Backstretch Motorsports

Fontana, CA — Saying that 3-Time NASCAR Sprint Jimmie Johnson has a really strong affinity for the Auto Club Speedway is understatement.

For months, the defending champion has been saying the addition of ACS to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was a gift to his No. 48 team.

In Sunday’s Pepsi 500, Johnson proved it—and grabbed the points lead from Mark Martin in the process. Johnson’s win also left runner-up Jeff Gordon conceding that his Hendrick Motorsports teammate is in a class by himself.

After the sun came out on Lap 66 of 250, Johnson was unbeatable, and not even a succession of late restarts could derail his effort.

In a three-lap sprint to the finish that followed a massive wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 245, Johnson pulled away from Gordon to win by 1.603 seconds. Juan Pablo Montoya ran third, followed by Martin and Tony Stewart, who overcame a pit-road speeding penalty that cost him a lap.

Though he’s now the all-time leader with four Cup wins at Fontana, Johnson said the race was anything but a “gimme.”

“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.”

Johnson won the race off a restart with three laps left, after the multicar incident in Turn 1—which took out all four Richard Petty Motorsports entries—forced NASCAR to red-flag the race for track cleanup.

The final three-lap segment followed a restart just four laps earlier, after Kurt Busch bounced off the Turn 4 wall and collected fellow Chase drivers Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle on Lap 239. Johnson was confident he had the strongest car, if he could just stay ahead on the restarts.

“It’s such a long straightaway, and the draft is so important that the guy who is in the second row really controls who’s in the lead going into Turn 1,” Johnson said. “You almost have to get a bad restart to allow the guy behind you to hit your bumper and push you along.

“I was doing it wrong, and finally on that last restart, I got it right. We had such a good car that, if somebody did pass me, I could get back by them in a couple of laps.”

Gordon couldn’t agree more about the quality of Johnson’s car.

“They’re in another category,” Gordon said. “We’ve got to find out what we’re missing. The only thing I felt bad about was that we finished second, and we’re in a second-class category. We’re good, but we’re not good enough. We’re doing everything we can to be good enough, but it’s just not there. We’ve got to search and find something. We’ve got to be better than that.”

With his fifth win of the season, the 45th of his career and the third straight in the fall race at Fontana, Johnson moved 12 points ahead of Martin in the standings. Montoya is third, 58 points back, and Stewart stands fourth, 84 behind Johnson. Gordon improved two positions to fifth in the standings, 105 points out.

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.”

Feeling worse than he had all weekend, Kyle Busch exited his No. 18 Toyota during the first caution period, as he had done in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race. Sixty laps into the race, Busch turned the car over to David Gilliland, who started the event in his No. 71 Chevrolet and parked it after 13 laps.

“I’m going to go lay down for a little bit and see if I can get some fluids or something in me at the infield care center,” said Busch, who was suffering from the flu, bronchitis and a sinus infection. “I’m sorry I had to get out. I’m not feeling well. I was coughing real bad out there.”

Gilliland finished 24th, a lap down.

NASCAR Race Number 30
Unofficial Race Results for the Pepsi 500 - Sunday, October 11, 2009
Auto Club Speedway - Fontana, CA - 2 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 250 Laps - 500 Miles - Purse: $6,204,988

Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet 250 195 10 148.5 $302,801 Running 10 126
2 10 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet 250 175 5 117.2 $211,426 Running 2 6
3 4 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet 250 170 5 128.6 $195,773 Running 7 78
4 9 5 Mark Martin Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet 250 165 5 114.8 $136,625 Running 1 5
5 20 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet 250 160 5 92.0 $143,248 Running 2 6
6 11 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 250 150 98.2 $158,356 Running
7 31 6 David Ragan UPS Ford 250 146 83.3 $117,500 Running
8 24 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 250 147 5 102.6 $121,925 Running 2 3
9 8 33 Clint Bowyer Prilosec OTC-Walmart Chevrolet 250 138 88.7 $113,950 Running
10 7 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet 250 134 104.8 $142,828 Running
11 16 07 Casey Mears Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet 250 130 94.2 $121,525 Running
12 22 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge 250 127 72.9 $120,810 Running
13 17 17 Matt Kenseth R&L Carriers Ford 250 124 79.3 $144,340 Running
14 6 20 Joey Logano # Home Depot Toyota 250 121 80.3 $144,951 Running
15 36 39 Ryan Newman Haas Automation Chevrolet 250 118 72.7 $128,054 Running
16 14 12 David Stremme No. 12 Penske Dodge Dodge 250 115 56.6 $131,215 Running
17 34 55 Michael Waltrip NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 250 112 51.9 $105,575 Running
18 42 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 250 109 67.2 $121,348 Running
19 40 34 John Andretti Taco Bell Chevrolet 250 111 5 48.7 $104,000 Running 1 1
20 2 16 Greg Biffle 3M/Scotch-Blue Ford 250 103 90.9 $113,400 Running
21 21 82 Scott Speed # Red Bull Toyota 249 100 58.6 $109,373 Running
22 5 1 Martin Truex Jr. Guitar Hero 5 Chevrolet 249 102 5 80.8 $129,240 Running 1 4
23 27 47 Marcos Ambrose Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox Toyota 249 94 63.5 $106,773 Running
24 19 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota 248 91 57.7 $138,098 Running
25 37 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet 248 88 83.7 $108,450 Running
26 35 96 Bobby Labonte DLP Ford 247 85 43.6 $120,279 Running
27 41 98 Paul Menard Energizer/Menards Ford 247 82 46.4 $122,906 Running
28 26 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 247 79 44.3 $91,875 Running
29 32 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 246 76 62.0 $117,598 Running
30 18 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 245 73 72.7 $136,531 Accident
31 28 43 Reed Sorenson Rosie Organic Chicken Dodge 244 70 57.6 $126,526 Accident
32 39 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Tools Dodge 244 67 47.3 $97,100 Accident
33 12 44 A J Allmendinger Dassault Systemes Dodge 244 64 57.0 $90,000 Accident
34 25 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Dodge 244 61 72.4 $131,448 Accident
35 15 13 Max Papis # GEICO Toyota 244 58 29.8 $89,950 Running
36 29 26 Jamie McMurray Crown Royal Ford 209 55 44.1 $96,900 Running
37 1 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 195 57 5 95.8 $123,050 Accident 4 21
38 38 7 Robby Gordon Jim Beam Toyota 121 49 42.1 $107,560 Accident
39 13 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 29 46 31.6 $88,750 Electrical
40 43 36 Michael McDowell Wave Energy Drink Toyota 25 43 27.9 $88,700 Overheating
41 33 66 Dave Blaney PRISM Motorsports Toyota 22 40 33.4 $88,655 Overheating
42 30 71 David Gilliland TRG Motorsports Chevrolet 13 37 30.6 $88,590 Overheating
43 23 09 Mike Bliss Miccosukee Indian Gaming & Resort Dodge 11 34 25.2 $88,180 Engine
Race Comments: Before an estimated crowd of 70,000, Jimmie Johnson won the Pepsi 500, his 45th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. The following cars dropped to the rear of the field: #18 (engine change).

Failed to Qualify: (2) 37 Tony Raines, 64 Mike Wallace.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 28 Mins, 28 Secs. Average Speed: 143.908 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.603 Seconds
Caution Flags: 8 for 30 laps: Laps: 61-64 (#26 accident Turn 1 [None]); 82-86 (Debris [43]); 118-121 (Debris [82]); 186-189 (Debris [17]); 191-194 (#11 accident frontstretch [44]); 236-238 (Debris [44]); 240-243 (#9, 16 accident frontstretch [20]); 246-247 (#9,19,31,43 44,47,83,88 accident Turn 1(Red Flag: Lap 246: 21 min 45 sec) [12]).
Lead Changes: 29 among 9 drivers: D. Hamlin 1-10; J. Johnson 11-24; J. Montoya 25-39; Kurt Busch 40-41; J. Johnson 42-43; J. Montoya 44-60; J. Johnson 61; J. Montoya 62-64; D. Hamlin 65-67; M. Martin 68-72; J. Montoya 73-81; J. Johnson 82; M. Truex Jr. 83-86; J. Montoya 87-114; J. Johnson 115-118; J. Andretti 119; D. Hamlin 120-124; J. Johnson 125-159; J. Montoya 160; J. Gordon 161; T. Stewart 162; J. Johnson 163-186; D. Hamlin 187-189; J. Montoya 190-194; J. Johnson 195-227; Kurt Busch 228; T. Stewart 229-233; J. Johnson 234-238; J. Gordon 239-243; J. Johnson 244-250.
Top 12 Driver Points: (1) J. Johnson 5,728;(2) M. Martin 5,716;(3) J. Montoya 5,670;(4) T. Stewart 5,644;(5) J. Gordon 5,623;(6) Kurt Busch 5,607;(7) G. Biffle 5,540;(8) C. Edwards 5,536;(9) D. Hamlin 5,509;(10) R. Newman 5,505;(11) K. Kahne 5,422;(12) B. Vickers 5,377.
Coors Light Pole Award : Denny Hamlin, #11 183.87 mph DIRECTV Crew Chief of the Race : Juan Pablo Montoya, #42 crew chief Brian Pattie
DOW Automotive Strategic Call of the Race : Jimmie Johnson, #48 EA Sports Move of the Race : Jimmie Johnson, #48
Goodyear Gatorback Fastest Lap : Denny Hamlin, #11 182.727 mph, Lap 2 Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Jimmie Johnson, #48
Mobil 1 Command Performance Driver of the Race : Juan Pablo Montoya, #42 Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race : Jimmie Johnson, #48 crew chief Chad Knaus, -0.436 seconds
O’Reilly Auto Parts People, Service and Performance : Casey Mears, #07 342.184 seconds Raybestos Rookie of the Race : Joey Logano, #20
Sunoco Diamond Performance : Jimmie Johnson, #48 Tissot Pit Road Precision : Jeff Gordon, #24 295.170 seconds
WIX Filters Lap Leader : Juan Pablo Montoya, #42 78 Laps
Next Race: Oct. 17, 2009 - Lowe’s Motor Speedway at Charlotte