NASCAR Auto Club Sunday, March 10, 2019

MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES AUTO CLUB STATS HIGHLIGHTS

ON THIS DATE!

• 3/17/05: Albert Einstein finishes his scientific paper detailing his Quantum Theory of Light
• 3/17/57: Ralph Moody wins at Wilson Speedway
• 3/17/62: Jack Smith wins at Savannah Speedway
• 3/17/63: Fred Lorenzen wins at Atlanta
• 3/17/68: David Pearson wins at Bristol & Richard Petty finished 2nd
• 3/17/74: Cale Yarborough wins on a snowy day at Bristol – All Chevrolet top 10
• 3/17/85: Bill Elliott wins at Atlanta 2 weeks after breaking leg in crash at Rockingham
• 3/17/02: Sterling Marlin wins at Darlington – Last career win
• 3/17/13: Kasey Kahne wins at Bristol
• Kevin Meendering birthday Sunday 3/17
• 3/16/03: Ricky Craven by .002 seconds over Kurt Busch at Darlington
• Kevin Harvick: Winless this season – 3 Wins at this point last season
• Kyle Busch: 5 Career win streaks (Back-to-back Cup series wins)
• Martin Truex Jr. won 2018 Auto Club race – Started on pole, Stage 1 & 2 winner, led 6 times for 125 of 200 laps
• *Largest margin-of-victory last season: 11.685 Seconds (Last 68 laps run caution-free)
• Martin Truex Jr.: 2 Straight Auto Club top 5 finishes (2018 Winner) – No top 5 finishes previous 16 races
• Martin Truex Jr.: 2018 Auto Club winner – 4th of 5 straight top 5 finishes last season
• Auto Club speeding penalties – 2014: 8 / 2015: 3 / 2016: 8 / 2017: 2 / 2018: 2
• Kyle Larson: Winless last 3 races on 2-mile tracks – 4 Wins previous 4 races (Michigan 8/16, 2017 Auto Club, Michigan 6/17 & 8/17)
• Kyle Larson finished top 2 in 3 of 5 Auto Club races – 2017 Winner
• Kevin Harvick came into 2018 Auto Club with 3-race win streak (Atlanta, Las Vegas & ISM) – Finished 35th
• Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski & Joey Logano each finished top 10 in last 4 Auto Club races
• *All 3 Team Penske drivers finished 8th or better 2018 Auto Club
• Joey Logano: No top 10 finishes in 6 Auto Club races with Gibbs – 5 Top 10 finishes in 6 Auto Club races with Penske
• Joey Logano: Winless at Auto Club – Wins at next 5 tracks (9 Wins total)
• Denny Hamlin: Winless at Auto Club – Wins at next 5 tracks (12 Wins total)
• Jimmie Johnson first top 10 finish last season: 9th – Auto Club
• Clint Bowyer: Finished 11th at Auto Club last year – Best Stewart-Haas Racing finisher (First time in 2018)
• *Won next race at Martinsville
• All 4 Stewart-Haas Racing drivers finished outside top 10 at Auto Club last year
• *Stewart-Haas Racing had no top 10 finishers in only 3 races last season – Both Daytona races & Auto Club
• 2018 Auto Club laps led (200 Laps) – Toyota: 188 / Ford: 9 / Chevrolet: 3
• 17 Different winners in 29 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club Speedway races (*10 Champions)
• 5 Won more than once
• 4 Winners from California (11 Wins) – Jimmie Johnson (6), Jeff Gordon (3), Kevin Harvick (1) & Kyle Larson (1)
• 4 of last 8 Auto Club races settled by last lap pass
• Final lead change with 6 or fewer laps to go 5 of last 6 Auto Club races – 3 Settled by last lap pass
• Winner led only final lap twice – Kevin Harvick (2011) & Brad Keselowski (2015)
• Martin Truex Jr. won both Stages & race last Auto Club race – Started on pole
• 2 Won first career race at Auto Club – Jimmie Johnson 2002 & Kyle Busch 9/05 (Both Hendrick Motorsports)
• Jimmie Johnson (2002) & Kyle Busch (9/05) only Rookie of the Year candidates to win Auto Club race
• 12 of last 13 Auto Club races won by drivers that won championships
• All 3 Auto Club wins were first win of season for Kyle Busch
• First win of season for 5 of last 6 Auto Club Speedway winners
• Only win of season for 2 of last 5 Auto Club winners – Kyle Busch (2014) & Brad Keselowski (2015)
• Leader of most laps won only 3 of last 9 Auto Club races – Kyle Busch 2013, Kyle Larson 2017 & Martin Truex Jr. 2018
• Mid-race leader won only 1 of last 5 Auto Club races – Martin Truex Jr. (2018)
• Leader with 10 to go failed to win 3 of last 5 Auto Club races
• Only 3 of 29 Auto Club races won from the pole – Jimmie Johnson 8/08, Kyle Larson 2017 & Martin Truex Jr. 2018
• Last 2 Auto Club races won from pole – Only 1 of previous 27 won from pole
• 6 Different pole winners in last 6 Auto Club races
• 5 Different teams won last 5 Auto Club poles – Gibbs, Stewart-Haas, Childress, Ganassi & Furniture Row
• No Ford pole last 18 Auto Club races
• Worst starting position of Auto Club winner: 31st – Matt Kenseth 2/06
• Jimmie Johnson (10/09 & 2/10) & Kyle Busch (2013 & ’14) only drivers to win consecutive Auto Club races
• Jimmie Johnson: 1 Win last 9 Auto Club races (2016) – 4 Wins previous 6 races
• Kyle Busch only driver that did not defend previous Auto Club Speedway win (2015) – Did not race 2015 due to injury
• Toyota won Auto Club 3 times – 2013, ‘14 Kyle Busch & 2018 Martin Truex Jr.
• Kyle Busch passed for final lead change last Auto Club race – Finished 3rd
• Jeff Gordon (1997) & Jimmie Johnson (2002) are only drivers to win at Auto Club in first try
• 6 Auto Club Overtime finishes – Leader at scheduled distance won 3
• 4 of last 5 Auto Club races finished in Overtime
• Closest margin of victory: .144 (2011) – Kevin Harvick over Jimmie Johnson
• Margin of victory under half-second 8 Auto Club races
• Most Auto Club wins: 6 Jimmie Johnson
• Most Auto Club 2nd-place finishes: 5 Jimmie Johnson
• Most Auto Club top 3 finishes: 13 Jimmie Johnson
• Most Auto Club top 5 finishes: 13 Jimmie Johnson
• Most Auto Club top 10 finishes: 17 Jimmie Johnson
• Best Auto Club average finish: 7.2 Jimmie Johnson
• Most Auto Club laps led: 980 Jimmie Johnson
• MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES AUTO CLUB TEAM WINS
• Hendrick Motorsports
• 10
• 6/97, 5/99, 4/02, 5/04, 9/05, 9/07, 8/08, 10/09, 2/10 & 3/16
• Roush Fenway Racing
• 7
• 5/98, 4/03, 2/05, 2/06, 2/07, 2/08 & 2/09
• Team Penske
• 3
• 4/00, 4/01 & 3/15
• Joe Gibbs Racing
• 2
• 3/13 & 3/14
• Stewart-Haas Racing
• 2
• 10/10 & 3/12
• Chip Ganassi Racing
• 1
• 3/17
• Evernham Motorsports
• 1
• 9/06
• Furniture Row Racing
• 1
• 3/18
• Richard Childress Racing
• 1
• 3/11
• Robert Yates Racing
• 1
• 9/04
• Kyle Busch
• Win Streaks
• 2
• 7/5/08 Daytona
• 7/12/08 Chicagoland
• 3
• 7/11/15 Kentucky
• 7/19/15 New Hampshire
• 7/26/15 Indianapolis
• 2
• 4/3/16 Martinsville
• 4/9/16 Texas
• 2
• 9/24/17 New Hampshire
• 10/1/17 Dover
• 3
• 4/8/18 Texas
• 4/15/18 Bristol
• 4/21/18 Richmond

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES AUTO CLUB STATS HIGHLIGHTS

• Most Auto Club wins: 6 Kyle Busch
• Most Auto Club 2nd-place finishes: 4 Kevin Harvick (1 Win)
• Most Auto Club top 3 finishes: 12 Kyle Busch
• Most Auto Club top 5 finishes: 12 Kyle Busch & Kevin Harvick
• Most Auto Club top 10 finishes: 17 Kevin Harvick
• Most Auto Club laps led: 800 Kyle Busch
• 16 Different winners in 29 NASCAR Xfinity Series Auto Club Speedway races
• 5 Won multiple Auto Club races
• #22 Team Penske Ford won 3 straight races with 3 different drivers in 2018 at ISM (Keselowski), Auto Club (Logano) & Texas (Blaney)
• 6 Different teams won last 6 Auto Club races
• 2 Winners from California – Kyle Larson (2014 & ‘17) & Kevin Harvick (2015)
• Last 23 Auto Club Xfinity Series winners competed in Auto Club MENCS race on same weekend
• 4 Drivers swept Auto Club NXS & MENCS races on same weekend –
• Kasey Kahne (9/06), Matt Kenseth (2/07), Kyle Busch (2013) & Kyle Larson (2017)
• Justin Allgaier best finisher eligible for championship points last Auto Club race – Finished 2nd
• Pole won 5 of 29 Auto Club races – All 5 wins in last 13 races
• Joe Gibbs Racing won 6 of last 7 poles with 6 different drivers
• 9 of last 14 Auto Club winners started on front row – Last 20 winners started 8th or better
• Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota drivers won 9 of last 14 races (9 Straight) – 9 Is record for consecutive wins at one track
• Joe Gibbs Racing failed to win last 5 Auto Club races – Won previous 9 Auto Club races
• Todd Bodine (1997), Mark Martin (2/05) & Scott Riggs (2002) are only drivers to win Auto Club race in first try
• Worst starting position of Auto Club winner: 28th – Todd Bodine 1997
• 2 Won first career race at Auto Club Speedway – Hank Parker Jr. (2001) & Kyle Larson (2014)
• Leader of most laps won only 4 of last 11 Auto Club races
• Joey Logano led most laps last 2 races – 1 Win (2018)
• Kyle Busch led most laps 5 Auto Club races – 3 Wins in those races
• Mid-race leader won only 4 of last 11 Auto Club races
• Leader at 10 to go mark failed to win 9 of 29 Auto Club races (31%)
• Scott Riggs (2002) & Carl Edwards (9/05) only Rookie of the Year candidates to win Auto Club race
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (1998) & Kyle Busch (2/09) only drivers to win Auto Club race & championship in same season
• Joey Logano leader at scheduled distance both Auto Club Overtime finishes – 1 Win (10/09)