September 3, 2007
By Ron Felix

Johnson's Trophy * CIA Stock Photo

Jimmie Johnson didn't have to do anything spectacular in the Sharp Aquos 500 at California Speedway, he was already locked into the Chase for the Championship but he wanted a victory so when the Chase started, he would be sitting atop the leader board. Only a victory next week by Jeff Gordon could prevent that.

"It was just a solid effort through the whole night," said Johnson. "I think in the middle part of the race we were real quick on short runs, probably one of the better cars but in the long run would burn the right rear tire off of it. As the track changed, we made some small changes and we got that better and better. I tried the top side a little bit.

"Kyle (Busch) was having a lot of luck there and making up a lot of ground up there. I tried it and couldn't really make it work for long, and/or just get any speed out of the car doing it. So, went back to the bottom and focused on the bottom. We adjusted the car to run at the bottom and it paid off at the end."

Johnson is peaking at the right time, he now has a total of five wins this season and a career 28 victories in 208 attempts. Johnson led 84 of the 250 laps but it was teammate Kyle Busch who led the most (97) laps.

Carl Edwards looked for a while near the end of the race, that he may have something for Johnson but wore his tires out trying to catch him. Edwards finished second, Kyle Busch was third and Jeff Burton fourth.

“It looked to me like he (Johnson) was searching and he was a little slow," said Edwards. "I thought he was gonna be a sitting duck. I even said to Bob (Osborne) on the radio. I said, ‘I feel like it’s me and Kyle racing for the win here.’ You know Jimmie better than I do, but I don’t think on the last green flag run you’re gonna lay back. He goes pretty hard.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. desperately wanted to win at California, especially after such a poor showing in the spring race when the Dale Earnhardt Inc. engine blew up in only the second race of the season. But it wasn't to be on this Sunday, he finished fifth with teammate Martin Truex Jr. in tow to bring his Chevrolet home in the sixth spot. Earnhardt is now 128 points out of the cutoff 12th place and it would take a miracle to pull off a Chase run this year. The top eight drivers in points have clinched a spot in the Chase so far.

It was fun, hot, sweaty and the car was tight, loose, never perfect, but we worked hard. I am tired, real tired," Earnhardt said after dragging himself from the car. ""I don't know much about the system (points), never have. Never cared to. I just go out there as hard as can. It doesn't look like we are going to make it but we aren't going to quit trying. Until they say we aren't in the Chase. Just a long day out there, hot, real hot."

Brian Vickers finished eighth followed by Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne to round out the top ten.

Points leader Jeff Gordon, involved in a minor crash with 71 laps to go, could never get his car to handle properly, he finished 22nd on the day and still leads the point standings by 317 over Tony Stewart.

"It wasn't a great night. We ran pretty good. There were times when we drove to the front. And we were working on the set-up and making it better and I was pretty happy with that. We made a call to come down pit road and got us in the back and they were two and three wide ahead of me and I tried to make a move to go underneath them and there just wasn't enough room and I actually was trying to squeeze out of it, but I don't know," said Gordon of the wreck. "I've got to watch the video. Somebody was underneath me, pushing me up into I think Jeremy (Mayfield) and he got into the No. 00 (Reutimann)."

Ricky Rudd taken to a local hospital to have his left arm checked out. Rudd was involved in the lap 179 wreck that damaged five other cars. Rudd looked to be in pain as he entered the ambulance.

39 laps into the race, Michael Waltrip's was involved in a firey accident. Waltrip had a left front tire rubbing the fender, from contact with Ricky Rudd a few laps earlier. The tire blew out and a fireball erupted in Waltrip's Toyota, but Waltrip was able to extricate himself from the burning vehicle without any apparent injury.

“I was trying to get by Ricky (Rudd, No. 88) and he moved over," Waltrip said. "That caved in our left front fender. The tire rubbed and the left front tire blew off. When it blew it took some oil lines with it and those caught fire. The car filled up with smoke and fire. The crew does such a great job at sealing off the interior of the car. I saw just a little bit of flame by the shifter, nothing much. I'm bigger than the car -- if I try to get out of the car in a hurry it is disastrous. I just took my time and took my stuff off. Right there at the end is when it started to flame and smoke up and I had to get out in a hurry. That is why I'm so thankful the Car of Tomorrow is here because I just can't get out of these cars in a hurry. I've tried it at the shop -- basically I have to take my helmet off to get out. It was a short day for the NAPA Toyota, it was pretty fast before this happened."

David Ragan scored a 12th-place finish and took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the 10th time this season.

The first half of the race we probably didn’t have the best car and then I found the car worked pretty good on the topside and I ran the topside with new tires, old tires," said Ragan. "It seemed like whenever I wanted to -- it was pretty fast. We had a great car, other than my mistakes pitting on pit road and blending a little too early we might could have had a car to finish in the top-five or contend for a win. A small mistake just hurt us like that.”

Ragan was penalized for speeding but realized his mistake a little too late.

“I just gassed it a little too early," Ragan continued. "We had a good stop. When you’re right there on the speed limit going down pit road and if you hit it just a split second too early it reflects on your speed there that last mark and that’s where we got busted at.”

The Nextel Cup Series moves to Richmond International Raceway next Saturday night for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400, the final race to determine who will and who won't be in the Chase for the Championship.



For full final race results...     (Insider Racing News)
For top-40 Nextel Cup drivers points...     (Insider Racing News)