MONSTER
ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
Auto
Club 400
Auto
Club Speedway – Fontana, California
Sunday,
March 26, 2017
Race
Winner: Kyle Larson
Age:
24
Team:
No. 42 – Target Chevrolet
Owner:
Chip Ganassi Racing
Crew
Chief: Chad Johnston
IN
THE WORDS OF THE WINNER
– “"Our
Target Chevy was amazing all day. We were able to lead a lot of laps
today. (Martin) Truex was better than us that second stage by quite a
bit. We were able to get the jump on him the following restart and led
pretty much the rest of the distance. I had to fight them off there after
the green flag stops and that was a lot of fun. This is just
amazing. We have been so good all year long; three seconds in a
row. I’ve been watching all the TV like, ‘he doesn’t know how to win’,
but we knew how to win today, so that was good.”
-- Kyle
Larson
----------------
·
Kyle
Larson won the 21st annual Auto Club 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup
Series race at Auto Club Speedway Sunday afternoon. For Larson, it is his
second victory in 116 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races.
·
It
is Larson’s first victory and fourth top-10 finish in 2017. It is Larson’s
fourth straight race where he has finished in the top-2. Dating back to
last year, he has now had a top-3 finish in six of his last seven races,
including a second-place showing in the 2016 Ford EcoBoost 400 at
Homestead-Miami Speedway.
·
It
is Larson’s first victory and second top-10 finish in four races at Auto Club
Speedway. Larson also became just the second driver ever to win a Monster
Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway from the pole, joining
Jimmie Johnson (2008).
·
With
today’s win by Larson, there have been five different winners in the first five
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races of 2017. It is the first time
since 2014 that this happened.
·
Brad
Keselowski (second) posted his third top-10 finish in nine races at Auto Club
Speedway. It is his fourth top-10 finish in 2017.
·
Clint
Bowyer (third) posted his eighth top-10 finish in 17 races at Auto Club
Speedway. It is Bowyer’s highest finish since also having a third-place
showing at Sonoma on June 28, 2015.
·
For
the second straight week, Daniel Suarez (7th) was the highest
finishing rookie.
·
For
2017, NASCAR has introduced a new stage format in all three national series
where each race is segmented into three stages. In addition to the points
awarded at the end of a race (Final Stage), points are also awarded to the
top-10 finishers of the first two stages (Stage 1 & Stage 2).
·
Larson
won Stage 1 of the Auto Club 400, while Martin Truex Jr. took the
green-checkered flag in Stage 2.
·
Larson
(243) leads the point standings by 29 points over Chase Elliott (214) and 38
points over Martin Truex Jr. (205).
·
With
the win, Larson becomes the fifth driver to qualify for the 16-driver field of
the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, joining Kurt Busch, Brad
Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Newman, winners of the first four races
of the season. The Playoffs culminate with the Ford EcoBoost 400 championship
finale on November 19 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
·
In
four career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Homestead-Miami
Speedway, Larson has posted two top-5 finishes. His best finish at
Homestead-Miami Speedway occurred in the 2016 Ford EcoBoost 400 when he
finished second.
NASCAR
XFINITY SERIES
·
Kyle
Larson won the sixth annual Service King 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Auto
Club Speedway on Saturday afternoon in Fontana, Calif. It is Larson’s sixth
victory in 94 career NASCAR XFINITY Series races.
·
It
is his second victory and fifth top-10 finish in as many XFINITY Series races
at Auto Club Speedway.
·
Joey
Logano (second) posted his ninth top-10 finish in as many XFINITY Series races
at Auto Club Speedway.
·
Kyle
Busch (third) posted his 15th top-10 finish in 18 XFINITY Series
races at Auto Club Speedway. Busch won both Stage 1 and 2 of Saturday’s
race.
·
William
Byron (fifth) was the highest finishing rookie and the highest finishing
XFINITY Series regular.
·
With
one win apiece this year, Justin Allgaier and Ryan Reed have clinched spots in
the 12-driver playoff field in the 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series Playoffs.
The Playoffs culminate with the Ford EcoBoost 300 XFINITY Series championship
race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, November 18.
·
Elliott
Sadler (189) leads the XFINITY Series points standings by 17 points over rookie
William Byron (172), winner of the 2016 Ford EcoBoost 200 Camping World Truck
Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. They are followed by Ryan Reed (143),
Justin Allgaier (143) and Bubba Wallace (140).
NASCAR
CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
·
The
Camping World Truck Series was off this weekend. They will resume action
on Saturday, April 1 with the Alpha Energy Solutions 250 at Martinsville
Speedway.
