The 2013 Royal Purple 300 was the fifth stock car race of the 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series and the 17th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, March 23, 2013, in Fontana, California, at Auto Club Speedway, a 2 miles (3.2 km) permanent D-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 150 laps to complete. At race's end, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch would dominate the race to win his 54th career NASCAR Nationwide Series win and his third of the season.[1] To fill out the podium, Sam Hornish Jr. of Penske Racing and Regan Smith of JR Motorsports would finish second and third, respectively.
Background
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
Practice
The only two hours and 20 minutes practice session was held on Friday, March 22, at 1:40 PM PST.[2] Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 40.728 and an average speed of 176.783 miles per hour (284.505 km/h).[3]
| Pos. | # | Driver | Team | Make | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 40.728 | 176.783 |
| 2 | 32 | Kyle Larson | Turner Scott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 40.960 | 175.781 |
| 3 | 11 | Elliott Sadler | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 40.983 | 175.683 |
| Full practice results | ||||||
Qualifying
Qualifying was held on Saturday, March 23, at 10:35 AM PST. Each driver would have two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap.[2]
Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing would win the pole, setting a time of 40.312 and an average speed of 178.607 miles per hour (287.440 km/h).[4]
Two drivers would fail to qualify: Tony Raines and Chase Miller.
Full qualifying results
Race results
References
- ^ "Kyle Busch wins Auto Club NASCAR Nationwide Series race | The Spokesman-Review". www.spokesman.com. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ a b "Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site - 2013 Nationwide Auto Club Race Info Page". Jayski's NASCAR Silly Season Site. Archived from the original on April 27, 2013. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "Austin Dillon leads practice for Royal Purple 300 at Auto Club Speedway". Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ Segal, Shel. "Kyle Busch wins Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Fontana; Sprint Cup event will be held on Sunday". Fontana Herald News. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "2013 Royal Purple 300 - The Third Turn". www.thethirdturn.com. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2022.