Post-race Report - California

Event: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pepsi 500 (Race No. 30 of 36)

Location: California Speedway; Fontana, Calif.

Top-five finishers: Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Martin & Tony Stewart

Race recap: When the sun began to shine over California Speedway, so did Jimmie Johnson.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup race began under cloudy skies & Johnson was one of a pack of cars that could be a factor. When the sun finally came out, Johnson's car seemed to come to him, & the three-time defending went on to win his fifth race of the season, taking over the championship lead in the process.

Denny Hamlin started from the pole, but its was Juan Pablo Montoya & Mark Martin that controlled much of the early stages of the race. Hamlin would remain a factor for a while, though he contacted the car of Montoya while leading on lap 190 & crashed out of the race. Montoya led the field to the ensuing restart, but was passed by Johnson a lap later.

After one more round of green flag pit stops, Johnson cycled back into the lead for the final time on lap 234 of 250. He had to hold off the field through three more caution periods & restarts in the final 16 laps. Most notable among them was a lap 245 crash & subsequent red flag delay for accident clean-up. After the race restarted on lap 247, Johnson cruised out to a 1.603-second win over Hendrick Motosports teammate Jeff Gordon.

With his victory, Johnson took the championship lead from Mark Martin by 12 points after four of 10 Sprint Cup "playoff" races. Others in contention include Montoya (-58 points), Tony Stewart (-84) & Gordon (-105). The "Race for the Championship" resumes at Lowe's Motor Speedway outside Charlotte, North Carolina, next Saturday night.

Companion event: Joey Logano overcame a lap 50 scrape with the wall to win the NASCAR Nationwide race at California on Saturday. Logano charged from 25th place for the win. The series' championship race got much tighter with points leader Kyle Busch starting the race, stepping out of the car due to illness & then being credited with a 31st-place finish after replacement driver Denny Hamlin crashed his car. Carl Edwards closed to within 155 points of Busch after finishing the race in third place.