Martin Truex Jr. Leads for 125 Laps En Route to NASCAR Auto Club 400 Win

Martin Truex Jr. will, no matter what, be getting a chance to defend his championship.

Truex turned in a dominant performance Sunday, winning from the pole to capture the Auto Club 400 in Fontana, California. The No. 78 car led 125 laps in a race that Truex and Kyle Busch dominated entirely. The pair combined to lead 187 of the 200 laps.

Truex finished nearly 11 seconds ahead of second-place Kyle Larson and clinched a spot in the NASCAR playoffs.

"Just fighting hard. Just never gave up on it," Truex told Fox Sports post-race (h/t Nascar.com). "I knew we had a really good race car, honestly, after the first adjustment we made on the car. Once we got some clean air, man, this thing was unbelievable."

The defending NASCAR champion, Truex began his season with a series of headaches. He first disappointed with an 18th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and then saw his car chief suspended after multiple failed inspections at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Despite those early hiccups, Truex has responded in fine form. He's now recorded four straight top-five finishes and started on the pole each of the last two races. He now sits second behind Kevin Harvick in the playoff points standings but has the most overall points of any driver. Harvick's three wins give him a first-place advantage.

The winner of three straight races coming into Sunday, Harvick finished in 35th place after an accident with Larson. Harvick described the crash as "my fault" to Fox Sports (h/t Nascar.com). Larson showed no worse for wear, though, getting a second-place finish.

Harvick has either won or finished outside the top 30 in the five races this season.

Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano followed Truex and Larson to round out the top five.

Jimmie Johnson, who had not finished inside the top 10 all season, got back on track a bit with a ninth-place finish.

Results

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kyle Larson

3. Kyle Busch

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Joey Logano

6. Denny Hamlin

7. Erik Jones

8. Ryan Blaney

9. Jimmie Johnson

10. Austin Dillon