Kyle Larson wins "Wise Power" 400 at Auto Club Speedway

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    Kyle Larson has won February's NASCAR Cup Series "Wise Power" 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The California native continued his winning nature Sunday as he patiently waited for his turn at the front. The misfortune of others played a major role in Larson's first Cup Series victory of the 2022 season.

Although Kyle Larson finished the "Wise Power" 400 strong, that is not how his day started. Larson began today's race at the rear of the field after unapproved changes with the No. 5's ignition system. Two teams that shined the brightest in this race are the No. 8 of Tyler Reddick and the No. 43 of Erik Jones. The two Richard Childress Racing allies took advantage of strong ECR engines to stay in front of 34 other race cars. For the first time in more than a decade the No. 43 was seen leading laps at Auto Club Speedway, and with a strong race car. 

While Tyler Reddick would flat out dominate the race, leading a total of 90 laps and winning both of the first-two stages, a flat tire would cause the No. 8 machine to slow down off the pace, allowing Erik Jones and many other drivers to pass him. However, William Byron appeared to have not noticed the much slower No. 8 car and plowed into the side of Reddick car, pushing the No. 8 into the wall while Byron's No. 24 machine was destroyed. Byron would not finish the race, while RCR would repair Reddick's car, going on to finish one lap down in 24th.

Erik Jones, a race-long top-5 runner, would continue to be a contender for the win, finishing 3rd. Chevrolet team Trackhouse Racing would show plenty of speed at the end, with Daniel Suarez fighting with Larson for the race win, despite a finish of 4th. RCR didn't leave the fight either when Reddick's day seemed to be over contending for a win, as Austin Dillon's No. 3 would shoot up the leaderboard for a runner-up finish. All of these certainly not names we would usually see up front.

One thing was for certain, with the Gen 7 or "Next Gen" car, we didn't see much, if any nose-to-tail drafting between cars: the side draft on these new cars has different effects as well. It took a lot longer for the leaders to run away from the main pack of cars, giving many other drivers a shot at the lead and a few more caution flags due to the cars running close together; making a very exciting race for fans to watch.

Here are the complete race results for the 2022 "Wise Power" 400 at Auto Club Speedway:

NASCAR.com