Austin Dillon earns pole by default in unusual qualifying session
- Austin Dillon will lead the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series to the green flag in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway
- Dillon’s pole-winning lap of 39.982 seconds at 180.081 mph was actually earned in the second round of qualifying rather than the third
- In the third and final round of qualifying, the remaining 12 drivers stayed on pit road for most of the session, and none of them made it back around to the start/finish line before time expired
- Some gamesmanship took place as drivers attempted to take advantage of the draft that occurs as a result of the current aero package
- Kevin Harvick will start alongside Dillon, followed by Aric Almirola and Kyle Busch in row two
- Joey Logano rounded out the top five in qualifying
- NASCAR’s VP of competition Scott Miller indicated that changes for qualifying would be forthcoming in order to prevent the situation from occurring in the future
- The qualifying session was incident free except for a spin by Chase Elliott in the first round; he sustained no damage
Additional info: Comments from Scott Miller … Full qualifying session … Complete starting lineup
~~~~~~~~~~
Jimmie Johnson leads lone Friday practice session
- Jimmie Johnson was fastest in the only practice session for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Friday at Auto Club Speedway, posting a fastest time of 40.137 seconds at 179.386 mph
- Eventual pole winner Austin Dillon was second quickest followed by Chris Buescher, creating a top-three sweep for Chevrolet in practice
- Toyota Racing drivers and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five
- There were no incidents during the session
- The Cup Series will have two more practice sessions on Saturday
Additional info: Full practice results … Practice recap from NASCAR.com … Jimmie Johnson’s career statistics at Auto Club Speedway
~~~~~~~~~~
Ryan Newman’s car chief ejected for remainder of weekend
- Todd Brewer — the car chief of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford driven by Ryan Newman — has been ejected from Auto Club Speedway for the remainder of the weekend after the car failed pre-qualifying inspection twice
- Prior to this season, the car chief would not be ejected until a third failure in pre-qualifying inspection
- Newman will lose 15 minutes of practice in the final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series session on Saturday
- Newman was 18th quickest in Friday’s practice session and qualified seventh for Sunday’s race
Additional info: Full story from NASCAR.com … Comments from Ryan Newman about the third round of qualifying … NASCAR’s new inspection rules for 2019
~~~~~~~~~~
Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier lead NXS practice sessions at Auto Club Speedway
- The NASCAR XFINITY Series had two practice sessions on Friday at Auto Club Speedway in preparation for Saturday’s Production Alliance Group 300
- Cole Custer led the first session with a time of 40.669 seconds at 177.039 mph, followed by Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, and Justin Allgaier
- Allgaier led the second and final NXS practice session with a time of 40.436 seconds at 178.059 mph, followed by Reddick, Bell, Busch, and Noah Gragson
- Reddick got into the wall during the first session and spun out in the second session, but did not sustain enough damage in either incident to warrant going to a back-up car
- Ray Black Jr. spun in the first practice session as well but did not make any contact and will also not need to go to a back-up
Additional info: Full results from NXS practice 1 … Full results from NXS final practice … Full story from Frontstretch.com’s Bryan Nolen
~~~~~~~~~~
Saturday schedule at Auto Club Speedway
- The first on-track activity of the day will be Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice from 12:05PM ET to 12:55PM ET with coverage from FS1 and MRN
- Next will be XFINITY Series qualifying at 1:10PM ET (FS1)
- The MENCS takes to the track for the final time before Sunday’s race in final practice from 3:30PM ET – 4:20PM ET (FS1, MRN)
- The NXS will wrap up the day with the Production Alliance Group 300 (150 laps/300 miles) at 5:00PM ET (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Additional info: Full weekend schedule for Auto Club Speedway … Full at-track weekend schedule … Official NASCAR schedule
~~~~~~~~~~
If you would like to receive this column in your inbox, please e-mail me and let me know: [email protected].
You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram.