California native Jimmie Johnson accelerated his bid for a record fourth straight Sprint Cup Series championship with a convincing victory Sunday at his hometrack—Auto Club Speedway.
Johnson, from nearby El Cajon, moved underneath Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon and took the lead with six laps remaining in the Pepsi 500. Just after Johnson made the pass, an eight-car pile ensued in turn one, which halted the race for 22 minutes. Chase contenders Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers were among those drivers involved in the incident.
After the final restart with three laps to go, Johnson easily held off Gordon to score his fifth victory of the season and the 45th of his Cup career. He also won at California for the fourth time, including the last three fall races here. MiamiHerald.com
Johnson’s fourth win at the 2-mile oval gives him a 12-point lead over Mark Martin heading into Saturday night’s race at Charlotte. The victory was his fifth of the season, 45th of his career and 16th during the Chase.
The native Californian did his best to savor it. He enjoyed an uncharacteristically drawn-out postrace celebration at a track he loves, one that took so long he needed to be reminded to go to Victory Lane.
Juan Pablo Montoya was third, his fourth straight top-five finish since the Chase began. Yet he’s failed to make up any ground on the Chase leader. He started the playoffs 40 points behind Martin, now finds himself trailing Johnson by 58. The Associated Press
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway - Race Results
“I try not to the have the mind-set that we come back to a track that we’ve had success at and we’re expected to run well,” he said. “You have to go out every week, and it’s the same thing for this championship.
“Just because we’ve done well the last three years doesn’t mean that we’re a shoo-in for the fourth. So I’ve just got to stay focused on my job and go out and earn it each lap and see where things fall into place. We needed to run well today to get points because, obviously, the 5 (Martin) and the 42 (Montoya) ran well.”
Johnson, who grew up in El Cajon, Calif., said the appearance of the sun turned track conditions in his favor.
“We did work on the car some, but I think it came to us,” Johnson said. “I think it made the track slick, and the lines I was running and the balance we had with the car really helped us. So it really came in our direction.”
Polesitter Denny Hamlin was a major casualty. First out of the pits under caution after a pit stop on Lap 186, Hamlin led the field to a restart on Lap 190, but before he reached the first corner, Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota sat wrecked at the end of pit road.
Hamlin had chosen to restart from the outside lane—the leader’s prerogative—but he turned too quickly to the inside and spun across the nose of the Chevy of Montoya, who had gotten a push down the frontstretch from Johnson.
The nose of Hamlin’s car slammed into the end of the wall separating pit road from the infield grass. After extensive repairs in the garage, Hamlin returned to the track for a few laps, but his 37th-place finish dropped him to ninth in the Cup standings, 219 points behind Johnson.
Hamlin was crestfallen as his team repaired his car.
“I thought I was clear and misjudged it,” he said. “I got to apologize to the team. They deserve better than that. They got me out front. It was a bad mistake.”
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