Truex Cruises to California Cup Win

LAT Photo

FONTANA, CA – RIS – Martin Truex, Jr. went California Cruising On Sunday and cruised away from the field for an easy victory.  Truex won the pole for the Auto Club 400, led 125 of the 200 laps in the race and won the first two stages to make it a clean sweep at Auto Club Speedway.  It was his first win of 2018, and he did it in dominating fashion.

Many thought Truex’s performance beckoned back to last year when he dominated the entire series.  Truex’s effort in Sunday’s race was every bit as overwhelming as his most convincing triumphs of last season. He started from the pole, then swept the first two stages and the victory, leading 125 of 200 laps and beating runner-up Kyle Larson to the finish line by a whopping 11.685 seconds.

“People kept asking ‘When are you going to win again? When are you going to win one of these stages?’ said Truex, who went to Victory Lane eight times last year. “Well, there you go.”

The victory was Truex’s first at Fontana and the 16th of his career.

Truex’s lack of a 2018 win, however, wasn’t the overriding question entering the race. Kevin Harvick entered the event riding a wave of three straight wins and was the odds-on favorite to win a fourth, having dominated Saturday’s practices in race trim.

But Harvick’s day came to an abrupt end on Lap 38, when contact with Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet under extremely hard racing sent Harvick’s No. 4 Ford into the outside backstretch wall, crippling the car. Larson recovered, but Harvick was consigned to a 35th-place finish, nine laps down.

That left Toyota drivers Truex and Kyle Busch to battle for the lead throughout the middle portion of the race, with Truex prevailing in decisive fashion and Busch ultimately finishing third behind Larson, who fought a vibration in his Chevrolet and had to charge through the field on three occasions after precautionary pit stops.

“We had a lot of weird issues, vibrations, and different stuff that happened where we had to restart at the back and drive back forward,” said Larson, who saw his streak of four straight Cup victories on two-mile tracks end with the runner-up finish.

“It seemed like we could always get to third or fourth and kind of stall out there. Still, a really good day. The 78 (Truex) was really good. I think the 4 (Harvick)—he didn’t get to race a lot, but he was probably the best car again.”

Of course, Truex just might disagree on that point.  His car was surely potent, and Harvick didn’t have time to show what he had.

“I knew we really had a good race car after the first adjustment of the race,” Truex said. “The thing just came alive. From there it was just about managing my tires and being smart. We had a little trouble getting beat out of the pits, and that was tough.

“At one point we fell back to fifth, and then we needed to work our way back up. I really just needed to take care of my front tires, and once we got some clean air, this thing was unbelievable.”

Joey Logano (fifth Sunday) and Brad Keselowski (fourth) are third and fourth in points, respectively. Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon completed the top 10 in the Auto Club 400.

Harvick dropped from first to eighth in the series standings.

With the early west coast swing just about over, the next race will be closer to home.  The next race is Martinsville Speedway next week in the STP 500.

Unofficial Race Results for the 22Nd Annual Auto Club 400 - Auto Club Speedway - Fontana, CA

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, St1, St2, Playoff Pts, Laps, Tms Led, Laps Led, Status, Pts
1) 1, Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota, 1, 1, 7, 200, 6, 125, Running, 60
2) 3, Kyle Larson, No. 42 DC Solar Chevrolet, 6, 8, , 200, , , Running, 43
3) 2, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 2, 3, , 200, 6, 62, Running, 51
4) 11, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Wurth Ford, 4, 2, , 200, , , Running, 49
5) 6, Joey Logano, No. 22 Auto Club of Southern California Ford, 3, 6, , 200, 1, 9, Running, 45
6) 25, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, 10, 4, , 200, 1, 1, Running, 39
7) 4, Erik Jones, No. 20 SiriusXM Toyota, 8, 5, , 200, , , Running, 39
8) 8, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 PPG Ford, , , , 200, , , Running, 29
9) 33, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe's for Pros Chevrolet, 5, 7, , 200, , , Running, 38
10) 5, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow Coating Chevrolet, , , , 200, , , Running, 27
11) 26, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford, 9, 9, , 199, , , Running, 30
12) 27, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, , , , 199, , , Running, 25
13) 28, Alex Bowman, No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet, , , , 199, , , Running, 24
14) 7, Kurt Busch, No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford, 7, , , 199, , , Running, 27
15) 29, William Byron #, No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet, , 10, , 199, 1, 1, Running, 23
16) 31, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, , , , 199, , , Running, 21
17) 15, Jamie McMurray, No. 1 McDonald's Chevrolet, , , , 199, 1, 1, Running, 20
18) 16, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford Ford, , , , 199, , , Running, 19
19) 14, Paul Menard, No. 21 Menards/FVP Ford, , , , 199, , , Running, 18
20) 19, Darrell Wallace Jr. #, No. 43 Farmer John Chevrolet, , , , 199, , , Running, 17
21) 9, Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet Accessories Chevrolet, , , , 199, , , Running, 16
22) 32, AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Kroger ClickList Chevrolet, , , , 199, , , Running, 15
23) 30, Daniel Suarez, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota, , , , 199, , , Running, 14
24) 34, Kasey Kahne, No. 95 WRL General Contractors Chevrolet, , , , 199, 1, 1, Running, 13
25) 21, David Ragan, No. 38 1000Bowls.com Ford, , , , 199, , , Running, 12
26) 22, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, , , , 199, , , Running, 11
27) 17, Ty Dillon, No. 13 Twisted Tea Chevrolet, , , , 198, , , Running, 10
28) 37, Cole Whitt, No. 72 SoCal Chevy Chevrolet, , , , 198, , , Running, 9
29) 36, Ross Chastain(i), No. 15 LowT Center Chevrolet, , , , 198, , , Running, 0
30) 12, Chris Buescher, No. 37 Healthy Choice Power Bowls Chevrolet, , , , 197, , , Running, 7
31) 18, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 32 Can-Am/Wholey Ford, , , , 196, , , Running, 6
32) 20, Gray Gaulding, No. 23 Earthwater Toyota, , , , 194, , , Running, 5
33) 35, Timmy Hill(i), No. 51 Bubba Burgers Chevrolet, , , , 193, , , Running, 0
34) 24, * Reed Sorenson, No. 55  Chevrolet, , , , 193, , , Running, 3
35) 10, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Busch Beer Ford, , , , 191, , , Running, 2
36) 23, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 00 VRX Simulators Chevrolet, , , , 189, , , Running, 1
37) 13, Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Perfomance Plus Ford, , , , 108, , , Accident, 1
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 400 Miles
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 42 Mins, 41 Secs.
Average Speed: 147.526 MPH
Margin of Victory: 11.685 Seconds
Race Comments: Martin Truex Jr. won the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway, his 16th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory. 
Caution Flags: 5 for 21 laps: Laps: 39-42 (No. 4 Incident in Turn 2 [37]); 62-66 (Stage 1 Conclusion [15]); 110-113 (#6 Incident in Turn 4 [31]); 122-126 (Stage 2 Conclusion [21]); 130-132 (#38 Incident in Turn 2 [13]).
 Lead Changes: 16 among 7 drivers: M. Truex Jr. 1-10; Kyle Busch 11-28; J. McMurray 29; Kyle Busch 30; M. Truex Jr. 31-63; J. Logano 64-72; M. Truex Jr. 73-89; Kyle Busch 90-93; M. Truex Jr. 94-123; Kyle Busch 124-130; K. Kahne 131; W. Byron # 132; Kyle Busch 133-160; M. Truex Jr. 161-163; D. Hamlin 164; Kyle Busch 165-168; M. Truex Jr. 169-200.
American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award:  Martin Truex Jr, No. 78 
Fastest Lap:  Martin Truex Jr, No. 78 
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race:  Toyota Racing Development (TRD), No. 18 
Moog Go the Extra Mile:  Denny Hamlin, No. 11 crew chief Michael Wheeler, -0.202 seconds
Sunoco Rookie of the Race:  William Byron, No. 24

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2018, Issue 3, Posted 9:47 PM, 03.18.2018