Home cooking: Kyle Larson wins back in sunny Cali as Cup Series return to Fontana
In just the second race of the Next Gen era, there were a host of different faces battling near the front of the field over the course of 400 miles on Sunday at Auto Club Speedway.
But when all was said and done, it was the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion and most dominant driver of 2021 parking it in victory lane.
Kyle Larson and California native -- occasionally called the 'California Kid' -- led just 28 laps in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – fewer than any of his 10 victories in 2021 – but it was more than enough to lead him to victory in the Wise Power 400.
It marked the return of the NASCAR Cup Series to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, about 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, after a one-year pandemic hiatus.
Larson's HMS crew got him off pit road first on the final stop of the race and the driver dubbed Yung Money held off multiple challenges on the final restart with four laps to go.
Larson was first challenged by Daniel Suraez, who briefly took the lead before Larson powered back on the inside. The Elk Grove, California native then held off Austin Dillon by 0.195 seconds to earn the 17th win of his career.
“It's always fun here to win in the home state," said Larson, who was 11th on the charts in Saturday’s quick practice session before qualifying 13th. "Hard work all weekend there. Didn't feel great in practice yesterday.
“Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and everybody made some good adjustments overnight, and the car handled a lot better. There were definitely some guys that were quicker than us, but they had their misfortunes. Just kept our heads in it all day. Long race. Just restarts were crazy. The whole runs were crazy.
“Definitely wild but cool to get a win here in California and hopefully get on a little streak.”
Erik Jones, Suarez, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Daniel Hemric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out a top-10 that featured cars from nine different organizations.
While the cream rose to the top when it counted, the Next Gen car was a handful for some of the best drivers in the world. Meanwhile, several different drivers led laps and ran near the front of the field throughout the course of the race.
Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions saw 10 of the 36 drivers on the entry list go for a spin, and that trend continued Sunday afternoon.
Former Cup Series champions Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott both went for spins in separate incidents in the opening 40 laps of the race. Seven of the race-high 12 cautions were for single-car incidents. For context, the last race at Auto Club had just three cautions, with two being for stage breaks.
Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe led more laps in this race than in all other races in their careers combined.. There were 32 lead changes (among nine drivers), third-most all-time in the Cup Series at the two-mile track, behind 2014 (35) and 2008 (33).
Reddick swept the first two stages and was the dominant car on the day, leading a race-high 90 laps despite a left leg that fell asleep and went numb in the early laps of the race.
The 26-year-old Corning, California native was leading the race just inside of 50 laps to go when the left rear tire went flat on his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Bad quickly turned to worse as William Byron got loose underneath Reddick and the resulting contact ruined strong runs for both drivers. Reddick would finish one lap down in 24th while Byron’s day was done and he finished 34th.
“So frustrated I made that mistake for our team today,” Byron said in a post-race tweet. “What a fast car and we were making our way back to the front. I got loose getting under the 8, who had a flat. Thankful for such a fast car and I know we’ll be back stronger next week.”
The biggest wreck of the day came with 42 laps to go and resulted in the 10th caution of the race. Bubba Wallace got into the left rear of Brad Keselowski, touching off a multi-car wreck that also collected Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric and rookie Harrison Burton.
The stars and cars of the NASCAR Cup Series will head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube on Sunday, March 6th.