Leaders collide, allowing Kyle Busch to win Auto Club 400
FONTANA, Calif. -- As Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin made significant contact while racing for the checkered flag on the final lap at Auto Club Speedway, Kyle Busch drove past them both to win the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday.
"They forgot about me," Busch said after taking the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory lane. "I knew they would've."
Busch and Logano swapped the lead several times in the closing laps before Logano and Hamlin both got past Busch with six laps to go. Logano and Hamlin then raced side by side in the closing laps before Logano's car slid up the race track on the final lap, making contact with Hamlin, allowing Busch to make the final pass for the win.
Hamlin, in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, made hard, head-on contact with the inside retaining wall. He was transported by ambulance to a local hospital, though he was awake and alert. Hamlin wound up in 25th place.
Logano, driving the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford, was able to continue after scraping the outside wall. He finished seventh after leading 41 laps of the 200-lap race.
Logano and Hamlin feuded a week prior at Bristol (Ten.) Motor Speedway, and the feud spilled over to Twitter.
"We worked it last week," Logano said. "He probably shouldn't have done what he did last week, so that's what he gets. And besides that, I think our Auto Club Ford was very strong all day. I was very happy with the car we had. We were super fast, led a lot of laps. Nothing to hang our head down about, that's for sure. We were very proud of that."
Logano also made an enemy of Tony Stewart (No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet) late in Sunday's race, blocking Stewart on the final restart. The move allowed Logano to maintain position following a caution that came out in the final 15 laps.
"I had to throw a block there," Logano said. "That was a race for the lead."
When the dust cleared, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) came in second place, enabling him to take the championship points lead and build up a 12-point cushion over reigning series champ Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Penske Racing Ford). Kurt Busch (No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet) finished third after overcoming an early-race pit road speeding penalty.
Hamlin started on the pole but lost the lead on the first lap to teammate Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota). Kyle Busch then moved into the lead on lap 11 and went on to lead over half of the race.
Kyle Busch got shuffled back several positions when drivers including Stewart, Cling Bowyer (No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota), Keselowski and Kenseth got off pit road ahead of him by taking only two tires during a caution with 70 laps to go.
Kyle Busch quickly made his way back to the front, though, reclaiming the lead with 53 laps to go. Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet) ran second to Busch for a while, until Logano rejoined Kyle Busch up front on a restart following a caution that came out with about 30 laps to go.
Logano and Hamlin were in front late until their last-lap collision.
"Lo and behold, I put my foot to it and drove away," Kyle Busch said.
Carl Edwards (No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford) finished fourth, and Greg Biffle (No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford) was fifth after starting the race in the back because of an engine change.
Keselowski came in 23rd.
NOTES: Kyle Busch's win was the first at Auto Club Speedway for Toyota. ... Busch previously won at ACS in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in 2005. ... The win snaps a 31-race winless streak for Busch. He had failed to win the last nine races in which he led the most laps. ... Busch also won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday, the ninth straight victory for Joe Gibbs Racing in Fontana. ... With his second-place finish, Earnhardt continues to have top-10 finishes in all five races so far this season.
