Johnson goes extra mile for Fontana win
Jimmie Johnson pulled away in overtime to beat Kevin Harvick on Sunday for the Southern California native’s record sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory at Fontana ( San Bernardino County).
Johnson was third on the late restart, but surged past leader Denny Hamlin while giving a little bump to Harvick. Johnson side-drafted Harvick and easily got away for his 77th career victory, passing Dale Earnhardt Sr. for seventh place in NASCAR history.
“We saved the best for last, for sure,” Johnson said.
Johnson finished with his fastest lap of the race to earn his second win of the season, adding Fontana to Atlanta. The six- time series champion has won three of his past eight races after a 20- race winless skid in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
Harvick was in position to win for the second consecutive week before second- place Kyle Busch blew a tire with two laps to go, forcing the race into overtime.
Johnson is from El Cajon, just outside San Diego. He won at Fontana in 2009 and 2010, but hadn’t finished higher than ninth in his past four races at his closest thing to a hometown track, one hour east of Los Angeles. His sixth victory increases his own career record.
Harvick finished second to Johnson for the ninth consecutive time that the California natives have occupied the top two spots.
Hamlin was third, followed by Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Martin Truex Jr. was in contention until late contact with Logano, who left Truex furious. Formula One: Nico Rosberg beat Lewis Hamilton in another Mercedes 1- 2 finish at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, but the predictable result disguised an exciting Formula One season opener, punctuated by a frightening accident that suspended the race.
Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari was third, and the American- backed Haas team scored points in its F1 debut with Romain Grosjean’s sixth- place finish.
The crash between McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Esteban Gutierrez of Haas occurred when Alonso clipped the rear left tire of Gutierrez, who was braking to make the corner at Turn 3. The McLaren was launched into the concrete barrier and flipped twice. Alonso climbed out, but clearly was sore as he limped away. The race was stopped for 22 minutes. NHRA: Brittany Force got her first NHRA Top Fuel win, beating Terry McMillen in the final at the Gatornationals in Gainescville, Fla. Robert Hight gave John Force Racing its first career double by winning the Funny Car class.