Kyle Busch wins final NASCAR Cup race on two-mile oval at Auto Club Speedway

Kyle Busch celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

As farewells go, it was chilly. And weepy.

The Fontana air had a pronounced chill Sunday for the last NASCAR race on the venerable two-mile Auto Club Speedway oval, less than 24 hours after snow improbably blanketed much of the Inland Empire.

The track wept, and that isn’t an attempt at personification. Trapped rainwater from the last few days seeped from under cracks and seams in the porous, 26-year-old asphalt, forming what drivers call “weepers” — slick, wet spots that can cause a driver to lose control, especially when tire treads become worn.

But the track was drivable, and competitors can read it and weep: Kyle Busch ended a mini slump and won going away.

Who could be surprised that Busch took the last Auto Club 400 even though he is coming off a down season in which he won only one Cup Series race? It was his fifth Auto Club victory, including his first Cup Series win in 2005 and his 200th overall win in 2019.

“That all makes it memorable,” Busch said. “I love California and this speedway has always great to me. The fans here have been great.”

Busch pointed out that the win enabled him to reach other milestones. It marked the 19th season in a row that he has won a Cup Series race, one year longer than the streak of previous record-holder Richard Petty. It also was the 95th Cup Series victory for brothers Kyle and Kurt Busch, breaking the record held by Bobby and Donnie Allison.

Kurt Busch greeted Kyle with a hug in victory lane.

“It’s neat to have him be there,” Kyle Busch said. “He was emotional, he’s getting soft in his old age. It’s fun to set records, always, and when you get to do it with your brother, it’s special for your parents.”

Chase Elliott finished second with a strong final 30 laps and was followed by Ross Chastain and Kevin Harvick.

“The track conditions were fine,” Harvick said. “I didn’t really see weepers and it was just really dirty every run. The second half of the race it cleaned up, but it was hard on the windshields. In the end, they did a great job preparing the track and we were able to put on a good race.”

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Crews got to work Sunday at 5:30 a.m. to stem the tears, employing enormous track-drying apparatuses — Air Tundras, Buffalo Turbine Blowers, Jet Dryers and a sweeper truck. They also used hand saws and drills to create troughs in the track where water could drain from outside banks to the apron.

A view of the snowy San Bernardino Mountains from Auto Club Speedway in Fontana on Feb. 26, 2023. (Steve Henson / Los Angeles Times)

The Cup Series race started on time at 12:30 p.m. in front of a sellout crowd of about 50,000, and the drivers lined up five wide during pace laps before the drop of the green flag, an impressive sight meant to salute the fans that supported the two-mile track since it opened in 1997.

The track was reasonably dry and weepers weren’t the worst problem. By Lap 40, the front of cars looked like they’d been sandblasted, and pit crews had to be mindful not to slip on debris that shook out of grills during stops.

Chastain won the first two points stages, after 70 and 140 laps, and was riding momentum. He won at Circuit of The Americas and at Talladega Superspeedway in 2022, but his signature moment came at Martinsville Speedway in October when his audacious move passing two cars on the last lap was christened the “Hail Melon” because Chastain is an eighth-generation watermelon farmer.

On the final lap, Chastain needed to pass two cars. He floored it going into Turn 3 but instead of relying on the tires for turning force, Chastain used the wall to help him turn much faster. His lap time of 18.845 seconds was the fastest ever for a stock car at Martinsville.

NASCAR quickly passed a rule forbidding the wall-riding maneuver. It would have been impossible to employ at Fontana anyway because the wall banks aren’t severe. Chastain led for 71 laps, gave way to veterans Busch and Harvick with 62 to go, then regained the lead seven laps later.

In his last season as a Cup Series driver, Harvick was making his 750th consecutive start, making him the third driver to reach the milestone. He and Busch — who are tied among active drivers with a record 60 Cup Series wins — were first and second with 62 laps to go.

But an aggressive move by Chastain pushed back Harvick for good and Busch for an eyeblink. Busch slipped to seventh but quickly moved back to second, hanging right on Chastain’s tail.

Busch was not to be denied the final victory on an oval beloved by drivers.

Although NASCAR could abandon the project until ground is broken, the plan is to reduce the track from two miles to a half-mile and modernize the speedway so that races appeal to a broad demographic, not just hardcore NASCAR fans.

NASCAR confirmed Friday it has sold most of the Auto Club Speedway land to its business partner Hillwood, a Dallas-based company that is helping NASCAR sell properties nationwide. NASCAR will retain 89 of the more than 500 acres and says it will continue with plans to develop the half-mile track.

Early on Sunday caution flags came out nearly as often as they do at a short track. The sixth caution came after several cars spun out into the infield on a restart. Leader Joey Logano didn’t speed up as fast as expected going into the green flag, squeezing everyone behind him like an accordion. It resulted in the largest wreck in a Cup Race in history of the Auto Club Speedway and sent to the sidelines Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Aric Almirola and AJ Allmendinger.

“I think the leader was just playing games, trying to prevent the runs coming from behind and they stopped in the middle of the restart zone right about where they should have been accelerating,” Almirola said. “Everybody just started stacking up and you can’t stop on a dime. It’s disappointing to get wrecked out of the race like that on a silly Mickey Mouse restart, but I should have known better.”

Busch’s nickname is “Rowdy,” and many wrongly assume it is a nod to his aggression on the track and rather cocky attitude. He came up with it because Rowdy Burns was his favorite character in “Days of Thunder.”

Coincidentally, actor Michael Rooker, who played legendary driver Rowdy Burns in the movie, gave the command for drivers to start their engines Sunday. About 3½ hours later, one driver was doing a burnout on his victory lap, providing the final memory on an iconic track. Rowdy indeed.

Busch grabbed a loose chunk of the track before leaving victory lane.

“It’s not glamorous looking, it’s a piece of asphalt,” he said, laughing. “Winning the last one here was super meaningful to me.”

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.