"One of a kind" - NASCAR crew chief Rudy Fugle explains what makes Auto Club Speedway 'an amazing racetrack' for drivers

This Sunday (February 26)’s Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway marks the first race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series West Coast swing. It will also mark crew chief Rudy Fugle’s second race at Fontana at the highest level of the competition.

Heading into Fontana, Rudy Fugle, the crew chief of William Byron’s #24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 said he loves the challenge of going to Auto Club Speedway. According to Fugle, the two-mile-long track is an amazing racetrack.

During an appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this week, speaking about why he enjoys racing at ACS, Fugle said:

"It’s an amazing racetrack from a crew chief’s perspective. It makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up when you see your driver going that fast getting off into the corners."

"Knowing that you have that little grip with so many lanes to run. I’m always so excited to get out there. You get butterflies in your stomach even watching the first round of practice. It makes it exciting."

He continued:

"It’s a driver’s track, if you can give them a balance that they can maneuver. You have to be in that box, not too loose, not too tight. If you can do that and give them a car they can feel and use the steering wheel and the throttle, the driver can do a lot of things."

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William Byron and Rudy Fugle ran consistently before the incident during NASCAR's last year’s trip at Auto Club Speedway

In last year’s Auto Club race, Rudy Fugle and the #24 Hendrick Motorsports team ran consistently and earned top-10 finishes in both stages. However, he was collected in an on-track incident just past the third-quarter mark of the race and led to a 34th-place finish in the final standings.

Fugle has made three starts at the track in NASCAR Xfinity Series and his best performance came in 2009 with Michael Annett, where the duo scored a sixth-place finish.

Sunday’s race will mark William Byron’s fifth start at Auto Club Speedway. In the first three outings, the 25-year-old finished 15th in all three events. He also made one start in the Xfinity Series in 2017 where he started sixth and crossed the finish line in fifth place.

Catch William Byron and #24 Hendrick Motorsports team Chevrolet in action at the Auto Club Speedway on February 26, 2023.