NASCAR race at Auto Membership reside updates: Kyle Busch wins

NASCAR race at Auto Membership reside updates: Kyle Busch wins

Erik Jones (43), Ross Chastain (1), Ryan Blaney (12), Alex Bowman (48), Martin Truex (19), Kevin Harvick (4) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (47) compete in the NASCAR Southern 500 auto race Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022, in Darlington, S.C. Jones won the race after taking the lead from Kyle Busch when Busch blew a motor with 30 laps remaining in the race. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)

Erik Jones (43), Ross Chastain (1), Ryan Blaney (12), Alex Bowman (48), Martin Truex (19), Kevin Harvick (4) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (47) compete within the NASCAR Southern 500 auto race Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022, in Darlington, S.C. Jones received the race after taking the lead from Kyle Busch when Busch blew a motor with 30 laps remaining within the race. (AP Photograph/Sean Rayford)

AP

Live updates have ended for this race. For post-race analysis and takeaways, click here.

Charlotte Observer NASCAR reporter Alex Zietlow will be tossing along live updates throughout Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway in the section below. Refresh for the latest news. Full results will be posted at the end of the race.

Unofficial results for NASCAR race

POS CAR DRIVER DELTA LAPS BEST TIME
1 8 Kyle Busch 200 40.973
2 9 Chase Elliott 2.998 200 41.184
3 1 Ross Chastain 7.353 200 40.992
4 99 Daniel Suarez 11.866 200 41.161
5 4 Kevin Harvick 13.268 200 41.159
6 11 Denny Hamlin 13.296 200 41.112
7 6 Brad Keselowski 13.541 200 41.479
8 48 Alex Bowman 16.289 200 41.07
9 3 Austin Dillon 16.795 200 41.517
10 22 Joey Logano 17.013 200 41.093
11 19 Martin Truex Jr 17.105 200 41.331
12 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 23.231 200 41.407
13 17 Chris Buescher 24.082 200 41.496
14 7 Corey LaJoie 29.296 200 41.631
15 21 Harrison Burton 34.796 200 41.854
16 54 Ty Gibbs # 36.726 200 41.399
17 38 Todd Gilliland 36.869 200 41.847
18 34 Michael McDowell 41.379 200 41.952
19 43 Erik Jones 42.406 200 41.702
20 14 Chase Briscoe 43.955 200 41.746
21 31 Justin Haley -1 199 41.944
22 42 Noah Gragson # -1 199 41.769
23 15 JJ Yeley -1 199 42.28
24 78 BJ McLeod -1 199 42.067
25 24 William Byron -2 198 41.285
26 12 Ryan Blaney -4 196 41.028
27 51 Cody Ware -5 195 42.605
28 2 Austin Cindric -6 194 41.876
29 5 Kyle Larson -15 185 41.493
30 23 Bubba Wallace -28 172 41.368
31 77 Ty Dillon -60 140 42.199
32 20 Christopher Bell -112 88 41.648
33 41 Ryan Preece -113 87 42.027
34 45 Tyler Reddick -113 87 41.72
35 10 Aric Almirola -114 86 41.857
36 16 AJ Allmendinger -125 75 41.354

Live updates: Auto Club Speedway

Stage 3

Lap 200: Kyle Busch! That’s his 61st career Cup win and his first with Richard Childress Racing. What a dominant day for the No. 8 car.

Lap 180: Kyle Busch has taken the lead! The new leader, who has won here at Auto Club Speedway four times, has chased down Michael McDowell thanks to his fresh tires. Busch is extending his lead over the rest of the field, too — including over Ross Chastain, who has been his biggest competition all day. Can the No. 8 car finish what he’s started? Also of note: William Byron speeds on pit road and will serve a pass-through penalty. That effectively ends the No. 24 car’s chase for the win.

Lap 175: He wasn’t a threat to win the race, but Bubba Wallace is officially done for the day. His hood was steaming on pit road. He was the only Toyota teammate giving Denny Hamlin any help today. Hamlin now running P9, while Busch and Chastain are closing in on Michael McDowell for the lead.

Lap 167: And the final pit stops under green begin: Joey Logano goes in there first for fuel and tires, and then Ross Chastain and Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott follow suit. This race is still shaping up to be between Busch and Chastain.

Lap 153: Wow! Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain putting on an exciting display of racing. The two are separated by less than 0.2 seconds while the rest of the field is over a second behind the leader. Busch is reportedly eight laps short on fuel, so he’ll be hitting pit road soon. This should shape up for quite the run for the checkered!

Lap 132: A summary of the race through two stages: 16 lead changes, eight different leaders and six cautions for 28 laps.

Stage 2

Lap 130: Ross Chastain has won another stage! That’s the first time Chastain has swept the first two stages of a Cup race in his career. The 1 car finished 6-plus seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Those who finished in the Top 10 in Stage 2 to get stage points (in order): Chastain, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski and Corey LaJoie.

Lap 100: The days of Aric Almirola and Christopher Bell, among others, are done. That aforementioned hit proved too much. Top 5 running right now: Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and William Byron.

Lap 83: I know it’s not a superspeedway… but that might qualify as today’s version of “The Big One.” A bunch of cars are involved in an incident right as we go green again at another restart. Ten cars officially. Among them: Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Ryan Preece, Aric Almirola, Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs. Chase Briscoe slithers through the carnage and is now in decent position.

Lap 81: Well, you know what they say? Cautions breed more cautions. Corey LaJoie gets shoved into the grass, and we’re back under yellow again.

Lap 79: Martin Truex Jr. has a tire fall off on the racetrack! That means a two-lap penalty under NASCAR’s new rules. Perhaps the bad luck of 2022 has followed Truex into 2023 after all.

Lap 76: And there goes AJ Allmendinger! What happened: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. appeared to lift, prompting a few other cars behind him to check-up. Allmendinger then knocked into Corey LaJoie and spun out into the wall. The 16 car has a bunch of damage on its left-front.

Lap 73: Green green green!

Lap 69: Some Stage 1 stats: seven lead changes, two cautions for eight laps and five different leaders. Those leaders are Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano and Christopher Bell (who began Sunday’s race on the pole). Kyle Busch has recovered quickly since his speeding on pit road penalty. Kyle Larson is still running 17 laps down. Brad Keselowski and Cody Ware are each starting Stage 2 one lap down.

Stage 1

Lap 65: And that makes a second-straight week with Ross Chastain earning a stage win. That 1 car is fast and has been running out in front all day. Those who earned stage points (in order): Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott.

Lap 42: Brad Keselowski gets loose on a turn and appears to get spun out by Corey LaJoie. Caution comes out. Second caution of the day. Just over 20 laps to go in Stage 1. The pit stop opportunity wasn’t ideal for Kyle Busch. He incurred a speeding penalty exiting pit road — something he did at last week’s Daytona 500 too. Busch’s radio team tells him to “shake it off” because the 8 team “has a winning car.”

Lap 32: Kyle Larson had to miss a few laps after the competition caution. He eventually re-enters the race 15 laps down. The race’s favorite likely won’t be hitting Victory Lane here in back-to-back years.

Lap 22: We’re green once more! Martin Truex Jr. is at the back thanks to a penalty earned on pit road. The Top 5 have pretty much been the same thus far: Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez. Ford and Chevy cars are dominating. The only Toyota in the Top 10 is Bubba Wallace in P6.

Lap 14: Kyle Larson takes a trip down pit road. Appears to be engine issues. The No. 5 car had to make that trip twice in the first 14 laps to diagnose a mechanical issue in real-time. Fortunately for the 5 team, a competition caution comes out (by virtue of no practice/qualifying this weekend because of rain) on Lap 15. Larson gets to earn one lap back — so he’s now only one lap down — and has more time to figure out what’s going wrong under the hood.

Lap 3: And we’re off! Alex Bowman takes a big lead from the start. A bunch of water sprays as the racetrack finally has the Cup cars run over the track. Already going four-wide here. Some classic Auto Club racing early. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., last week’s Daytona 500 winner who started in P2, has already fallen to P12. The 47 car found a way to notch a Top 10 here a year ago — so you can’t count that team out just yet.

Green flag! 3:52 p.m. Let’s do it!

3:34 p.m.: Per CBS, Kyle Larson is the 5-1 favorite, right in front Denny Hamlin (17-2) and Chase Elliott (9-1). After them: Kyle Busch, Tyler Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain all came in at 10-1.

3:04 p.m.: Some updates about the racetrack’s condition considering the inclement weather: Air Titan track driers spent a chunk of Sunday morning drying off parts of the frontstretch at Auto Club after a Saturday night of showers. The track is reportedly ready. The green flag will drop at 3:47 p.m. The Xfinity Series race will begin at 8 p.m. on FS2 — it began last night, but rain forced the race to be postponed to after Sunday’s Cup race.

2:46 p.m.: This will be the last race run on Auto Club Speedway’s two-mile oval. Several drivers have weighed in on the matter ahead of Sunday’s race, many going as far to say that it’s “a shame” it is getting reconfigured into a half-mile short track. The silver lining? A good race might ensue, as drivers said they are now motivated to be the final winner on a racetrack that has featured some of the best racing the Cup Series has to offer in the past 25 years.

2:40 p.m.: After rain (and snow… somehow?!) fell in Fontana, California, on Saturday afternoon — canceling Cup qualifying — an Xfinity Series race still began on Saturday night (although it was postponed shortly after). Sunday’s forecast looks much more promising for racing: expect partly cloudy skies with the temperature in the low 40s.

47f28591-feac-486e-a972-1fc875a28236
A NASCAR Xfinity Collection crew member walks down the pit lane as race automobiles return to the pits following simply two tempo laps as a result of persistent rain at Auto Membership Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023. The raced was postponed. (Will Lester/The Orange County Register through AP) Will Lester AP

How to watch Auto Club 400

  • Race: Pala Casino 400
  • Place: Auto Club Speedway
  • Date: Sunday, Feb. 26
  • Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
  • Purse: $8,484,302
  • TV: FOX, 2:30 p.m. ET
  • Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
  • Distance: 400 miles (200 laps)
  • Stages: Stage 1 (Lap 65), Stage 2 (Lap 130), Stage 3 (Lap 200)

Starting lineup for Fontana NASCAR Cup race

Position Driver Car No.
1 Christopher Bell 20
2 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47
3 Joey Logano 22
4 Alex Bowman 48
5 Chris Buescher 17
6 AJ Allmendinger 16
7 Daniel Suarez 99
8 Ross Chastain 1
9 Ryan Blaney 12
10 Kevin Harvick 4
11 Cody Ware 51
12 Corey LaJoie 7
13 Denny Hamlin 11
14 Martin Truex Jr. 19
15 Kyle Larson 5
16 Brad Keselowski 6
17 Aric Almirola 10
18 Bubba Wallace 23
19 Austin Cindric 2
20 Noah Gragson 42
21 Kyle Busch 8
22 JJ Yeley 15
23 Ty Gibbs 54
24 Harrison Burton 21
25 Todd Gilliland 38
26 Michael McDowell 34
27 Ryan Preece 41
28 Austin Dillon 3
29 Justin Haley 31
30 BJ McLeod 78
31 Chase Briscoe 14
32 William Byron 24
33 Chase Elliott 9
34 Erik Jones 43
35 Tyler Reddick 45
36 Ty Dillon 77

This story was initially revealed February 26, 2023, 2:46 PM.

NASCAR race at Auto Membership reside updates: Kyle Busch wins

Alex Zietlow writes about NASCAR, Charlotte FC and the methods wherein sports activities intersect with life within the Charlotte space for The Observer, the place he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, in addition to the APSE, which awarded him with High-10 finishes within the Beat Writing and Quick Characteristic classes in its 2021 writing contest. He beforehand wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill from 2019-22.