Larson holds off Dillon, Suarez

FONTANA » Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson held off Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez in a tense finish Feb. 27 to win at Fontana for the second time.

After starting at the rear under penalty, Larson raced to his 17th career victory and the 11th in his yearplus at Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. But Larson only added another famed surfboard trophy to his 2017 award after clinging to the lead through an exciting finish in the first race for NASCAR’s Next Gen car on an intermediate track.

“There was definitely some guys that were quicker than us, but they had their misfortune,” Larson said. “Just kept our heads in it all day . ... the whole race was crazy, but definitely good to get a win in California.”

Larson surprisingly hadn’t won any races anywhere in 2022, but the relentless multidisciplinary competitor and Northern California native cruised to another win at Auto Club Speedway in an entertaining race featuring ample passing, plenty of mistakes and thrilling topto-bottom moves on the seasoned five-wide asphalt.

Larson had victory in sight with eight laps to go when Chase Elliott spun and forced a race-record 12th caution. Elliott had a beef with his Hendrick teammate several laps earlier when he got pinched into the wall by Larson, who apologized for it on the radio.

Larson made it out of the pits first, and he led off the restart with four laps to go. He was neck-and-neck with Suarez with two laps left, and Dillon got into the draft to take his own shot at the leader, but Larson hung on through it all on the 25-yearold asphalt that meshed splendidly with the new car.

Dillon came in second, and Suarez slipped to fourth behind Erik Jones as Chevrolets took the top four spots.