The NASCAR race on the big two-mile track at Fontana, California was hard on tires this year. One after another the biggest names in stock car racing fell to the back of the pack because of rubber issues.
When the final restart happened on Lap 205, the guy with the freshest set of tires, Kyle Busch, rushed out to pass teammates Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart to take the lead for the last time, dragging rookie Kyle Larson with him for second place.
The victory was Kyle’s second in two years and third overall at Fontana. Busch celebrated his first win of the year at the Auto Club 400, and it all came down to tires. On that final pit stop, his brother Kurt and Tony Stewart elected to change only their right side tires while Kyle’s crew chief, Dave Rogers, call for a change of all four and that won them the race.
Kyle Busch said after the race, “I knew four tires was going to win the race, so I’m glad Dave called that. There was some great racing up front between Tony and Kurt there. It was really interesting to watch that.”
Rookie Kyle Larson earned himself a lot of respect along with his second place finish. He had won the Nationwide event on Saturday and his odds on the big board in Vegas will likely take a dive before the next race.
“Man, what a shoe that boy is. If he would have gotten alongside of me, it would have been a whale of a race. I drove off into Turn 3, but I heard ‘car inside’ on my left. If he drove it in further than I did, Jesus must have told him to stop. What an awesome race this track produced!” is what Busch said about Larson after the race.
Perennial NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson went into the race as 5-to-1 favorite to win and up until the final laps it looked like that was how it was going to go down. Until the number 48 car blew a left front tire after having led for 104 of the 200 laps. He finished 24th.
Brad Keselowski somehow managed to have two tires go out on him during qualifying on Saturday, then managed to blow out three during the race on Sunday.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran well in the first part of the race before he too suffered a blowout on his left rear which brought him to the pits.
