FONTANA >> Auto Club Speedway got rowdy one more time.
‘Rowdy’ Kyle Busch, who won his first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Fontana in 2005, led the final 20 laps Sunday to win a gritty Pala Casino 400 in the final race on the historic 2-mile tri-oval.
“They couldn’t hold us back. We had a great car and were able to get back up to the front,” said Busch, new driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro. “You know that if you can get up front here that you can drive away and so I tried to bide my time to get to that point.”
On the track’s last night of action, Busch took advantage of a late caution to grab the lead and then the checkered flag for the fifth time in his career at Fontana.
“This is really awesome to be able to win here today,” Busch said. “I love California and I love California Speedway. ‘Rowdy Nation’ was loud and proud. Glad I was able to win the final one here.”
The win is the 61st of his career for Busch, who also sets a new NASCAR record by winning a Cup Series race for a 19th consecutive season. The previous record was held by Richard Petty (18).
“There’s not many thing you can do to beat out Richard Petty but man that’s awesome,” Busch said.
Chase Elliot used a late run to finished second, Ross Chastain took third and Daniel Suarez was fourth as Chevrolet placed 1-2-3-4.
“I thought we got really close there at the end but our guys battled all day to get us there,” said Elliott, who started 33rd after a tough finish at Daytona last week.
Alex Bowman was out front for the opening 23 laps before Chastain was the first to go low and grab his first lead on Lap 24.
Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney took early turns at the head of the pack but Chastain quickly proved among the fastest on the day when he regained the lead on Lap 48 and ran unopposed to lead Stage 1.
Denny Hamlin ran up front early in Stage 2, and Logano pushed for the lead until A.J. Allmendinger got checked by Corey LaJoie…
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