NASCAR results at Fontana: Martin Truex Jr. sweeps stages and wins first race of 2018

Martin Truex Jr., the defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup champion who dominated the 2017 season, earned his first victory of 2018 Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

Truex, who started on the pole, ran up front throughout the afternoon, winning the first two stages before scoring the race win, his 16th career victory.

The deciding moment in the face came with 37 laps remaining, when the leaders all pitted. Kyle Busch won the sprint off pit road ahead of Truex, but a problem immediately surfaced. Busch's crew radioed to say they had adjusted the wedge the wrong way on the stop. Five laps later, Busch's loose car bobbled and Truex sped into the lead for good.

"We never gave up on it," Truex told Fox Sports. "I knew we had a really good race car. … Once we got in clean air this thing was unbelievable."

"It's just unbelievable to be able to do this for a living."

Kevin Harvick, who won the previous three races and was favored to win a fourth straight in the Auto Club 400, crashed early in the first stage after running into Kyle Larson's car. Although Harvick's crew made repairs, he returned several laps down and finished 35th.

"I went down to side draft, he was coming up and we touched," Harvick said. "I think that's my fault for coming down the race track … I was trying to get a little too much right there."

Larson overcame that early incident with Harvick to finish second. Kyle Busch crossed the line third, followed by Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

NASCAR results from Auto Club 400 at Fontana

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 11. Clint Bowyer 12. Aric Almirola 13. Alex Bowman 14. Kurt Busch 15. William Byron 16. Chase Elliott 17. Jamie McMurray 18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 19. Paul Menard 20. Darrell Wallace 21. Ryan Newman 22. AJ Allmendinger 23. Daniel Suarez 24. Kasey Kahne 25. David Ragan 26. Michael McDowell 27. Ty Dillon 28. Cole Whitt 29. Ross Chastain 30. Chris Buescher 31. Matt DiBenedetto 32. Gray Gaulding 33. Timmy Hill 34. Reed Sorenson 35. Kevin Harvick 36. Jeffrey Earnhardt 37. Trevor Bayne