Qualifying
Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson started on the pole in his #48 Chevrolet. A.J. Allmendinger started on the outside of the front row in his Toyota.
The third starting spot went to another Hendrick Motorsports teammate as Jeff Gordon was third quickest. Dodge drivers rounded out the top five with Kasey Kahne and rookie Patrick Carpentier.
Drop Of The Green
Drew Carey's "Gentlemen, Start your engines!" got this race off to a rousing start. If I ever get the honor of giving the command I want to do it with enthusiasm just like that.
They stayed side-by-side at the start but Jimmie Johnson moved to the lead on lap two. The top fifteen cars then quickly fell into single-file line.
Auto Club Speedway changes a lot over the course of 500 miles and there is little incentive for drivers to race hard in the early going.
Storylines
Jimmie Johnson demonstrated why so many fans were dressed as empty seats this weekend in California. Johnson thoroughly dominated the event. There was painfully little drama in this race. Unfortunately, uneventful is a fairly typical word to describe races at Auto Club Speedway.
Next year Labor Day weekend moves to Atlanta Motor Speedway while Auto Club Speedway will move into the Chase. I don't know if this will help ticket sales at Auto Club Speedway but it sure isn't likely to add any extra drama to the Chase.
Auto Club Speedway needs to be reconfigured until they can provide some interesting racing.
Chasing The Checkers
Jimmie Johnson dominated the race. Final pit stops came with just 31 laps to go and Greg Biffle's Roush-Fenway Racing team got him off pit road first. ahead of Johnson.
When the green flag flew with 28 laps to go Jimmie Johnson wasted no time. He made the pass for the lead down in turn three and ran away from the field all the way to the checkers.
Top Ten
- Jimmie Johnson
- Greg Biffle
- Denny Hamlin
- Kevin Harvick
- Matt Kenseth
- Carl Edwards
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- David Reutimann
- Clint Bowyer
The Points
Assuming Greg Biffle starts the race next week in Richmond then all of the top six in points are now locked into the Chase.
Clint Bowyer rebounded from his poor starting spot ad held onto the twelfth and final Chase qualifying spot. When the race starts next Saturday night in Richmond Bowyer will be just seventeen points ahead of David Ragan.
- Kyle Busch
- Carl Edwards -204
- Jimmie Johnson -365
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. -428
- Jeff Burton -517
- Greg Biffle -592
- Kevin Harvick -619
- Tony Stewart -641
- Matt Kenseth -670
- Jeff Gordon -677
- Denny Hamlin -686
- Clint Bowyer -762
Next Week
Next weekend the 2008 Race to the Chase reaches its conclusion at Richmond International Raceway. Clint Bowyer is clinging to the twelfth and final Chase qualifying spot. Can he hold off David Ragan and Kasey Kahne for one more race?
