RACE RECAP 

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES

Auto Club 400

Auto Club Speedway – Fontana, California

Sunday, March 17, 2019

Race Winner: Kyle Busch

Age: 33

Team: No. 18 – Interstate Batteries Toyota

Owner: Joe Gibbs Racing

Crew Chief: Adam Stevens

IN THE WORDS OF THE WINNER – “I think the original goal was just to get to NASCAR and then once I got here, it was to win a race. Once it was winning a race then it was about trying to sustain and being able to be a winner here and to be a champion here. To have the opportunities to continue down the line to be able to be successful each and every year and we’ve been doing that. We’ve only won one title, but certainly I feel like I have the best team out there right now and we just have to be able to do it all year long.”

– Kyle Busch

• Kyle Busch won the 23^rd annual Auto Club 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Auto Club Speedway Sunday afternoon. For Busch, it was his 53^rd win in 503 career MENCS starts and his second consecutive win this season.

• The victory was Busch’s 200^th win across all three of NASCAR’s national series. Busch is the all-time wins leader in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. He currently sits in 11^th all-time in MENCS wins and is one win behind Lee Petty.

• Reigning MENCS champion Joey Logano finished second while his Penske teammate Brad Keselowski came in third. For Logano, it was his fourth top-10 this season and his fourth consecutive top-5 at Auto Club Speedway. Keselowski (42) led the second-most laps on Sunday and scored his third top-5 finish in his last four races.

• With Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney rounding out the top-5, four of the top five drivers were Fords. Last season Ford won the manufacturers’ championship for the first time since 2002 and currently trails Toyota by only seven points.

• With wins to their credit this season, Busch, Logano, Keselowski and Denny Hamlin are the only drivers to have clinched a spot in the 2019 MENCS playoffs, which culminates with the Ford EcoBoost 400 championship race on Sunday, November 17 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES

• Cole Custer won the 21^st annual Production Alliance Group 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race Saturday at Auto Club Speedway. For the California native, it was his third career NXS win in 76 starts.

• For Custer, it was his third top-5 and fourth top-10 of the season.

• Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell rounded out the top three. Busch led the most laps in the race (98) and also won both Stage 1 and 2. The top-5 was Bell’s second this season after scoring a series-high 18 last year.

• With the win, Custer joins Bell and Michael Annett as the only drivers to have clinched a spot in the NXS playoffs, which concludes with the Ford EcoBoost 300 championship race on Saturday, November 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

NASCAR GANDER OUTDOORS TRUCK SERIES

• The NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series was off this week and will return to action March 23 at Martinsville Speedway.

• With his victory in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, Austin Hill secured a spot in the NGOTS playoffs, which concludes with the Ford EcoBoost 200 championship race on Friday, November 15 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.