Jimmie Johnson Turns California Dreams into Reality in Auto Club 500

Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR


The second race off the year for the NASCAR Sprint Cup 2010 season, the tour was taken cross-country from Daytona Beach to the west coast state of California. Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray proceeded to the track at a more leisurely pace to the Auto Club Speedway thanks to a week-long press junket. This post-Daytona 500 media tour for Jamie McMurray made it even more impressive that McMurray skated his #1 Chevrolet to pole for Friday afternoon qualifying. With Earnhardt/Ganassi Racing teammate Juan Pablo Montoya starting on the front row, Montoya bypassed McMurray on the first lap of the race. The #42 of Montoya held the top spot through the first 29 laps.

The Auto Club Speedway has become a stomping ground for Jimmie Johnson. Not only is the 2-mile oval located in the home state of the 4-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, his Lowes sponsored #48 Chevrolet holds an average finish of 3.75 in the last 8 races held on the Penske-built speedway situated on former Fontana industrial land. Johnson's presence emerged early in the Auto Club 500 as he took 1st place away from Montoya on lap 30.

Caution-free for 58 laps, the first caution came out for debris on the racetrack. While the Sprint Cup teams were able to change tires and refuel under the lap 59 caution, a multitude of green flag pit stops contributed to many of the 26 lead changes through the event. However, regardless of caution or green flag period, too many drivers and teams at Auto Club Speedway were confronted by NASCAR's aggressive policing of pit road. With 15 penalties levied against Danny Hamlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick and others, one incident involved Kevin Harvick's car and a pit crew member of the #1 team. As Harvick's #29 car was leaving pit road on a lap 94 stop, a tight exit resulted in Harvick launching into the path of a crew member and a tire from Jamie McMurray's #1 Bass Pro Shops team. Like Nintento's Mario, the crew man leaped over the hood of the #29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet avoiding injury. However, the #1 team was penalized for the loose tire and the #29 Chevrolet took a penalty for speeding out of pit road.

After many drivers posting strong finishes at the Daytona 500, the Auto Club 500 saw many of those drivers endured a much harsher followup race. While McMurray started on the pole for the event, he lost ground after a pit stop penalty for the before-mentioned incident and was unable to mount a return to the front. McMurray finished 17th on the day finishing ahead of his teammate Montoya who had his engine parish after 140 laps.

Coming off a 2nd place run, the recent string of misfortune seemed to have lifted off Dale Earnhardt Jr and the #88 Amp/National Guard Chevrolet. The Auto Club Speedway, historically one of Earnhardt Jr's worst tracks, was a bump on the road of the #88 Hendrick Motorsport team's resurgence. Caught speeding on pit road early, Earnhardt Jr began a recovery before a later pit stop resulted in a broken axle half-shaft. While the Hendrick Motorsports crew succeeded in placing Dale Earnhardt Jr back in the event, the #88 Amp Juice Chevrolet come home 12 laps back in 32nd place. While a less than stellar run overall, this is sadly Earnhardt Jr's best finish in the Sprint Cup season's 1st Auto Club Speedway race since driving for Hendrick Motorsports.

While Earnhardt, McMurray and Montoya had good finishes at Daytona, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, and Marcus Ambrose are skilled drivers starting off the year with lackluster results through the first 2 races. Ryan Newman's car lost an engine to finish 36th while Kahne fared better by at least running after a down day started by a slide through the in front grass. He placed 34th on the final race result. Ambrose's Toyota was sandwiched between the two suffering from overheating issues.

Into the final laps, racing fortune again shined on Jimmie Johnson as a caution came out almost instantly after he took the #48 Lowes Chevrolet down pit lane. By doing so, Johnson was able to leapfrog the field as they required the attention of pit road service and would start the race in the lead. Despite a heated challenge from Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson held off the fight leading the final 24 laps to win his 48th Sprint Cup career victory and his first in 2010.
By winning the Auto Club 500, Johnson wins a race at the speedway for the 4th straight year and his 5th all-time.



Photo Credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images


Richard Childress Racing (RCR) cars driven by Harvick and Jeff Burton came home in strong 2nd and 3rd place finishes for the organization. After two races, premature analysis of the NASCAR Sprint Cup points has Kevin Harvick leading fellow RCR driver Clint Bowyer. Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate of Mark Martin and the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Joey Logano rounded out the top 5 for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Auto Club 500.


2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Auto Club 500
Auto Club Speedway

Place| Car # | Driver | Sponsor/Car Make
1) 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet
2) 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet
3) 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
4) 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
5) 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota
6) 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge
7) 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford
8) 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet
9) 14 Tony Stewart Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet
10) 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
11) 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota 
12) 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota
13) 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford
14) 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota
15) 00 David Reutimann Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota
16) 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Auto Club Dodge
17) 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet
18) 98 Paul Menard Energizer/Menards Ford
19) 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
20) 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet
21) 12 Brad Keselowski AAA Insurance Dodge Dodge
22) 36 Mike Bliss Wave Energy Drink Chevrolet
23) 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
24) 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Ford
25) 43 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Ford
26) 38 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford
27) 71 Bobby Labonte TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet
28) 13 Max Papis GEICO Toyota
29) 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota
30) 34 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver's Ford
31) 37 Kevin Conway # Extenze Ford
32) 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy Juice / National Guard Chevrolet
33) 7 Robby Gordon Warner Music Nashville Toyota
34) 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Ford
35) 47 Marcos Ambrose Armor All Toyota
36) 39 Ryan Newman Haas Automation Chevrolet
37) 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
38) 26 Boris Said Sacred Power/Southern Pride Trucking Ford
39) 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Toyota
40) 87 Joe Nemechek FrontRowJoe.com Toyota
41) 66 Dave Blaney Prism Motorsports Toyota
42) 55 Michael McDowell Prism Motorsports Toyota
43) 09 Aric Almirola Phoenix Racing Chevrolet

McMurray Takes Pole for Sprint Cup Race at Auto Club Speedway

Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

While the 2010 Daytona 500 is the highly-coveted season opening race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season, the 500-mile restrictor plate event is often considered on its own merits. Many teams have been bracing for the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway (I think sponsorship placement might be running amok) as the official start to the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

In fact, the past two Daytona 500 winners, Ryan Newman in 2008 and Matt Kenseth in 2009, experienced less than stellar seasons following their Daytona celebrations missing the Chase for the Cup in their respective years. With this history now weighing on the newly-crowned Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray, him and the #1 EGR (Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing) Chevrolet are intent to break the cycle. Through Friday afternoon qualifying at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, the #1 Chevrolet Impala appears on a linear path to being a force throughout the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Carrying momentum from the Daytona 500 victory, McMurray rocketed around the 2-mile oval at 39.185 seconds equating to an average speed of 183.744 MPH. A high accomplishment for the #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing teammate Juan Pablo Montoya's 2nd place run allowed the team to take full possession of the front row.

As EGR serves up a 1-2 punch against the NASCAR Sprint Cup competition for the start of Sunday's Auto Club 500, qualifying results for the 2nd race of the 2010 season appears to show another emerging threat. The Earnhardt-Childress Engines program which powers EGR, Richard Childress Racing and the Furniture Row Racing team is following up their show of incredible potency since Daytona Speedweeks, continuing to have legs on the Sprint Cup competition around 2-mile oval in California. Settling 3rd after holding the top spot earlier in qualifying, Clint Bowyer in Childress' #33 car placed three Chevrolets in front of Kasey Kahne.

Kahne and the #9 of Richard Petty Motorsports have so far shown speed in their new Ford Fusion stock cars (spending time in victory lane after winning one of the Gatorade Duel 150 races) but will be looking for a strong finish at Auto Club Speedway.

In 5th place after time trials, the biggest surprise of the short year so far. Failing the break into the Daytona 500, the #66 Prism Motorsports Toyota driven by Dave Blaney will be attempting to turn this starting position at Auto Club Speedway into a valuable points day which could aid the team in cracking into a prized top-35 in car owner points spot for 2010. While the NASCAR Sprint Cup series is currently resting on 2009 car owner points t0 entitle the top-35 teams into this season, after the 5th race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series will update to 2010 points guaranteeing teams within the top-35 the ability to race in upcoming weekends.

Having some of their fire stolen by the Earnhardt-Childress Engine brigade, the standard Chevrolet front-runner Hendrick Motorsports has two race machines positioned in the top 10, Jimmie Johnson in 7th and Mark Martin in 10th.


Auto Club 500 Qualifying
NASCAR Sprint Cup

Top 10:

1) #1 Jamie McMurray         Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet
2) #42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet 
3) #33 Clint Bowyer         Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet 
4) #9 Kasey Kahne         Budweiser Ford               
5) #66 Dave Blaney         Prism Motorsports Toyota
6) #29 Kevin Harvick         Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet 
7) #48 Jimmie Johnson         Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet 
8) #77 Sam Hornish Jr.         Auto Club Dodge               
9) #18 Kyle Busch         Interstate Batteries Toyota
10) #5 Mark Martin         GoDaddy.com Chevrolet

Other Notables:

12) #2 Kurt Busch         Miller Lite Dodge 
14) #31 Jeff Burton         Caterpillar Chevrolet
16) #14 Tony Stewart         Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet
18) #39 Ryan Newman         Haas Automation Chevrolet
20) #17 Matt Kenseth         Crown Royal Ford
24) #09 Aric Almirola         Phoenix Racing Chevrolet
27) #88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy Juice / National Guard Chevrolet
28) #24 Jeff Gordon         DuPont Chevrolet
29) #43 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Ford
31) #99 Carl Edwards         Aflac Ford
42) #26 Boris Said         Sacred Power/Southern Pride Trucking Ford
43) #13 Max Papis         GEICO Toyota