While
Kyle Busch and
Carl Edwards have been the
top drivers this season, Jimmie Johnson sent a message Sunday night: That he's
still the champion and will be a force to reckon with in The Chase. Johnson
flat out dominated the Pepsi 500 Sunday night at the
California Speedway. The
Southern California native led 228 of the 250 laps. Besides Johnson, only
runner-up Greg Biffle led
at least ten laps (he led 12).
The race had eight cautions for 34 laps. There were really no major incidents
in the race. Tire problems caused incidents for
Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch,
and Joe Nemechek along with
a spin by Robby Gordon.
The rest were for debris cautions, including on lap 21 when the caution lights
in turn one came unhinged and fell on the track.
The rest of the top ten in order behind Johnson and Biffle was
Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth,
Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch,
Kasey Kahne, David Reuitmann, and
Clint Bowyer. Johnson
along with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
(who finished 11th) and Jeff Burton (17th) qualified for The Chase. In position for The Chase are
Biffle, Kevin Harvick,
Tony Stewart, Kenseth, and
Jeff Gordon. Denny Hamlin is 11th in the points with Bowyer holding the
last spot. Fighting for a spot for the Chase are
David Ragan and Kasey
Kahne. Ragan is 17 points behind Bowyer while Kahne sits 47 back.
The good news is that this race at Fontana didn't have the problems that the
February event did. The bad news is that the interest in racing at the track
seems to be dwindling. 2008 marked the 12th season
NASCAR has raced at
Fontana. While racing at many other tracks attracts the fans, the lack of it
seems to be chasing them away from California. It was estimated that Sunday's
race was 20,000 fans shy of a sellout. That is not a good number. Part of the
reason is that both races this year didn't have the action NASCAR fans look
for. It's not just the new car either. The racing there has not been that
great for a while now. The empty seats should be a sign of that. NASCAR
recently announced that this race will be a part of The Chase next year. One
has to wonder how wise a decision that was.
NASCAR has already tried twice at racing in the Los Angeles area. The sport
raced at tracks in Ontario and Riverside. Lack of interest ended racing at
those places. Could Fontana be a "three strikes, you're out" type of situation
for the sport in Southern California? If things don't turn around soon, that
could be the case.
The
Nationwide Series will run Friday night at Richmond with the Truck Series
racing Saturday afternoon at
Gateway International Raceway. Saturday night marks the last race before
The Chase begins. The
Chevy Rock & Roll 400 will race at Richmond. For the rest of the season,
all Sprint Cup races will
be shown on ABC.
By: CrimsonCowboy