Martin Truex Jr. earns first victory of the season at Auto Club

Martin Truex Jr. was no match for the rest of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series field in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.

Truex earned his first victory of the season from the pole at the 2-mile Fontana, California track, sweeping both stages en route to his 16th career series victory. It also serves as the first victory for Toyota in 2018.

Leading a race-high 125 laps of the 200-lap race, Truex took the lead away from second-place starter Kyle Busch on Lap 169 and sailed to the checkered flag.

RELATED: Race results | Series standings | Stage 1 results | Stage 2 results
SHOP: Truex Jr. gear

“Just fighting hard. Just never gave up on it,” Truex told FOX in Victory Lane. “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.”

Defending race winner Kyle Larson finished second, followed by Busch and Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

Kevin Harvick, winner of the past three events, saw his chances of winning a fourth consecutive race go up in smoke on Lap 37 when he made contact with Kyle Larson on the backstretch and hit the outside wall. Harvick drove his damaged No. 4 Busch Beer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford to a 35th-place finish.

Trevor Bayne also found trouble on Lap 108 after slamming his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford into the wall in Turn 4, ending his day and finishing 37th.

WATCH: Bayne hits the wall at Auto Club

As the #NASCARGoesWest portion of the season comes to a close, next up for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is Martinsville Speedway and Sunday’s STP 500 on March 25 (2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).