FONTANA, Calif. – Defending NASCAR Cup series champion Kyle Larson overcame a pre-race unapproved adjustments penalty and held off the field late to win the WISE Power 400 at Auto Club Speedway Sunday. The win was Larson’s second at the Fontana track and the 17th of his career.
“It’s always fun to win here in the home state,” said Larson, a native of Elk Grove, Calif. “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,” said Larson. “Restarts were crazy. The whole runs were crazy. So definitely wild, but cool to get a win here in California and hope we get on a little streak.”
Fellow Californian Tyler Reddick was the driver to beat, sweeping the first two stages and leading a race-high 90 laps (more than he had ever led in his career to that point). However, the dream race went awry with 47 laps to go when Reddick cut a tire while leading and ended up crashing with William Byron. Reddick would salvage a 24th-place finish.
In the first race for the NASCAR NextGen car on what is considered a “typical” oval, the race saw a surprising amount of parity, as nine different organizations were represented in the top 10 finishers. Reddick’s teammate Austin Dillon finished second for Richard Childress Racing, while Erik Jones was one of the biggest surprises all afternoon. Jones finished third in his best outing for Petty GMS Motorsports, leading 18 laps and recording his first top 5 finish since October 2020.
Meanwhile, Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez finished fourth after briefly holding the lead following the final restart, only to lose the lead back to Larson thanks to the latter’s run out of turn 4 with four laps to go.
“We’re going to win a few races very soon here,” Suarez said. “I just can’t thank everyone enough on my team. We had a fast car, but we went through a lot of adversity. We had a few issues. We hit the wall once. We had an issue with a diffuser. My pit crew, those guys are legends, it’s unbelievable.”
The race weekend saw plenty of spins, as drivers with varying levels of experience had a tough time getting a grasp on how the NextGen car would drive and how far they could push it to the metaphorical edge without going too far.
“It’s definitely edgy,” Larson said about driving the NextGen car. “Honestly I enjoyed it more than I thought I was going to. I thought dirty air was going to be really bad behind people, and it didn’t seem way worse or different than normal. So that was encouraging. I thought the runs were equally as big if not bigger down the frontstretch. Restarts were still crazy.”
The final laps weren’t without controversy, as Larson forced his teammate Chase Elliott into the wall while racing for the lead inside 15 laps to go. Elliott subsequently spun at lap 192, bunching up the field for the final run to the finish.
Larson apologized for the contact over his team radio, saying he had no idea Elliott was alongside him.
“It happened, and I hate that it did. I know they’re upset,” said Larson. “But we’ll talk, and hopefully we’ll get on the same page. I would never run into my teammate or block him that aggressively and that late on purpose.”
Polesitter and Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric finished 12th, despite suffering damage in a multi-car crash at lap 158. Cindric still leads the points standings by 8 points over his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano.
The NASCAR Cup Series will be on the second leg of their West Coast swing next weekend, racing at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Sunday for the Pennzoil 400.