NASCAR Auto Club 400 predictions: Who will win, how to watch, California speedway info
Last week’s race predictions were as far off as the drivers who pitted in the final laps of the Pennzoil 400. Neither Martin Truex Jr. nor Kevin Harvick ended up in the top five. Truex Jr. didn’t even crack the top 10 (he finished 20th, while Harvick finished in eighth place). Instead, Joey Logano rode out a victory off a restart in the final two laps of the race, which ended under caution.
Chaotic restarts were a theme of last week’s race, and according to Harvick, more are expected this Sunday at the Auto Club 400 in Fontana, California. The 75-foot-wide track at Auto Club Speedway, combined with this year’s rules package, should allow for a good bit of drafting and creativity on the restarts.
“It’s one of my favorite racetracks that we go to throughout the year,” Harvick said. “Because it’s a big wide racetrack with a lot of options from a driver’s standpoint.”
Harvick added that the width of the track also allows for movement, which “makes the restarts even crazier.”
“It’s a fun place to race,” Harvick said. “And for me, it’s close to home, so I get to be with family, friends and a lot of race fans that have rooted for me since the mid-’90s.”
Harvick, who is from Bakersfield, California, is not the only driver who will have a homecoming this weekend. Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Larson, Matt DiBenedetto, Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer are also California natives. Johnson, from El Cajon, has six race wins at the Auto Club 400, the most all-time.
Even though Johnson has the most wins, he does not hold the most recent victory at the event. Last year’s race went to Kyle Busch, who is one of the two drivers we’re predicting to win this weekend.
NO. 18 KYLE BUSCH
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is the reigning champion at Auto Club Speedway, where he has four career wins. Busch is still seeking a top-10 finish this season. But as a notorious competitor, he’ll have extra motivation to defend his title this Sunday. Busch has also tallied nearly 70 percent of his career laps led at the track and has won three times in the past eight years there.
NO. 42 KYLE LARSON
A Kyle-versus-Kyle showdown could occur well before either driver gets behind the wheel of a truck. Larson, who is from Elk Grove, California, is another top contender for this race. Although Larson finished 12th in last year’s race, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver is having a strong start to the season. Larson and Harvick are the only two racers who have placed in the top 10 in the season’s opening two races. Larson also won the 2017 Auto Club 400, in which he led laps for over half the race.
Last year’s Auto Club 400 …
was dominated by Busch. He won all three stages of the race. (In the second stage, he finished more than five seconds ahead of the next-fastest driver in that stage, Brad Keselowski.) Busch pitted on Lap 166 for a tire change, restarted four laps later, then passed Joey Logano for the lead five laps after that. He cruised out front the rest of the way.
“We only raced for two laps before the 18 blew our doors off and drove away from us,” Logano said after last year’s race. “Fastest car in the race.”
THIS WEEK’S NASCAR RACE IN FONTANA: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Race: Auto Club 400
Distance: 200 laps, or 400 miles (stage breaks on Laps 60, 120, 200)
Where: Auto Club Speedway
When: Sunday at 3:30 p.m. EST
TV: FOX (coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. EST)
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Last year’s winner: Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing)
Also this week: Xfinity Series (Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EST on FS1, race starts at 4 p.m. EST)
Worth mentioning
▪ Thirty-eight cars are entered in Sunday’s race, with Ross Chastain again set to drive the No. 6 while Ryan Newman recovers from a head injury he sustained in a last-lap wreck at the Daytona 500.
▪ Daniel Suárez will drive the No. 96 and Timmy Hill will drive the No. 66 as the two non-chartered entries.
▪ Suárez is also one of the many drivers honoring NBA legend Kobe Bryant with his gear this weekend. You can read about how NASCAR drivers and Auto Club Speedway plan to pay tribute to Bryant and the Calabasas helicopter crash victims here.
