Second to none: Larson hangs on to win at Fontana
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — A blistering first in qualifying. A surprising first in the Xfinity Series race. And a steady, tenacious first when it really mattered on Sunday.
Kyle Larson was second to nobody in his home state.
Larson persevered through four late restarts to win at Fontana, adding his second career victory to his overall NASCAR Cup series points lead.
“Lots of fun to be Kyle Larson right now,” Larson said with a grin. “Our race cars are really fast in Xfinity and Cup, so it’s a blast to show up to the race track every week.”
Larson finished second in each of the last three races, but the Sacramento-area native’s Chevrolet was the class of the field at Auto Club Speedway all weekend long.
He claimed the second pole of his career Friday, and he also won the Xfinity race on Saturday in a result that surprised him more than his Cup triumph. The 24-year-old prodigy became just the fourth driver to sweep a race weekend at Fontana.
Brad Keselowski was second, and Clint Bowyer came in third for his best finish since June 2015 and his first top-five finish in 52 races. Martin Truex Jr. was fourth after challenging Larson aggressively, and Joey Logano roared up to fifth.
Larson’s first career win came on the other two-mile oval at Michigan.
Vettel breaks Ferrari’s drought with victory at Australian GP
MELBOURNE, Australia — Sebastian Vettel jumped onto the podium at the Australian Grand Prix and held up his right index finger, celebrating the end of Ferrari’s Formula 1 drought and a break in the Mercedes’ dominance.
It was back to No. 1 for Ferrari, at least after one race to open the season. Ferrari hadn’t won an F1 GP since Vettel’s victory in Singapore in September 2015, and so his unrestrained joy on Sunday signalled renewed confidence from him.
“For now, we’re just over the moon,” the four-time world champion said after holding off Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. “It’s a great feeling.”
Vettel finished in 1 hour, 24 minutes and 11.672 seconds, almost 10 seconds clear of Hamilton, to give Ferrari its first win in Australia since Kimi Raikkonen took the title in 2007. Raikkonen, in the second Ferrari, finished fourth this year.
Canadian rookie Lance Stroll — the 18-yearold son of billionaire investor Lawrence Stroll who won the Formula 3 European championship in 2016 — was handed a grid penalty after needing an unscheduled gearbox change after a crash in practice and was wayward in his 40 laps on debut for Williams. He did not finish the race.