Rain shortened race gives Stewart 2nd win

Photo courtesy; NASCAR.com

"Rain, Rain, go away!" was shouted from every NASCAR trailer this afternoon, minus one. Tony Stewart found himself leading the Auto Club 400 when a caution came out for rain on Lap 129. Stewart and Kyle Busch had fought back and forth for P1 for quite some time. Polesitter Denny Hamlin was the only other leader in the race at Fontana. Busch dominated the beginning of the race until Stewart suddenly crept to the front.

There was a record green flag run for Auto Club Speedway today. The fewest amount of cautions was 4 before today's 2 caution race. The first half of the race stayed green, also securing the race to finish on Sunday. The rain was able to hold off until the half way mark at Lap 100. 23 laps later the rain came down, soaking the track, with more rain on the way. A red flag came out on Lap 129. Stewart was in the key spot to win the race.

Jimmie Johnson's car had an oil leak causing his car to smoke from the back only 3 laps before the rain caution. He was able to enter the red flag in 10th place. What was thought to be a devastating day for the 48 team turned out okay after all, snagging a top-10 finish.
Busch, Hamlin, Earnhardt Jr., Harvick and Edwards rounded off the top-5. Yesterday's Nationwide race winner Joey Logano had a disappointing day after receiving a penalty on pit road. 

Tony Stewart now has 2 wins in the 2012 season after his victory in Las Vegas 2 weeks ago. Even after the crew chief change (Darian Grubb to Steve Addington) the 14 team is proving they can back up their 2011 Championship. Stewart sure has a lot more confidence early on in the season compared to last year. This Stewart-Haas Racing team is on fire in the start to 2012, and no doubt will continue their streak by the Chase in the summer.