|
 With his 77th career win, Johnson moved past Dale Earnhardt for
seventh on the all-time list.
"Man, it's hard to believe," Johnson said. "I grew up out in the
desert as a desert rat, having fun and going to the river a little
bit and having some fun over there, too. To have those early
childhood memories kind of shape me into the racer I am today and to
be here in victory lane is pretty awesome."
Kevin Harvick finished second for the eighth time in Johnson's last
11 wins. Denny Hamlin overcame an early-race unscheduled pit stop,
radio issues and a pit-road speeding penalty to finish third.
"Disappointing third, I can tell you that, but two penalties, radio
changes, just a lot of mistakes on my part early on and gave
ourselves a shot there," Hamlin said. I just -- the 22 (Joey Logano)
for the one time he didn't get a good start -- we didn't have that
push there and that hurt us. I thought going early in the (restart)
zone was probably the thing to do. Hindsight, maybe later, but who
knows? Those two (Johnson and Harvick) linked up on the bottom, and
there's really nothing we could have done at that point."
 Johnson led a total of 25 laps throughout the race. He took the lead
for the final time on a restart that followed a caution that sent
the race into overtime. Johnson restarted third and pushed Harvick
to the lead while taking second for himself. After Harvick and
Johnson moved out to the front, Johnson then passed Harvick for the
lead and then the win.
"We just had a really good car today with our Jimmy John's
Chevrolet," Harvick said. "It would just take us five or six laps to
get going. That (final restart) was worst-case scenario for us."
Harvick dominated throughout most the day, leading a total of 142
laps. Holding off charges from Carl Edwards and Martin Truex Jr.,
Harvick led much of the first half of the race. He got slightly off
pit sequence when he gave up the lead to pit because of a vibration
on lap 106.
Johnson and Truex both led laps before Harvick retook the lead with
64 laps remaining.
Then Johnson and Edwards both pitted under green just before a
yellow flag for debris with 45 laps to go. After everyone else
stopped under caution, they restarted on the front row.
"I knew we had a great car, and that caution fell at a bad time the
run before," Johnson said. "I just didn't have the tires on the car
to race with those guys."
Meanwhile, Harvick restarted sixth on tires just a few laps newer.
He got up to fourth on the restart and retook the lead with 34 laps
to go.
[to top of second column] |
Tires were an issue for several drivers throughout the race. The
most dramatic tire-related problem came on lap 48 when Larson
slammed head-on into an inside retaining wall. He was not injured.
"I was going down the backstretch, and I think it was my left-rear
tire got cut," Larson said. "It must have ripped the brake line,
because I went to push the pedal, and it went straight to the
floorboard. I couldn't slow down. It was definitely a hard hit,
there, probably one of the harder ones of my career."
While most of the six cautions were tire-related, at least one was
not. Danica Patrick spun and hit the wall after contact with Kasey
Kahne with 80 laps remaining. Kahne's spotter and crew chief were
called to the NASCAR trailer after the race as a result.
"We were on a restart, and I had a run on him, so I went down low,"
Patrick said. "If you get too close to them, then it will drag you
both back. I was going low. I saw him chase me down the track and
then the next thing I know, I was getting spun up the track. I was
passing him. He was behind me in the right-rear. I don't know what
kind of day he was having. I just heaard he was a lap down,
actually. I feel bad if he felt like he was put in a position to
have to be that desperate a lap down. It's just unfortunate; he must
be having a very tough time."
Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top five. Chase
Elliott, Edwards, AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski and Jamie
McMurray finished sixth through 10th, respectively.
NOTES: Brad Keselowski won the 2015 Auto Club 400. ... Kyle Busch
won at Auto Club Speedway in 2013 and 2014 before missing last
year's race. ... Jimmie Johnson is the winningest driver at ACS with
five. ... Pole sitter Austin Dillon won the NASCAR Xfinity Series
race at ACS on Saturday, but he came in 24th place Sunday. Kyle
Busch dominated much of the Xfinity race, leading 133 of 150 laps
before finishing second. ... Although Dillon won the pole starting
spot on Friday, Denny Hamlin set a track record with a 188.511 mph
lap in the second of three rounds of qualifying.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
