2023 Pala Casino 400
Race details[1][2][3][4] | |||||
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Race 2 of 36 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series | |||||
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Date | February 26, 2023 | ||||
Location | Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California | ||||
Course |
Permanent racing facility 2 mi (3.22 km) | ||||
Distance | 200 laps, 400 mi (640 km) | ||||
Pole position | |||||
Driver | Joe Gibbs Racing | ||||
Time | 4.250 (Pandemic Formula) | ||||
Most laps led | |||||
Driver | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | |||
Laps | 91 | ||||
Winner | |||||
No. 8 | Kyle Busch |
Network | Fox | ||
Announcers | Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Tony Stewart | ||||
Radio in the United States | |||||
Radio | MRN | ||||
Booth Announcers | Alex Hayden, Jeff Striegle, and Todd Gordon | ||||
Turn Announcers | Dan Hubbard (1 & 2) and Kyle Rickey (3 & 4) |
The 2023 Pala Casino 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race that was held on February 26, 2023, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. It was contested over 200 laps on the two-mile (3.2 km) D-shaped oval and it was the second race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. It was the final race on the 2 mile oval as it will not be on the 2024 schedule due to the track being renovated into a 0.5 mile short track in 2024.
Report
Background
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Auto_club_speedway_LA_january_2014.jpg/220px-Auto_club_speedway_LA_january_2014.jpg)
Auto Club Speedway (previously California Speedway) was a two-mile (3.2 km), low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California which hosted NASCAR racing annually from 1997 to 2023. It was also used for open wheel racing events. The racetrack was located near the former locations of Ontario Motor Speedway and Riverside International Raceway. The track was owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation and was the only track owned by ISC to have its naming rights sold. The speedway was served by the nearby Interstate 10 and Interstate 15 freeways as well as a Metrolink station located behind the backstretch.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
- (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points.
Practice
Practice was cancelled due to inclement weather.
Qualifying
Qualifying was cancelled due to inclement weather. Christopher Bell was awarded the pole for the race as a result of NASCAR's "pandemic formula" with a score of 4.250.
Pandemic Formula
Since the
The formula is based on the 2023 owner points standings and the results of the previous race on the schedule. The finishing order from the driver counts as 25% of the score, and the entrant (as in car number) finish counts as 25% of the score. 35% of the score is based on the current owner points standings (counting the final result of the race and the top ten bonus points from qualifying races and the top ten drivers on Lap 65 and 130), and 15% of the order is based on the driver's fastest lap ranking from the race. If a driver did not participate, they are scored 41st place in driver finish and fastest lap. If a team used a driver ineligible for Cup Series points, the points earned by the driver will still be awarded to the car owner for purposes of this formula.[5][6]
Starting Lineup
Race
Race results
Stage Results
Stage One Laps: 65
Pos | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 10 |
2 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 9 |
3 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 8 |
4 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 7 |
5 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 6 |
6 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 5 |
7 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 4 |
8 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 3 |
9 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2 |
10 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 1 |
Official stage one results |
Stage Two Laps: 65
Pos | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 10 |
2 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 9 |
3 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 8 |
4 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 7 |
5 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 6 |
6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 5 |
7 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 4 |
8 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 3 |
9 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Ford | 2 |
10 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 1 |
Official stage two results |
Final Stage Results
Stage Three Laps: 70
Pos | Grid | No | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 21 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | 49 |
2 | 33 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | 40 |
3 | 8 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | 54 |
4 | 7 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | 47 |
5 | 10 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 200 | 42 |
6 | 13 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | 42 |
7 | 16 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Ford | 200 | 32 |
8 | 4 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | 39 |
9 | 28 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | 28 |
10 | 3 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 200 | 39 |
11 | 14 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | 28 |
12 | 2 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 200 | 25 |
13 | 5 | 17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing | Ford | 200 | 24 |
14 | 12 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 200 | 24 |
15 | 24 | 21 | Harrison Burton | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 200 | 22 |
16 | 23 | 54 | Ty Gibbs (R) | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 200 | 21 |
17 | 25 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 200 | 20 |
18 | 26 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 200 | 19 |
19 | 34 | 43 | Erik Jones | Legacy Motor Club | Chevrolet | 200 | 18 |
20 | 31 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 200 | 17 |
21 | 29 | 31 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 199 | 16 |
22 | 20 | 42 | Noah Gragson (R) | Legacy Motor Club | Chevrolet | 199 | 15 |
23 | 22 | 15 | J. J. Yeley | Rick Ware Racing | Ford | 199 | 14 |
24 | 30 | 78 | B. J. McLeod | Live Fast Motorsports | Chevrolet | 199 | 13 |
25 | 32 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 198 | 17 |
26 | 9 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 196 | 20 |
27 | 11 | 51 | Cody Ware | Rick Ware Racing | Ford | 195 | 10 |
28 | 19 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford | 194 | 9 |
29 | 15 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 185 | 8 |
30 | 18 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 172 | 7 |
31 | 36 | 77 | Ty Dillon | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 140 | 6 |
32 | 1 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 88 | 5 |
33 | 27 | 41 | Ryan Preece | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 87 | 4 |
34 | 35 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing | Toyota | 87 | 3 |
35 | 17 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 86 | 2 |
36 | 6 | 16 | A. J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet | 75 | 1 |
Official race results |
Race statistics
- Lead changes: 28 among 13 different drivers
- Cautions/Laps: 8 for 38 laps
- Red flags: 0
- Time of race: 3 hours, 8 minutes and 5 seconds
- Average speed: 127.603 miles per hour (205.357 km/h)
Media
Television
The race was the 22nd race
Fox
| ||
---|---|---|
Booth announcers | Pit reporters | In-race analyst |
Lap-by-lap: Mike Joy Color-commentator: Clint Bowyer Color-commentator: Tony Stewart |
Jamie Little Regan Smith |
Larry McReynolds |
Radio
MRN | ||
---|---|---|
Booth announcers | Turn announcers | Pit reporters |
Lead announcer: Alex Hayden Announcer: Jeff Striegle Announcer: Todd Gordon |
Turns 1 & 2: Dan Hubbard Turns 3 & 4: Kyle Rickey |
Steve Post Jason Toy |
Standings after the race
|
|
References
- ^ "2023 schedule". Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
- ^ "Auto Club Speedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
- ^ "Entry List" (PDF). Jayski.com. Jayski's Silly Season Site. February 20, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
- ^ "Starting Lineup". NASCAR.com. NASCAR. February 25, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
- ^ Pockrass, Bob. "Bob Pockrass on Twitter". Twitter. Twitter. Retrieved 2023-02-25.
- ^ Official scoresheet used. Starting order is reverse of qualifying order if cancelled.