NASCAR: Truex wins in California
Harvick far back as winning streak ends
FONTANA, Calif. – This year’s NASCAR hero stepped aside, or perhaps more appropriately stumbled aside, for last year’s king on Sunday.
Kevin Harvick’s three-race winning streak was snapped — as was his car — as 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. dominated the Auto Club 400 and won the race going away.
Harvick’s methodical domination of the last three weeks of Cup racing made him a no-brainer as the favorite again Sunday at one of NASCAR’s fastest tracks, but an unusual mistake early in the race not only took Harvick out of victory contention but also left him limping around near the back of the pack for the rest of a long afternoon. He finished 35th, nine laps behind.
Harvick and Kyle Larson, another strong contender, collided early in the race, an impact that sent Harvick’s car into the outside wall, mangling it. Harvick dropped down the track to sided-raft off Larson’s car but got too close. To Harvick’s credit, he took the blame in postrace interviews.
“I think that’s my fault,” Harvick said. “As we touched, it just came back up the racetrack. I was trying to get a little too much there.”
It was the sort of mistake Harvick rarely makes, particularly so early in the race when not much was at stake.
The crash eliminated any thought of Harvick pushing his winning streak to four, a number that would have put him in select company.
Truex was everything Harvick had been for the previous three races. He led
125 of the race’s 200 laps and was far enough ahead of second-place Larson
(11.6 seconds) at the finish to drive casually under the checkered flag. He became the first Cup driver to win the pole, sweep every stage of the race and win the race. This is only the second year of stage racing.
Truex was so strong Sunday that the competition could be forgiven for wondering if the guy who stormed through the schedule last year with eight victories might be fully back. Every piece of evidence from the race would indicate he is. It’s a long season, but if there were any Truex doubters they probably disappeared after the march to victory.
“I knew we really had a good race car after the first adjustment of the race. The thing just came alive. From there it was just about managing my tires and being smart,” Truex said. “We had a little trouble getting beat out of the pits, and that was tough. At one run we fell back to fifth and then we needed to work our way back up. I really just needed to take care of my front tires, and once we got some clean air this thing was unbelievable.”
The win, Truex’s first of the year, essentially locks him into the playoffs, where he can officially begin defense of his 2017 championship.
“To get that first win off your back is big,” Truex said. “You can focus in on getting more wins. It means a lot to all of us here.”
Could Harvick, the season’s big dog for much of a month, have been a significant challenger for Truex if not for his early-race fumble?
“It’s so hard to tell early in the race,” Larson said. “I was around him just a little, but I thought Kevin still had the best car (in the field). Who’s to say, though? He seemed to get through (turns) one and two really good. He was really fast there. I’m sure they would have made the car better throughout the race. He’ll be good every weekend.”
Brad Keselowski, who finished fourth (behind Larson and Kyle Busch), said the fact that Harvick’s reign is at least temporarily over is no big deal.
“The 4 car is still the fastest in the field,” he said. “I would move on and be a little disappointed but knowing I’ll still be the fastest car.”
Looks like Truex’s No. 78 could cause some arguments on that topic.