Truex Jnr opens 2018 account in Fontana

Martin Truex Jnr has taken his first win of 2018 in comprehensive fashion in the Auto Club 400 at Fontana as Kevin Harvick’s hot streak ended in the wall.

The 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion led at the end of each stage and 125 of the 200 laps as he finished over 11s ahead of second-placed Kyle Larson.

Truex Jnr’s two spells in the lead of Stage 1 bookended that of Kyle Busch (#18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota), who rounded up the #78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota on Lap 11 and stayed in the effective lead until being re-passed by the pole-sitter on Lap 31.

Harvick (#4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford) brought about the first Caution when he banged into the side of Larson (#42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) on Lap 38 and rebounded back up into the wall, an incident for which the winner of the last three races accepted blame.

Joey Logano (#22 Team Penske Ford) was at the head of the field for the start of Stage 2, but only spent six racing laps there before being passed by Truex Jnr.

But for a round of green flag pit stops, #78 held top spot until the end of the stage, which featured a Caution for Trevor Bayne smacking the wall in his #6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford on Lap 110.

Truex Jnr twice had to come from behind in the final stage of the race.

He restarted second alongside Kyle Busch and soon dropped more positions in the pits after David Ragan (#38 Front Row Motorsports Ford) hit the wall with a cut tyre and brought about a Caution.

Car #78 fell as low as fifth before moving back up through the field and he regained first position from Kyle Busch on Lap 161.

They pitted together a lap later and the positions switched back, but Truex Jnr took over the lead for good on Lap 168 and cleared out.

Kyle Busch battled an untidy #18 Toyota thereafter and ended up finishing third after Larson got by on Lap 180.

The rest of the top 10 was Brad Keselowski (#22 Team Penske Ford), Logano, Denny Hamlin (#11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota), Erik Jones (#20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota), Ryan Blaney (#12 Team Penske Ford), Jimmie Johnson (#48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet), and Austin Dillon (#3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet).

Harvick did take the chequered flag, nine laps down in 35th position.

Truex Jnr takes over the series lead and now has seven playoff points in the bank, second only to Harvick’s 11, with Round 6 the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway this coming weekend (March 23-25).

Harvick hits the wall

Race highlights

Results: Auto Club 400, California Speedway

Pos	Num	Driver	Make	Laps	Led	Status
1	78	Martin Truex Jnr	Toyota	200	125	Running
2	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	200	0	Running
3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	200	62	Running
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	200	0	Running
5	22	Joey Logano	Ford	200	9	Running
6	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	200	1	Running
7	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	200	0	Running
8	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	200	0	Running
9	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	200	0	Running
10	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	200	0	Running
11	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	199	0	Running
12	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	199	0	Running
13	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	199	0	Running
14	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	199	0	Running
15	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	199	1	Running
16	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	199	0	Running
17	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	199	1	Running
18	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jnr	Ford	199	0	Running
19	21	Paul Menard	Ford	199	0	Running
20	43	Darrell Wallace Jnr	Chevrolet	199	0	Running
21	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	199	0	Running
22	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	199	0	Running
23	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	199	0	Running
24	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	199	1	Running
25	38	David Ragan	Ford	199	0	Running
26	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	199	0	Running
27	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	198	0	Running
28	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	198	0	Running
29	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	198	0	Running
30	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	197	0	Running
31	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	196	0	Running
32	23	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	194	0	Running
33	51	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	193	0	Running
34	55	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	193	0	Running
35	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	191	0	Running
36	00	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	189	0	Running
37	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	108	0	Crash

Standings

Pos	Driver	Pts	Gap	Starts	Wins	Pl’off pts
1	Martin Truex Jnr	216		5	1	7
2	Kyle Busch	207	-9	5	0	1
3	Joey Logano	197	-19	5	0	0
4	Brad Keselowski	183	-33	5	0	1
5	Ryan Blaney	181	-35	5	0	1
6	Denny Hamlin	176	-40	5	0	0
7	Kyle Larson	174	-42	5	0	0
8	Kevin Harvick	170	-46	5	3	11
9	Clint Bowyer	155	-61	5	0	0
10	Aric Almirola	148	-68	5	0	0
11	Kurt Busch	144	-72	5	0	2
12	Austin Dillon	141	-75	5	1	5
13	Erik Jones	132	-84	5	0	0
14	Ryan Newman	117	-99	5	0	0
15	Paul Menard	115	-101	5	0	0
16	Alex Bowman	115	-101	5	0	0
17	Ricky Stenhouse Jnr	107	-109	5	0	0
18	Jimmie Johnson	97	-119	5	0	0
19	Darrell Wallace Jnr	94	-122	5	0	0
20	William Byron	91	-125	5	0	0
21	Chase Elliott	87	-129	5	0	0
22	Chris Buescher	82	-134	5	0	0
23	Daniel Suarez	81	-135	5	0	0
24	Michael McDowell	75	-141	5	0	0
25	AJ Allmendinger	74	-142	5	0	0
26	Jamie McMurray	73	-143	5	0	0
27	Trevor Bayne	68	-148	5	0	0
28	David Ragan	66	-150	5	0	0
29	Kasey Kahne	65	-151	5	0	0
30	Matt DiBenedetto	49	-167	5	0	0
31	Ty Dillon	47	-169	5	0	0
32	Gray Gaulding	30	-186	5	0	0
33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	28	-188	5	0	0
34	Cole Whitt	27	-189	3	0	0
35	DJ Kennington	19	-197	2	0	0
36	Mark Thompson	15	-201	1	0	0
37	Brendan Gaughan	9	-207	1	0	0
38	Harrison Rhodes	4	-212	1	0	0
39	Reed Sorenson	3	-213	1	0	0
40	Danica Patrick	2	-214	1	0	0
41	Corey LaJoie	2	-214	2	0	0
42	Justin Marks	0	-216	1	0	0
43	David Gilliland	0	-216	1	0	0
44	Cole Custer	0	-216	1	0	0
45	Ross Chastain	0	-216	4	0	0
46	Joey Gase	0	-216	1	0	0
47	Timmy Hill	0	-216	2	0	0