Race Recap for the Auto Club 400
Event: Auto Club four hundred (Round five of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California (2-mile oval)
Format: two hundred laps, violated into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/80 laps)
Embark/Finish: 9th/8th (Running, ended two hundred two of two hundred two laps)
Point Standing: 10th (136 points, one hundred seven out of very first)
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing in overtime (Chevrolet)
● Kyle Busch commenced 9th, finished 5th.
● Busch battled a tight-handling condition on exit across Stage 1.
● The Interstate Batteries driver raced as high as fifth by lap 38.
● Began 4th, finished 7th.
● After ending Stage one in the fifth spot, Busch’s Interstate Batteries squad gained a position on pit road during the caution period, permitting Busch to embark Stage two in fourth.
● Busch was able to build up a position on the Stage two restart, racing his Toyota Camry up to third.
● Busch pitted under green-flag conditions on lap 91, reversing the switches made during the previous stop during the Stage one caution period to help the front end and left-rear treating issues.
● Seventeen cars ended Stage two on the lead lap.
● Embarked 6th, finished 8th.
● The Interstate Batteries team gained a position on pit road during the Stage two caution period, restarting sixth on lap 127.
● Busch continued to work through the tight-handling condition that plagued his short-run treating during the race.
● Several teams chose to employ a two-stop strategy from lap one hundred fifty nine to the end, if the race was to go green the entire time, whereas squad chief Adam Stevens opted to attempt a one-stop strategy, electing to pit later in the fuel window.
● Busch restarted 2nd on lap one hundred eighty nine after Stevens made the call for the Interstate Batteries team not to pit.
● The final stage went to overtime, and Busch ultimately finished eighth.
● Busch led one time for seven laps.
● Twenty-three drivers finished on the lead lap.
● The race went two laps beyond its scheduled 200-lap distance via a green-white-checkered finish.
Kyle Busch, driver of the No. Eighteen Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing:
● Daniel Suarez (Finished 7th / Running, ended two hundred two of two hundred two laps)
● Kyle Busch (Finished 8th/ Running, finished two hundred two of two hundred two laps)
● Denny Hamlin (Finished 14th/ Running, finished two hundred two of two hundred two laps)
● Matt Kenseth (Finished 36th / Accident, ended one hundred eighty four of two hundred two laps)