got fined for that, too,” she said.

    Patrick was upset about NASCAR’s ambiguous rules, but she was more concerned about fining drivers for actions that “makes for good TV.”

    “I think NASCAR makes a really big mistake of fining for some stuff, especially something that happens in the car because it makes for good TV – just like fights and all that stuff,” she said. “We can handle it. I think it’s a mistake. I might be speaking too much, but I’ve been fined a few times and I think that it makes for good TV and I think that we handle it out on the track ourselves.”

    Patrick said she’s fine with NASCAR having not fined drivers in the last few weeks, she wishes that they were consistent in that regard and asked where the fine money goes to.

    “Yeah, I’d rather that be the standard,” she added. “I mean, what does that really do? I’m not gonna not go on vacation. I would actually rather know what it did. I would actually love to see like the playground that got built for it, or homeless people that got food. I would like to see actually what the money does for fines because it’s supposed to go to charity, right? So what does it really do? I would like to see that.”

  • Jimmie Johnson Skipping Qualifying is More Important Than You Think

    Jimmie Johnson Skipping Qualifying is More Important Than You Think

    Never in my 25 years of watching NASCAR have I seen what I saw on Friday. Jimmie Johnson and his team elected to not qualify for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway electing to start in the rear of the field. It’s a bigger problem than you think.

    In Friday’s lone practice session for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams Johnson lost control of his No. 48 Chevrolet and spun into the grass. There was enough damage on the car that the No. 48 team elected to go to a backup car. The team didn’t have enough time to make a lap by the time practice ended and never made a lap in the backup car. The first laps on the track in the backup car would have been during qualifying.

    It was a risk for the team to go out and go as hard as they can during qualifying. Bringing a car onto a racetrack for the first time is always a risk. You don’t know how the car will handle and you don’t know if there are going to be any major issues with the car. Due to NASCAR’s chartering system, they were locked into the field so they were racing Sunday whether or not they took a lap. Instead of risking wrecking another car for a few qualifying positions the team decided to sit out qualifying and play it safe.

    It’s a far cry from how NASCAR used to be. For years qualifying was one of the most important things during a weekend. On some weekends, there would be as many as 60 teams trying to qualify. You had to be on top of your game. If teams didn’t hit on the qualifying setup, there was a risk a team could go home and not race that weekend. Even if a team did qualify, starting in the back was a risk. The teams who started in the rear were usually ill-handling race cars. Being around those cars was risky because of the increased possibility of an accident. Plus, if you had a long green flag run to start the race, there was a risk of a team falling a lap down early in the event. Over the last five years that has completely changed.

    Nowadays, qualifying is the least important thing of the weekend. It’s less important than practice. With the new format in NASCAR, there are at least two guaranteed caution flags, which means Johnson and his team have a chance to catch the field twice and there is little risk of falling a lap down. Accidents rarely happen anymore either. Between the technology in the sport and the lack of creativity NASCAR allows nowadays cars handle better than they ever have.

    In 2017 NASCAR has a new rule where teams must start the race on the tires they qualified with. By not qualifying, Johnson and the team will have fresher tires than the teams who qualified. It’s a big deal considering the track surface at Auto Club Speedway is one of the oldest on the circuit and is really hard on tires. There will also be one less heat cycle on the tires that the No. 48 team uses to start the race and they have an extra set of tires at their disposal throughout the practice sessions on Saturday.

    I believe this is an isolated incident but is something that has the potential to be an issue in the future. This is a monkey see, monkey do sport. If other teams see an advantage, teams will do this more often. I think it’s time to put a rule in that states teams must attempt a qualifying lap if they pass inspection. FOX and NBC pay a lot of money for the rights to broadcast qualifying and if one or more of NASCAR’s biggest stars elect to sit out, it could affect the relationship NASCAR has with the networks. It’s a bigger deal than you think.

  • Larson Right at Home with Coors Light Pole at Auto Club

    Larson Right at Home with Coors Light Pole at Auto Club

    By Staff Report | Nascar.com

    California native Kyle Larson stormed to the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Auto Club Speedway.

    Larson notched a best lap of 187.047 mph with the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet around the 2-mile track. He’ll lead the 39-car field to the green flag in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the series’ fifth race of the season and the closing event in the three-race NASCAR Goes West swing.

    “Really happy, though, our Target team has been amazing to start the season and to get a pole is great,” the series points leader said following qualifying. “I haven’t gotten a pole since my rookie season. Yeah, this is awesome.

    “I can’t say enough about everybody at our race shop for all the hard work they have been putting in.”

    The Coors Light Pole is Larson’s first of the season, first at the home-state speedway and second of his Monster Energy Cup Series career. His other pole came at Pocono Raceway during his rookie season in 2014.

    Denny Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota will flank Larson’s car on the front row after grabbing the second starting position with a lap of 186.979 mph in the last of three qualifying sessions. Hamlin had the provisional pole until Larson knocked him off, leading the JGR driver to playfully fling water at Larson’s car as it came back to pit road.

    Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and last week’s winner, Ryan Newman, completed the top five in Friday’s qualifying.

    Larson’s pole run capped an eventful qualifying session, with five cars failing to make qualifying attempts for different reasons.

    Jimmie Johnson, a six-time Auto Club winner, crashed his primary No. 48 Chevrolet near the end of opening practice. With no laps on an untested reserve car, the Hendrick Motorsports team opted to skip the session.

    Joey Logano, Trevor Bayne, Gray Gaulding and Matt DiBenedetto failed to log speeds in the opening 20-minute round after their cars did not make it to the grid through pre-qualifying inspection.

    “It happens. We’re a team, right?” Logano said after missing out on the first round. “Obviously, everyone’s trying to push it and get every ounce of speed out of our cars when we can. I don’t even know why we didn’t make it through on time. … No big deal.”

    Keselowski and Paul Menard both drove away after scrapes with the Turn 2 wall during the second of three rounds.

    Two more practice sessions are scheduled Saturday for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.

    Qualifying results