Jimmie Johnson Moves into Position

Jimmie Johnson moved into a familiar position at the top of the Chase standings after he came out on top during a three-lap race to the finish in Sunday’s Pepsi 500 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The win allowed him to move 12 points ahead of Mark Martin, 58 ahead of Juan Montoya and 89 points ahead of Tony Stewart in the race for the Sprint Cup Series championship. This victory is the fifth of the 2009 Sprint Cup Series for Johnson and the 45^th Sprint Cup win of his career and his fourth at Fontana, which means that Jimmie Johnson has more victories at Fontana than any driver in Sprint Cup history.

Jimmie Johnson looked very fast, smooth and professional as he won and moved into the lead in the standings

It looked like Johnson might have an average day until the sun came out on Lap 66 and stayed, after that his car picked up pace and looked ready to challenge. He had to be patient through a series of restarts in order to keep his car in one piece and put himself into position to win and he did it like a real professional. Jimmie has really shown what it means to be a Sprint Cup Series Champion this year. His patience and skill has put him in the exact position he needed to be in to allow him to pull into the lead and now he just has to bring the curtain down on this affair. There are still six races left and lots of racing left to go, but things are starting to get tense and heated.

Jimmie Johnson needs to stay focused on being consistent and trying to finish as best as he can during each race while staying out of trouble. His car looks like it might be the fastest and certainly is one of the fastest on the track and his skill is second to none. Unless something happens in the next few races, like lightning striking his car or lady-luck being unkind to Johnson, it could be difficult to unseat him.

Jeff Gordon finished second in the Pepsi 500, Juan Montoya third, Mark Martin fourth, Tony Stewart fifth, and Carl Edwards sixth. David Ragan finished seventh, just ahead of Kurt Busch in eighth, Clint Bowyer in ninth and Kevin Harvick in tenth.

“Image: Zuma Press”