Kyle Larson holds off a late-race rush to win again at the Auto Club Speedway

FONTANA, Calif. - NASCAR Cup series champion Kyle Larson won the Wise Power 400 race at the Auto Club Speedway, in Fontana, in the midst of some late-race drama. It was the first race here in two years, due to the pandemic. It is the closest professional track of its kind to the Central Coast.

Larson held his lead through the final restart with four laps to go but had strong charges coming from all sides. Overall Larson led 28 of 200 laps in his Hendrick Motorsport Chevrolet.

Larson is from Elk Grove in Northern California. This is his second win at the Auto Club Speedway. His first was in 2017.

He was followed to the checkered flag by Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez and Joey Logano.

Many avid race fans from the Central Coast were in the stands and in the infield RV parking lot area. State Farm Agent Paul Cashman from Santa Barbara said he was able to personally talk to Richard Childress a legendary team owner. Cashman asked for team building advice from Childress, one of the most successful owners in history.

After the race, Larson says the newly designed "Next Gen" car for 2022 has some different characteristics this year than last years version, and the team is still working through it. In aggressive driving, "it just snaps fast."

Larson, who started 13th, says the 400 mile race helped him to get to the front of the field.

"It definitely felt good to get a win early in the year. It was good to see guys run up front that typically don't run up front," said Larson."Chevy's were really strong today," he said. The win in race two creates a comfort zone of sorts the rest of the races, and puts Larson in the playoffs later this year.

A late race crash with team mate Chase Elliott was called by Larson as unintentional, and he was unaware of Elliott's fast moving position on the track next to him until it was too late. The collision took Elliot out of contention and he finished 26th. Larson said he would never crash a teammate intentionally. "It was just an honest mistake," he said. "It happened and I hate that it did I know that they are upset. We will talk and get on the same page."

The next race will be at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday March 6.

For more information go to: Auto Club Speedway.