FONTANA, Calif. – Kevin Harvick passed California king Jimmie Johnson on the final turn to win his first race of the season Sunday at Auto Club Speedway.
Kyle Busch had the dominant car most of the day and led coming out of a restart with nine laps left. Johnson, a five-time winner at Fontana, chased him down to go out front with three laps left, but Harvick moved in right behind him.
Harvick started to make his move to the outside on Turn 3 and completed the pass before hitting the final straightaway for his 15th career win. After starting 24th, he led just one of the 200 laps around the 2-mile oval.
Johnson finished second and Busch was third, spoiling his chance to pull off the NASCAR weekend sweep two weeks in a row.
Unlike Saturday’s Nationwide race, which featured lead changes seemingly every other lap, this one had drivers camped out front for long stretches before the final flourish. Part of it was the lack of cautions, the opening 75 laps coming under green to set a track record.