Kyle Larson California Dreamin’ with a NASCAR Win at Auto Club Speedway [VIDEO, PHOTOS]

Posted on March 27, 2017

Kyle Larson got to live out his California Dreamin’ weekend as he won the Auto Club 400 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Sunday (3/26).

Kyle, a California native, won the Xfinity Series Race Saturday night at Auto Club Speedway. He started Sunday’s race from the pole position. He dominated the first segment and won that stage of the race.

Martin Truex Jr. spent a good part of the afternoon battling with Kyle for the lead and was on top of that battle at the end of the second segment of the race to win stage two.

There were only three cautions through most of the race. One was due to an on-track issue on lap three and the other two were at the end of the first two stages of the race.

However, in the final laps there would be a few more added to the tally. Three caution periods in the last 20 laps not only brought the choice to pit or not for tires into play, but also the green-white-checkered NASCAR “overtime” scenario to determine the winner of the race.

In the end it was the young driver that the race commentators kept calling “The California Kid,” Kyle Larson that captured the checkered flag in the Auto Club 400 marking the second NASCAR Cup Series win of his career.

Brad Keselowski drove his battered car to a second place finish with Clint Bowyer crossing the finish line third. Martin Truex Jr. captured fourth place finish and Joey Logano rounded out the top five. See the complete race results for the Auto Club 400 here.

Kyle Larson started the race Sunday afternoon as the leader in the point standings and expanded that lead with his win in California. Chase Elliott, another young NASCAR star, sits in the second place spot with NASCAR Cup series veterans Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano in third, fourth and fifth places respectively. See the complete Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series point standings here.

The NASCAR Cup Series will be “beatin’ and bangin'” on each other next as they go “Short Trackin'” Sunday afternoon, April 2nd in the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

By: Buck Stevens

CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW GALLERY

2017 Auto Club 400

FONTANA, CA - MARCH 26: Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Target Chevrolet, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Sport Clips Toyota, lead the field under catution prior to the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 26, 2017 in Fontana, California. (Photo Courtesy of NASCARmedia.com - by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)
FONTANA, CA - MARCH 26: Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Target Chevrolet, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Sport Clips Toyota, lead the field under catution prior to the start of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 26, 2017 in Fontana, California. (Photo Courtesy of NASCARmedia.com - by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)

Headlines