NASCAR Cup Series: 2018 Auto Club 400 at Fontana results
By Asher Fair
Martin Truex Jr. took his first victory of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Martin Truex Jr. started from the pole position in his #78 Toyota for Furniture Row Racing in the 2018 Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, and he dominated the race en route to his first victory of the NASCAR Cup Series season as the reigning champion of the sport.
Truex Jr.’s first victory of the season in its fifth race was also Furniture Row Racing’s first victory of the season. It was also the first win of the season for a Toyota driver after Austin Dillon opened up the season by winning the Daytona 500 in his Chevrolet and Kevin Harvick won the next three races in his Ford.
The 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.0-mile oval was dominated by Truex Jr., as he led 125 laps and won both stages en route to claiming the victory. The race did, however, still featured 16 lead changes among seven different drivers.
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Aside of Truex Jr., six drivers led at least one lap throughout the race. Kyle Busch led 62 laps, Joey Logano led nine laps, Denny Hamlin led one lap, William Byron led one lap, Jamie McMurray led one lap, and Kasey Kahne led one lap.
Kevin Harvick, who was chasing his fourth straight Cup Series victory, made contact with Kyle Larson early in the race, sending the former into the wall and damaging his car. He would never recover and would go on to finish the race in 35th place.
Larson, meanwhile, was pursuing his fifth consecutive win on 2.0-mile oval tracks dating back to the August Michigan race in the 2016 season. He ended up being the top Chevrolet finisher in the race in 2nd place. The top Ford finisher in the race was Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski in 4th place in his #2 Ford.
Here are the full race results from the 2018 Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.
| Rank | Driver | Car, Team, Manufacturer |
| 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | #78, Furniture Row Racing, Toyota |
| 2 | Kyle Larson | #42, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet |
| 3 | Kyle Busch | #18, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 4 | Brad Keselowski | #2, Team Penske, Ford |
| 5 | Joey Logano | #22, Team Penske, Ford |
| 6 | Denny Hamlin | #11, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 7 | Erik Jones | #20, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 8 | Ryan Blaney | #12, Team Penske, Ford |
| 9 | Jimmie Johnson | #48, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 10 | Austin Dillon | #3, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet |
| 11 | Clint Bowyer | #14, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 12 | Aric Almirola | #10, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 13 | Alex Bowman | #88, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 14 | Kurt Busch | #41, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 15 | William Byron | #24, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 16 | Chase Elliott | #9, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 17 | Jamie McMurray | #1, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet |
| 18 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | #17, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford |
| 19 | Paul Menard | #21, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford |
| 20 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | #43, Richard Petty Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 21 | Ryan Newman | #31, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet |
| 22 | A.J. Allmendinger | #47, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet |
| 23 | Daniel Suarez | #19, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota |
| 24 | Kasey Kahne | #95, Leavine Family Racing, Chevrolet |
| 25 | David Ragan | #38, Front Row Motorsports, Ford |
| 26 | Michael McDowell | #34, Front Row Motorsports, Ford |
| 27 | Ty Dillon | #13, Germain Racing, Chevrolet |
| 28 | Cole Whitt | #72, TriStar Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 29 | Ross Chastain | #15, Premium Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 30 | Chris Buescher | #37, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet |
| 31 | Matt DiBenedetto | #32, Go Fas Racing, Ford |
| 32 | Gray Gaulding | #23, BK Racing, Toyota |
| 33 | Timmy Hill | #51, Rick Ware Racing, Chevrolet |
| 34 | Reed Sorenson | #55, Premium Motorsports, Chevrolet |
| 35 | Kevin Harvick | #4, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford |
| 36 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | #00, StarCom Racing, Chevrolet |
| 37 | Trevor Bayne | #6, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford |
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Be sure to tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 2:00 pm ET next Sunday, March 25th for the next NASCAR Cup Series race, which is the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia.