Feels like home: California native Jimmie Johnson wins at Auto Club Speedway, takes point lead
Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway in California. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
Related stories: Second class? Jeff Gordon frustrated with result from California
Juan Pablo Montoya posts another top-five, still loses ground at California
Mark Martin falls to second in points with fourth-place finish at Auto Club Speedway
Championship hopes of Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle take a blow in California
FONTANA, Calif. – Jimmie Johnson won the Pepsi 500 and with it took over the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points lead Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in California.
But while the three-time defending Cup champion assumed the lead in the standings, the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s fiercest competition for the title all finished in the top five in the race.
“[We] keep chipping away at it, but obviously there’s a lot of racing left,” said Johnson, a California native celebrating in his home state a victory that was his fifth of the season and 45th of his career. “We’re in good shape. … I’m just really, really happy.”
Johnson led 126 laps and passed teammate Jeff Gordon with seven laps remaining and then survived a three-lap shootout for the win. Gordon placed second.
“The only thing to me that’s bittersweet is that we finished second, and I felt like we were like in a second-class category,” Gordon said. “That’s the only thing that bothers me a little bit. We’re just not good enough. We’re good, but we’re not good enough.”
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing’s Juan Pablo Montoya finished third, Hendrick’s Mark Martin was fourth and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Tony Stewart overcame a speeding penalty to finish fifth.
“We have four [top-fives] in a row and I’ve been losing points to the leader,” Montoya said. “It is what it is. … You ain’t going to make [up] any points on anybody. Everybody that runs good is going to be there. You just got to make sure you don’t lose any.”
Martin, who was leading the standings entering the race, is now 12 points behind Johnson with six races left in the season.
“We finished as high as we could, so the points will stack up how they do,” Martin said. “We did a great job, and we raced, and the racing will decide.”
Montoya is third in the standings, 58 points behind, while Stewart is fourth at 84 points back and Gordon is fifth, 105 points behind. The rest of the Chase standings: Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch (121 points behind Johnson), Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle (-188), Roush Fenway’s Carl Edwards (-192), Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin (-219), Stewart-Haas’ Ryan Newman (-223), Richard Petty Motorsports’ Kasey Kahne (-306) and Red Bull Racing’s Brian Vickers (-351).
Hamlin was the big loser as far as Chase drivers. He finished 37th and lost six spots in the standings due to an accident that was his fault as he came down on Montoya on a restart and spun through the infield grass.
Rounding out the top 10 in the race were Edwards and Roush Fenway teammate David Ragan, Busch, and Richard Childress Racing’s Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick.
The race had eight cautions for 30 laps, including one big accident that resulted in a red flag and set up the three-lap shootout for the finish. There were no injuries, but JGR driver Kyle Busch was sick and had to be relieved by David Gilliland, who drove the car to a 24th-place finish.
