PHOTO CREDIT: NASCARMEDIA (USED WITH PERMISSION)
March 25, 2012
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
FONTANA, Calif. — Tony Stewart made all the right moves Sunday at Auto Club Speedway, and the last one proved decisive in taking the three-time champion to Victory Lane in the rain-shortened Auto Club 400.
After raindrops slowed the race on Lap 124, Stewart, the race leader, faked a move toward pit road but stayed on the track and matched the pace car’s speed of 65 mph, a far cry from the lightning-fast laps he ran under the green flag.
The last two spring races at Auto Club Speedway have been duels between El Cajon’s Jimmie Johnson and Bakersfield’s Kevin Harvick. Johnson ended up in Victory Lane with the Harvick-dubbed “golden horse shoe” in hand in 2010. Harvick earned the title of “The Closer” a year ago by edging five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Johnson by 0.144 seconds – the closest NSCS finish in the track’s history.
Johnson leads all drivers with five wins at the track followed by fellow Californian and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon of Vallejo with three wins. Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth, who finished second in last weekend’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the only other driver with multiple wins.
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