“It’s just a great place and it has quickly become a favorite racetrack for drivers,” Allmendinger said “There are so many different types of lines you can run. The racing side-by-side is always great. Last year, it was so fantastic to finish in the top-10 and it was cool to see the grandstands full.
“It’s nice to finish in the top five here, which has been a place we have struggled at before. We’ve got a little work to do for sure though but I’m pleased with our result because a lot of the guys had a lot more tires than us at the end. They just kept running new tires and we had one shot at it and to do a 1:07.62 felt nice. It should have had a five in it but that would have been about it."
Will Power, who has won twice at Barber Motorsports Park and was the Verizon P1 Award winner for the 2014 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, posted the quickest lap of the two-day Verizon IndyCar Series test of the new aerodynamic bodywork supplied by Chevrolet and Honda at the 2.38-mile, 17-turn road course.
In 25 Cup events at Fontana, Hendrick Motorsports has nine wins, five pole positions, 31 top-five finishes and 44 top-10s. A victory this weekend would make Fontana the 11th track where Hendrick Motorsports has 10 or more wins.
Elliott Sadler will make his 11th NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) start at Auto Club Speedway (ACS) this Saturday afternoon in Fontana, CA. In Sadler’s previous 10 starts, he has one pole award, three top-five and six top-10 finishes at ACS. Sadler has also led 60 laps at ACS in the NXS.
Ticking off the multitude of storylines associated with the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Allen Bestwick might have lobbied for a larger broadcast window on ABC.
Biffle has 20 Sprint Cup Series starts at Fontana, earning one win, four top-five and seven top-10 finishes, while also leading 297 laps total. He has an average starting position of 13.9 and finishing position of 17.8 at the track.
Trevor Bayne will make his second career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) start at Auto Club Speedway this weekend. In one previous start at the two-mile oval, Bayne started 27th and finished in the 30th position.
This is the same chassis that Roush Fenway Racing teammate Ryan Reed raced last season at Auto Club Speedway (finishing 17th), Charlotte Motor Speedway (finishing 14th and 15th), Kentucky Speedway (finishing 17th) and Atlanta Motor Speedway (finishing 18th).
The 2023 Cup Series champion rallied from a pair of loose wheel miscues, utilizing a late two-tire pit strategy to claim his first Cup victory of 2026.
