Category: Race Central

In Daytona it was the Daytona Duos, in Talladega it was Dueling Duos that won the race  for Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports. With big help from wingman and team mate Dale Earnhardt Jr., Johnson got the push he needed to win the Aaron’s 499 today.

[media-credit name=”(c) CIA Stock Photo” align=”alignright” width=”267″][/media-credit]The race started off with Hendrick power that filled the front two rows with pole sitter Jeff Gordon and Johnson on the front row. Mark Martin started third, Earnhardt Jr. fourth. Those positions left Martin pushing Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. pushing Johnson when the green flag flew.

The racing looks  to be duos from now on with the aero package and engines that are being used at both of the plate Superspeedways. To be in front of the field, you had to be a two driver team to keep up the speed. The race started off with the Hendrick drivers working together and that’s how they ended the race was in the same position.

Gordon was fighting an illness but it did not seem to slow him down. The team of Martin and Gordon ran mid pack or even back of the pack for the majority of the race while Johnson and Earnhardt Jr. ran the front for a number of laps, but they too joined Gordon and Martin in the back to avoid any incidents during the course of the race.

The two driver method, with drivers that could work with each other, proved to be the essential key today. You could see a team start four to six seconds back and with the draft from the other teams in front of them, sent them like a rocket to suck them forward into the lead.

The strong teams would see 88 lead changes. Hendrick and Richard Childress Racing would be the most dominant teams on the track, while Roush and Gibbs could not yet find the right match to have strong consistent runs during the race.

Clint Bowyer with teammates Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Paul Menard would advance to the front many times where Bowyer led the most laps with 38. The fans would also see many unusual combinations of Dave Blaney and Kevin Harvick work together several times to run up front as well as Kurt and Kyle Busch.

Regan Smith, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr. would hook up with several different drivers during the race. The key though was working within your own teams’ race shop.  Gordon and Martin never left each other during the entire race which was the case with Johnson and Earnhardt Jr.

Bowyer worked with Burton for most of the race.  Butin the end he would team up with Harvick. They seemed to be making the move for the win at the end but Johnson just had too much of a run. During the race, a team could power away from the field if you did not stay glued to each other on the track. Three to four distinct packs ran the track today. Some would be the front runners that would want to remain in front, the first middle group that would be the drivers who swapped front and rear positions to not overheat the cars.

The third group were those waiting for the big one or waiting for the last laps of the race to make a move. In the back were drivers that really did not have someone to draft with.

The end of the race would be the most exciting as Gordon/Martin passed Edwards/Biffle who were running in front on the last lap. On the back stretch Bowyer and Harvick ran the high line while Gordon/Martin are next to the yellow line. Johnson/Earnhardt power start to close in on the top four as they entered turn three.

By turn three Johnson/Earnhardt shoot to the middle to make something happen, but they cannot move forward. Coming out of turn four Johnson/Earnhardt drop to the yellow line with enough room to grab the inside where Gordon/Martin could not make a move.

In the tri-oval Johnson/Earnhardt start to muscle their way inch by inch to the front. Its three wide two team driving as all six drivers are side by side. It appeared that Johnson’s move past Martin may have been below the line. NASCAR officials said there was no violation.

At the line, by .002 seconds, Johnson wins the race in front of Bowyer. Gordon takes third, Earnhardt fourth, Harvick fifth. Martin was shuffled back to eighth as Edwards and Biffle made a comeback on the outside of Bowyer and Harvick to take sixth and seventh.

Johnson would take home his 54th victory in 335 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. This was Johnson’s second win at Talladega and his first for the year.

The 88 lead changes ties an all-time NSCS record set back at this track a year ago.

Carl Edwards is your unofficial points leader by 5 points over Johnson.

Lap-By-Lap coverage

Talladega Tandem, Dega Duo, Two for Two, whatever you call it, that is going to be the big story for the day. The fans saw the most lead changes in the Nationwide race yesterday, I know we will see it happen today.

Hendrick Motorsports heads the first two rows as Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are on the front row with Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rule the second row. The Hendrick drivers have the duo aspect covered for us at the start, we will see how long that holds up.

Lap 14 Johnson with Earnhardt’s pushing takes the lead for the first time today. They have been hooked up for the entire time so far. Lap 16 the two swap for the second time and drop back to 14th and 15th within ten seconds.

Lap 18 Bowyer and Waltrip are on point, Kahne and Vickers , Cassill and Kurt Busch, Burton and Kenseth are the main groups are front.

Lap 21 Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are teamed up. We have a twelve car breakaway at the moment. Lap 22 Kurt Busch has Cassill pushing him to the lead. Vickers and Kahne are teamed up. Waltrip is pushing Bower, Ragan has Menard for his help.

Lap 25 Kyle Busch and Logano are the leaders with Ragan/Menard second.

YELLOW FLAG lap 27 in turn two as Kurt Busch is offset from Cassill which sends him into the team of Kahne and Vickers. One Red Bull car of Vickers heads into the outside wall while the other Red Bull of Kahne heads to the infield while others scatter. With the scattering we see some collateral damage between the duos being nose to tail. All the drivers head to pit road. Bowyer, Waltrip, Burton, Kyle Busch and Menard are the top five. Vickers heads to the garage .

GREEN FLAG lap 32 as Childress teammates of Bowyer and Burton are hooked up take the lead. Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski are teamed up to move up towards the front. Lap 37 a noteworthy move sees Trevor Bayne and Carl Edwards rocketing to the front, but only for a short time as the drivers have to swap for clean air.

Lap 39 Kenseth has help from Ragan with Logano and Kyle Busch close in on the front. Lap 40 Burton pushed by Bowyer, Kenseth by Ragan with a majority of the field teamed up. Kahne is hooked up with a lap down driver of David Gilliland to hold third.

Lap 45 Regan Smith is Menard is in front. Lap 46 Burton and Bowyer are back in front.

Lap 50 your top twenty drivers are Kenseth, Ragan, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Burton, Bowyer, Allmendinger, Reutimann, Biffle, Bayne, Earnhardt Jr., Johnson, Kahne, Bobby Labonte, Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Logano, Ryan Newman, Hamlin and Smith.

Lap 54 Earnhardt and Johnson take the lead. Lap 55 it’s Earnhardt / Johnson versus Biffle / Kenseth for the lead. Lap 57 there are several distinct pack in the field.

Lap 59 Biffle / Bayne run the front with Kenseth / Ragan, Earnhardt / Johnson, Kurt Busch / Keselowski, Bowyer / Burton in tow. Lap 62 the top seven groups are within 1 second of each other. Keselowski / Kurt Busch are two seconds back then it’s another two seconds to the next group of four teams. The front row of Martin and Gordon run 25th and 26th run ten seconds from the second group.

Lap 67 Earnhardt / Johnson are back in front. So far there have been 36 lead changes. We are about 5 laps away from green flag stops. Lap 69 Robby Gordon and Casey Mears come into pit road followed by Edwards and Marcos Ambrose, Juan Palo Montoya and Jamie McMurray.

Lap 71 Logano and Kyle Busch are in. Lap 72 Earnhardt and Johnson are in. Lap 73 Bayne, Biffle, Martin Truex Jr. and another are in. Martin and Jeff Gordon are in. The big thing is with the team pitting it kind of throws off the other team racers near the entrance to pit road, causing the at speed drivers to scatter to the middle of the track. Lap 75 Bowyer and Burton are in for a stop.

Lap 75 your top five groups are Johnson / Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman / Kyle Busch, Bobby Labonte / Truex Jr., Kenseth / Ragan and Smith / Menard. The field is spread out by a huge margin. The top six groups are spread out by four seconds.

Lap 80 David Reutimann and A.J. Allmendinger come up through the ranks where Burton and Bowyer take advantage of their run. To move up and push Johnson / Earnhardt Jr. back to 7th and 8th.

YELLOW FLAG lap 90 in turn three as Kurt Busch is offset into the back of Keselowski to send him into the outside line and the back of Ambrose against the wall. For some weird reason Ragan was locking up his car behind Kenseth then looks like his car burst into flames for a few seconds. Keselowski comes down sideways, just missing Ragan causing him to spin in a reaction to the crash. Kahne has all the action pop up in front of him where he nails one of the cars. Kahne’s car is engulfed in flames as he heads down the apron of turn four.

The field heads to pit road for the third stop of the day. Out of the pits we see Menard, Kurt Busch, Smith, Kyle Busch and Bowyer are the first five back to the track.

GREEN FLAG lap 97 and on the backstretch we see Bowyer and Burton pull to the lead. Lap 98 brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch hop into the lead. Lap 99 Hamlin / Logano are in the mix. Lap 100 new players in the mix are Dave Blaney / Kevin Harvick that move into the lead. Lap 101 Edwards moves into the lead with help from Biffle.

Lap 105 your top twenty drivers are Reutimann, Kurt Busch, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Edwards, Biffle, Mears, Smith, Menard, Bowyer, Burton, Harvick, Bobby Labonte, Yeley, Terry Labonte, Newman, Kenseth, Truex Jr. and Waltrip. So far there have been 50, yes 50 lead changes so far and we still have 83 laps to go. 2 cautions have been on the track for about 6 laps. The 50 lead changes have been among 22 leaders.

Lap 110 Kurt Busch and Kyle Busch jump back into the lead while Bobby Labonte and Truex Jr. are in the mix. Bill Elliott who started the race has J.J. Yeley driving the car with help from Terry Labonte who is pushing from behind, now join the action in front.

Lap 118 (70 to go) it’s Childress racing versus Gibbs racing for the lead and up in the middle come Blaney and Harvick for the lead. Lap 125 we see a five team race in the front. Two seconds back we see another five pack with a small separation to 21st place Bobby Labonte leading a large pack of drivers that has a mix of teams and singles.

YELLOW FLAG lap 127 for debris. Robby Gordon is the lucky dog. 28 lead lap drivers will head into pit road. Smith, Menard, Bowyer, Allmendinger, Kyle Busch, Reutimann, Blaney and Harvick are in the top ten. 62 lead changes so far.

GREEN FLAG lap 132 as we see six of the two groups work on each other for the lead. Lap 135 (53 to go) Blaney and Harvick lead Kyle Busch and Logano. Lap 138 Waltrip almost tags Johnson in turn two.

YELLOW FLAG lap 139 as Logano pushes Kyle Busch from behind too hard which sends Busch into Kenseth in the path of Newman, Allmendinger, Reutimann, Hamlin Bobby Labonte and McMurray. All the drivers scatter to avoid the spinning Kyle Busch and Kenseth.

From pit road we see Harvick, Burton, Bowyer, Menard and Kurt Busch in front.

GREEN FLAG lap 144 and 44 to go. By turn three Harvick and Bowyer take off from the field for a few seconds. 41 to go as Menard is offset from Burton which Burton is on the apron and a big, huge save.

39 to go it looks like somebody hit the let’s go switch up front as we see Truex Jr. with help from Reutimann score the front point with Harvick and Bowyer on the outside followed by Burton Menard, Kurt Busch / Logano, Blaney and Smith and three other two driver packs.

35 to go as McMurray / Montoya battle with Blaney / Smith for the lead. 33 to go as Blaney / Smith lead Bowyer / Harvick and Montoya / McMurray with Burton / Menard and Kurt Busch / Logano.

30 to go Bowyer / Harvick lead. 29 to go Truex Jr. / Reutimann challenge for the lead. Martin / Jeff Gordon have moved past Johnson / Earnhardt Jr. into 16th and 17th.

YELLOW FLAG 25 to go for debris. Bowyer and Harvick lead.

GREEN FLAG with 20 to go and into 19 to go Bowyer and Burton have the lead followed by Smith and Menard, Montoya / McMurray who pass Bowyer and Burton.

18 to go Newman / Hamlin make a move to the front and as they do in turn three, Hamlin turns Newman into Montoya where Montoya holds his car in place and the dirt track skills of Newman saves a big wreck. Montoya has major damage to the right side of his car.

YELLOW FLAG and 14 to go as it looks like the front left tire might have let go from Newman’s car coming out of turn two. Another big save by Newman and he does not hit the inside wall. Montoya brings his car to pit road and the tire is so bent in that on the yellow flag lap you can see the tire start to peel away causing a long string of the tire is flapping in the air. No takers to pit road from the front of the field. Newman remains on the lead lap.

GREEN FLAG with 11 to go and the front row starter of Jeff Gordon and wingman Mark Martin had the lead for a moment.

9 to go as Harvick and Bowyer are on the outside with Johnson / Earnhardt in tow.

8 to go Blaney and Kurt Busch followed by Jeff Gordon and Martin, Truex Jr. and Reutimann.

7 to go we have 20 drivers within two seconds of a gap.

6 to go Blaney / Kurt Busch, Truex Jr . / Reutimann, Johnson / Earnhardt Jr.

5 to go it’s big time game on with 5 packs of two drivers led by Edwards and Biffle.

4 to go Edwards / Biffle, Bowyer / Harvick, Earnhardt / Johnson, Jeff Gordon / Martin

2 to go Bowyer and Harvick on the outside of Edwards / Biffle

WHITE FLAG as Gordon / Martin pass Edwards / Biffle. On the back stretch Bowyer and Harvick run the high line while Gordon and Martin are next to the yellow line. Johnson with Earnhardt power start to close in on the top four as they enter turn three.

By turn three Johnson / Earnhardt shoot to the middle to make something happen, but they cannot move forward, so coming out of turn four Johnson / Earnhardt drop to the yellow line with enough room to grab the inside where Gordon / Martin cannot make a move.

In the tri-oval Johnson and Earnhardt start to muscle their way inch by inch to the front. It’s three wide two team driving as all six drivers are side by side. Earnhardt taps the door of Martin and they all keep going.

At the line by 1/1000th of a second, Johnson wins the race in front of Bowyer. Gordon takes third, Earnhardt fourth, Harvick fifth. Martin was shuffled back to eighth as Edwards and Biffle made a comeback on the outside of Bowyer and Harvick to take sixth and seventh.

David Gilliland and Logano round out your top ten.

The race lasted for over three hours. We saw 88 lead changes among 27 drivers. 6 cautions came out.

[media-credit name=”Patrick McBride” align=”alignright” width=”284″][/media-credit]Kevin Harvick won the battle with Jimmie Johnson and took the win at Auto Club Speedway in last corner on the last lap of the race.

Kevin Harvick had a tough day ahead of him as  many of the other front runners in the series point standings found themselves, starting in the middle of the field. Harvick’s reward of the day was leading one lap, but the most critical one, the final lap.

The showdown for Harvick would be a nine lap battle between himself, Kyle Busch and Johnson. As the final green flag restart of the race was displayed, leader Busch was out front, Johnson was to his inside as the field headed into turn one.

Busch fought a tight car, forcing him to slow in the corners. This allowed Johnson and Harvick catch and overtake Busch and a two driver battle for the win with three laps to go.

Johnson threw blocks to the high and low side to keep Busch and Harvick in his mirror. As Busch faded back to third, the fans broke out into cheers.

The Johnson and Harvick took the white flag, Harvick would ride the high side in turns one and two, Johnson ran in the middle.

On the back stretch Harvick would tap the back of Johnson’s car several times to upset the corner entry for Johnson in turn three. Harvick continued his ride on the outside through turns three and four and pulled ahead of Johnson.

Johnson would try the crossover move on Harvick, but Harvick dropped to the inside of the track to quash Johnson’s chance of the win. Harvick crossed the finish line by a car length over Johnson. Busch would finish 1.1 seconds back in third.

A Day in Southern California –

Harvick’s day started back in 24th among top drivers in overall standings Carl Edwards (started 18th), Kurt Busch (23rd), Jeff Gordon (29th) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (30th)

Harvick would be mired in three to four wide racing for the opening 30 laps of the race into the first round of green flag stops for the field. Harvick broke into the top ten by the second round of green flag stops around lap 67.

The rest of Harvick’s race would be battles between himself and Brian Vickers (Finished 8th), Matt Kenseth (4th), Ryan Newman (5th), Carl Edwards (6th) along with several others under gray skies in Southern California.

Harvick would find that the big challenge came in those last laps of the race after a late accident involving Bobby Labonte brought out a caution with 13 to go. The last laps that closed out the event seemed to be the most exciting of the day as the crowd erupted in cheers as Johnson and Harvick passed Busch.

This is Harvick’s first Sprint Cup win and his 8th top ten finish in his eighteen races at Auto Club Speedway.

Another Sweep Swept Away –

Kyle Busch began his weekend by winning the weekend’s Nationwide race. Busch looked for a back to back event sweep following last week’s Bristol races.

Busch started his race with a top ten start of 8th. Busch broke into the lead on lap 22 for ten laps. He then came back into the lead on lap 37. Busch would lead for a total of five times for an overall count of 151 laps.

The Joe Gibbs Racing team for Busch would keep their driver with the extra seconds separation during pit stops that he held the front over the majority of the race.

Busch rocketed away from the field anywhere on an average of four to nine seconds in front of the challengers. The day seemed to be going for him until the last caution flag of the day.

The top seven drivers including Busch, Johnson and Harvick would remain on the track while the rest of the lead lap cars would pit.

On the restart it looked like Busch would lock in another win, but his car would tighten up so much that he would have to slow down in the entry of the corners which opened the door for Johnson and Harvick.

With his third place finish, Busch moves up two positions to 4th overall.

Starting Upfront has its Challenges –

Juan Pablo Montoya started on the pole for the race to lead the first six laps of the day, which was the only time the Chip Ganassi driver would see clean air during his race.

Montoya did not seem to hit on the correct combination of setup for the car and would find himself challenged by stronger drivers to keep in the top ten for the opening laps of the race.

Running in front, as in the past at Auto Club Speedway was essential to have a winning car. Montoya would be in the mix with the front runners looking to have a strong car, but with the falling off in lap times, Montoya could not challenge for the lead.

In the last 70 laps of the event Montoya fell out of the top ten and held himself in the top fifteen. Montoya would finish his day 10th.

Engine, Engine, who has an Engine –

Gibbs Racing faced yet more challenges of the season as Joey Logano would start in the back of the pack after an engine change from a failed motor that he experienced this weekend. Logano finished 25th.

More trouble for the group hit when Denny Hamlin would be hit with engine issues on lap 83 to send him to the garage, ending his day with a 39th place finish.

A Big Mover –

Greg Biffle was the biggest mover of the day from his start of 32nd to just miss the top ten with a finish of 11th. Biffle moved into the top ten for a period of time by lap 120.

Biffle would flirt with the top ten battling with Montoya, Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers. The team would work with Biffle to keep the car in shape to give the driver help of three spots in the standings to the top twenty.

Lap By Lap –

The rain holds off from the area where the song it never rains in southern California. It rained earlier this morning, but NASCAR has the track ready to go.

Juan Pablo Montoya and Denny Hamlin will lead our 43 drivers to the green flag. We have a lot of clouds in the skies, so who knows what will happen.

We also will see 100 less miles for this race, so the action should pick up today.

The engines fire up and we are off and rolling. Joey Logano for yet another week, has issues with his car and will to the rear of the field. Dave Blaney and J.J. Yeley also head to the back.

GREEN FLAG as the cars get up to speeds of two-oh-ten as a famous broadcaster we all know says.

Montoya has the lead but look who’s coming but none other than Kyle Busch who started 6th is duking it out with his teammate Hamlin. Lap 3 Busch is 3rd. Lap 4 Trevor Bayne was way high and earns a California stripe in both turns one and four.

Lap 5 Montoya and Hamlin leave the field behind by 1.2 seconds. Busch continues his third place hold followed by Matt Kenseth and David Ragan.

Lap 6 we see some type of fire from under Tony Raines’ car out of turn two as he limps to pit road.

Lap 7 into 8 Hamlin challenges Montoya for the lead, taking it coming out of turn four.

Lap 10 we see early movers on the track of Clint Bowyer running 6th from his start of 17th, Jimmie Johnson up to 10th from 16th, Martin Truex Jr. 17th from 26th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 19th from 30th and Jeff Gordon 21st from 29th.

Lap 14 Kyle Busch is up to 2nd and 1.5 seconds behind Hamlin.

Lap 20 Kyle Busch for the lead on Hamlin in turns one and two, which does not work. Truex Jr. is up to 12th, battling for 11th with Ragan and closes in on Tony Stewart for 9th.

Lap 23 Busch takes the lead.

Lap 25 your top ten drivers are Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Montoya, Jeff Burton, Bowyer, Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, Truex Jr., Carl Edwards and Stewart.

Lap 29 we are about 8 to 10 laps from pit stops. Lap 30 two start and parks are in the garage with Joe Nemechek being one of those who just pulled in.

Lap 31 Kyle Busch has a one second advantage over Hamlin. Montoya slips to 1.3 seconds back from Hamlin. Lap 33 pit stops begin.

About 12 drivers head to pit road along with the leaders of Busch and Hamlin. Lap 34 pit road is way busy as almost 2/3rd’s of the field is on pit road.

During the transition we see Bowyer and Johnson lead a lap.

Lap 35 as pit stops are complete for the leaders, Kyle Busch will be in the lead once Yeley comes down to pit road. Lap 37 trouble for Yeley as he is out of gas on the back stretch.

Lap 38 Busch has the lead. Battle between Bowyer and Truex Jr. for 5th. Lap 40 Burton and Bowyer fight for 6th after Truex Jr. pulls away and Burton follows the plan of attack to take 6th.

Lap 42 Truex Jr. is up to 4th place and the biggest mover from his start of 26th. Keep an eye on Kevin Harvick as he runs 12th from starting 24th. Lap 46 Greg Biffle has moved up in the field to 18th from his start 32nd.

Joey Logano who had to start from the back of the field is up to 20th. Lap 48 Todd Bodine, Michael McDowell, Nemechek and Yeley are in the garage.

Lap 50 (150 to go) with your top twenty drivers of Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Vickers, Truex Jr., Bowyer, Stewart, Burton, Montoya, Mark Martin, Kenseth, Edwards, Harvick, Ryan Newman, Johnson, Jeff Gordon, David Reutimann, Ragan, Biffle, Earnhardt Jr. and Logano.

Busch has led the most laps so far with 27. Truex Jr. moves up to 3rd. Lap 53 Kyle Busch leads new second place driver Truex Jr. by 4.5 seconds as Hamlin drops to 3rd.

Lap 57 we see the following on the lap down list – In the garage are Bodine, McDowell, Nemechek and Yeley. Raines is down 6 laps, Ken Schrader (who we have not seen in a while) is 2 laps down, one lap down we see Travis Kvapil, Blaney, Andy Lally, David Gilliland, Casey Mears, Landon Cassill, Robby Gordon, Bobby Labonte on the track.

Lap 62 in danger of falling a lap down is Bayne, Marcos Ambrose, Regan Smith, Jamie McMurray and A.J. Allmendinger.

So far we are setting a record for no cautions this early in the race, in fact we are going to see pit stops soon.

Lap 65 pit stops begin with the cars in the back of the field.

Lap 67 the field begins the trek into pit road.

Lap 69 Kyle Busch regains his lead over Truex Jr. and strings it out more to a gap of 6.6 seconds. Burton is busted for speeding.

Lap 75 (125 to go) with Busch with possibly another sweep? We will see. Busch is 6.5 seconds out in front followed by Truex Jr., Stewart, Vickers, Hamlin, Montoya, Bowyer, Harvick, Martin and Newman.

YELLOW FLAG lap 76 (after setting a record for amount of green flag laps on the start) for debris. Smith is the lucky dog. Burton was about to be lapped for the stop and go and a big save for him.

Most of the leaders head to pit road. The race back to the track is Newman, Martin, Busch, Truex Jr. and Johnson. Stewart remained on track as the field has only been on the current set of tires for six laps. We will see if that works or not.

GREEN FLAG lap 80 as Stewart and Newman lead the field into turn one. ON the next lap Newman has the lead with Kyle Busch grabbing second from Stewart. Lap 82 talk about racing in the back of the pack as we see a big three and four wide move in turn one.

Lap 83 trouble for Hamlin as he is falling back in the pack like a rock, so far back to 27th and still going backwards. Lap 85 we see about four to five different race lines on the track at the start of the corner and middle of the corner to shrink back into one and a half at the exit of turn two, and it comes back quick.

Lap 87 Busch closes in on Newman for the lead. Lap 88 look out from behind as Stewart teams up with Newman to lock out Busch and push him back to third. Lap 89 Stewart is back in the lead again.

Lap 92 Busch drops to the low side of Stewart in turn four to take the lead. His teammate of Hamlin is the last driver on the lead lap running 27th. Lap 94 it looks like an L.A. freeway with all the drivers driving where they want to.

Lap 95 pole setter Montoya runs 9th after passing Bowyer, but he is in a battle with Harvick as they race in the turns in their own line. Lap 98 Stewart is holding good in second but he will have to stop short as he has those six laps less than the rest of the field.

Lap 100 (Halfway home) with your top twenty drivers of Kyle Busch, Stewart, Newman, Vickers, Johnson, Harvick, Truex Jr., Martin, Kenseth, Bowyer, Montoya, Jeff Gordon, Edwards, Biffle, Burton, Paul Menard, Reutimann, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, and Earnhardt Jr.

So far we have seen 14 lead changes among 9 leaders. 26 drivers remain on the lead lap and we have had one caution so far, but…

YELLOW FLAG lap 103 as Stewart has a big save for him as Gilliland blows a tire and throws debris on the track. Hamlin is the lucky dog. The leaders head into pit road for the second time under caution. The battle for the first to the track is won by Kyle Busch who throws his car in front of a three wide battle for second of Vickers, Newman and Stewart.

GREEN FLAG lap 108 with Busch and Vickers leading up to speed. A big restart by Busch and Vickers with less experience allows Busch to jump ahead by almost a half seconds as the drivers exit turn two.

Lap 109 talk about nail biting as we see Truex Jr. in the middle of Logano and Logano as they head into turn one fighting for 15th.

Lap 112 Kyle Busch over Stewart by a half second. We se a good battle between Harvick, Montoya (Like we haven’t see a battle between them before) and Bowyer for 5th place. Vickers drops back to 5th after a Newman pass.

Lap 113 (87 to go) as we hear that Hamlin is done for the day with a sour engine. It looks like Joe Gibbs Racing is going to have some work to do on what to do with the engine department.

Lap 117 movers on the track see our biggest mover at the moment being Greg Biffle up 21 spots to 11th from his start of 32nd. Harvick looks to be on the move this round up to 5th. We also see Truex Jr. slip back to 15th but Earnhardt Jr. move into 16th followed by Jeff Gordon.

Lap 123 other movers on the track are Harvick +19 to 5th, Earnhardt Jr. +15 (15th), Vickers +14 (now 5th as Harvick is 4th), Jeff Gordon +12 (17th) and Truex Jr. +12 (15th as Earnhardt moves into 14th).

Lap 125 (75 to go) with the top ten of Kyle Busch over second place Stewart by 2 seconds, 3rd place Newman is 4.4 seconds back, 4th place Harvick is 4.8 seconds back, 5th place Vickers 6.3 back, 6th place Johnson 7.4 seconds, 7th place Kenseth 8.3 back, 8th place Bowyer 8.7 back, 9th place Menard is 10.4 seconds back and 10th place Biffle is behind by 12.4 seconds.

70 to go with drivers who have slipped back in the field at this time being McDowell slipping down 10 positions to 43rd and out of the race, Jamie McMurray down 10 running 22nd, Montoya from his pole down to 13th, Ragan down 15 to 21st, Ambrose down 17 to 30th and a lap down, Logano down 20 to 23rd, Smith 22 markers down to 26 and Hamlin 37 spots to 39th and in the garage.

Lap 135 Earnhardt Jr. in the middle of a battle of Truex Jr. and Montoya for 13th. Montoya holds the position. We are closing in on green flag stops as Smith and Gilliland head to pit road. We see a shot of Smith getting his Auto Club stripe.

62 to go as the leaders head into pit road. 60 to go as we see some pretty good stops this round. After this round, Kyle Bush is 6.5 seconds in front of Stewart and a gain of 4.4 seconds from the stop.

Lap 142 Harvick is up to 3rd and 9.5 seconds, Vickers 4th and 11.8 seconds back with 5th place Johnson 12.7 seconds back.

Lap 145 as we see a challenge from Johnson on Vickers for 4th place with making the pass in the turn.

Lap 150 (50 to go) and the top twenty led by Kyle Busch over Stewart by 4.6 seconds, 3rd place Harvick is 8.4 seconds back, 4th place Johnson is 11 seconds back, 5th place Vickers is 12.5 seconds back. Then we see 6th place Kenseth, followed by Newman, Bowyer, Menard, 10 place Biffle (down by 20 seconds), Edwards, Montoya, Burton, Earnhardt Jr., 15th place Martin (25 seconds back), Kahne, Truex Jr., Ragan, McMurray and 20th place Jeff Gordon down by 32 seconds.

45 to go Brad Keselowski falls a lap down who is 25th, Kurt Busch 24th is down a lap with Allmendinger in danger of going a lap down with Reutimann, Logano and Jeff Gordon.

42 to go as Bowyer challenges Newman for 7th and takes it coming out of turn two.

40 to go as Stewart closes in a bit on Busch to 3 seconds, but the drivers have one more stop to go where we may see some stops as early as the next ten laps.

38 to go the gap between Stewart and Busch continues to shrink as the gap is now 2.1 seconds. Busch has led 117 laps so far and the most for him at this track.

36 to go Menard and Edwards battle for 10th. This changes tough as Menard moves into 9th passing Biffle. 34 to go Stewart moves in closer to Busch to 1.3 seconds.

34 to go pit stops begin. 32 to go with Busch heading for his stop.

YELLOW FLAG 30 to go as Lally was heading into turn three, bobbled, bobbled again, looked like he was going to save it and by turn four spins out. Cassill is the lucky dog. This will be a quick caution period.

GREEN FLAG with 26 to go and Busch and Stewart leading the field into turn one. From 5th place on back it is three wide racing into the turn with the field getting through it with no issues.

25 to go as four wide racing is afoot with Earnhardt Jr. on the high side around Montoya, Biffle, Logano and Menard for 12th. 24 to go as the action continues between Allmendinger, McMurray, Kurt Busch, Reutimann and Menard for 16th.

21 to go as Johnson begins his fight for second on Stewart as they are one second back with Harvick, Newman and Bowyer closing in on the two.

20 to go as Johnson grabs second. Neman and Bowyer for 4th, Earnhardt Jr. vs. Vickers for 11th.

18 to go as Reutimann and McMurray fight for 20th.

17 to go as Johnson closes in on Busch to a half second. Stewart and Bowyer fight for 3rd.

16 to go Burton up to 9th.

YELLOW FLAG 15 to go as Bobby Labonte blows his right front tire in the middle of one and two to head straight for the outside wall. Big damage on his right side. Kurt Busch is the lucky dog. Who is heading into pit road. We see a fire under Labonte’s car.

Pit road is closed as Labonte’s car came to a stop at the entrance to pit road and the laps click away to 12 to go and we may get down to 10 to go before it opens up.

11 to go and it is open as the top 7 stay out but the rest of the field heads in. We see Busch, Johnson, Stewart, Bowyer, Harvick, Newman and Edwards from the front stay out. We then see Cassill, Edwards, Kenseth and Burton round out the top ten.

GREEN FLAG with 9 to go and Busch and Johnson for the first time today fighting for the lead into turn one.

Johnson looked to have the lead, but Busch holds the outside to grab the lead.

8 to go as Stewart slips back to 11th. Logano is busted for passing before the start finish line.

7 to go as Kahne battles with Harvick for 4th.

6 to go as Johnson hangs in on the rear of Busch.

5 to go Bowyer slides between Vickers and Kahne.

4 to go Johnson tries to get Busch on the front straight, but no dice. Turn three Johnson on the apron in turn three and four.

3 to go as Johnson takes the lead in turn one. Harvick is all over Busch.

2 to go as Johnson keeps throwing the block on Busch. Heading into turn one Busch overdirves the corner which allows Harvick to take second.

WHITE FLAG and on the back stretch Harvick tapping on the back of Johnson as they headed to turn three. This causes Johnson to get out of shape where Harvick takes the outside line.

The drivers swap positions and Johnson tries the cross over move but Harvick drops to Johnson’s inside as they head out of turn four where Harvick heads to the apron to lock Johnson back by a third of a car and take the win.

Your unofficial top ten of the race is Harvick, Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kenseth, Newman, Edwards, Bowyer, Vickers, Kahne and Montoya.

The race lasted for two hours and forty-five minutes. We saw 18 lead changes among 10 leaders. 25 drivers finished on the lead lap. 4 yellow flags were displayed during the race that lasted for 16 laps.

Busch led the most laps with 151, Harvick 1 lap.

[media-credit name=”Patrick McBride” align=”alignright” width=”273″][/media-credit]Kevin Harvick led one lap in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway and it was the most important one, the last one.

Harvick passed Jimmie Johnson on the final turn to win his first race of the season and the 15th of his Sprint Cup career.

“You know those guys (Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson) started racing and they got side-by-side and we were able to pull up in there. The more cycles that got on our tires, the better off we were. But I was really nervous about that last call staying out but it all worked out in our favor and we were able to make up ground.” Harvick said.

Kyle Busch dominated the race by leading a race-high of 151 laps but he didn’t have the car after a late caution flag.

“It’s just we give it up, you know. We gave the race away today, unfortunately. We seem to be losing the handle a little bit two runs from the end and especially that last set of tires.” Busch said.

Johnson passed Busch for the lead with three laps remaining. But Harvick was right behind both drivers just waiting to make his move. Harvick also passed Busch and pulled right up on Johnson’s bumper, setting up his last lap pass for the win.

“It reminded me of last year in the Spring race, you know. Just didn’t hold him off that time. Those tires made the difference. I knew he was coming, they said he was coming. If I could have got by the No. 18 maybe a lap sooner that might have been enough to give him the margin I needed. Just way loose. I was driving my butt off just trying to keep this Lowe’s Chevrolet up front but it didn’t pan out.” Johnson said.

Denny Hamlin led 15 laps before having engine problems and eventually went out of the race. Joey Logano also had engine problems and had to switch engines before Sunday’s race. Joe Gibbs Racing has had engine problems in all five races this season.

Busch finished third, Matt Kenseth fourth and Ryan Newman finished fifth.

“It is a good day for us. You are always greedy and want more. I was the first guy on tires and I didn’t do probably as good a job as I needed to on the restart. It just took awhile to get there.” Kenseth said.

“We had some bad pit stops and they we under green fortunately at least one time I should say for sure I shouldn’t say two. Tony Gibson made a great call staying out. Just really proud of the U.S. Army Chevrolet and everybody at Stewart-Hass Racing giving us the opportunity.” Newman said.

Unofficial Race Results

Auto Club 400, Auto Club Speedway
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Pos. No. Driver Make Pts.
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1 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 47
2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 43
3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 43
4 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 40
5 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 40
6 99 Carl Edwards Ford 38
7 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 38
8 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 36
9 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 35
10 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 35
11 16 Greg Biffle Ford 33
12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 32
13 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 32
14 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 30
15 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 29
16 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 28
17 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 27
18 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 26
19 0 David Reutimann Toyota 25
20 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 24
21 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 24
22 6 David Ragan Ford 22
23 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 21
24 9 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 0
25 20 Joey Logano Toyota 19
26 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 18
27 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 17
28 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 16
29 13 Casey Mears Toyota 15
30 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 0
31 34 David Gilliland Ford 13
32 71 Andy Lally * Chevrolet 12
33 32 Ken Schrader Ford 11
34 7 Robby Gordon Dodge 10
35 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 0
36 37 Tony Raines Ford 8
37 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 7
38 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 6
39 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 6
40 60 Todd Bodine Toyota 0
41 46 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 4
42 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
43 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 1