San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
BOWYER EDGES JJ FOR FONTANA POLE
Clint Bowyer has won the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Fontana, holding off six-time race champion Jimmie Johnson on Saturday.
Bowyer turned a lap in 40.086 seconds in his Stewarthaas Racing Ford to claim just his fourth pole position in 508 career Cup races. The genial veteran racer also won the pole for the first time in 20 career races at Auto Club Speedway east of Los Angeles.
“I didn’t think we had a chance in hell to sit on the pole, and here we are, baby,” Bowyer said. “Honestly, I didn’t really see that in the car. That thing rocketed to the top there.”
Johnson will start on the front row for his final race as a full-time driver at his hometown track. The 44-year-old star’s qualifying lap was barely behind Bowyer at 40.093 seconds.
Johnson’s wife and daughters will drop the green flag for today’s race. He is hoping to end a career-worst winless streak of 97 Cup races when he starts at a track where he has won a record six times.
Bowyer joked that he was excited about sharing the front row with the race’s guest of honor because it will allow him to be in more photos, which should please his sponsors.
“This has been a good track for me, but we can’t finish here,” said Bowyer, who has three top-three finishes and no wins at Fontana. “I’m looking forward to hopefully getting the opportunity to be there again at the end of this thing. Beating them by an inch again would be great for me.”
Alex Bowman qualified in third, followed by Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick. Defending champion Kyle Busch came in 17th.
Martin Truex Jr. will start from the rear after his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed inspection three times.
“I’m always optimistic,” Truex said. “I did feel good about our car, and we were good on the long runs. Got a lot of people to pass.”
The qualifying session was absolutely nothing like last year’s competition, which ended with fans booing the drivers after nobody completed a lap in the final round. Under last year’s qualifying rules, the final 12 drivers all tried to wait long enough to go out at the back of a drafting group, but nobody started early enough to qualify.
Burton claims Xfinity win
Harrison Burton held off Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota teammate Riley Herbst for his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory.
The 19-year-old Burton is the son of NASCAR veteran Jeff Burton, and he finished strong with an impressive final restart.
When Las Vegas winner Chase Briscoe spun on the 126th lap of the 150-lap race and caused the sixth caution of the final stage, Burton was the first off pit row among the lead-lap cars. He kept the lead on the restart, and he hung on for his first win in 12 Xfinity starts with Herbst close behind.
“To get a win feels so good, especially after we struggled a little bit last year,” Burton said after his third top-five finish of the new season. “Once we moved up to the top at the end, it was going to be hard for him to pass us. Just trying to be smart and not put it in the wall leading.“
Burton’s celebratory post-race burnouts were so enthusiastic that his car wouldn’t restart. He had to be towed back to Victory Lane.
Austin Cindric finished third, with Ryan Sieg in fourth and Justin Haley fifth.
Burton, who had five top-10 finishes in nine Xfinity starts last year, is the second first-time winner in the new season’s first three races. Noah Gragson got his first victory in the season opener at Daytona.
Kyle Larson also earned his first victory at Fontana back in 2014.
Burton led 40 laps. His Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota teammate, Brandon Jones, led every lap of the first two stages. Jones finished with 75 laps led, but a tire rub with 49 laps left forced him to pit, and he finished 30th.