NASCAR Fontana: Kyle Larson wins after run-in with Elliott

The race came alive on the restart on lap 179, when Chase Briscoe, who didn’t pit, led the way followed by Elliott, Alex Bowman and Larson. Using a three-wide move, Larson quickly powered to the lead after the restart as Bowman tagged the outside wall, but there was no caution.

On the next lap, Larson clashed with team-mate Elliott and sent his car up the track and into the wall.
With 10 laps remaining, Larson held a 2.2-second advantage over Joey Logano as Dillon ran third.

With Elliott spinning on the backstretch on lap 192, it triggered a record-tying 12th caution and all the lead-lap cars pitted with Larson first off pitroad.

On the restart on lap 197, Larson was challenge by Suarez, with the pair trading overtakes by the penultimate lap, until Larson held his nerve to take the win fending off last-lap pressure from Dillon who had to settle for second.

“It’s always fun to win here in the home state,” Larson said. “Hard work all weekend. I didn’t feel great in practice yesterday but Cliff [Daniels, crew chief] and everybody on the team made great adjustments overnight.

“The car handled a lot better. There were definitely some guys that were quicker than us but they had their misfortune. Just kept our heads in it all day. Long race. Restarts were crazy – the whole runs were crazy.

“It was definitely wild. Definitely cool to get a win here in California. Hopefully, we get on a streak.”

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro NAPA Auto Parts, Daniel Hemric, Kaulig Racing, Chevrolet Camaro Poppy Bank

Photo by: Ben Earp / NKP / Motorsport Images

With Elliott pushed out of the frontrunning pack, Erik Jones profited to take third for Petty GMS Motorsports ahead of Trackhouse Racing Team’s Suarez who faded late on.

Joey Logano claimed fifth for Team Penske ahead of Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Daniel Hemric and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club Speedway Fontana - Race results

Cla	Driver	Laps	Gap
1	Kyle Larson	200
2	Austin Dillon	200	0.195
3	Erik Jones	200	0.445
4	Daniel Suarez	200	1.768
5	Joey Logano	200	1.928
6	Aric Almirola	200	2.109
7	Kevin Harvick	200	2.155
8	Kurt Busch	200	2.239
9	Daniel Hemric	200	2.416
10	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	200	2.417
11	Cole Custer	200	2.581
12	Austin Cindric	200	3.519
13	Martin Truex Jr.	200	3.664
14	Kyle Busch	200	3.781
15	Denny Hamlin	200	4.089
16	Chase Briscoe	200	4.215
17	Ty Dillon	200	4.802
18	Ryan Blaney	200	5.029
19	Bubba Wallace	200	5.885
20	Todd Gilliland	200	5.890
21	Garrett Smithley	200	15.381
22	B.J. McLeod	200	17.715
23	Justin Haley	200	37.033
24	Tyler Reddick	199	1 Lap
25	Alex Bowman	199	1 Lap
26	Chase Elliott	198	2 Laps
27	Brad Keselowski	198	2 Laps
28	Corey Lajoie	198	2 Laps
29	Ross Chastain	198	2 Laps
30	Josh Bilicki	198	2 Laps
31	Michael McDowell	193	7 Laps
32	Cody Ware	187	13 Laps
33	Harrison Burton	157	43 Laps
34	William Byron	151	49 Laps
35	Chris Buescher	111	89 Laps
36	Christopher Bell	94	106 Laps
View full results