Saturday Auto Club Xfinity race: Start time, TV info, weather Friday 5: Amid celebration, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. reflects on path to Daytona 500 win NASCAR America MotorMouths, Dale Jr. Download back for another season Dr. Diandra: Auto Club Speedway first test of Busch-RCR partnership NASCAR schedule for Auto Club Speedway

Austin Hill aiming to open the season with its second straight Xfinity Series win on Saturday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., after winning the season-opening race in Dayton.

Cole Custer aims to win this race for the second year in a row on the 2-mile track.

Details of Saturday’s Xfinity Race at Auto Club Speedway

(All time Eastern)

START OFF: The command to start the engines will be given at 17:08 … The green flag is scheduled for 17:17

PRERACE: Xfinity Garage opens at 10:30… Noon training. … Qualifying at 12:30 pm … Drivers entering at 4:30 pm … Pastor David Castro will call at 5:00 pm … The national anthem will be played at 5:01 pm.

DISTANCE: The race is 150 laps (300 miles) over a 2-mile track.

STAGES: Stage 1 ends on the 35th lap. Stage 2 ends on lap 70.

STARTING LINE-UP: Qualifying is scheduled for 12:30 Saturday.

TV/RADIO: FS1 will broadcast the race at 17:00. … NASCAR Raceday airs at 4:00 pm on FS1. … Motor Racing Network coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. and will also air on mrn.com. SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will broadcast MRN.

FORECAST: Weather Metro – Maximum 41 degrees with 87 chance of rain at the start of the race.

LAST TIME: Cole Custer won last year’s SS Green Light Racing. Noah Gragson took second place. Trevor Bain took third place.

SOMEWHERE ABOVE THE CLOUDS – At a height above Everest, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. sitting comfortably in a leather chair on a chartered CE-680A aircraft, on his right hand is a huge Daytona 500 ring, on his left wrist is a Rolex watch given to the winner of the race, and across the aisle is his wife.

It’s a long way from late nights on the road, moving from track to track with his dad and then on his own as he pursued a career in sprint car driving.

48 hours after his No. 17 Chevrolet JTG Daugherty Racing crossed the line to win the Daytona 500, Stenhouse was on the move. Now, as the plane returns from Chicago to Concord, North Carolina, Stenhouse has time to think about his path to victory in NASCAR’s biggest race.

“When people climb Everest, they climb up there and take it in,” Stenhouse tells NBC Sports. “You can’t be there for very long, but you make the most of every moment you can. … This is a great feat. That’s how I feel.”

After receiving his ring, watch, race winner’s jacket and placing his right foot and both hands in wet cement to permanently display among the Daytona 500 champions, Stenhouse traveled to Disney World on Monday for the winner’s promotional tour.

He returned home that night, slept for about three hours, and flew to Chicago the next morning for a press tour and a chance to see the NASCAR street race there July 1-2. On Wednesday, he was at the racing store. On Thursday, he was in New York to make another speech and ring the bell at the opening of the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square.

Stenhouse never imagined that he would be able to do such things, as he was eager to follow his father in racing. Among the memories that stand out to Stenhouse are the times between his father’s races. One of Stenhouse’s main duties was to scrape dirt off his father’s car before the next event.

“I had the most important job,” says 35-year-old Stenhouse, smiling and remembering himself in his youth. “I kept this car clean. By the end of the night, I was dirty, I mean, just dirty from head to toe, but the car was clean.”

He thinks about all those nights on the road with his father, about the upcoming race or coming home. On many of these night trips, the young man slept. However, traveling with his father to the next race has always been special for Stenhouse.

When he started racing, the goal was simply to race sprint cars. As he became more successful, Stenhouse drew attention and was hired by Tony Stewart as a driver for his sprint car team in 2007.

“Moving to Indy, racing for Tony… that’s where I really thought I’d be racing sprint cars in Indiana and I was loving it,” says Stenhouse. “2007 was one of the most fun times I have ever raced.

“Then all of a sudden there’s an opportunity that you can’t miss and you’re in NASCAR and here we are flying the racetracks and doing big TV shows and big press and representing the biggest motorsports organization. in the country. … It’s wild how it all happens.”

He moved to the ARCA Menards Series in 2008. After one season with stock cars, Stenhouse competed in seven Xfinity races for what was then called Roush Fenway Racing. His rookie season in 2010 was not only known for success but also for his struggles and car breakdowns, but he overcame that to win the Xfinity titles in 2011 and 2012.

Returning home from Florida on Monday night, Stenhouse pulled out two Xfinity championship rings to compare against his Daytona 500 ring.

“Dude, I thought they were big,” he told himself, comparing how small the championship rings were to his Daytona 500 ring.

However, this is a good collection. His Daytona 500 ring would go well with the Harley J. trophy he received for winning that race. The original, which requires four to six people to carry, remains at Daytona International Speedway. Stenhouse receives a cased version of the trophy that can be rolled from place to place. He is in the back of the plane’s cargo hold while Stenhouse enjoys his achievement.

He probably wouldn’t have made it through this week if it wasn’t for his dirt racing friends. Kyle Larson And Christopher Bellwho later both went to Victory Lane to congratulate their friend.

Larson put Stenhouse ahead on the return trip just before a caution followed by the first of two restarts in overtime.

“I was screaming in my helmet as I helped him get ahead,” Larson said after the race. “I was hoping it would stay green. Most likely, I or he would have won. I’m so happy for him, his team and (team leader) Mike Kelly. I can’t wait to get changed and give him a big hug because he’s one of my amazing friends.”

On the last lap, Larson ran hard. He later said he wanted to stay true to Stenhouse and make his backstroke move, but the run was so big that Larson moved to the middle to pass Stenhouse. Larson’s run stalled. Bell pushed Stenhouse to the bottom. Joey Logano led the outside line.

Bell’s push put Stenhouse ahead before he was booked for a multi-car accident behind him.

The fact that he raced with friends in the last laps meant even more to Stenhouse.

“I look at Christopher and Kyle and obviously they’ve done more than the Daytona 500, I feel like they’ve done more in the Cup Series than me,” Stenhouse told NBC Sports.

“I feel like I look at them almost like children. I remember competing in the Nationwide Series and Cup Series and talking to Kyle and Christopher when they were still driving dirty cars. I was sort of part owner of a dirty car when Christopher was fighting for the win. I went and talked to him. He was very shy, hardly spoke. I thought, “Hey man, you’ll get to where I am. No problem.’ Obviously he did.

“I look at it and feel like Tony Stewart did it for me. It was cool that we all fought for the victory. Both played an integral role: Kyle pushed me to the lead, I partially lost the lead on the last lap, and Christopher brought me back to the lead.

And he helped Stenhouse make this journey into the clouds.

2. Stopping overtime?

The Daytona 500, which took place last Sunday, was the fifth in the past six years that the race ended overtime.

Since 2020, eight of the 14 speedway-style races have been extended beyond the scheduled distance.

With a sport ending with a season that has seen Alex Bowman And Kurt Bush not racing – Busch says he’s still not ready to return to any form of racing – due to injuries sustained at other circuits, does it make sense to continue overtime in speedway-style racing at Dayton, Talladega and Atlanta?

Thankfully, no Cup rider has been hurt in the Daytona 500 since. Ryan Newman suffered a head injury while finishing a race in overtime in 2020.

Because the #nascar The overtime era began in 2004, with only six “real” Daytona 500s.

It’s been 12 years since the Great American Race has covered more than 500 miles.

The 2023 Daytona 500 set a record of 530 miles and was the fifth overtime in six years. pic.twitter.com/KGj9PtFUXp

— Nate Ryan (@nateryan) February 21, 2023

There’s no doubt that it can be frustrating for fans to see a race end with caution after getting ready for the checkered flag, especially for an event as important as the Daytona 500. But no one seems…