{"id":24155,"date":"2019-03-15T14:26:24","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T19:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=24155"},"modified":"2019-03-15T14:31:43","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T19:31:43","slug":"nascar-weekend-preview-auto-club-speedway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/15\/nascar-weekend-preview-auto-club-speedway\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR Weekend Preview: Auto Club Speedway"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Martin Truex Jr.<\/strong> quickly erased any doubts that he would mightily pursue a defense of his 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> trophy when he convincingly won from the Busch Pole position last March at this week\u2019s venue, Auto Club Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

During the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 18, 2018 in Fontana, California. Photo courtesy of NASCAR and Getty Images.<\/p><\/div>\n

Although Logano ultimately won the 2018 series championship, Truex returns to California for Sunday\u2019s Auto Club 400 (at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) as motivated as ever in his debut season driving for the Joe Gibbs Racing team.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s already earned two runner-up finishes through the first four races of the 2019 season and that statement-making performance in California last year is on the minds of Truex and his competitors.<\/p>\n

The New Jersey native will be inducted into the track\u2019s Walk of Fame on Friday morning before opening practice \u2013 a nod to his triumphant past. And when opening practice begins hours later \u2013 the focus will shift to a triumphant present.<\/p>\n

He and his longtime crew chief Cole Pearn \u2013 who also moved from Furniture Row Racing to lead the Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 Toyota Camry effort \u2013 were optimistic following a preseason Goodyear tire test at the two-mile California track back in January. Two of his teammates \u2013 Denny Hamlin in the season-opening Daytona 500 and Kyle Busch at ISM Raceway last week \u2013 have victories already and Truex is ready to join the trophy hoisting.<\/p>\n

His win at California last year was the first of four victories in a season, where he strongly answered his 2017 title ultimately with a runner-up championship finish.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team is really looking forward to getting to California this week,” Truex said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of my favorite tracks and I felt good about the test back in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the weather is going to be different and there will be more than three cars like at the test, but we feel like we\u2019ve learned a lot about the package since then. We need to go in there Friday and unload strong and carry that through the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to see if we can go back-to-back there because it\u2019s really turned into one of the most fun tracks on the circuit.”<\/p>\n

Truex has three top 10s \u2013 including the two runner-up showings at Atlanta and last week at Phoenix. The only mar on the season a 35th-place finish in the Daytona 500 after his Toyota was collected in a multi-car wreck.<\/p>\n

Truex has top-10 finishes in three of the last four races at Auto Club Speedway and led a total of 224 laps in that time. He led a dominating 125 of the 200 laps and won every stage last year. And his 11.6-second margin of victory over former race winner Kyle Larson was among the most dominating efforts of the season.  <\/p>\n

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES<\/b><\/p>\n

Auto Club Speedway has traditionally been a mighty test of horsepower and willpower for Xfinity Series regulars, but this season, in particular, there is reason to believe that a 17-year string of Cup winners in the Xfinity race there may be stopped.<\/p>\n

Fulltime Xfinity drivers Michael Annett started the year with a victory at Daytona and Christopher Bell answered at Atlanta \u2013 the first time a season has opened with back-to-back Xfinity Series regulars winning since 2012 when James Buescher won the Daytona season-opener and Elliott Sadler won the next week at Phoenix.<\/p>\n

In particular \u2013 and with good timing \u2013 a pair of California drivers are leading the way in the series. Defending Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick, of Corning, Calif., leads the championship by four-points over Christopher Bell heading into Saturday\u2019s Production Alliance Group 300 (at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

Reddick has two top-five and three top-10 finishes in the opening four races and has led the third-most laps (75) this season. A second championship would make him the first to earn back-to-back titles since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2011-12.<\/p>\n

Fellow Californian Cole Custer, of Ladera Ranch, finished runner-up to Reddick in the 2018 Xfinity Series Championship and trails his rival by only 11 points heading to their \u201chome\u201d track. As with the Richard Childress Racing driver Reddick, Custer has a pair of top-fives and three top-10s through the opening four races with a best effort of runner-up to in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver has the second best average finish this season (7.2) and a top-10 (sixth place in 2018) in two previous Xfinity starts at Auto Club Speedway.<\/p>\n

The field will undoubtedly face a major challenge from Toyota driver Kyle Busch who begins the first of his two opportunities to score a historic 200th NASCAR national series win in this Saturday race. Busch leads all drivers with six previous wins in the Xfinity race at Auto Club Speedway.<\/p>\n

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series<\/b><\/p>\n

Next Race: Auto Club 400<\/b><\/p>\n

Defending race winner: Martin Truex Jr.<\/b><\/p>\n

The Place: Auto Club Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

The Date: Sunday, March 17<\/b><\/p>\n

The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET<\/b><\/p>\n

TV: FOX<\/b><\/p>\n

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/b><\/p>\n

Distance: 400 miles (200 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 60),<\/b><\/p>\n

Stage 2 (Ends on lap 120), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 200)<\/b><\/p>\n

What to Watch For:<\/b> Martin Truex Jr. is the defending race winner and is one of only four drivers to answer a Cup championship with a win at Auto Club Speedway the next year. Jimmie Johnson is the other active driver to do so in 2007, 08, 09, 2010. \u2026 Johnson\u2019s six wins at the track are most all-time and he leads the series in total laps led (980). \u2026 The most laps ever led in a race is 228 when Johnson won in 2008. The most laps led by a driver who did not win is 168 laps by Greg Biffle in 2006, who finished 42nd. \u2026. Kurt Busch holds the record for most poles at Auto Club Speedway with four. He and Denny Hamlin (three) are the only active drivers to have won multiple poles. \u2026 Kyle Busch is both the youngest pole winner (19 years, 9 months 25 days in February, 2005) at Auto Club Speedway and the youngest race winner (20 years, 4 months, 2 days in September, 2005). \u2026 The next race victory for Kyle Busch would be number 200 among NASCAR’s national series. That could come in either in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday or the Monster Energy Series race on Sunday. \u2026 The closest margin of victory is 0.144-seconds when Kevin Harvick beat Jimmie Johnson in March, 2011. Johnson leads all drivers with five second-place finishes. \u2026 The farthest back a race winner has started is 31st \u2013 Matt Kenseth in 2006. \u2026. Four positions on the grid have produced the most winners (three each). They are pole position, third place, ninth place and 24th place. \u2026 Only three drivers have won from the pole (Johnson in 2008, Kyle Larson in 2017 and Truex in 2018). \u2026 Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 14 wins. Ford has 11 and Toyota has three. Ford has won only once in the past 11 years (Brad Keselowski, 2015).  \u2026 Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest team at the track with 11 victories. \u2026 Chris Buescher is the only driver in the field who made his Cup debut at Auto Club Speedway (in 2015). Johnson (2002) and Busch (2005) are the only drivers in the field to have earned their first win at the track. \u2026 This weekend, Harvick and Kurt Busch will tie Jeff Gordon for most starts (26) at the track. \u2026 Harvick is the winningest NASCAR driver from the state of California with 106 victories in the three national series (46 in Monster Energy, 47 in Xfinity and 14 in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series). \u2026 Four of the last five races have gone into OT \u2013 the lone exception being Truex\u2019s win last year.<\/p>\n

NASCAR Xfinity Series<\/b><\/p>\n

Next Race: Production Alliance Group 300<\/b><\/p>\n

Defending Race Winner: Joey Logano<\/b><\/p>\n

The Place: Auto Club Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

The Date: Saturday, March 16<\/b><\/p>\n

The Time: 5 p.m. ET<\/b><\/p>\n

TV: FS1<\/b><\/p>\n

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/b><\/p>\n

Distance: 300 miles (150 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 35),<\/b><\/p>\n

Stage 2 (Ends on lap 70), and Final Stage (Ends on lap 150)<\/b><\/p>\n

What to Watch For:<\/b> There have been five different winners in the last five races. \u2026 Last year 2018 Cup champion Joey Logano won but there were eight Xfinity Series regulars among the top-10, led by race runner-up Justin Allgaier. \u2026 Logano has three victories and is one of six drivers to score multiple wins at the track. Kyle Busch has the most trophies (6) followed by Matt Kenseth (4), Greg Biffle (3), Logano (3) and Kyle Larson (2). \u2026 Busch, Logano and Larson have combined to win 11 of the last 13 races. \u2026 The last Xfinity fulltime drivers to win at the track were Scott Riggs in 2002 and Hank Parker Jr.  in 2001. \u2026 Austin Dillon won in 2016 leading only the last lap \u2013 a similar scene to his 2018 Daytona 500 triumph when he led only the checkered flag lap. \u2026 A victory for Kyle Busch on Saturday would give him 200 wins in NASCAR\u2019s three major series. He could leave NASCAR\u2019s West Coast swing with 201 wins as he\u2019s swept the Auto Club Speedway races before (2013). \u2026 Three times drivers have won back-to-back races at Fontana \u2013 Kyle Busch\u2019s three straight (2010-11) is a high mark. Biffle swept the 2004 season races and Kenseth won in 1999-2000 \u2013 making him the only driver to win in two centuries. \u2026This facility has seen multiple winning streaks from manufacturers. Chevrolet won four straight races from 1998-2001, Ford won seven straight from 2002-06 and Toyota set a record with nine consecutive Auto Club Speedway victories from 2008-2013. Chevrolet answered that with a string of four wins (2014-2017) snapped by Logano\u2019s win for Ford last year. \u2026 John Hunter Nemechek leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Standings by 10 points over Noah Gragson and 24 points over Justin Haley. Nemechek is the only one among the five-driver rookie class with a previous Auto Club Speedway start. He finished 29th last year after getting caught in a multi-car accident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Martin Truex Jr. quickly erased any doubts that he would mightily pursue a defense of his 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series trophy when he convincingly won from the Busch Pole position last March at this week\u2019s venue, Auto Club Speedway. Although Logano ultimately won […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":15528,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[401,399,16],"class_list":["post-24155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-auto-club-400","tag-auto-club-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/MENCS_ACS_ONTRACK_031818.jpg?fit=3000%2C2000","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-6hB","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24155"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24162,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24155\/revisions\/24162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}