[Fontana, Ca.] Jimmie Johnson captured a 12 point lead in the Chase for the Sprint Cup after dominating the Pepsi 500, taking the #48 Lowes Chevy to victory lane. The win is Johnson’s third in a row in the Fall race in California. Johnson led 126 laps, the most at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California.
“Just a solid day all along,” said Johnson after the race. “Those cautions at the end had me really nervous. I didn’t know if we had enough laps to pull this thing out.”
Crew chief Chad Knaus gave all credit to his driver. “Jimmie did a great job all day long. He was patient when he needed to be patient. He was methodical all race long.”
Johnson trailed the #42 driven by Juan Pablo Montoya early in the race, battling back and forth for the lead. Montoya had a strong car throughout the day, leading 79 laps early on, but lost the handle on the #42 Target Chevy when the skies cleared and the track got warmer, giving Johnson the lead.
“As it got hotter, it got worse. At the end, when it got a little cooler, it was a little better,” Montoya said. Though clearly irked that he didn’t have enough for the win Sunday, Montoya said that he wasn’t too worried. “We’re doing top 5′s and we’ll keep doing that. Maybe we can get a freaking win soon.”
Despite the field being strung out for the majority of the race, the Pepsi 500 saw its share of action in the final 60 laps.
Pole setter Deny Hamlin had a dominating run early in the race, running in the top 5 all day and leading 20 laps. After recapturing the lead on pit road on lap 189, Hamlin wrecked during the restart as he tried to block Juan Pablo Montoya on the low lane.
“I just made a rookie mistake,” Hamlin said. “I thought I was clear, and I misjudged it.”
On lap 240, the caution came out after Kurt Busch slid against the wall then slammed down onto Kasey Kahne. Greg Biffle was in the wrong place at the wrong time, getting collected by the #9 Dodge and spinning across the front stretch.
4 laps later, during the restart, a 8 car pile-up brought out the red flag. As cars mid pack jockeyed for position, Elliot Sadler got into the back of Dale Earnhardt Jr. collecting Jeff Burton, Marcos Ambrose, Brian Vickers, AJ Allmendinger, Reed Sorenson, and Kasey Kahne.
Kahne aimed his frustration towards NASCAR for what he called a “wreck fest” after he was involved in the accident on lap 254. He stated NASCAR threw a caution for debris that didn’t exist to bunch up the field and give the fans a show. That forced drivers to Jockey for position in the final laps.
For the second time this weekend, Kyle Busch was force to get out of his race car this weekend due to illness. “I’m not feeling well. I was coughing real bad out there. Maybe now, I’ll go lay down and get some fluids or something and try to get better.” David Gilliland, who started the race in the #71, parked that entry and took over the 18 on lap 61. Gilliland ended the night in 24th place, 2 laps down.
