From three-wide racing to the splitter-challenging bumps, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 17th annual Auto Club 400 in Fontana, California.
Joe Gibbs Racing has released a statement stating that Denny Hamlin will miss six weeks due to a L1 Compression Fracture to his back following his crash on the last lap at Auto Club Speedway.
“There's been a lot of talk about it in the off-season, when that first one was going to come, what we had to do to get there. My answer was always the same. We had to minimize the mistakes.”
With all due respects to college basketball's annual super tournament, that takes weeks to complete, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series displayed their own version of "March Madness", at the Auto Club Speedway, that contained far more excitement and it only took two hours, 57 minutes and 19 seconds, during the course of a single Sunday afternoon, to complete.
All last year, folks commented that the racing in NASCAR’s top series was boring. Most of them pointed to the late-race action at Martinsville Speedway last April. On Sunday, at near 200 mph, they saw more of the same. This time it was Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, fresh off a dustup at Bristol Motor Speedway where both drivers pointed fingers.
There are as many opinions as there are fans as to whether or not Joey Logano is at fault for the late-race wreck on Sunday at Fontana that sent driver Denny Hamlin to the hospital.
The rollercoaster ride Brian Vickers has been on over the past few seasons in NASCAR is quite incredible. Vickers has experienced remarkable lows over the past few years including getting ousted out of his Red Bull Racing ride after the team closed their operations as well as getting sidelined due to a medical problem in 2010.
Joe Gibbs Racing has released that driver Denny Hamlin has suffered a L1 Compression Fracture to his back following his wreck on the last lap of the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.
The 26-year-old Ferguson from Lincolnton, North Carolina, will make his second career Truck start with Kaulig Racing more than a month after making his Truck debut at Bristol.
Spire Motorsports has earned one win and three top five finishes. Rajah Caruth took the checkered flag in last year's Rackley Roofing 200 after leading 61 laps.
In 12 previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, Spire Motorsports has two top-five finishes with a best result of second earned twice by Zane Smith (2024) and Carson Hocevar (2025).
