FONTANA, Calif. — One week after nipping Carl Edwards at the finish line to win his 32nd career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, Kevin Harvick saw a late caution flag stop him two laps shy of returning to Victory Lane.
Well, a caution flag and Superman.
In a race that featured numerous battles for the lead and drivers fighting for position throughout the field, Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet led a race-high nine times for a total of 142 laps out of the 205-lap Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.
And Harvick’s lead was sufficient as the closing laps clicked off the board, until Kyle Busch suffered a tire mishap that brought out the day’s sixth and final yellow flag.
A quick trip to the pits saw Harvick go from first to second — Denny Hamlin won the race off pit road – for the overtime restart. Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Carl Edwards lined up third through fifth for the final two-lap dash around the 2-mile track.
But Johnson, with his No. 48 Chevrolet sporting a Superman paint scheme, got under Harvick on the backstretch, then slid high in Turn 3 after clearing the No. 4 entry, and raced away to score his 77th career victory.
“That was the worst it has taken off on restarts,” Harvick said of his car, “but we weren’t very good on restarts for four or five laps unless we were by ourselves.
“The No. 48 was able to hang with us and we just weren’t able to drive it in like I needed to; just didn’t have the front tires turning and the back wouldn’t grip. Still, a good day for us … we’ll keep at it.”
The 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion leads the points standings after five of this season’s 36 races, and all but guaranteed himself a spot in the 16-team Chase for the Sprint Cup field with his Phoenix victory.
Sunday’s laps-led total was a career best for him at the Fontana track, where he has one career victory. He has finished seventh or better in all five starts this year, and has led 100 or more laps in three of those five races.
“They just had us beat for a couple of laps,” Harvick said. “That (final restart) was even worse than it was the previous restarts. … It would just take us five or six laps to get going.”
Harvick and Edwards resumed their Phoenix battle early at ACS, with the two dueling for the lead barely 30 laps into the race. But what was thought to be a tire problem eventually sent Harvick to pit road earlier than anticipated; however, after a run of green-flag pit stops, Harvick was back in front — although on a different pit cycle.
Another yellow flag just past the halfway point put the No. 4 team back on the same pit cycle as the others running up front.
Harvick led 35 consecutive laps before Busch brought out the final caution.
Crew chief Rodney Childers said the No. 4 wasn’t good all weekend early in a run “and it was just crazy-good after that.”
“Didn’t have what we needed for a shootout, but the car was just completely dominant on the long runs all day,” he said.
“Definitely a bummer for sure, but you can’t win them all, but we’ll go to Martinsville and try to win that one.”
The Sprint Cup Series takes the upcoming Easter weekend off after a three-week West Coast swing, and will return to action April 1-3 at Martinsville Speedway.