NASCAR Cup Series

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.

Aric Almirola and the No. 43 Smithfield Ford team have shown strength at the intermediate tracks this year. They scored an 11th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway and looked poised to tally another Top-15 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway before contact on the track relegated them to a 26th-place finish.

Richard Childress Racing's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history at Auto Club Speedway ... In 76 overall NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Auto Club Speedway, RCR Chevrolet teams have earned one win (Kevin Harvick - 2011), one pole award (Mike Skinner - April 2000), 10 top-five and 26 top-10 finishes. RCR has a 20.6 average starting position, a 16.5 average finishing position and has completed 17,565 of the 17,855 laps (98.4 percent) contested at the moderately-banked, D-shaped race track.

The third and final stop on NASCAR’s west coast swing will take place this weekend as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series makes its annual visit to Auto Club Speedway. Here is a look at how Ford has done at the two-mile facility, located in Fontana, CA.

This Week's Whitetail Chevrolet SS at Auto Club Speedway ... Brian Scott is scheduled to pilot chassis No. 441 in Sunday's Auto Club 400. This No. 33 Chevrolet SS is a brand new car taking to the track for the first time on Friday when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams practice and qualify at the two-mile speedway.

Going into Sunday's Auto Club 400,Bliss will be making his eighth career start in the NSCS at Auto Club Speedway. The Oregon native has a best finish of 12th, which came back in 2005, with a ninth place finish in the Xfinity series back in 2010.

In the world of NASCAR, it’s the drivers who typically bask in the glory and fame. Casual fans rarely acknowledge the engineers, and mechanics who build the cars. And they certainly forget the people working in the pits rather quickly. The truth is that pit crews face as much danger as the drivers racing on the track.

NASCAR announced today it has signed a seven-year media broadcast extension with FOX Sports Latin America, ensuring that sports fans in Latin America can continue to enjoy NASCAR events and news on FOX Sports through 2021.

Kevin Harvick was the star of this show, with the likes of Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray in supporting roles. Two straight this season, four straight at Phoenix, a lock on a Chase spot (you would think) and 30 career victories as he defends his Cup championship. It is good being Kevin Harvick.

Despite the wringing of hands and the nervous comments of many in fan forums, not much ever changes in NASCAR. The teams with great funding always rise to the top. That’s been the case since people began racing cars.