FONTANA, Calif. -- You knew it was coming, like the traffic snarls on Interstate 10 during rush hour or the low, dark clouds obscuring the summit of Cucamonga Peak. You knew that Daytona was an aberration, a restrictor-plate circus, and the real NASCAR season started Sunday on this 2-mile race track nestled among the truck depots and industrial sprawl of the Inland Empire. You knew that Jimmie Johnson was going to come to Auto Club Speedway, surrounded by family and friends from nearby San Diego, and take the first step toward reestablishing his authority.

“

Jimmie is a good friend of mine, but there's no way of getting around how lucky they are. They did a good job [Sunday] in winning the race, but they have a golden horseshoe stuck up their a**.

”

-- KEVIN HARVICK

What you didn't expect was the team chasing him to the finish, making the four-time series champion sweat on a track he's dominated, nearly stealing the victory before a scrape with the wall squashed any drama. There was no better indication of Richard Childress Racing's renewed strength than Sunday, on a track where RCR has never won, when for the second time in two weeks the organization had arguably the two best cars in the event. They didn't get the victory, but they left Southern California with the top two positions in the point standings, and showing every sign that they're ready to challenge the No. 48.

"We felt good about what happened in the fall, over the winter. But until you start racing, you don't know where you are, honestly," said Jeff Burton, who finished third Sunday behind teammate Kevin Harvick, the new leader in Sprint Cup points. "You feel good about it. I had quite a bit of confidence coming in. But until everybody gets out here and they're going to give somebody a trophy, you don't really know where you stand. I expected to run well."

This well? Hard to believe this is the same organization that cratered last season, going from three cars in the Chase the previous year to nobody in the top 14. Yes, there was visible progress late last season after a restructuring effort, but would it transfer into 2010? Would there be lingering tension over Harvick's potential move to another organization after this year? Would RCR field three cars or four? Everyone expected them to be better. But there were so many questions, so many unknowns, it was almost natural to wonder if they were improved enough to challenge Hendrick Motorsports and the other organizations at the top of the sport.

Then came Speedweeks, where Harvick clearly had the best car, and would have won the Daytona 500 if not for NASCAR's revised green-white-checkered rules. Then came Sunday, when Harvick led 27 laps, got sent to the back of the field because of a pit-road speeding violation, and charged back to get within a car length of Johnson with three laps remaining before he wobbled up into the wall. He didn't win. But with RCR showing such strength across the board -- teammate Clint Bowyer finished eighth, and is now second in the standings -- it didn't seem to matter.

"With the three of us running good, it pushes us to fine-tune our stuff and really get the best out of our cars week in and week out," said Harvick, the first RCR driver to lead the points since Burton was on top in the spring of 2008. "There's no hollow title. We're happy we have a shot. We just keep building on those things. It leaves that sour taste in your mouth when you don't win, and you want to go back and win again. Right now, it's just everybody's very motivated, letting our cars talk for us."

Sunday, those vehicles spoke, as did others. On the radio after the race, team owner Richard Childress asked Gil Martin, Harvick's crew chief, whether Johnson should have even been on the lead lap, given that the No. 48 car seemed to get trapped on pit road when Brad Keselowski spun to bring out a caution with 27 laps remaining. But NASCAR ruled that Johnson had pitted just before the yellow flag and exited pit road ahead of the leader -- which in that instance was Burton. Television replays, Martin assured his boss, confirmed that the call had been correct.

"There's a fine line between slowing down and not slowing down," said Burton, who might have buried the eventual race winner had he been a little heavier in the throttle approaching the caution flag. "I don't know where that line is. I came around as quick as I thought I could without NASCAR getting upset at me. If I'd have come around probably two-tenths of a second quicker, we would have had him a lap down. Nonetheless, I did what I thought was right. I didn't just stop. I carried speed around. They ask you to slow down. You can't run down there wide open, or they'll get you for that."

Make no mistake about it, the No. 48 car was very good Sunday, good enough to lead a race-high eight times for 101 laps, good enough to lead the final 24 circuits of the event, good enough to hold off Harvick at the end. But even Johnson will admit, he got exceedingly fortunate. The timing is a little different, he winds up a lap down. As it happened, he was credited with a green-flag pit stop and able to emerge as the race leader. And wresting the lead from Jimmie Johnson at Auto Club Speedway, where he's now won five times, is about as simple as pulling a tuna steak from the maw of a shark.

"We got lucky. We were in our pit box and the caution came out. We were able to just beat the 31 car [of Burton] off of pit road where the scoring line is at the end of pit road. You know, certainly got lucky. We were running third or fourth or fifth at the time, so it's not like we totally backed into this thing. We got a really nice gift with the way things worked out, then it was kind of up to me to hang onto it," Johnson said.

"You know, yes, we were lucky [Sunday]. But you don't get lucky and win four championships and 48 races. Things went our way with the pit stop. But I had to go out there and hold Kevin off, [Burton]. I'm not discrediting the fact we were handed a huge gift when we were on pit road and the caution came out. It is what it is, and we've had plenty of races go the other way on us. From how consistent we've been from the first races we've been in from eight seasons ago until now, it's because we're a good race team."

No question, success breeds a certain degree of luck on it own. Good teams do the kind of things that put themselves in position to be lucky. When it comes to the No. 48 team, Harvick has seen it happen time and time again. And he seems to be getting tired of it.

"They're really good, but they're really, really lucky, too," he said. "I mean, Jimmie is a good friend of mine, but there's no way of getting around how lucky they are. You don't win four championships and do all the things they've done. They did a good job [Sunday] in winning the race, but they have a golden horseshoe stuck up their a**. I mean, there's no way to get around that."

Actually, there's one way to do it -- challenge Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus for the championship. There's a long way to go before we know whether this emboldened RCR effort is capable of doing that. But these early intermediate-track events are supposed to offer a snapshot of the entire season. If that's the case, the chase is on.