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AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY CELEBRATES 20 YEARS WITH NASCAR CUP & XFINITY SERIES RACES

RACING on California’s ONLY superspeedway

NASCAR returned to race at Auto Club Speedway on the March 25th weekend of 2017.

Special anniversary guests included drag racing’s John Force — sure to entertain wherever he goes.
Danica Patrick (#10) stretches before she drives out on the track to practice for Sunday’s big race.
Cup Series teams leave their garages to practice the day before their race.
The fans and the sponsors make all this possible.

The track – formerly known as California Speedway (and still called that by many, including some on the TV broadcast), was renamed Auto Club Speedway when the Auto Club came on board with their support in 2008. During the 2017 race weekend they announced their renewal of that support with a new, multi-year deal.

The teams stand in their pit boxes for the National Anthem before the XFINITY Series race on Saturday.
High fives all around before the teams get down to business.
The Service King 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race begins.
Kyle Busch (18) races Joey Logano (22) in the XFINITY Series race..
An encounter with the front straight wall ended Paul Menard’s XFINITY Series race.
Pit stop for XFINITY Series driver Black Koch.
… and the XFINITY race winner doing a massive burnout is Kyle Larson, driving for Chip Ganassi racing.

The track was the brainchild of Roger Penske, with execution by Les Richter, Executive Vice President of California Speedway and former NASCAR Senior Vice President of Operations. That there is a racetrack there at all, let alone one that is a showpiece, is truly a testament to the vision of Penske, as it is located on what many would view as an impossible site – on what was toxic land on the site of the abandoned Kaiser Steel Mill.

In its 20 years, this multi-purpose, major facility has revitalized the area and will be hosting more than 320 days of track activity this year. You might have recognized it in several movies, including the second “Terminator,” and television shows. Driving schools are held here, as is drag racing, club road course racing, new car testing and much more.

The familiar, historic water tower — seen here during driver introductions for the 2013 Auto Club 400.

Sadly, its signature, historic water tower with its distinctive checkered flag paint scheme – a relic from the steel mill days – was deteriorating, unsafe and deemed unrepairable. It was torn down in 2013.

Jeff Gordon won the inaugural California 500 in 1997 – the first Cup race that NASCAR ran on this track. 4-time Cup Series Champion, Jeff is now retired from full-time Cup racing. This year he co-drove a winning car at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and provides expert commentary during televised NASCAR Cup races.

IndyCar also ran here for many years. As Dave Allen, current President of Auto Club Speedway reminded us: “Gil de Ferran set the CART qualifying closed course world record at 241.428 mph in 2000.”

5-wide IndyCar facing at the 2015 MAV TV 500.

One of the best IndyCar races that I ever witnessed was the final one that was run here – back in 2015. The cars raced down the front stretch and into the first turn as many as five wide, lap after lap. It was magical and mesmerizing.

In his 2014 rookie season behind the wheel of the #42 Chevrolet SS, Kyle Larson was the highest finishing rookie driver in 26 of 36 races, winning Rookie of the Year honors.

Fast forward to March 2017. Lightly overcast in what can be a very, very hot place, but without the rain that was forecast for that weekend, the temperature was perfect for racing on this, the 20th anniversary of the track.

Before the feature race, the teams each glue the lug nuts to the wheels.
Using templates for each of the different manufacturers’ bodies, NASCAR tech inspectors verify that every car meets their specs.
With tech inspection complete, the Cup Series cars are pushed onto pit lane.
Fans are welcomed and entertained on pit lane well before the race begins.
A fan of retired NASCAR Cup Series racer Rusty Wallace.
Fans stream into the infield to watch the driver introductions.
Kyle Larson brought his son to the driver introductions, much to the delight of his fans.
After they are introduced on-stage, the drivers are driven around the track in pickup trucks so that their fans can take photos.
This is Kyle Busch (#18), whose larger-than-life likeness was seen walking around pit road.
A military flyover is customary right before the feature race. These mighty F/A-18E Super Hornets are Tophatters of Strike Fighter Squadron 14.
With all of the preliminaries out of the way, it was time for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400. Ty Dillon (#13) racing Daniel Suarez (#19) and Kurt Busch (#41).
Jimmie Johnson (#48) racing Ryan Newman (#31).
Denny Hamlin (#11) racing Kyle Busch (#18).
The action on pit lane was fast and furious. This is the crew of Ty Dillon (#13).
Daniel Suarez (#19) racing Kasey Kahne (#5)/
Brad Keselowski (#2, with race damage) racing Ryan Blaney (#21).
Trevor Bayne (#6) racing fan-favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. (#88).
Those tires and wheels are heavy.. This is the pit crew for Matt DiBenedetto (#32).

Both the Service King 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 race were action-packed, but things got downright wild towards the end of the Cup Series race.

It all began with the routine pit stop of Martin Truex Jr. (#78).
First they changed the tires on one side…
… and then the other.
With the service finished, Martin left his pit. So far, so good — or was it?
He was released right in front of Jimmie Johnson (#48), who locked up his brakes in order to miss Truex Jr. and still make it to his own pit.
That’s when Johnson’s big sideways skid began.
Somehow he managed to nose his #48 Chevy towards his pit, in front of the Toyota of Matt Kenneth (#20).
Somehow he managed to nose it in towards the wall and within the confines of his pit box.

The melee began during a pit stop with about 40 laps to go. The #48 of Jimmie Johnson was coming into the pits just as Martin Truex Jr. was leaving his pit. In order to avoid colliding with Martin, Jimmie locked up his brakes and slid sideways, nosing fully into his pit at nearly a 90-degree angle to the pit wall.

Then it was up to his pit crew to scramble out into the pit lane with the tires, jack and fuel can, so that they could service the car.
With the pit stop complete, now they had to roll the car backwards — further into the pit lane.
Away he went, in a billowing cloud of tire smoke.

Amazingly, since he was technically in his pit, his crew was able to service his car, push it backward out of its pit and send Johnson back to continue his race – a race that ended with a flurry of cautions, and more pit stops.

Ty Dillon (#13) makes another pit stopper some fresh Goodyears.
Following the pit stops, the crews blow away the old lug nuts.

After the race that prompted winning car-owner Chip Ganassi to comment: “I thought it was never going to be over there at the end.”

No doubt car owner Chip Ganassi was relieved that it was all over.
Kyle Larson takes the checkered flag with a healthy margin of victory.
After the race there was still lots of work to be done.
NASCAR restrictor plates.

Kyle Larson had dominated, handily winning both the XFINITY and Cup Series races.

Kyle Larson’s Auto Club 400 winning, #42 Chip Ganassi Racing, Target Chevrolet (racing Kevin Harwick’s #4)
Celebrating in Victory Lane…
.. and in the post-race press conference (Chip Ganassi, Kyle Larson and Crew Chief Chad Johnston).

As they expressed in the post-race press conference, neither Larson nor Ganassi expected their clean sweep. While Larson was confident in his Cup car going into the race, he was not as confident with the performance of his XFINITY Series racecar. Nevertheless he said: “In both series I feel like I have a shot to win every time I go to the racetrack. That’s always something I’ve hoped for. It’s a lot of fun to have that confidence in the race team, go to the racetrack, fight hard and run for wins.”

This year he is on track to have another great season.

It’s time to go…

Copyright © 2017 by Jan Wagner – AutoMatters & More #482r23

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