Stewart won the Auto Club 400 in a race shortened by 71 laps due to rain. Stewart overtook Kyle Busch on lap 85 and held on until the weather forced the race’s first caution, and ultimately its cancellation.
While sunny during pre-race activities, weather came in and played a prominent role at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Here is what was surprising and not surprising in the 16th annual, but first ever rain-shortened, running of the Auto Club 400.
2011 champion Tony Stewart led twice for 42 laps in the Auto Club 400(or should we say Auto Club 322?) and went on to win his second race of the season in California.
Stewart’s second win in 5 races gives him his 7th win in the last 15 Sprint Cup Races an impressive statistic. More impressive when you realize that it is his 46th career win tying him with Buddy Baker on the all time win list.
Kenseth doggedly chased Brad Keselowski to the finish at Bristol, but could never catch the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. The runner-up result gave Kenseth his second top-5 finish of the year, and boosted him two places in the Sprint Cup point standings to third.
After finishing ninth in points last year and struggling at some points, Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team knew they needed to make a change.
Biffle finished third in the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas and now has three third-place finishes on the year. He assumed the lead in the Sprint Cup point standings, and holds a 10-point lead over Kevin Harvick.
Hamlin zoomed to the lead on a restart with 59 laps to go at Phoenix, and held off Kevin Harvick, who ran out of gas, to win the Subway Fresh Fit 500. It was Hamlin’s first win since last June at Michigan and first under new crew chief Darian Grubb.
