A career came full circle for Jimmie Johnson, who won his first Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in 2002 and Sunday claimed his fifth victory at the 2-mile track and the 48th of his career—matching the No. 48 on his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
After gaining the lead in the Auto Club 500 during a fortunate exchange on pit road, the four-time defending series champion held off Kevin Harvick during a 20 lap green-flag run to the finish. Harvick had narrowed a 1-second lead to .311 seconds on Lap 246 of 250 before a brush with the wall slowed his progress.
Jeff Burton ran third, followed by Mark Martin and Joey Logano. Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle completed the top 10.
With the win, Johnson tied Herb Thomas for 12th on the career victory list and showed the rest of the field that he’s back on course after a 35th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500. NASCAR.com
Johnson hugely benefited from a late-race caution when he made his final pit stop just before the yellow flag was displayed for an accident involving Brad Keselowski. The four-time defending Cup champion avoided going a lap behind when he exited pit road prior to then race-leader Jeff Burton crossing the line to start the caution period. Johnson took the lead for good with 24 laps to go when Burton and the remainder of the leaders pitted for the last time.
Kevin Harvick chased down Johnson after the final restart, but Harvick scraped the wall with four laps to go, allowing Johnson to drive away for the win.
“Fortune came our way today,” said Johnson, who led a race-high 101 laps. “The deal that we were on pit road gave us track position, and I drove my butt off. When we finally got the car turning, it was just a little too loose. [Harvick] was coming, but he hit the wall.”
“[Johnson] saw me coming and he moved up,” Harvick said. “The first time I ran through there, I just lost the nose of the car and got in the wall there. It knocked the right front fender in.”
With two races now in the books this season, Harvick holds a 19-point lead over teammate Clint Bowyer, who finished eighth.
“Oh great, only 34 [races] more to go,” Harvick jokingly said. MiamiHerald.com
Despite not winning, it was another strong showing for the Richard Childress Racing trio, with Clint Bowyer’s eight-place finish backing Harvick and Burton.
Richard Childress didn’t win any races - or even have a top-five finish - last season with four full-time cars. All three drivers finished in the top 11 at the Daytona 500 last week before another strong showing in Southern California.
“We felt good about what happened in the fall, over the winter. ... I had quite a bit of confidence coming in,” Burton said. “But until everybody gets out here and they’re going to give somebody a trophy you don’t really know where you stand.” The Canadian Press
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Auto Club 500 at Fontana - Race Results
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