Subscibe to our feedJohnson Wins California; Grabs Points Lead
Jimmie Johnson held on during a frantic finish to Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway to earn his fifth win of the season. He now leads the standings in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Johnson started the race third and maintained top 10 position throughout the day. He battled Juan Pablo Montoya for the lead early in the race and swapped the top position with teammate Jeff Gordon several times in the closing laps.
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“It is such a long race and so much takes place,” said Johnson, who led 126 of 250 laps on the way to his 45th career win. “Just a solid day all along. I'm so proud of this Lowe's team. I'm so thankful to Lowe's for allowing me to put the (Jimmie Johnson) foundation on the side of the car. Man what an awesome car and what an awesome day. Those cautions at the end really had me nervous. I just didn't know what to do on the restarts.”
While there were only three cautions in the first half of the event, the yellow flag waved five times in the final 65 laps, including an eight-car accident that brought out the red flag with six laps remaining.
When the race restarted for the final time, there were three laps to go. Johnson lined up on the inside of Gordon and led the field to the green flag.
After several tight double-file restarts, Johnson had no problem the final time, cruising away from Gordon and Montoya and crossing the finish line 1.603 seconds ahead of Gordon.
“The restarts were really tough because it's such a long straightaway and the draft is so important that the guy who is in the second row really controls who ends up with the lead going into Turn 1,” explained Johnson. “So I was doing it wrong for a while and finally on that last restart I got it right and we had such a good car that I felt like if somebody did pass me I could get back by him in a couple of laps. So with the green-white-checkered at the end I had to get it right and luckily I did."
Johnson is now in first place in the standings, 12 points ahead of Mark Martin.
“That's awesome,” said Johnson. “That's what we wanted. Keep chipping away at it but obviously there's a lot of racing left. We're in good shape. My home state, Jimmie Johnson Foundation on the side of the car, fans are going crazy, I can't thank them enough. I'm just really, really happy."
The next stop on the Sprint Cup Series circuit is Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Coverage begins Saturday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.