Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske are the only teams to win in the first four races of the season. Will that change today at Auto Club Speedway as the NASCAR Cup Series completes its West Coast swing?
The season’s first four winners have been Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing) at Daytona, Brad Keselowski (Team Penske) at Atlanta, Joey Logano (Team Penske) at Las Vegas and Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) at ISM Raceway.
Here’s all the information for today’s race:
(All times are Eastern)
START: Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) and Douglas Booth will give the command to start engines at 3:37 p.m. The green flag is scheduled for 3:48 p.m.
PRERACE CEREMONIES: Driver introductions begin at 3 p.m. The invocation will be given by Motor Racing Outreach chaplain Billy Mauldin at 3:30 p.m. Adrienne Houghton, actress, singer and Emmy-award winning co-host of “The Real” will perform the National Anthem at 3:31 p.m.
DISTANCE: The race is 200 laps (400 miles) around the 2-mile track.
STAGES: Stage 1 ends on Lap 60. Stage 2 ends on Lap 120.
TV/RADIO: Fox will broadcast the race. Coverage begins at 3 p.m. Motor Racing Network’s radio broadcast begins at 2:30 p.m. and also can be heard at mrn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry MRN’s broadcast.
FORECAST: wunderground.com calls for sunny skies with a high of 75 degrees and a zero percent chance of rain for the start of the race.
LAST TIME: Martin Truex Jr. led 125 of 200 laps and won last March’s race by 11.6 seconds. Kyle Larson placed second. Kyle Busch was third.
TO THE REAR: Matt Tifft (engine change), Michael McDowell (car failed inspection twice before race, team engineer also ejected).
STARTING LINEUP: Click here for starting lineup