Jimmie Johnson celebrates his win at Auto Club Speedway.

For the fifth time in his career, Jimmie Johnson dominated at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California,  taking his #48 Lowes/Kobalt Tools to victory lane Sunday in the Auto Club 500. Johnson lead 8 times for 101 laps  throughout the afternoon, after starting in 7th. The victory is Johnson’s 48th career victory.

“I just can’t say enough about this Kobalt Tools Chevy. We won our first race here and now our 48th,” said Johnson in victory lane. “Today fortune came our way. The caution came out and gave us track position.”

The caution came out as Johnson pitted with 26 laps to go, when Brad Keslowski spun his #12 Dodge coming out of turn 4. Johnson was able to beat the field to the line, stay on the lead lap and capture the lead as the rest of the field pitted.

Johnson never looked back and took the #48 to victory lane.

Part of Johnson’s success  at Auto Club Speedway is having a crew chief that understands what it takes to win. “Track position is king here,” said Knaus.

The victory on Sunday was much needed for the #48 after crashing out early in the Daytona 500.

Richard Childress teammates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton were the only cars capable of running down Johnson in the final laps, but Burton got looser and Harvick got into the wall in the final ten laps, preventing any type of challenge.

Despite finishing in second, Harvick was not entirely disappointed. “All in all it was a good day.” Harvick had a subpar 2009 season, making  the strong start to 2010 encouraging. “It’s not about catching up; it’s getting in front of everybody else.”

With his second place finish, Harvick leaves Auto Club Speedway with a 19 point lead in the standings over teammate Clint Bowyer.

Teams were not only battling each other, but they were battling the weather, as storm cells moved around Auto Club Speedway. On lap 192, the caution flew for rain, leading many teams to gamble and stay out, including Denny Hamlin.

Unfortunately for Hamlin, the gamble did not pay off. The #11 FedEx Chevy ran out of fuel during the caution and was forced to pit. Hamlin’s bad luck continued, blowing tires multiple times. He finished 29th, 2 laps down.

Juan Pablo Montoya looked to have a strong run on Sunday, leading 29 laps early in the race before falling back and eventually blowing his engine on lap 141. 7 laps later, Ryan Newman joined Montoya in the garage with a blown engine as well.

Kevin Conway was the highest finishing rookie, finishing in 31st place.

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