A look back at Jimmie Johnson's 45th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in the Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway including news, notes and observations by the RacingOne staff.
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Inside Line Jimmie Johnson scored his fifth win of the season and fourth career at Auto Club Speedway when he took the checkered flag in the Pepsi 500. Photos
Keys to Victory Lane Johnson outran teammate Jeff Gordon on the day's final restart with three laps to go to notch his third straight win at Auto Club Speedway's fall race. Complete Results
Zero to Hero David Ragan started 31st and finished seventh for his first top 10 since the Daytona 500.
Hero to Zero Denny Hamlin made a "rookie mistake" and took himself out of the race on a lap 195 restart after leading 21 laps. Also, Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeared to be headed to a top-10 finish after starting 37th, but was taken out of the race after Elliott Sadler got into the back of his No. 88 Chevrolet on a late restart.
Rookie of the Race Joey Logano finished 14th to cap off the weekend that saw him get his first win at Auto Club in the Nationwide Series on Saturday.
Chase for the Cup Johnson took the point lead for the first time this season with his win and his closest compeitiors all finished in the top five and trail by: Mark Martin (-12), Juan Pablo Montoya (-58), Tony Stewart (-84) and Jeff Gordon (-105).
Notables Sam Hornish Jr. started 22nd and posted a solid 12th-place finish. Ryan Newman's February ACS trip was a diasaster, but he rebounded Sunday after starting 35th to finish 15th. And Michael Waltrip took the green flag from the 34th position and finished 17th.
Pepsi 500 Loop Data Leaders • Average Running Position: Jimmie Johnson - 2.0 • Fastest Early In a Run: Jimmie Johnson - 175.458 mph • Fastest Late In a Run: Jimmie Johnson - 170.365 mph • Fastest Laps Run: Jimmie Johnson - 82 • Fastest on Restarts: Jimmie Johnson - 175.553 mph • Most Passes During Green Flag Conditions: David Ragan - 116 • Laps In Top 15: Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin - 250 • Quality Passes: Casey Mears - 73 • Speed in Traffic: Juan Pablo Montoya - 173.044 mph
Pit Stops • Johnson captured his 45th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in his 285th career start. Detailed Active Driver Wins • Johnson won the 186th race for team owner Rick Hendrick. Detailed Active Car Owner Wins • Johnson became the third driver to win at Auto Club Speedway from the third position. He was the 259th driver overall to win a race from that position. Starting Position Facts • Johnson won the ninth race for Chevrolet at Auto Club Speedway. All-Time Manufacturer Wins • Jeff Gordon (second) posted his 10th top-10 finish in 19 races at Auto Club Speedway. • Juan Pablo Montoya (third) has finished fourth or better in all four Chase races so far. • Mark Martin's fourth-place finish was his seventh consecutive top-10 finish this season. • Tony Stewart (fifth) finished in the top 10 in both of his Auto Club races in his first year with his new team. • Carl Edwards (sixth) has finished seventh or better in all but one of his starts at Auto Club Speedway. • David Ragan's seventh-place finish was only his second top-10 finish this season. • Kurt Busch (eighth) posted top-10 finishes in both Auto Club events this year. • Clint Bowyer (ninth) posted his fourth top-10 in eight starts at Auto Club Speedway. • Kevin Harvick (10th) posted his sixth top-10 finish of the season. • The 250-lap race saw 29 lead changes among nine drivers and an average speed of 143.908 mph. • Eight caution flags were thrown for 30 laps. • The Pepsi 500 lasted 3 hours, 28 minutes, 28 seconds.
Lug Nuts • Jimmie Johnson owns the track but we're still not ready to hand over the championship trophy just yet. • Funny how drivers who get caught up in crashes or disappointment find debris cautions mysterious, isn't it Kasey Kahne? • Someone give Richard Petty a giant Goody's for that headache on Sunday. • David Ragan, there you are. • Anyone still think Juan Pablo Montoya won't win a race this season? • Denny Hamlin had a rough weekend but kudos for not pointing the finger at anyone but himself on Sunday. • Tony Stewart has had more comebacks this Chase season than Michael Jordan. • Point all you want at the empty seats Sunday. Take into consideration what's going on in the world and that turnout was pretty darn good as far as we're concerned.
Garage Talk • "Finally on that last restart I got it right." - Jimmie Johnson • "It was making chicken salad out of chicken you know what. We were pretty fortunate to get a couple of breaks there when we needed them." - Tony Stewart • "We are doing whatever we can to stay positive." - Dale Earnhardt Jr. • "Chase has been brutal for us so far. The last two races have probably been our two worst of the season." - Brian Vickers • "We're not celebrating like it's a win, but a top-10 the way our season has been is certainly refreshing." - David Ragan • "I never heard that there was a wreck, so I hit it. We had a top six or seven car. Kurt (Busch) screwed up and we got in his mess." - Kasey Kahne • "I was not feeling well and I was coughing real bad out there." - Kyle Busch
RacingOne Rating On a scale of one to 10 ice cold Pepsis, we'll give Sunday's Pepsi 500 a solid seven. In all honesty, Auto Club Speedway hasn't built a reputation for exciting racing in recent years but the double file restarts and slick track added up to a pretty thrilling day - at times- on Sunday. Johnson was the class of the field - as usual - at ACS but the Chase race is far from over and adding a trip to Fontana as part of the playoffs wasn't a bad move at all. Now we go to the hub of the sport and under the lights for the only time of the Chase, and next Saturday night's final visit to what is now known as Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte.
