MENCS: Martin Truex Jr. Wins Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway

It was all Martin Truex Jr. at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday in Southern California. Truex, driving the No. 78 5-hour Energy / Bass Pro Shops Toyota with Furniture Row Racing, led 125 of the 200 circuits’ enroute to his first victory of the season.

The reigning premier series champion started on the pole and won both stages of the Auto Club 400. Truex, from the state of New Jersey, led the first 10 laps of the event before being passed by Kyle Busch for the top spot. He wouldn’t take the lead again until lap 31.

“We were just fighting hard and never gave up on it. I knew we really had a good racecar after the first adjustment of the race,” said Truex after the race. “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 run we fell back to fifth and then we needed to work our way back up. I really just needed to care of my front tires and once we got some clean air this thing was unbelievable. I just have to thank Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and Barney (Visser, team owner) and everybody back in Denver. I was out at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) this week and they gave me this hat. It must be good luck.

Truex went on to re-take the lead five more times throughout the running before earning his 16th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Truex will finish the first five races of the season with four top five and four top 10 finishes going into Martinsville Speedway next weekend.

Kyle Larson finished in the runner-up spot at his home track of Auto Club Speedway on Sunday. Larson started third on the race leaderboard and finished sixth in stage one. When stage two ended, Larson sat right where he finished in second.

“We had a lot of weird issues like vibrations and stuff that made us have to restart in the back and we would have to go back forward,” said Larson after nabbing a second-place finish at his home track. “It always seemed like we would get to third or fourth and kind of stall out there.   But it was still a very good day.  The 78 was really good and I think the 4 was probably the best car again although he didn’t get to race a whole lot.  We are right there and we just have to continue to work hard.  Hats off to everybody at our race shop because they have done a great job of getting our Camaros up to speed quickly.   So I am having fun, but I would like to be one spot better though.”

Larson, who won the Auto Club 400 one-year ago, has two top five and three top 10 finishes this season. The best finish at Martinsville Speedway for the young Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver came in April of 2016 with a third-place run.

Kyle Busch rounded out the top three finishers at Auto Club Speedway. Busch, a veteran racer from Las Vegas, led 62 circuits at the track on Sunday in the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota.

Busch sat second on the leaderboard in the closing laps before Kyle Larson took the spot away. The 2015 premier series champion finished second in stage one and third in stage two.

Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano rounded out the top five finishers.

Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team will leave with their first top 10 finish of the season. The seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, who announced the departure of longtime sponsor Lowe’s leading up to the weekend, took home a ninth-place finish at the two-mile oval.

“Yeah, each week we have been getting a little bit better. We are definitely not happy with where we are right now but we are seeing the improvements, we have been seeing it internally,” said Johnson on the slowly improved performance. “We are making the cars drive better and better and we are getting more competitive.  So, a strong day for the Lowe’s Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.  We are not where we want to be but we are getting closer every week.”

Before the weekend, Johnson’s best finish of the year through four races came at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a 12th-place run.

Kevin Harvick’s three-race win streak came to a close this weekend at Auto Club Speedway under the California sun. Harvick, who won at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix over the last three weeks, didn’t have their best day on the track.

On lap 37 Harvick and Kyle Larson were racing for position when the two made contact off turn two. Both cars came together and Harvick spun around to display the first caution flag of the afternoon. Harvick quickly took blame for the incident and Larson was able to continue with minor damage.

“We were racing really hard and I was better than him in three and four and he was better than me in one and two,” Larson said about the incident with Kevin Harvick. “I would side draft him down the front stretch and he would side draft me down the back stretch and I don’t know if he was just coming down to side draft me or what but we made contact and it spun his car to the right.  So, you never want to make contact with anybody”

“I went down to side draft and he was coming up and we touched, and it just knocked the thing to the right and spun out,” said Harvick on the incident. “I don’t know that it’s his fault.  I think that’s my fault for coming down the race track right there and trying to side draft and then as we touch it just came back up the race track.  I was just trying to get a little too much right there.  I knew the stage was coming in.  I’ve just got to thank all of my guys.  They did a great job on our Busch Beer Ford and it was just my fault back there.”

The local Bakersfield native finished 35th and nine laps down.

The next race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will be at Martinsville Speedway on March 25. Coverage will begin at 2:00 p.m. ET. on FS1 and MRN.

Brett Winningham
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