February 27, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

Kyle Larson is Golden at Auto Club Speedway

Kyle Larson wowed the crowd at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday en route his second win at the two-mile track and his first in the Next Gen car.

The Golden State native and defending NASCAR Cup champion entered the Wise Power 400 as the favorite and he didn’t disappoint.

Despite a late-race caution, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports crew held serve in the pits allowing Larson to work his magic over the final four laps and score his 17th-career win.

“Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and everybody made some good adjustments overnight, and the car handled a lot better,” Larson said. “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.”

Chevrolet swept the top-four spots with Austin Dillon finishing .195-seconds behind Larson. Erik Jones finished third followed by Daniel Suarez and Joey Logano. Nine different organizations were represented among the top 10 drivers with Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Daniel Hemric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounding out the top 10.

With Cup drivers attempting to figure out the new car, the race tied a record 12 cautions. The 33 lead changes among nine drivers tied the third-most at the track.   

From practice to the first caution on Lap15 triggered by a Kyle Busch spin, five champions lost control of their cars. Chase Elliott would join that list 24 laps later after he, too, spun in Turn 2 after leading 12 laps. Both the new car—and the No. 9 team—showed resilience as Elliott would return to battle again in the late stages of the race.

Although Larson won after starting from the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments to the transaxle, Tyler Reddick was the class of the field. He won the first two stages and enjoyed tremendous track position throughout the day due to the valiant effort of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing pit crew.

Prior to Sunday, Reddick had led a total of 73 laps in 75 races. He remained at the point for 90 circuits in Fontana—until he felt a vibration on Lap 152. As Reddick slowed while his left rear tire went flat, William Byron slid up into the No. 8 Chevrolet in Turn 2 and collected both drivers.

“Absolutely gutted by how our race unfolded but I couldn’t be prouder of this whole team and what we were able to do a majority of this race today,” Reddick said. “We will learn from this; we will become stronger from this and be hungrier than ever before.

Reddick soldiered on to a 23rd-place result but his absence from the front of the field opened the door for Larson, Jones and Logano. Before the drivers could get into their groove, Bubba Wallace slid into Brad Keselowski on Lap 158 in Turn 2 to trigger the 10th caution. Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric and Harrison Burton also sustained damage in the wreck.

Logano had the lead when the race returned to green but was quickly passed by Larson. Larson’s progress was slowed by Ross Chastain’s spin in Turn 4 on Lap 172, unfortunately, the No. 1 Chevy was sixth prior to the incident.

Elliott returned to the front—and took Logano and Larson three-wide for the lead on Lap180. Larson went high to block Elliott and pushed his teammate into the wall. Larson, who then took the lead, insisted he “didn’t know (Elliott) was there.”

But Elliott wasn’t buying it.

“What the (expletive) is he doing, man? It wasn’t even close,” Elliott said on the radio after dropping to 20th. He spun 12 laps later to ignite the 12th and final caution.

After the race, Larson said, "I would never run into my teammate or block that aggressively and that late on purpose."

Larson maintained the lead out of the pits and chose the outside lane with Suarez on the inside. Logano shot low and took the drivers three-wide but Suarez moved out front. Suarez lifted coming through Turn 4 and Larson drove down to the apron to take the lead as both Dillon and Jones followed.

“My pit crew, those guys are legends,” Suarez said. “It's unbelievable. It's the best pit crew I've ever had, and it's a lot of fun to race like that. Freeway Insurance, Chevrolet, everyone that helps Trackhouse Racing out to be able to be here and perform this way. I can tell you that I'm going to work very, very hard to go to Victory Lane very, very soon.”

As Larson took the white flag, Justin Haley spun out of the pack and through the front stretch grass and into the inside wall. The race remained green and Larson held the point to the checkers.

“I knew my best shot to win the race was off of pit road—and my guys did a great job there,” Larson said. “It was wild there on the restart. Joey was behind me. He did a good job and pushed me out there. I went to the middle because he’s been pretty good, running lower all day. Then he was coming to my outside. I had to get aggressive there. Then Suarez was good.

“It just got crazy there. Wasn’t quite sure if I was going to be able to get back to the lead there but got a good run off of 4, barely got cleared and had to make a move. Pretty wild there.”

Cindric maintained the points lead by eight over Logano. The NASCAR Cup series travels to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next weekend.