Next Race: Auto Club 400 The Place: Auto Club Speedway The Date: Sunday, March 17 The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET TV: FOX, 3:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 400 miles (200 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200) 2018 Winner: Martin Truex Jr. Kyle Busch looks to scratch another record in the books Kyle Busch takes a six-point edge over Joey Logano in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points standings as the series continues its “West Coast Swing.” And this week may be especially significant in the milestone category as Busch faces two chances to claim a historic 200 combined NASCAR national series wins. It could come in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) – if he doesn’t earn it in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday. Busch’s historic work at the two-mile California track indicates the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will again be a factor in deciding the trophy. His three wins are second only to six-time winner Jimmie Johnson and the two drivers are the only competitors in the field with multiple wins at the track. In fact, Busch and Johnson are the only drivers to score their first career Monster Energy Series victories at Auto Club Speedway – in 2005 and 2002, respectively. And they are the only two drivers to ever win consecutive races at the track – Johnson in 2009-10 and Busch in 2013-14. In 20 races, Busch has nine top-five finishes and is averaging a 10.4 finish – second only to Johnson among drivers with more than three starts at the track. He has six Xfinity Series wins and is a perfect 2-for-2 in NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series starts there, too. He comes to California on a roll, sweeping last week’s Xfinity and Cup races at Phoenix’s ISM Raceway, making it easy to understand why he likes his chances in California. “I’d assess it as pretty good, I guess,’’ Busch said following his 199th NASCAR national series win. “It would certainly be nice to get it (200th win) done on the West Coast swing, but it’s not a necessity. It will happen when it happens, and you can’t push too hard and do stupid things or make mistakes in order to think too much about that number. “You just have to let the race kind of play out and let it come to you and we’ll see where we are at. Really looking forward to Fontana, it’s been a great place for me over the years and would love to get the Interstate Batteries Toyota back to Victory Lane there again no matter what number win that it ends up being.’’ Truex returns to defend Auto Club Speedway victory Martin Truex Jr. arrives at Auto Club Speedway as the defending race winner and he’ll gladly take the good vibes. Since moving from the Furniture Row Racing team, where he won the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship, to Joe Gibbs Racing this year, Truex is still looking for his first win. Last season, it came on these Southern California high banks. Truex won the 2018 race from the Busch Pole position, leading 125 laps. He has three top-10 finishes in the last four races at the track and led 224 laps in that timeframe. Since moving to the Joe Gibbs Racing operation, Truex has come close to winning twice already. He finished runner-up at both the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway three weeks ago and last week at Phoenix’s ISM Raceway one-miler. He has three top-10s in four races this season and is ranked fifth in the standings entering the weekend’s race. Truex ran his first test – a Goodyear tire test – with his new No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team at California in January and was encouraged by the time on track. “Our team is really looking forward to getting to California this week,’’ said Truex. “It’s one of my favorite tracks and I felt good about the test back in January. “Obviously the weather is going to be different and there will be more than three cars like in the test, but we feel like we’ve learned a lot about the package since then. We need to go in there Friday and unload strong and carry that through the weekend. I’m excited to see if we can go back-to-back there because it’s really turned into one of the most fun tracks on the circuit.’’ If Truex were to win this weekend he would become just the third drivers in series history to win consecutive races at Auto Club Speedway, joining Jimmie Johnson (2009-2010) and Kyle Busch (2013-2014). Auto Club Speedway is mountain still left to summit for Logano Reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano scored his third top-10 finish through the season’s four opening races last week at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona. He has results of fourth (Daytona 500), first (Las Vegas Motor Speedway) and 10th (ISM Raceway). He had led the points standings up until Kyle Busch’s win at Phoenix last Sunday. This weekend may prove to be a challenge for the reigning champ. Logano is winless in 12 starts at Auto Club Speedway, but half of those have resulted in top-10 finishes. In four of his last six starts at the 2-mile raceway he has finished inside the top five. His best career showing is third in 2013. His driver rating (87.8) is 10th-best at the track. Right place, right time for California native Jimmie Johnson Seven-time Monster Energy Series champion Jimmie Johnson (El Cajon) is hoping a return to his home state of California, along with some positive season momentum and a history of success there, will be the key to snapping an unprecedented 21-month winless streak. Johnson earned his second top 10 of the season last week at Phoenix (eighth) and turned his first laps (four) in front of the field. He’s ranked 15th in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver points standings heading to the two-mile Auto Club Speedway where his six victories (2002, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016) is most all-time. In fact during the loop data era (2005-Present), Johnson boasts the top driver rating (115.6), best average finish (7.0), laps in the top 15 (3,988 laps, 88.5%) and most laps led (880 laps) of any active driver at the track. His 13 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes are tops in the field too – as are his five career runner-up finishes. And two of those are among the closest five finishes in history at Auto Club Speedway. He lost to Kevin Harvick by 0.144-second in 2011 in the closest finish in track history. Greg Biffle edged him by 0.231-seconds in 2005 – for the third-closest margin of victory. Johnson (2002) and current championship leader Kyle Busch (2005) are the only two active drivers to have scored their first Cup victory at Auto Club Speedway. If Johnson wins this weekend, he will tie NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for fourth on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series all-time wins list. Hometown California Heroes: Harvick and Larson California natives have traditionally fared well at Auto Club Speedway in the Monster Energy Series. Three of the top-10 ranked drivers in pre-race loop data at the track hail from California, including Jimmie Johnson (El Cajon), who boasts the best driver rating (115.6), Bakersfield’s Kevin Harvick (95.5) and Elk Grove native Kyle Larson (91.9). Harvick won the race in 2011 and has two runner-up finishes in the last four years at Auto Club Speedway. Larson won from the pole position in 2017 and has three top-five finishes in five starts at the track, including a runner-up last year on the heels of his victory. There are four Californians in the race, also including Matt DiBenedetto, of Grass Valley, who led a race-high 49 laps in the season-opening Daytona 500. His best finish at Auto Club Speedway is 27th in 2016. Youth Movement Three of the sport’s popular young drivers arrive at Auto Club Speedway in California this weekend looking for their first top-five finish at the western two-miler – all of them with solid experience at the track, just not a trip to Victory Lane quite yet. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones, 22, has a best showing of seventh place (2018) in two starts at Auto Club Speedway. He has good precedent, however, with two top-five finishes in three Xfinity Series races, including a best of third place in 2015. Jones is currently ranked 14th in the points standings – his first week outside the top-10 following a 29th-place showing in Phoenix last week. He opened the year with a career-best third place in the Daytona 500 – the first of two top 10s so far. Ryan Blaney, 25, righted his season start last week, earning the Busch Pole position at ISM Raceway, winning the first stage and finishing third – unbelievably, his first top-20 of the season. California has proven to be a positive place for Blaney. The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Mustang has back-to-back top-10 finishes in his last two starts there. Chase Elliott, 23, is also still working on his first top-five finish, or possible win, at Auto Club Speedway. The driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has a pair of top-10 finishes in three starts, including a career-best of sixth in his first race there in 2016. Last year’s three-race winner and Playoff favorite, Elliott, has one top-10 in four starts in 2019 Sunoco Rookie Preview: Auto Club Speedway Richard Childress Racing driver Daniel Hemric’s 18th-place finish at ISM Raceway, coupled with Ryan Preece’s 34th-place finish, turned over the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookie standings lead for the first time this season. Richard Childress Racing’s Daniel Hemric earned his first top 20 of the season (18th) at Phoenix while Preece was involved in an incident and suffered his second DNF in four races and now trails Hemric by six points heading into Auto Club Speedway this weekend. Front Row Motorsport’s Matt Tifft remains ranked third among the 2019 rookie class, 23 points behind Hemric. Following Tifft is Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware in fourth, 18 points behind Tifft. All four Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookies will be making their series track debut this weekend. Hemric’s career-best showing at the track is a fifth-place finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race there last year. Tifft was eighth in that Xfinity Series race. Next Race: Production Alliance Group 300 The Place: Auto Club Speedway The Date: Saturday, March 16 The Time: 5 p.m. ET TV: FS1, 4:30 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 300 miles (150 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 35), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 70), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 300) 2018 Winner: Joey Logano Saturday is Kyle Busch’s first chance at the 200th NASCAR national series win Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch will have his first crack at winning his 200th NASCAR national series race in this Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway at 5 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Busch currently has 199 NASCAR national series combined wins (52 Monster Energy Series, 94 NASCAR Xfinity Series and 53 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series). NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty currently holds the all-time lead in NASCAR national series combined wins with 200 – but, of note, all of his came in the Monster Energy Series. Busch could actually reach 201 combined NASCAR national series wins if he were to sweep the weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races – a feat he accomplished back 2013. California drivers Reddick and Custer are off to hot start in 2019 California is known for producing some of racing’s top talent and this season the NASCAR Xfinity Series has been blessed by several of those West Coasters competing for the driver championship title. Two California natives that stand above the rest this season are Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick (Corning) and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer (Ladera Ranch). The 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series champ and current standings leader Reddick is racing at a very high level this season. Reddick didn’t even spin the tires when he launched from JR Motorsports to Richard Childress Racing in the offseason, as it only took him four races this year to retake the top spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver points standings. Now the 23-year old is heading to his home state this weekend after accumulating two top fives and three top 10s on the year; as well as leading the third-most laps this season (75). Reddick was born about eight to nine hours north of Auto Club Speedway (Fontana), and the RCR driver has taken to the 2-mile track quite well. In his series track debut last season driving for JR Motorsports, he started 16th and finished inside the top-10 (seventh). Reddick is currently holding the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings lead by a slim four points over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell following the race at Phoenix last weekend. Hailing from Ladera Ranch, California, is Stewart-Haas Racing’s driver, Cole Custer. The 21-year-old rising star is ranked third in the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings, 11 points behind Tyler Reddick in the standings lead and seven points back from second-place Christopher Bell heading into this weekend at Auto Club Speedway. Custer has been solid this season, racking up two top fives and three top 10s in the first four starts of the season; including a runner-up finish at Atlanta. He has also banked the second-best average finish this season with a 7.2. This weekend will be a homecoming party for Custer, as Ladera Ranch is just over an hour drive from Fontana, where Auto Club Speedway is located. Custer has made two starts at the two-mile raceway, posting one top-10 finish (sixth-place, last season). Custer and Reddick are not the only California natives that have competed in the series this season, Zane Smith (Huntington Beach) and Ja Junior Avila (Los Angeles) have also made starts this season; neither are entered this weekend. Truex Making Most Of Part-Time Schedule Last weekend at ISM Raceway, Ryan Truex finished an impressive runner-up to Kyle Busch while driving the JR Motorsport’s No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro – tying his series career-best finish (second at Dover in 2012). Truex is scheduled to run a part-time schedule with JR Motorsports this season to showcase his talents in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The 26-year old from Mayetta, New Jersey will be returning to the series in July at Kentucky. Ryan Preece Returns To Xfinity JR Motorsports has fielded four different drivers in the first four starts of the season in the No. 8 this season – Chase Elliott (Daytona), Ryan Preece (Atlanta), Zane Smith (Las Vegas) and Ryan Truex (Phoenix). This weekend JR Motorsports will have Ryan Preece back in the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro; his second series start of 2019. Preece made his season debut at Atlanta a few weeks back, grabbing a seventh-place finish for JRM. This weekend, he returns to compete in the Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway, where he has made two series starts, posting one top-10 finish (ninth-place finish last season). The No. 8 is currently ranked 12th in the owner points standings. Next Race: NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series 250 The Place: Martinsville Speedway The Date: Saturday, March 23 TV: FS1, 2 p.m. ET Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Distance: 131.5 miles (250 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 70), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 140), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 250) 2018 Winner: John Hunter Nemechek source – NASCAR communications
