Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Cartwheel Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series TREATMYCLOT.COM 300 at Auto Club Speedway on March 22, 2014
Photo – Jerry Markland/Getty Images
Kyle Larson’s fan base grew a bit larger on Saturday as the California native and 21-year-old driver held off a late-race charge by Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch to win his first Nationwide Series race at his home town track.
Larson is from the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove in Northern California and led 17 of 150 laps around the two-mile Auto Club Speedway after finishing second five times in 37 series starts.
Larson’s first win was not only popular with fans, but several drivers went out of their way to congratulate him after the race.
“That last caution I think I noticed a TV screen and saw my face and next to it it said, ‘five second-place finishes in the Nationwide Series’ and I thought to myself, ‘I am not getting another one,'” Larson said. “Those guys came at me hard and I thought, ‘Oh no. Second again. But I was finally able to stop that streak.”
“To have guys like Rick Hendrick, Kyle Busch and Chase (Elliott) come up and congratulate me after the race was great.”
Harvick’s second-place finish was his 15th top-ten finish in 18 races at Auto Club Speedway. It was his third top-ten finish in 2014.
“We had a lot of fun there at the end,” Harvick said. “Obviously, you’d rather win the race, but any time you can be involved in a race like that and put on a show for the fans like we did there at the end, you have some satisfaction.”
Busch has won six of the last eight Nationwide Series races here and said,
“It was a great battle there, a fun race the three of us going back and forth and trying to figure out who wanted to win the thing. Congrats to Kyle. There shouldn’t be anyone happier than the fans in the stands.”
Pole-sitter, Elliott Sadler finished fifth, Joey Logano, led the race for 96 laps and finished fourth. Chase Elliott was the highest finishing rookie contender.
Larson will attempt winning on back-to-back days on Sunday in the Auto Club 400 and has been progressively better each week of the 2014 season. After finishing 38th in the Daytona 500, he was 20th at Phoenix and 19th at Las Vegas.
“It means the world to finally get it here in my home state of California,” Larson said. “Man, that was a blast racing out there, and I think it’s going to be a heck of a race tomorrow in the Cup car too.”
The Sprint Cup Series will race the Auto Club 400, Sunday, March 23rd at 3 pm ET at Auto Club Speedway. Television coverage begins at 2:30 pm ET with radio coverage also available on MRN and Sirius XM, channel 90.