FONTANA, Calif. — Kyle Larson was second to nobody in his home state.

Larson persevered through four late restarts to win at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, adding his second career victory to his overall NASCAR Cup Series points lead.

Larson finished second in each of the last three races, but the Sacramento-area native’s Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the class of the field for the second straight day. He also won the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, and completed a clean sweep of the weekend.

“This is just amazing,” Larson said. “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.”

Faced with the late drama and jockeying typical to the five-wide asphalt on Fontana’s bumpy 2-mile track, Larson was persistent and tenacious. After surging up from fourth to first with four new tires before the final caution, he made one last outstanding restart and cruised through two overtime laps.

Brad Keselowski was second, and Clint Bowyer came in third for his best finish since June 2015 and his first top-five finish in 52 races. Martin Truex Jr. was fourth after challenging Larson aggressively, and Joey Logano roared up to fifth.

Larson is only the second driver to win from the pole at Fontana, joining six-time winner Jimmie Johnson, who did it in 2008. Johnson finished 21st after starting near the back in his backup car.

Larson also became just the fourth driver to sweep a weekend at Fontana. The 24-year-old prodigy added a win at Fontana to his first career victory on NASCAR’s other 2-mile oval at Michigan.

After an early NASCAR season full of dominant cars getting stung at the finish, Larson wasted none of his advantage.

“He’s on a really nice roll, and it takes everything,” said Keselowski, who surged into second after two outstanding late restarts. “This is a sport of speed, execution and luck, and when you’re on a roll like that, you’ve got all three on your side.”

Johnson, Keselowski and Phoenix winner Ryan Newman all sustained minor damage early on, but Larson was fast from the start.

Larson won the first stage of 60 laps. Truex won the second stage, but Larson slipped past him to reclaim the lead on the first lap of the final stage.

Copy the Story Link