Kyle Larson, who qualified 13th on Saturday, was forced to start at the rear of the field after his team diagnosed an electrical issue prior to the start of the 400-mile race at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday. But the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 was fast, and Larson was up to 15th by lap nine. Although he flip-flopped from a “little too loose” to a “little too tight” condition based on the minor chassis adjustments made to the car during pit stops, Larson was able to drive up to fifth before stage one ended at lap 65.
When the race restarted at lap 73, Larson quickly made his move into the top spot. But the loose condition returned and he fell to seventh on lap 89. The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion gained positions late, though, and was scored fifth when stage two ended at lap 130.
During the stage break, there was an issue with the left front tire exchange and Larson dropped spots during the pit sequence. But the Elk Grove, California, native maneuvered from 11th on lap 136 to take the lead from Joey Logano on lap 167. Larson built up a more than two-second cushion before a caution waved with nine laps to go. A fast four-tire stop by the No. 5 crew allowed Larson to keep the lead for the restart with four laps to go, and he held off stiff challenges from Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon to capture his first victory of the 2022 season.
QUOTING THE NO. 5 TEAM
Kyle Larson
“It's always fun to win in my home state. Our car didn't feel great in practice yesterday, but (crew chief) Cliff (Daniels) and everybody made some good adjustments overnight and the car handled a lot better. There were definitely some guys that were quicker than us, but they had their misfortunes. We just kept our heads in it all day. It was a long race and the restarts were crazy. The whole runs were crazy.
“Every team is trying to learn this Next Gen car quickly, and I've got Cliff leading our team. We have all the confidence in the world in him and (lead engineer) Adam (Wall) and everybody at the shop and here at the racetrack to keep building on what we have.”
Cliff Daniels
“The way the race played out today, you’d run 10 or 15 laps, somebody blows a tire or hits the fence, you pit, and you had 12 sets of tires. I think we used all but one. Our car, for whatever reason, was on a really fine line of a balance adjustment. It was a very, very small adjustment away from being comfortable to being one side or the other of the coin of balance, which is obviously something that we will get to work on as we get more reps with the car. Luckily we did hone in on it at the end.”
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