The first 190 laps of the Pepsi 500 produced what critics contend is the type of lackluster NASCAR Sprint Cup racing that too often defines Auto Club Speedway.
Jimmie Johnson and Juan Pablo Montoya had several pitched battles for the lead but, for the most part, the 43-car field was strung out around the 2-mile track, passing was sparse and accidents nonexistent.
Then came the remaining 60 laps and — with the race now part of NASCAR’s Chase for the Cup championship playoff — things got a lot less folksy.
Drivers began smashing into each other and, after an eight-car pileup set up a shootout with only three laps left, Johnson held off Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon and Montoya to win Sunday and vault into the Chase lead.
Johnson, in becoming the only four-time Cup series winner at the Fontana speedway, has a 12-point lead over another teammate, Mark Martin, with six Chase races left as Johnson tries to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive title.
“What an awesome car,” Johnson said of his No. 48 Chevrolet. “Obviously a lot of racing left” in the Chase, he added, “but we’re in good shape.”
Johnson and his crew chief, Chad Knaus, are known for excelling during the Chase, and “they have something magical going in the final 10 races” of each season, said Gordon, a four-time champion who’s fifth in this year’s Chase, 105 points behind Johnson.
“They just have the best car,” Gordon said. “Unless they make a mistake, they are going to win it (again).”
Martin, who had arrived with an 18-point lead over Johnson, was fourth.
Montoya kept pace with the Hendrick cars all day but ultimately fell just short in his Chevy prepared by the team of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
Johnson led 126 laps and Montoya — the former Indianapolis 500 winner and Formula One driver who switched to NASCAR in 2007 — led 78. It was Montoya’s best showing on an oval track since he led 116 laps at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.
“To be able to do that is huge,” Montoya said of contending with the Hendrick cars. Montoya added his car was faster in the first half of the race before the sun broke through overcast skies.
“When it was cool I had the fastest car,” the Colombian said. “When it warmed up, (Johnson) just had a better car than me.”
Johnson agreed. “The track came to us some when the sun came out,” he said. “The car just kept getting better and better.”
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jpeltz@tribune.com
