At the end of final practice for the Nationwide Series, it'd be last year's rookie of the year Austin Dillon topping the charts with a lap of 40.728 seconds. Dillon is looking to rebound after finishing 11th last week at Bristol Motor Speedway. He finished fifth at Auto Club Speedway last year.
The elite of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has arrived at the "left coast" again. This latest version of NASCAR's western swing has the teams in Fontana-California, the home of the Auto Club Speedway. The Sprint Cup teams will be taking on the challenge of this speedway's mammoth two mile oval for Sunday's running of the Auto Club 400.
At the end of the first practice, it'd be Clint Bowyer topping the charts with a lap of 38.832 seconds (185.414 mph) in his No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota.
For the second straight week, Kyle Busch would come up short as he would finish second to Kasey Kahne, after finishing fourth in Las Vegas the week prior.
This week, back in 1933, there was no NASCAR. Moonshiners, for sure, and probably a few in Saskatchewan. My dad was born there 80 years ago this week, and along with mom we got together recently with his six children, their spouses, seven grandchildren, and even one great-grandchild still a few months away from making his or her debut.
Bruton Smith gave away ten Mustangs and still the greatest venue in NASCAR racing was generously only half full. The Nationwide Series race was maybe a fourth full.
After a wild weekend at Bristol full of beating, banging, and tempers flaring, the Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series heads back out west to take on the fifth race of the season at the two mile Auto Club Speedway of Southern California.
From the intro songs to the beating and the banging that comes with short-track racing, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 53rd annual Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford Mustang Dark Horse, will be making the 400th start of his NASCAR Cup Series career this weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
Anthony Alfredo and Parker Retzlaff will continue to pilot the Nos. 96 and 99 Chevrolet entries, respectively, for the 2027 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season amid a breakout year in 2026.
This race marks a significant milestone for Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing as driver Chris Buescher makes his 400th Career Start after leading 53 laps this past weekend in Talladega.
