Tires, man. That was the story of the race at Fontana. If one was conservative in their set up, like those owned by Joe Gibbs, all was well. If not…well, they blew it.
The craziness started before the green flag flew to get today’s Auto Club 400 from Auto Club Speedway underway. J.D. Gibbs announced about 30 minutes prior to the command to fire engines that Denny Hamlin wouldn’t race due to a sinus infection that affected his vision.
Patrick Staropoli concluded all murmurs about him winning the PEAK Stock Car Dream Challenge was a fluke, and further ended any discussion of him not capable of performing well.
After getting close to winning last year, Kyle Larson would hold off Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch in an exciting finish to win the Treatmyclot.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway for his first career Nationwide Series victory.
When Brian Vickers hits the track for the race on Sunday, he won't just be racing for a good finish - he'll be raising awareness about blood clots. Vickers will be driving a special No. 55 TREATMYCLOT.com/Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota in the Auto Club 500 this weekend.
A Joe Gibbs Racing car took the pole for the TreatMyClot.com 300, but it's not the Toyota that you're thinking. This week, it was Elliott Sadler putting his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota on the pole for his 16th career pole award.
There are some instances where it is actually difficult to pick a definitive favorite to win the race. This is not the case with the Auto Club 400. Jimmie Johnson has won four of the last 10 races at his home track, and five overall including his first victory back in 2002.
Denny Hamlin had an eventful final corner at Auto Club Speedway last season, to say the least. Him and Joey Logano – who had a dispute the week before at Bristol – battled the entire white flag lap for the win, but eventually touched putting Hamlin into the inside wall, Logano into the outside wall, and sending Kyle Busch to victory lane.
So far this year, Trevor Bayne is off to a solid start with finishes of third, seventh and a pair of eighth place finishes in the Nationwide Series. For the driver of the No. 6 AdoCare Ford Mustang, it's an okay start to a year - but at least it's consistent.
Mayor Glenn Jacobs, better known as WWE Wrestling superstar KANE, and NFL quarterback Joshua Dobbs have been named dignitaries for the tradition-rich Food City 500
RAFA Racing Team opened the 2026 Pirelli GT4 America season with a perfect weekend, as Tyler Gonzalez and Westin Workman swept both races at Sonoma Raceway in the No. 68 Endava Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.
Logano cut the deficit down to just over a second with 15 laps to go, but ultimately took the checkered flag third to secure his second top-five finish of the season.
