Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson won his first race of the 2022 season at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, on Sunday, holding off Austin Dillon and Erik Jones for the victory.
Larson had a pretty significant lead with 10 laps remaining. A spin out by Chase Elliott brought out the caution flag, though, and it allowed the other competitors to overtake the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Larson entered the race as a favorite and secured his 17th Cup Series victory on Sunday.
Leaderboard
- Kyle Larson
- Austin Dillon
- Erik Jones
- Daniel Suarez
- Joey Logano
- Aric Almirola
- Kevin Harvick
- Kurt Busch
- Daniel Hemric
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Larson lost the lead to Suarez for a brief period after the restart following Elliott’s spin out, but he gained it back with two laps to go before Dillon raced past Suarez for the second spot.
However, the big story on Sunday was the number of caution flags. The 12 cautions tied an Auto Club Speedway track record from 2008.
Another issue in Sunday’s race was the number of flat tires suffered. The NASCAR Next Gen car made its debut just a few weeks ago, and it had never seen a track quite like the one in Fontana before Sunday.
Many called for NASCAR to find a solution to the problem. According to The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck, they are “very” aware of the issue and are looking to find a solution.
Tyler Reddick, who won the first two stages of the race, was one of the drivers affected by a flat tire. At one point, it looked like he could have won the race, but he blew a tire with just 49 laps to go. Reddick ended up finishing 24th.
NASCAR on TSN @NASCARonTSN
REDDICK BLOWS A TIRE!<br><br>Heartbreak for the dominate car as he blows a left rear tire from the lead and collects <a href=”https://twitter.com/WilliamByron?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@WilliamByron</a> at <a href=”https://twitter.com/AutoClubSpdwy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@AutoClubSpdwy</a> <br><br>This changes everything.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NASCAR?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#NASCAR</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/WISEPower400?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#WISEPower400</a> <a href=”https://t.co/Bo0ymdbQ8Q”>pic.twitter.com/Bo0ymdbQ8Q</a>
Rookie Austin Cindric, who won the Daytona 500, finished 12th. The racers will now look ahead to the Pennzoil 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway next weekend.
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