[SUNDAY 1:07 pm ET]
ON TAP FOR TODAY — It’s a perfect race day at Auto Club Speedway, where a trio of Toyotas will lead the field to the green for today’s Auto Club 400, race No. 5 on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Denny Hamlin will start from the pole in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, followed by teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch. Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski qualified second and third, respectively, but both drivers had to change their engines and will start from the back of the field.
RESULTS: Auto Club 400 Qualifying
So far, it’s been a Toyotathon all weekend, as the JGR and Michael Waltrip Racing Toyotas have been bullet-fast every time they’ve been on the track. Keep an eye out, too, for five-time ACS winner and five-time series champ Jimmie Johnson. Among the Fords, both Biffle and Keselowski have been fast, too.
Tony Stewart comes into the race 24th in points, but will start eighth, hoping to reverse what so far has been a challenging season for Stewart-Haas Racing. Stewart’s teammate Danica Patrick continues to struggle mightily this weekend. She was 34th, 38th and 36th in the three practice sessions and qualified 40th. It could be a long day for her.
PHOTOS: CUP Fontana Saturday Gallery
RESULTS: Royal Purple 300
PHOTOS: NNS Fontana Race Galleries
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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