Background

Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway) is a 2 miles (3.2 km), low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. It is also used for open wheel racing events. The racetrack is located near the former locations of Ontario Motor Speedway and Riverside International Raceway. The track is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation and is the only track owned by ISC to have naming rights sold. The speedway is served by the nearby Interstate 10 and Interstate 15 freeways as well as a Metrolink station located behind the backstretch.

Qualifying results

Second practice

Erik Jones was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 38.451 seconds and a speed of 187.251 mph (301.351 km/h).^[16]

Final practice

Chase Elliott was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 38.404 seconds and a speed of 187.480 mph (301.720 km/h).^[17]

First stage

Kyle Larson led the field to the green flag at 3:50 p.m. On the initial start, Denny Hamlin spun his tires and forced Brad Keselowski to check up.^[18] He backed into Ryan Newman – and Kevin Harvick, who was lined up behind Newman – and was turned up the track, damaging the left-rear quarter panel in the process.^[19] Keselowski kept going, but got loose exiting Turn 4, with help from Jimmie Johnson, and spun through the frontstretch grass, bringing out the first caution of the race on the third lap.^[20]

The race restarted on the eighth lap. Harvick made an unscheduled stop for damage on lap 23. A cycle of green flag stops started on lap 30 and resulted in Martin Truex Jr. cycling to the lead. Larson took it back exiting Turn 4 on lap 49, won the first stage and the second caution flew for the completion of the stage on lap 60. Truex exited pit road first. Ryan Blaney (removing equipment from the pit box) and Austin Dillon (speeding) restarted the race from the tail end of the field for pit road infractions.^[21]

Second stage

The race restarted on lap 68. The second stage was only broken up by green flag stops on lap 91, which resulted in Truex retaining the lead. It ended with him winning the stage and the third caution flew on lap 120 for its completion.^[21]

Final stage

The race restarted with 73 laps to go. Larson powered by Truex on the bottom in Turn 1 to retake the lead on the restart. For most of the stage, it was a repeat of the second stage. It was broken up with 49 to go when cars started pitting under green, Larson and Truex pitted together with 45 to go and Larson regained it with 37 to go. During the cycle, Kyle Busch led for a few laps, followed by Ty Dillon and Johnson was turned by Truex on pit road.^[22] Gray Gaulding suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 1, bringing out the fourth caution with 20 to go. Truex, who entered pit road under the caution second, left seventh after he "stopped too deep in the box."^[23]

The race restarted with 16 to go. Exiting Turn 2 on the restart, Truex hooked the left-rear corner of Matt Kenseth, then sent him spinning down the track and into the inside retaining wall, bringing out the fifth caution.^[24]

The race restarted with 11 to go. Two laps later, Corey LaJoie spun out in Turn 2, bringing out the sixth caution. Hamlin, taking the lead as a result, Truex and Jamie McMurray elected to stay out under the caution, while everyone else hit pit road.^[21]

The race restarted with five to go. Larson quickly took second from Truex on the backstretch and had a run on Hamlin, but found himself boxed in by Truex to his left and the outside wall to his right. He made the pass for the lead exiting Turn 2 with three to go seconds before the seventh caution flew for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spinning out in Turn 2.^[21]

Post-race

Race results

Final stage results

Stage 3 Laps: 82

Race statistics

• Lead changes: 8 among different drivers
• Cautions/Laps: 7 for 29
• Red flags: 0
• Time of race: 2 hours, 57 minutes and 46 seconds
• Average speed: 136.359 miles per hour (219.449 km/h)

Television

The race was the 17th race Fox Sports covered at the Auto Club Speedway. Mike Joy, three-time Auto Club winner Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip had call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum will handle the pit road duties for the television side.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and 2001 race winner Rusty Wallace called the race from the booth when the field was racing down the front stretch. Dan Hubbard called race from a billboard outside turn 2 when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2. Kurt Becker called the race from a billboard outside turn 3 when the field was racing through turns 3 and 4. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post worked pit road for MRN.