Tony Stewart still needs help to catch Sprint Cup Series points leader Jimmie Johnson, but he jump-started his climb back into contention for the series championship Sunday at Auto Club Speedway.
Stewart beat resilient Clint Bowyer to the finish line by .466 seconds in Sunday’s Pepsi Max 400 to win his first race at the 2-mile track, his second of the year and the 39th of his career.
Johnson, on the other hand, leaves his home track 36 points ahead of second-place Denny Hamlin, who came home eighth Sunday. With the Chase field spreading out four races into the series’ postseason, only Hamlin, Kevin Harvick (54 points back) and Jeff Gordon (85 back) are within 100 points of the four-time defending champion with six races left.
Non-Chasers Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Mark Martin finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Harvick came home seventh, followed by Hamlin, Gordon and David Reutimann. NASCAR.com
“It started off a little slow,” Stewart said, “but we kept picking away a little bit at a time.”
Stewart finally took the lead coming off a caution on lap 189 and held on for his first win ever in Fontana.
“It’s a difficult track,” he said. “I’ve been terrible here. I’m glad to finally win one in California. I can now check it off the list of tracks I’ve never won at.”
The four-time defending Cup champion said he had a “solid performance. If we can leave the racetrack with a top three each week, we’ll be where we want to be at Homestead.” Fontana Herald-News
Last Tuesday, Richard Childress Racing lost its final appeal to have Bowyer’s 150-point penalty overturned. Bowyer also ran his first race with crew chief Scott Miller, who is filling in for Shane Wilson during Wilson’s four-race suspension.
“I’m happy to get things turned around after the last two weeks, but I’m frustrated because I wanted to redeem myself,” said Bowyer, whose team was penalized after his New Hampshire-winning car failed post-race inspection.
Chase contenders Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle, who won last week’s race at Kansas, each suffered engine failure at California and saw their title hopes greatly diminish.
Biffle’s engine blew on lap 40, as he wound up finishing 41st and falling 215 points out of the lead.
“Something broke on the bottom end of the engine,” Biffle said. “There was no indication, because the car was running strong.”
Busch, who won Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at California, had his engine expire with fewer than 50 laps to go. Busch admitted after his 35th-place showing that his championship bid is all but done. He is now 187 points behind.
“I’ll do it another year,” he said. MiamiHerald.com
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Pepsi Max 400 at Auto Club Speedway - Race Results
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