Johnson back on winning form

Order was restored in NASCAR as defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson bounced back from failing to finish the Daytona 500 to score the 48th win of his career in Sunday’s 500-mile race at the California Speedway.

Johnson was the man to beat in California, leading 101 of the race’s 250 laps, but he was running no better than fifth in the closing stages when a yellow flag came out as he was pulling into his pit for his final stop. The yellow was a stroke of luck, allowing him to rejoin the race in first place.

The final restart came with 26 laps to go and Johnson took off in the lead, chased hard by Richard Childress team-mates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton. Harvick tried to pass Johnson with three laps to go but got sideways and brushed the wall, then spent the final laps battling for second place with Burton. Harvick edged Burton by a nose to lead the championship points.

“Today, fortune came our way,” Johnson admitted. “When we hit pitroad and the caution came out it gave us track position. We lost the handle on the car in the second half of the race. We were making gains and coming back but a lot of other guys were ahead of us and it was going to be tough to pass them. But then we got that break and I drove my butt off.

“We finally got the car turning at the end of the race,” Johnson added. “It was a little loose and Harvick was coming, but then he hit the wall. Kevin and I raced really hard all day and had a lot of fun.”

Harvick had led 70 laps but lost track position in the middle of the race when he broke the pitlane speed limit, which earned him a drive-through penalty.

“The #48 saw me coming and he moved up the track,” said Harvick. “When I got behind him I lost the nose and got into the wall. But the car ran good all day and the crew did a great job. I got that speeding penalty on pitroad and we should never have been in that position, but we made it back up.”

Mark Martin was fourth in another Hendrick Chevrolet, followed by Joey Logano in one of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Toyotas. Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray qualified on pole, followed by Earnahardt-Ganassi team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya. McMurray didn’t enjoy a strong race, falling back at the start and eventually finishing 17th, while Montoya took the lead and set the pace through the opening 29 laps only to blow his engine.