By Matt Marr
Bubba Wallace, having won his second career pole (and first of this season), led the field to the start of the Auto Trader EchoPark Automotive 400 on Sunday.
The first caution came out on lap 42 as Austin Dillon lost a wheel and slammed the wall.
Not long after the ensuing restart, Aric Almirola and Alex Bowman both spun in turns one and two.
With six laps remaining in stage one, Kyle Busch had a tire go down and hit the wall hard, bringing out the caution. He drove halfway across the track to pit road, all in reverse.
This meant that the race went back to green with one lap remaining in Stage One, which Tyler Reddick ended up winning due to pit strategy.
The tire issues didn’t stop there, as Corey Lajoie had one go down and spun. This brought out another caution on lap 111.
Stage Two was won by Kyle Larson, and he continued to dominate through much of the final stage.
With only 25 laps to go in the race, JJ Yeley (driving the #15 for Rick Ware Racing) wrecked coming off of turn two, bringing out a caution and eliminating Larson’s six-second lead.
On the following restart, Larson and Bubba Wallace were side-by-side, battling hard for the lead, when Larson spun out on his own - no contact was made between the two drivers.
Then with 12 to go, Ryan Blaney, Zane Smith, AJ Allmendinger and Erik Jones were all involved in a big wreck.
Bubba Wallace and Chase Briscoe battled for the lead after what would prove to be the final restart with six to go. However, William Byron passed both of them and was able to hang on for the win.
This marked the 300th win in the history of Hendrick Motorsports.
Auto Trader EchoPark Automotive 400 Top 5:
1. William Byron
2. Ross Chastain
3. Bubba Wallace
4. Christopher Bell
5. Denny Hamlin
Notables:
6. Kevin Harvick
10. Chase Briscoe
13. Justin Haley
19. Ty Dillon
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