Martin Truex Jr. wins at Fontana as Kevin Harvick's bid for four in a row sputters

FONTANA, Calif. – Highlights of Sunday’s Auto Club 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway:

WINNER: Sunday had the look of 2017 to it.

Martin Truex Jr., last year’s Cup champion, returned to victory lane — a place he visited eight times in 2017 — and, at the same time, dropped Kevin Harvick’s name from NASCAR’s marquee. At least temporarily.

Truex turned Sunday’s race into a laugher. The focus at the green flag was on Harvick, who had a chance to post a fourth consecutive victory, but Harvick’s sparkle quickly faded as he crashed early in the race.

Truex dominated the conversation from that point forward, leading 125 laps and winning by 11.6 seconds, a margin of victory bigger than the total of those posted in the season’s four previous races.

“This is a reassurance that what we’re doing is working,” Truex said. “It just feels good to win. I don’t really worry about who’s winning or who else is fast. Obviously, the 4 (Harvick) has been quick and they have a great team. But, as we’ve seen today, we can put together a run like that, as well.

“It feels good to be able to find that speed.”

Kyle Larson finished second and was followed by Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

Busch had a strong car again but dropped out of victory contention late in the race after an apparent pit-stop miscue.

FINAL LAPS: The closing portion of the race featured a battle for the lead matching Truex, Kyle Busch and Larson. With 18 laps to go, Truex had a five-second lead over Busch and Larson, who were fighting for second.

HARVICK STREAKS IN TROUBLE: Winner of three consecutive Cup races, Kevin Harvick was shooting for a higher spot in history with a fourth Sunday, but that march ended early in the race when he collided with Larson on the backstretch. They were running side by side when Harvick appeared to move down the track and into the side of Larson’s car. The impact sent Harvick’s car into the outside wall, causing heavy damage.

Harvick lost two laps while his team made repairs in the pits, and his car’s speed was negatively impacted the rest of the race. Larson remained near the front much of the afternoon.

"I went down to side draft and he was coming up and just knocked the thing to the right and just spun out," Harvick said. "I don't know that that was his fault. I think that was my fault for coming down the racetrack and trying to side draft, and we touched. I tried to get a little too much there."

STAGE 2: Truex scored again at the end of stage two, leading Brad Keselowski by 1.8 seconds. Following were Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Larson, Clint Bowyer and William Byron.

PAIN FOR BAYNE: Trevor Bayne slapped the outside wall on lap 109 after slight contact with Ryan Newman. The incident produced the race’s third caution. Bayne called his meeting with the wall a hard hit.

“The right front blew at 200-whatever we’re doing here, and the problem with here is you see the wall coming forever, so that’s not a fun ride when you’re on the brakes and it isn’t slowing down and it’s not turning," Bayne said. "You know you’re going to hit hard, and I feel like I should be hurting right now as hard as that was, so that’s a testament to what NASCAR has done with safety because I feel like I should be looking at you funny right now and I feel great.”

STAGE 1: Truex, master of stage wins last season, scored his first of the new year, leading Kyle Busch by 3.5 seconds. Also in the top 10 were Logano, Keselowski, Johnson, Larson, Kurt Busch, Jones, Bowyer and Hamlin.

Follow Hembree on Twitter @mikehembree

AUTO CLUB 400 RESULTS

Sunday from the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway (starting position in parentheses):

1. (1) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 200 laps, 60 points.

2. (3) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 2043.

3. (2) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 200, 51.

4. (11) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 200, 49.

5. (6) Joey Logano, Ford, 200, 45.

6. (25) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 200, 39.

7. (4) Erik Jones, Toyota, 200, 39.

8. (8) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 200, 29.

9. (33) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 200, 38.

10. (5) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 200, 27.

11. (26) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 199, 30.

12. (27) Aric Almirola, Ford, 199, 25.

13. (28) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 199, 24.

14. (7) Kurt Busch, Ford, 199, 27.

15. (29) William Byron, Chevrolet, 199, 23.

16. (31) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 199, 21.

17. (15) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 199, 20.

18. (16) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 199, 19.

19. (14) Paul Menard, Ford, 199, 18.

20. (19) Darrell Wallace Jr, Chevrolet, 199, 17.

21. (9) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 199, 16.

22. (32) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 199, 15.

23. (30) Daniel Suarez, Toyota, 199, 14.

24. (34) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 199, 13.

25. (21) David Ragan, Ford, 199, 12.

26. (22) Michael McDowell, Ford, 199, 11.

27. (17) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 198, 10.

28. (37) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 198, 9.

29. (36) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 198, 0.

30. (12) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 197, 7.

31. (18) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 196, 6.

32. (20) Gray Gaulding, Toyota, 194, 5.

33. (35) Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, 193, 0.

34. (24) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 193, 3.

35. (10) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 191, 2.

36. (23) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 189, 1.

37. (13) Trevor Bayne, Ford, accident, 108, 1.

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Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 147.528 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 42 minutes, 41 seconds.

Margin of Victory: 11.685 Seconds seconds.

Caution Flags: 5 for 21 laps.

Lead Changes: 16 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders: M.Truex 1-10. Ky.Busch 11-28. J.McMurray 29. Ky.Busch 30. M.Truex 31-63. J.Logano 64-72. M.Truex 73-89. Ky.Busch 90-93. M.Truex 94-123. Ky.Busch 124-130. K.Kahne 131. W.Byron 132. Ky.Busch 133-160. M.Truex 161-163. D.Hamlin 164. Ky.Busch 165-168. M.Truex 169-200

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): M.Truex, 6 times for 119 laps. Ky.Busch, 6 times for 56 laps. J.Logano, 1 time for 8 laps. W.Byron, 1 time for 0 laps. D.Hamlin, 1 time for 0 laps. K.Kahne, 1 time for 0 laps. J.McMurray, 1 time for 0 laps.

Wins: K.Harvick, 3. A.Dillon, 1. M.Truex, 1.

Top 16 in Points: 1. M.Truex, 216. 2. Ky.Busch, 207. 3. J.Logano, 197. 4. B.Keselowski, 183. 5. R.Blaney, 181. 6. D.Hamlin, 176. 7. K.Larson, 174. 8. K.Harvick, 170. 9. C.Bowyer, 155. 10. A.Almirola, 148. 11. Ku.Busch, 144. 12. A.Dillon, 141. 13. E.Jones, 132. 14. R.Newman, 117. 15. A.Bowman, 115. 16. P.Menard, 115.