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RELATED: Results | Larson on pole for Sunday’s race | Detailed breakdown


FONTANA, Calif. — Kyle Larson kept pole-sitter Joey Logano at bay after a restart with four laps left in Saturday’s Service King 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Auto Club Speedway and held on to win by .127 seconds.


Larson and Logano had swapped the lead on three successive laps before Brandon Jones plowed into the outside wall on Lap 142 to bring out the seventh and final caution of the afternoon.


The lead cars pitted for fresh tires under the yellow flag, with Larson exiting pit road first and Spencer Gallagher grabbing the second spot with a two-tire stop. That proved Logano’s undoing, as his No. 22 Team Penske Ford was pinned behind Gallagher’s GMS Racing Chevrolet for the restart on Lap 147 of 150.


Logano chased Larson to the checkered flag but couldn’t prevent the driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet from scoring his first victory of the season, his second at Fontana and the sixth of his career.


"The racing there at the end with Joey was awesome," said Larson, a California native who got his first NASCAR XFINITY Series victory at the 2-mile track. "I had just a couple-lap fresher tires than he did, and I was able to chase him down. That was a lot of fun.



WATCH: Larson overcomes speeding penalty to win


"I wish that last caution wouldn’t have come out, because it would have been easier for me to win, I think. But a heck of a race. I honestly didn’t think we would be here yesterday. I was struggling bad in practice. Fought the balance a lot throughout the race, too. Finally, the last few runs, we hit on it and it felt good for the short run and throughout the long run."


MORE: Larson fast, atop Monster Energy Series standings


Both the winner and the runner-up had obstacles to overcome. Larson recovered from a pit road speeding penalty to win the race. Logano sped on pit road and subsequently fell to the back of the field when the jack on the left side of his Ford dropped prematurely during an extended stay on pit road.


But Logano — who led six times for a race-high 70 laps — was in prime position at the end, though he acknowledged that Gallagher’s two-tire call deprived him of the chance to overtake Larson.


"What’s his number? 23?" Logano asked. "Yeah, I don’t know about that move. That wasn’t a good move. I don’t know what they were thinking, but that maybe wasn’t the best play at this race track. I knew he was going to spin them (his tires). There’s no way he couldn’t. It wasn’t his fault. 


"He was a sitting duck and I was a sitting duck behind him that lost too much track position on that restart being too far behind Kyle. If not for that, we would have probably been door-to-door across the line bumping and banging or something. We were able to catch Larson the last few laps. We were definitely faster, but I needed another lap, maybe two."


Kyle Busch led 55 laps and finished third after scraping the wall on Lap 122 while in pursuit of Logano, who was leading at the time. Erik Jones ran fourth and Sunoco rookie William Byron fifth as the highest-finishing series regular.


The action-filled race wasn’t without a number of hard crashes. Paul Menard’s Chevrolet nosed hard into the outside wall after contact from Jones, who appeared to misjudge his Turn 4 exit on Lap 94.


WATCH: Fiery hit for Menard at Auto Club


"I don’t know if he tried to push me or if he was just crossing over," Menard said after leaving the infield care center. "Definitely had a brain fart."


Cole Custer took a wild ride when he clobbered the Turn 1 wall with an assist from Ryan Sieg — and was upset when he exited the car.


"I just got hooked going into the corner," Custer said. "I think I hit him (Sieg) a tick just on my side-draft going off of (Turn) 4, and then he decided just to hook us going into Turn 1 and wreck us. I thought we could have competed for a win there. We had a bad pit stop. We were going to work our way back up there, but just got our day ended by a clown move."


The incident left him with a wrecked car for the second straight week.


"Last week it was all my fault and I’ll take that all on me," said Custer, who finished 35th. "Today it was just a clown. I don’t understand what his reasoning was to pay us back that much, but that’s just a joke."


Notes: Byron is second in the series standings, 17 points behind seventh-place finisher Elliott Sadler… Darrell Wallace Jr. finished sixth for the fourth-straight race… Busch won both the first and second stages of the race, earning a total of two playoff points toward the owner’s championship.


Contributing: Staff reports


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BUY TICKETS: Celebrate Auto Club’s 20th anniversary

As Dale Earnhardt Jr. prepares to make start No. 600 in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday at Auto Club Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), we thought it’d be fun to find five other interesting stats about Junior, courtesy of RacingReference.com:

170,689

Matt Kenseth (176,372) is the only active driver with more laps than Earnhardt Jr., who ranks 21st on the all-time list with 170,689 laps. Dale Earnhardt Sr. is 15th with 202,288 laps, and Richard Petty is tops with 307,836. Earnhardt Jr. has averaged about 9,000 laps per season, so it’s conceivable he could catch his dad in about three to four years.

.1752

Junior is third in winning percentage in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at .1752 (17 percent). He’s behind only Kyle Busch (.2636) and Mark Martin (.2076). Earnhardt Jr. has 24 wins in 137 career XFINITY Series races, with 13 of those victories coming in 1998 and ’99 when he won back-to-back series championships.

94

Earnhardt Jr. has 94 podium finishes (first, second or third place) in the Monster Energy Series, which puts him 25th all-time in this category. He’s four behind Matt Kenseth and five back of Kyle Busch. Richard Petty is tops with 461 on a list that reads like the head table lineup at a NASCAR Hall of Fame banquet.

412

Junior has 412 lead-lap finishes in the Monster Energy Series, which puts him in eighth place all-time. That’s a testament to his longevity and consistency, and puts him just eight behind his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson. Former teammate Jeff Gordon sits atop this list with 588.

148

Earnhardt Jr. has 148 top-five finishes in the Monster Energy Series, tying him with Kyle Busch for 24th place all-time heading into Auto Club. Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are the only active drivers ahead of Junior on this list. Richard Petty is on top of the mountain with 555 top-five finishes. Junior has 26 career Cup wins, but he’s been in contention for wins many times.

Do your own stats query on RacingReference.com.

 

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Editor’s note: Every Friday during the season, "Tweets You Might Have Missed" presents eight of the best NASCAR-related tweets from the week. 



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RELATED: Aspen Dental expands role with Patrick | Aspen Dental named ‘Official Dentist of NASCAR’


Five weeks ago, Aspen Dental expanded its backing of Stewart-Haas Racing and driver Danica Patrick by boosting the number of NASCAR races for its primary sponsorship into double digits. Friday, the company took another step in increasing its exposure through the sport.
 
NASCAR and Aspen Dental announced a multiyear agreement Friday that makes the Syracuse, New York-based network of dental care providers the "Official Dentists of NASCAR." The partnership dovetails with the advent of Aspen Dental’s "Get Started" initiative, a program that promotes oral health awareness with the help of Patrick and NASCAR.
 
Michelle Vaeth, Aspen Dental Management’s vice president of communications, recalled sitting at a conference table with NASCAR officials several months ago in the sanctioning body’s Charlotte, North Carolina, headquarters. The lively discussion turned to the 150 million Americans who avoided dental visits last year and how the company’s next initiative, a program which would eventually become "Get Started," planned to combat that treatment gap.

"I think the passion with which we were speaking about it, this is why we go to work every day," Vaeth says. "And this is why Aspen Dental doctors and team members out at the practices go to work every day, it’s to make that difference for patients. With the NASCAR folks in the room, I think it was contagious."
 
Aspen Dental’s joint venture with NASCAR has established roots. The company has been a loyal sponsor of Stewart-Haas Racing since 2012 and of Patrick since 2014, her second full season in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
 
Patrick’s profile has helped fuel successes with Aspen Dental’s Healthy Mouth Movement, which has turned charitable donations into dentistry care for veterans in need, and the "Taste of the Future" campaign, which warns of the long-term effects of delaying dental visits.
 
"I’m really excited about working with Aspen Dental to support them in breaking down the barriers to better care, better smiles and better lives," Patrick said in a news release. "Starts and restarts are part of the sport. The same is true for focusing or refocusing on taking care of your mouth. Through ‘Get Started,’ we will encourage NASCAR fans to get started — or restarted — on their own road to better oral health."
 
Aspen Dental’s blue, white and gray paint scheme will be prominent on Patrick’s No. 10 Ford this weekend at Auto Club Speedway, marking the fourth appearance for the brand in five Monster Energy Series races this season. The increased commitment and exposure also sync with the company’s growth. Aspen Dental currently has more than 600 offices for independent dental care providers across the country; it plans to expand into its 36th state later this year.
 
"Having the partnership with her and with SHR, and frankly a consistent presence at the track over time — and especially this year we’ll be showing up in a bigger way than we ever have before — yes, it’s helped us reach fans where they are," Vaeth said.

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BUY TICKETS: Celebrate Auto Club’s 20th anniversary

RELATED: Aspen Dental, NASCAR, Patrick grow relationship

NASCARu00ae and Aspen Dental, one of the largest and fastest-growing networks of independent dental care providers in the United States, announced today a multi-year official partnership, designating the brand as the "Official Dentist of NASCAR." The announcement coincides with the launch of Aspen Dental’s "Get Started" awareness building health initiative with NASCAR and Stewart-Haas Racing driver Danica Patrick. 

"Aspen Dental’s level of dedication to drive awareness and educate fans about the importance of dental health, especially as it relates to quality of life for everyday Americans is inspiring and contagious," said Chad Seigler, vice president, business development, NASCAR. "We welcome Aspen Dental to our family of Official Partners and look forward to adding our voice to amplify the important message behind Aspen Dental’s ‘Get Started’ initiative."

This partnership is important because nearly 150 million Americans didn’t visit a dentist in the past year, due to barriers like access, fears and lack of insurance.  For many of these everyday Americans, poor oral health has resulted in chronic pain and inflammation, limiting many from living a healthy life, and sometimes, impacting other health conditions. Aspen Dental’s "Get Started" initiative will help NASCAR fans take a simple step to start or restart and gain control of their oral health by seeing a dental professional. Aspen Dental-branded practices offer patients a safe, welcoming and judgment-free environment to get the full range of dental care they need along with the convenience and speed of onsite denture labs. 

"Our goal is to help race fans through Aspen Dental practices and encourage them through this official partnership with NASCAR to ‘Get Started’ on their road to better oral health and make dentistry easier," said Bob Fontana, chairman and CEO of ADMI. "Together, with the help of Danica Patrick, we want to tell race fans that all you need to do is ‘Get Started’ to gain control of their oral health."


Aspen Dental has been a partner of Stewart-Haas Racing since 2012 and aligned with Patrick since 2014. This year, the brand will serve as the lead sponsor of Patrick’s No. 10 Ford Fusion for a double-digit slate of races. Patrick has shined a spotlight on oral health across multiple channels, promoting Aspen Dental’s Healthy Mouth Movement – a community-giving initiative which has delivered more than $7.5 million in donated dentistry for veterans since its inception. Additionally, she has appeared in "A Taste of the Future" – a hidden-camera video campaign designed to raise awareness about the long-term consequences of delaying dental care.

"I’m really excited about working with Aspen Dental to support them in breaking down the barriers to better care, better smiles and better lives," said Patrick. "Starts and restarts are part of our sport. The same is true for gaining control of your oral health. Through ‘Get Started,’ we will encourage NASCAR fans to get started – or restarted – on their own road to better oral health."

Fans can visit AspenDental.com/GetStarted to be entered to WIN an all-expense paid, VIP trip experience for two to the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race November 5, 2017 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth for a VIP experience and a meet-and-greet with Patrick.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season will continue with the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, March 26 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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BUY TICKETS: See the races at Auto Club

FONTANA, Calif. — A week after an on-track run-in with Austin Dillon, NASCAR XFINITY Series rookie Cole Custer, 19, maintained the two had found a version of racing Kumbaya.

 

The two drivers met with NASCAR officials early Friday morning at Auto Club Speedway, spoke their minds and shook hands, both ready to move on and race.

 

Custer acknowledged he mistakenly hit Dillon, 26, last week during the Phoenix race, which resulted in on-track retaliation by Dillon.

 

NASCAR did not feel Dillon’s retaliatory move warranted a penalty this week, instead calling the two drivers in for a meeting and detente.

 

"I got into the corner way too deep," Custer acknowledged. "It was a mistake and I wish I didn’t do it.

 

"I probably got in a half-car length too deep. … Took him out and it was a mistake and I wish I didn’t do it. I didn’t have much anxiety (going into NASCAR meeting with Dillon) because I didn’t think we were on bad terms. I wasn’t too nervous. It went fairly well."

 

And he added with a slight smile, "I’ve been in the NASCAR hauler before. It’s not a new thing."

 

WATCH: Custer sends Dillon into wall, Dillon bumps back

 

The Ladera Ranch, California, native has two top-11 finishes in four XFINITY races this year driving the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing and appeared eager to put the Phoenix incident behind him as he prepared to race at his "home" track Saturday.

 

"Cost us and the 2 (Dillon) a good finish, 100 percent my fault. Happy with how much better we got our car, pretty good there at the end," Custer tweeted earlier in the week before meeting up with Dillon at Auto Club.

 

Mostly, Custer is looking forward to his "home track" racing debut.

 

"I’m really excited. I’ve never raced here, just excited to get on track," Custer said. "We’ve had some pretty solid finishes, had good enough cars for top-10. Hopefully we can start out the weekend good.

 

"A lot of things translate from track to track. We’re looking forward to seeing what we have unloading here. We should be pretty good. I’m confident. It’s just me getting used to the track since I’ve never been here before."

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RELATED: Read more Inside Groove

 

NASCAR’s latest brush with wildlife stopped practice Friday at Auto Club Speedway as an owl decided to set up camp on the racing surface during opening Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice.
 
Practice was interrupted until safety workers were able to corral the bird, which initially took low-flying evasive action on the track apron. No word on whether NASCAR race official David Hoots or Chase Elliott sponsor Hooters were involved.
 
Friday’s incident marked the third consecutive year that nature has caused a disruption at the 2-mile California track. A swarm of bees crowded the Auto Club flag stand between practices last season. The previous year, bees were a menacing presence around Derrike Cope’s hauler, trapping the team inside the transporter.
 

MORE ANIMALS: Groundhog at Michigan | Bees at Auto Club

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RELATED: Practice 1 results | Buy tickets for Auto Club


Kyle Larson put his name atop the early speed charts at Auto Club Speedway, topping the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice.


Larson powered to a best lap of 189.071 mph on the 2-mile track, setting the early pace in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet. The unofficial lap was better than the track qualifying record of 188.511 mph, set by Denny Hamlin in Coors Light Pole Qualifying last year.


Hamlin continued his show of California speed, logging the second-fastest lap in the 85-minute session, posting a lap of 188.462 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota.


Kevin Harvick (188.344 mph), Jamie McMurray (187.94 mph) and Joey Logano (187.588 mph) completed the top five in preparation for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the final event of the three-race NASCAR Goes West swing.


The opening practice was an eventful one with three stoppages — including one for an incident involving seven-time series champ Jimmie Johnson, a six-time Auto Club winner.


Johnson spun his Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet off Turn 4, narrowly avoiding the car of Kurt Busch on the apron before his car’s body plowed into the infield grass. The damage was not major, but significant enough that the crew opted to unload and prep its reserve car for the balance of the race weekend.


"We just showed up at the track swinging hard and trying to get all that we can," Johnson said, noting to FS1 that the team was focused on improving its qualifying efforts. "We crossed the line there for sure and the car came around on me."


The session’s other interruptions were varied. The opening of practice was delayed for sweepers and blowers to clean off the backstretch. Shortly after practice began, an owl planted itself on the race track, halting the cars until safety workers were able to remove it.


RELATED: Owl disrupts opening practice


Ryan Newman, last week’s winner at Phoenix Raceway, was 15th-fastest at 188.921 mph in the Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevrolet.


Several drivers served penalties at the start of practice for their teams’ tardiness to inspection last weekend at Phoenix. The following drivers were held 15 minutes for being late to qualifying inspection: Trevor Bayne, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chris Buescher, David Ragan, AJ Allmendinger, Timmy Hill, Derrike Cope, Corey LaJoie and Michael McDowell. The cars for Erik Jones and Matt DiBenedetto were held 30 minutes for being late to pre-qualifying and pre-race inspection.

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BUY TICKETS: Celebrate Auto Club’s 20th anniversary

RELATED: No. 48 team opts out of qualifying | Lineup


FONTANA, Calif. — More than once while meeting with reporters in the Auto Club Speedway media room Friday, Jimmie Johnson motioned to a framed poster showing a 15-years-younger version of himself celebrating his first-ever Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory here at his "home" track in 2002.


That was 79 victories, seven championships ago — a definitive day in his career and life.



And still, Johnson smiled — even bristled just a bit — receiving immediate questions about when he might win a race this season after only one top-10 finish through the first four races.



"Sixteen years, 80 wins, and seven championships and people want to question us? I mean come on," Johnson said. "You can’t be on top forever. I think that we do have some work to do, especially on the short run. We haven’t executed as cleanly as we need to. 



"Daytona, we are running second or third and get crashed. Last week we were a good top-five — maybe top-three — car on the long run, but finished with some short restarts that was our weak point. Yeah, sure, absolutely we have work to do, but nobody should panic."



Johnson certainly is not in panic mode, and certainly not here. He left the press conference to be enshrined in the track’s Hall of Fame. He is the defending winner of this race and has six victories here in all.



This is home for the California native.


And even for one of the sport’s biggest champions, that feeling is warm and distinctive. Listening to Johnson recall the importance of that inaugural win on this particular venue, on a warm spring afternoon, it’s easy to see the difference it made for him. And, ultimately, for NASCAR.

"If any driver could script their first win, I think they would choose a path similar to what I went through," Johnson said. "It was my 13th start ever in the Cup Series, 10th start of that season, running my home track. You just couldn’t script it any better and when I look back, I’m still amazed that it turned out that way. I’m still amazed that it has turned out how it has to start with. 

 

"When I go back mentally to that point in my life, I just wanted to win a race. I’ve said it many times — and I’m very serious about this — with Jeff (Gordon) winning the championship the year before and they gave me his inventory of cars and equipment, I felt like I had to win. Deep down in my heart I felt like Lowe’s signed up because they felt that I could win. 

 

"There was this pressure," Johnson acknowledged. "Granted it was early in the year, but standing there climbing out of that car and the minutes that followed that, the relief that came off of my shoulders knowing that I could win. … I was very relieved and that triple chin smile (in the photo) is more about the relief of all this pressure that I had put on myself to win and I was able to do it very early at my home track."

 

Johnson said he and wife, Chandra, took their two young daughters, Genevieve and Lydia, to visit his small hometown of El Cajon, about two hours south of the Fontana track. Johnson, a high school sports star, still is a hero in the area, which is located just outside San Diego — a gateway between beach and desert. 

 

In showing his children the house he grew up in, Johnson said he was quick to remind that his upbringing was very modest compared to the luxuries he has been able to share with his young family as a multi-time NASCAR champion.

 

"It’s so different," Johnson said. "And as a parent I know that I want my kids to appreciate what they have and work hard for the world they want to create for themselves. And my kids are starting a heck of a lot better off than I did from that perspective. 

 

"I grew up in a house full of love and understanding and highly motivated parents that pushed me to chase my dreams, and I want to give that to my children as well, obviously. But, to take them back and show them the street I played on — and I even saw some of my old bicycle jumps that are kind of eroded away now on the side of the road up in Crest (California) where I grew up.

 

"They are young, but I feel like they need to see that, and to hear my daughter Genevieve’s comments about the house and how small it was and things like that, it’s like, ‘Yep that is why we are here.’ 

 

"Certainly, from their standpoint it was great to show them around, but for me it’s just such a nice reminder to go back. I do shake my head and find it hard to believe that is where I came from and that I made it to where I am, but more than anything the memories — it’s just wild how the old memories and stories come up. I just pepper my wife with these stories and she is like, ‘Yeah, I’ve heard that 15 times and that one 20 times.’ So it is just fun to open up the memory bank and experience those things again."

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BUY TICKETS: Celebrate Auto Club’s 20th anniversary
RELATED: Johnson at ‘home track’ | No. 48’s Auto Club stats

 

FONTANA, Calif. — Defending race winner Jimmie Johnson did not make a qualifying attempt for Sunday’s Auto Club 400, the team announced late Friday afternoon just before qualifying was to begin at the 2-mile track.

 

Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet was involved in a single-car incident during practice and the team opted to bring out a backup car. Work on the car was not completed in time for him to turn any laps in the final practice and his Hendrick Motorsports team decided not to participate in qualifying with the car untested.

 

"We had a tough practice session and mid-pack was probably going to be our goal anyway so to take our lumps here at a track that’s really wide with a lot of lanes, a long race … we’ll take our lumps and get the car right," Johnson said. "We’ll take advantage of the precious minutes we’ll have in Saturday’s practice session and go from there.

 

"Pit road is going to be a problem," the six-time California winner conceded. "We’re not going to have a good pick there. We’re definitely not in a position we want to be in, so we’re going to take the time now and make sure we get everything right, get the car right."

 

WATCH: Johnson spins in practice | Lineup in photos

 

Said No. 48 crew chief Chad Knaus: "I just felt it was wiser to get the car prepared correctly rather than qualify poorly. I wasn’t comfortable putting Jimmie in a position where he would have to hustle a car that he hasn’t turned a lap in yet.
 
"We are all the way out here on the west coast, and brought two race cars. If we were to crash this car, we would have to pull a car from a teammate and it would be a very difficult obstacle to overcome. We want to be prepared to put the best race car on the track for our driver, Lowe’s, Chevrolet and all of our sponsors. So, we are going to take the time to do that by working on it this afternoon."

 

Johnson will start 37th for Sunday’s race, but he did not seem overly concerned. He started last in the 2016 season finale at Miami and rallied to win the race and his record-tying seventh Cup title.


RELATED: Full lineup for Sunday — Johnson starts 37th

"If I was to tear this car up again in qualifying we’d be heading next door to the 88 team to get their backup car, put a wrap on it, change (the) interior," Johnson said. "We just felt it best to get everything right and get prepared for (Saturday). We’ll start from the tail end, but I think my history shows I can make up plenty of spots, pass plenty of cars.

 

"We’ll just make it exciting coming back."