NASCAR XFINITY Series
Next Race: Drive4Clots.com 300
The Place: Auto Club Speedway
The Date: Saturday, March 21
The Time: 4 p.m. (ET)
TV: FOX Sports 1, 3:30 p.m. (ET)
Radio: MRN, Sirius XM Ch. 90
Distance: 300 miles (150 laps)
Kyle Larson Returns To Auto Club Speedway To Defend Win
Last season, Kyle Larson showed signs of mastery in the closing laps of the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Auto Club Speedway. The young driver made daring passes in the last laps and fended off the pursuits of veterans Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch to claim his first ever series victory and in turn thrust himself into the NASCAR limelight.
Now running full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Larson is known by his fellow competitors as the ‘next big thing’ and his winning of the 2014 Sprint Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors confirms their assumptions.
Despite his ever-growing schedule, Larson still makes time for Saturday races and this weekend he will strap into HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi’s No. 42 Chevrolet. Don’t be surprised if Larson contends for the win again this season, in two starts at Auto Club his average finish is 3.5. He also leads the series among active drivers in pre-race Driver Rating at Auto Club Speedway with a 113.7.
Solid Start To Season Has Ty Dillon Opening Up Points Lead
Following his fourth consecutive top-ten finish to open the season, Ty Dillon now commands a 14-point lead over second-place Chris Buescher, the biggest points margin after the first four races since 2013 when Sam Hornish Jr. led Justin Allgaier by 22 points.
Dillon’s steady hand has him leading the pack and his Loop Data backs it up. In the first four races he has an Average Running Position of 7.608, has run 97.5% of his laps completed in the top-15 and 97.8% of his laps run on the lead lap – all three are best among series championship contenders. Dillon season-to-date Driver Rating is 102.9 – second only to his brother Austin Dillon (122.2).
On the last leg of the West coast swing, Ty Dillon will lead the series to Auto Club Speedway for the Drive4Clots.com 300 on Saturday, March 21. Dillon made his series début at Auto Club last season where he started third and finished eighth.
2014 Series Champ Chase Elliott Continues To Climb The Standings
After kicking the season off with a 28th-place finish at Daytona and burying himself in the points (20th), Chase Elliott has been on a mission climbing back up the standings. In the last three races Elliott has jumped 16 spots to now fourth in the standings, 25 points back from Ty Dillon.
Elliott turned red-hot last season from the second to the eighth race on the schedule when he strung together seven consecutive top-ten finishes including his two wins at Texas and Darlington. This season he is looking to do the same and his last three consecutive top-tens have him on track to do just that.
Expect Elliott’s consistency to continue this weekend at Auto Club Speedway; in his series début at the 2-mile track he posted a solid sixth-place finish.
Elliott’s season-to-date Loop Data supports his recent comeback. He leads the series championship contenders in Green Flag Speed, and has fourth-best Driver Rating (98.9) among championship contenders.
Heavy Hitters Stack Auto Club Speedway Entry List
The level of competition will be fierce this weekend at Auto Club Speedway especially with popular NASCAR Sprint Cup stars like Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson and Sam Hornish Jr. touting the entry list.
When it comes to big names in NASCAR, nobody has flashed across headlines more this season than 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick. Harvick will pilot the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet this weekend at Auto Club Speedway. Harvick has made 18 starts at Auto Club Speedway posting 15 top-tens and an average finish of 6.9. Harvick has yet to win at the 2-mile speedway.
Team Penske has tapped Brad Keselowski to command the owner points leading No. 22 Ford this weekend. Keselowski’s teammate Joey Logano won last weekend at Phoenix catapulting car owner Roger Penske to the owner standings lead by six points over Richard Childress’ No. 33 team. Keselowski has made 12 starts at Auto Club Speedway posting four top-fives and five top-tens.
It will be Austin Dillon’s job to reclaim the owner points lead for his grandfather in the No. 33 RCR Chevrolet – which could be a possibility. Dillon has made two starts at Auto Club Speedway and both times he finished fifth. Dillon has been impressive in his stint in the No. 33 this season; he leads the series in season-to-date Driver Rating (122.2), Average Running Position (5.466) and Percentage of Laps Run on the Lead Lap (99.4%).
Denny Hamlin will be substituting for the injured Kyle Busch in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Joe Gibbs Racing has won nine of the last 10 races at Auto Club Speedway: Kyle Busch (six), Joey Logano (two) and Tony Stewart (one).
Sam Hornish Jr. will be in the No. 98 Biagi Bros. Ford for car owner Fred Biagi. This will be Hornish’s third series start at Auto Club Speedway where he has posted one top-five finish.
I Wish They All Could Be California … Drivers?
California natives have been some of the most successful drivers in NASCAR national series history.
You might recognize names like six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ Jimmie Johnson (El Cajon) or 4-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champ Jeff Gordon (Vallejo) to name a couple. Since the NASCAR XFINITY Series inception in 1982, a total of 69 different drivers from the state of California have competed in at least one series event. This weekend, four drivers from California will compete in the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Auto Club Speedway the Drive4Clots.com 300: Kevin Harvick (Bakersfield), Kyle Larson (Elk Grove), Ryan Reed (Bakersfield) and Stanton Barrett (Bishop).
Of the four entered Reed is the only driver that is running full-time for a NASCAR XFINITY Series title.
“Being only a couple hours from where I grew up, Auto Club is a track I really want to do well at and I would love to get a win there,” said Ryan Reed. “I’m really excited to see all my friends and family this weekend and hope that we have a strong run in our Lilly Diabetes American Diabetes Association Ford Mustang.”
NASCAR In California
- NASCAR national series competition has held 189 races at 17 different tracks across the state of California.
- The NASCAR XFINITY Series has hosted 25 of the 189 NASCAR national series events in California and all 25 were at Auto Club Speedway.
- The first NASCAR XFINITY Series race held at Auto Club Speedway was on Oct. 19, 1997 and won by Todd Bodine.
- 431 drivers in NASCAR national series history have their home state recorded as California.
- 39 of the 431 drivers from California have won at least one race in NASCAR’s three national series.
- 15 of the 39 California native NASCAR winners have won at least one race in the NASCAR XFINITY Series; led by Kevin Harvick with 45.
- Kyle Larson is the only California native to win a NASCAR XFINITY Series race in his home state (Auto Club Speedway, 2014).
Exciting Opportunity For Boys & Girls Club of America Youth
at Auto Club Speedway
Comcast NBCUniversal has partnered with Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) to offer 60 Club Youth across the country an opportunity to experience the behind-the-scenes excitement of a NASCAR XFINITY Series race and the technology that fuels a national series event. The next step for the program, which launched last month, is this weekend’s race at Auto Club Speedway. Youth in attendance will tour the NASCAR XFINITY Series garage area, learn about NASCAR’s technical inspection areas, explore NASCAR’s Acceleration Nation in the fan interactive area, meet Richard Childress Racing driver Brendan Gaughan, attend the driver’s meeting and pre-race ceremonies. Similar events across the country will send local Club participants to NASCAR XFINITY Series races in Loudon, New Hampshire; Joliet, Illinois; Dover, Delaware; and Fort Worth, Texas throughout the year.
Young Driver Brigade Continues to Impress
For the fifth week in a row the NASCAR XFINITY Series points standings top-five are drivers under the age of 24. The youthful group occupying the top-five in points has an average age 21.2.
The elder statesman of the youth contingent is points leader Ty Dillon who just turned 23 years old on Feb. 27th. The second and third positions in the standings belong to Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher (22 years old) and Ryan Reed (21 years old). The youngest of the group is fourth-place Chase Elliott at the age of 19. And finally, Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate Darrell Wallace Jr. is at the ripe age of 21.
Rookie Update: Wallace The Man To Catch
Darrell Wallace Jr. continues to hold court in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings and this past week he extended his lead by seven points over second-place Daniel Suarez. Suarez moved ahead of Ross Chastain to the second spot in the rookie points following his career best series finish (11th) last weekend at Phoenix.
This will be all three driver’s (Wallace, Suarez, Chastain) series track début this weekend at Auto Club Speedway.