Kyle Larson Wins at Fontana in a Hotly Contested Race

Kyle Larson takes the checkered flag

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FONTANA, CA – RIS - Kyle Larson held off Austin Dillon in the final two laps of the race as Chevrolet cars ended up sweeping the top four spots. Larson had the lead on the race's final restart with five laps to go after Chase Elliott spun with less than 10 laps to go. Elliott's spin came from damage after he hit the wall while racing for the lead with Larson and Joey Logano. Larson moved to the outside to pass Logano and said he was unaware that Elliott had made a move to his outside. That pushed Elliott into the wall and ruined his chances at the win.

Larson lost the lead to Daniel Suarez after the race's final restart but grabbed it back with two laps to go as Dillon moved past Suarez for second. Erik Jones then passed Suarez for third while Logano finished fifth.

"There were definitely some guys that were quicker than us but they had their misfortunes," Larson said after getting out of the car. “It’s always fun to win in the home state,” Larson, an Elk Grove, California native, told Fox. “Hard work all weekend there. Didn’t feel great in practice yesterday. (Crew chief) Cliff (Daniels) and everybody made some good adjustments overnight and the car handled a lot better.”

Winless Tyler Reddick led 90 laps and had the car to beat for most of the race but his chances at a win disappeared with 50 laps to go. Reddick got a flat left-rear tire entering Turn 1 and was able to keep the car off the wall through Turns 1 and 2. But William Byron hit him as Byron passed him exiting Turn 2. The damage from the wreck ended Byron’s day and ended up giving Reddick to a 24th-place finish.

Elliott had a fast car and led 12 laps but ended up 26th after the spin. His contact with Larson was the second time he had hit the wall and ended up spinning. He first spun on lap 37 and caused the race’s second caution.

Byron led four times for 16 laps while Chase Briscoe finished 16th after leading 20 of the race’s 200 laps. His chances for a win were essentially extinguished when he was the only driver to stay out on the track after a caution for Ross Chastain’s spin on lap 171.

Kyle Busch spun on Lap 14 but finished top15.  In fact, it wasn’t a good day for Joe Gibbs Racing.  Martin Truex Jr. finished 13th, Denny Hamlin was 15th and Christopher Bell ended up 36th and last after he spun on lap 90 and had engine issues.

Brad Keselowski spun twice on Sunday — once on his own in Turn 4 and once from contact with Bubba Wallace in Turn 2. While he was able to continue, Keselowski finished 27th, two laps down. Just seven laps prior, his RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher spun in Turn 2 after cutting a left-rear tire and was unable to continue, finishing 35th.Other than Logano, the Fords ran well and had only Logano’s finish to show for it. 

Aric Almirola finished 6th followed by Kevin Harvick in 7th.  Daytona 500 champ Austin Cindric ended up 12th.  Ryan Blaney was 18th.  All were competitive.

This was the second big test of the new generation car and problems were everywhere because cars kept getting stuck when one or more tires went flat. A car shouldn’t be undrivable after a flat tire, but these cars’ underbody components are so low to the ground that many drivers who would normally be able to get their cars back to pit lane were unable to get them to budge after a spin or crash.  Fortunately, NASCAR is aware of the issue and working on a potential fix to at least hurry up the process of getting a car with flat tires back to the pits.

There was a lot of action and that is what fans like and bodes well for Auto Club Speedway.  Attendance was good and the racing was exciting.  Now the drivers head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next week to see if they can keep the positive moving forward.

Unofficial Results: 25th Wise Power 400, Auto Club Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 13, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 200, 5, 5, 4, 28, 5, 52, Running
2) 16, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow Coatings Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 35, Running
3) 2, Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet, 200, 2, 2, 6, 18, , 52, Running
4) 15, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 33, Running
5) 7, Joey Logano, No. 22 AAA Southern California Ford, 200, 7, 3, 3, 14, , 44, Running
6) 31, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Rush/Mobil Delvac 1 Ford, 200, , 8, , , , 34, Running
7) 32, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Subway Ford, 200, , , 1, 1, , 30, Running
8) 36, Kurt Busch, No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota, 200, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 5, Daniel Hemric(i), No. 16 Poppy Bank Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 0, Running
10) 17, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Ralphs/Honey Nut Cheerios Chevrolet, 200, 10, , , , , 28, Running
11) 21, Cole Custer, No. 41 Production Alliance Group Ford, 200, , 6, , , , 31, Running
12) 1, Austin Cindric #, No. 2 Menards/Quaker State Ford, 200, 9, 7, , , , 31, Running
13) 12, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Reser's Fine Foods Toyota, 200, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 3, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 200, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 4, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota, 200, , 10, , , , 23, Running
16) 24, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, 200, 4, , 2, 20, , 28, Running
17) 18, Ty Dillon, No. 42 Allegiant Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 6, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Wurth Ford, 200, 8, 4, 1, 1, , 29, Running
19) 34, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Wheaties Toyota, 200, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 26, Todd Gilliland #, No. 38 Frontline Enterprises Inc. Ford, 200, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 29, Garrett Smithley, No. 15 Jacob Companies Ford, 200, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 30, BJ McLeod, No. 78 Pala Casino Ford, 200, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 35, Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 11, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Lenovo Chevrolet, 199, 1, 1, 10, 90, 2, 33, Running
25) 14, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 199, 6, , , , , 17, Running
26) 8, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 198, , , 1, 12, , 11, Running
27) 9, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Violet Defense Ford, 198, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 25, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 General Formulatioins/Mutoh Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 33, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Casa Del Sol Tequila Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 28, Josh Bilicki(i), No. 77 Pacific Coast Termite Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 23, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Stage Front Ford, 193, , , , , , 6, Electrical
32) 27, Cody Ware, No. 51 Nurtec ODT Ford, 187, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 22, Harrison Burton #, No. 21 DEX Imaging Ford, 157, , , , , , 4, Accident
34) 10, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 151, 3, 9, 4, 16, , 13, Accident
35) 20, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 111, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 19, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 94, , , , , , 1, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time: 3 Hrs, 3 Mins, 7 Secs.
Race Length: 200 Laps, 400. Miles
Average Speed: 114.222 MPH
Margin of Victory: .195 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 8, 43, 24, 14, 5, 48, 22, 12, 2, 47
Stage 2 Top 10: 8, 43, 22, 12, 5, 41, 2, 10, 24, 11

Comments: Kyle Larson has won the Wise Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway, his 17th career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: Nos. 1 (Backup Car), 4, 5, 6, 22, 23, 31 (Unapproved Adjustments).

Caution Flags: 12 for 59 laps;
Laps: 16-19 (No. 18 Spin Turn 2 / Competition [None]);
39-42 (No. 9 Spin Turn 2 [78]);
54-57 (No. 77 Spin Turn 2 [15]);
67-73 (Stage 1 Conclusion [9]);
92-96 (No. 20 Incident Turn 4 [9]);
112-115 (No. 17 Incident Turn 2 [77]);
117-121 (No. 6, 22 Incident Frontstretch [77]);
132-136 (Stage 2 Conclusion [77]);
153-156 (No. 8, 24 Incident Turn 2 [10]);
159-165 (No. 2, 6, 21, 23 Incident Turn 2 [16]);
173-178 (No. 1 Spin Turn 4 [18]);
193-196 (No. 9 Spin Turn 2 [18]).

Lead Changes: 32 among 9 drivers;
A. Cindric # 0;
E. Jones 1-10;
T. Reddick 11-15;
E. Jones 16;
T. Reddick 17-22;
C. Elliott 23-34;
T. Reddick 35-38;
W. Byron 39;
T. Reddick 40-53;
W. Byron 54;
K. Harvick 55;
T. Reddick 56-67;
E. Jones 68;
T. Reddick 69-73;
K. Larson 74;
C. Briscoe 75-91;
W. Byron 92;
T. Reddick 93-99;
W. Byron 100-112;
T. Reddick 113-121;
E. Jones 122;
T. Reddick 123-132;
E. Jones 133;
T. Reddick 134-151;
E. Jones 152-155;
J. Logano 156-166;
K. Larson 167-174;
R. Blaney 175;
C. Briscoe 176-178;
J. Logano 179-180;
K. Larson 181-192;
J. Logano 193;
K. Larson 194-200.