Kyle Larson breaks through, wins Auto Club 400 in Fontana

FONTANA, Calif. — Here's what you need to know from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, which went into overtime:

Kyle Larson beat Denny Hamlin off the line and held off the field in the Auto Club 400 to win his second career Cup race. Larson took the lead on the final restart, pulling away from Hamlin and a hard-charging Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski on a green-white-checkered finish. Larson, who started on the pole and continuously showed speed off the line, swept the weekend. He also won the Xfinity Series race Saturday.

It is his second career Cup win after breaking through at Michigan International Speedway last summer. Larson has 11 top-10 finishes in the past 17 Cup races, a streak that began at Michigan — a 2-mile oval that is a sister track to Auto Club Speedway. Larson, 24 and a native of Elk Grove, Calif., is among a group of drivers in their 20s that NASCAR hopes will help generate more interest in the sport.

"We've been amazing all year — three seconds in a row," Larson said. "I've been watching on TV seeing, 'He doesn't know  how to win.'  Well, we knew how to win today. It's spectacular. All the hard work's paid off.”

And it showed on the restarts.

"I was staying as calm as I could be, but also a little frustrated. It seems like every time I get to the lead, I have to fight someone off on one of these restarts.”

PHOTOS: BEHIND THE WHEEL WITH KYLE LARSON

Truex crew chief Cole Pearn opted not to come in for fresh tires on one of the final cautions.

“I thought we had as good a car as the 42 (Larson) all day," Truex said. "It just seems like whoever got out front had the advantage. Sometimes you make the right call, sometimes you don't. I can’t be too unhappy with fourth. It sucks to play defense at the end, though, you always want to play offense. All in all it was a decent day.”

Keselowski finished second, followed by Clint Bowyer, Truex and Joey Logano. Jamie McMurray, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.

Keselowski, who won this race last year, was involved in a Lap 3 incident with Jimmie Johnson that left him with damage.

“Just great perseverance by our team (after car damage on the opening lap)," Keselowski said. "I feel lucky to get second. I'd be interested to see what would have happened if we didn't get torn up.”

COSTLY: Truex Jr. had one of the dominant cars all race and entered a yellow-flag pit sequence with 20 laps left in second place, but trouble changing a left front tire – Truex said he came in too deep in the box – cost four spots off pit road. Truex restarted seventh on Lap 185 and appeared to tap and spin Matt Kenseth coming out of a corner after the restart. Truex dropped to eighth after the incident. Kenseth flew across the apron coming out of Turn 2 and wrecked hard into the inside wall.

FAST START: Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson were forced to start in the rear with a group of five drivers who did not make qualifying attempts, but the penalty was hardly devastating. Starting on new tires while the rest of the field, by rule, commenced on the tires with which they qualified, Logano had blasted to 17th before the first caution. Johnson was running 25th before he helped cause the Lap 3 caution by tapping Brad Keselowski from behind coming out of Turn 4. Logano was seventh by Lap 15. Teams were allotted 11 sets of tires for the race this season instead of 13.

STAGE ONE: Pole-sitter and pre-race points leader Kyle Larson won the first 60-lap segment to earn 10 points. He was followed by Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Logano, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin. The top 10 drivers after each segment are awarded points from 10-1 on a sliding scale.

STAGE TWO: Truex couldn’t have wanted the second segment to end, as he had an 8.5-second lead when the caution was issued on Lap 120. He was followed by Larson, Elliott, Bowyer, Jones, McMurray, Kyle Busch, Logano, Hamlin and Keselowski.

Follow James on Twitter @brantjames

PHOTOS: 2017 MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES RACE WINNERS

AUTO CLUB 400 RESULTS

Saturday from the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway (starting position in parentheses):

1. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 202 laps, 0 rating, 59 points.

2. (3) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 202, 0, 36.

3. (17) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 202, 0, 46.

4. (4) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 202, 0, 52.

5. (35) Joey Logano, Ford, 202, 0, 39.

6. (8) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 202, 0, 43.

7. (10) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 202, 0, 30.

8. (9) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 202, 0, 39.

9. (19) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 202, 0, 30.

10. (13) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 202, 0, 43.

11. (11) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 202, 0, 26.

12. (14) Erik Jones, Toyota, 202, 0, 34.

13. (7) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 202, 0, 24.

14. (2) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 202, 0, 26.

15. (5) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 202, 0, 22.

16. (18) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 202, 0, 21.

17. (24) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 202, 0, 20.

18. (21) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 202, 0, 19.

19. (31) Aric Almirola, Ford, 202, 0, 18.

20. (12) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 202, 0, 17.

21. (37) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 202, 0, 16.

22. (16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 202, 0, 15.

23. (36) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 202, 0, 14.

24. (15) Kurt Busch, Ford, 201, 0, 13.

25. (20) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 201, 0, 12.

26. (22) Danica Patrick, Ford, 200, 0, 11.

27. (26) Landon Cassill, Ford, 200, 0, 10.

28. (23) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 200, 0, 9.

29. (38) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 200, 0, 8.

30. (30) Corey LaJoie, Toyota, 200, 0, 7.

31. (27) David Ragan, Ford, 199, 0, 6.

32. (28) Cole Whitt, Ford, 199, 0, 5.

33. (25) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 198, 0, 4.

34. (29) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 197, 0, 3.

35. (34) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 193, 0, 0.

36. (6) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, accident, 184, 0, 1.

37. (39) Gray Gaulding, Toyota, accident, 173, 0, 1.

38. (33) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 117, 0, 1.

39. (32) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, engine, 99, 0, 1.

———

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 136.370 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 57 minutes, 46 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 0.779 seconds.

Caution Flags: 7 for 29 laps.

Lead Changes: 17 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K.Larson 1-5; P.Menard 6-7; K.Larson 8-32; C.Elliott 33-34; J.Logano 35; M.Truex 36-47; K.Larson 48-63; M.Truex 64-90; C.Elliott 91-92; M.Truex 93-122; K.Larson 123; M.Truex 124-127; K.Larson 128-155; Ky.Busch 156-162; T.Dillon 163; K.Larson 164-192; D.Hamlin 193-196; K.Larson 197-202

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): K.Larson, 7 times for 103 laps; M.Truex, 4 times for 69 laps; Ky.Busch, 1 time for 6 laps; D.Hamlin, 1 time for 3 laps; C.Elliott, 2 times for 2 laps; P.Menard, 1 time for 1 lap; T.Dillon, 1 time for 0 laps; J.Logano, 1 time for 0 laps.

Wins: Ku.Busch, 1; B.Keselowski, 1; K.Larson, 1; R.Newman, 1; M.Truex, 1.

Top 16 in Points: 1. K.Larson, 243; 2. C.Elliott, 214; 3. M.Truex, 205; 4. B.Keselowski, 179; 5. J.Logano, 174; 6. J.McMurray, 162; 7. R.Blaney, 157; 8. C.Bowyer, 143; 9. K.Harvick, 137; 10. Ky.Busch, 136; 11. D.Hamlin, 123; 12. R.Newman, 123; 13. K.Kahne, 122; 14. Ku.Busch, 118; 15. E.Jones, 116; 16. T.Bayne, 114.