I must admit I was rather surprised to learn that The Great Gonzo, of Muppets fame, was named to be the Grand Marshall for the Auto Club 400. I found myself asking: "seriously? A Muppet puppet is going to give the command to start engines?
Okay, everyone from Goodyear engineers, NASCAR officials, crew chiefs, car chiefs, drivers, the media and the fans have had some time to digest the issue of tire wear that was presented during last Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the Auto Club Speedway.
When it comes to watching NASCAR racing at the Auto Club Speedway, sometimes you have to be patient and wait until the waning laps of the event in order to witness the drama unfold.
Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) reassured their dominance in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on Sunday at Fontana after team owner, Tony Stewart finished fifth and first-year SHR driver Kurt Busch placed third.
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.
Hendrick Motorsports is the all-time leader in wins (10), top fives (39), stage wins (16) and laps led (2,770) at the 1.5-mile tri-oval and its 67 top 10s are tied for the most.
The NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) for the South Point 400, the fifth race of the 10-race Chase, on Sunday, October 4 at 5:30 p.m. ET on USA.
The 2026 ARCA Menards Series East champion from Kannapolis, North Carolina, will compete in an expanded Truck Series schedule with Spire Motorsports in 2027.