On Saturday we saw Kyle Busch blow away the competition in the Nationwide Series race.  Sunday night it was a duplicate performance, but not by the Shrub.  Tonight it was Jimmie Johnson leading 227 of 250 laps, becoming the first driver to win from the pole in Fontana.  He obliterated the entire field, but don't worry, there was plenty of action behind him.

Jamie McMurray brought out the first caution on lap 3 with a flat tire which started to come apart, scattering debris down the front stretch.  Unlike Leffler's idiotic move last night, however, you can't blame Jamie, who started smoking down the front stretch after he had already passed the entrance to pit road.  After we go back to green, we're already seeing 2 of the surprise top 10 qualifiers going backwards, Carpentier (expected) and Blaney.

The first pit stops occurred on lap 21 during the 2nd caution, which was thrown for "debris."  This was quite possibly the most hilarious caution of the night, as the yellow was thrown because of the yellow!  The caution light mounted on the outside fence in turn 1 fell off the fence!  Yep, NASCAR needed to throw a caution FOR the caution.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. moves up 3 spots with a good pit stop, and has gained 13 positions since the start of the race.  After the restart, Team Red Bull starts battling behind the 48 for 2nd position.  While it was fun to see, it allowed Johnson to open up a huge lead...although he was able to do that all night anyway even when the first few cars behind him were single file.

Meanwhile, Kasey Kahne is running in the top 5 and having a solid run.  He would get a solid finish in 8th, but unfortunately for Kasey, so would Bowyer and Ragan, both finishing in the top 15.  While Vickers and Allmendinger continue to battle for 2nd, in-race reporter Carl Edwards is up to 11th after starting an abysmal 26th.  But that's nothing, at the same time Kevin Harvick is up to 9th, and he started the race in 33rd!

Caution #3 comes out on lap 43.  Just as Rusty Wallace is talking, around goes the Blue Deuce, his former car.  Kurt Busch blew a tire.  The outer layer of the tire started rolling down the banking in turn 1 as Kurt spun in turn 2.  Everyone comes down to pit, except Michael Waltrip who decided to stay out and get his 5 bonus points for leading a lap, trying to keep his car in the top 35 in owners points.  Considering he finished the race 2 laps down in 33rd, it didn't help much.  During the pit stop, Vickers loses 10 spots when the front tire changer loses one of his nuts again...2 nights in a row, and this time it was the guys who won the pit crew challenge!

Caution #4 comes on lap 68 as Joe Nemechek heads straight up the track into thr wall off turn 2.  Nemechek would be done for the night.  Nemechek's 43rd place finish officially locked Jimmie Johnson into the Chase for the Cup.  After the restart, Greg Biffle leads a lap as he beats Johnson to the line by a bumper, then Johnson sets sail again.  A loooooooong green flag run occurs, leading to green flag pit stops.  By the time the green flag pit stops occur, Vickers has gained his 10 lost spots back and is back up to third.

2 more cautions come out for "debris" on the front stretch...and again 1 of them is because a piece of the caution light fell off!  ATTENTION ISC: PLEASE FIX THE CAUTION LIGHTS BEFORE NASCAR RETURNS HERE NEXT FEBRUARY!  Oh by the way, Martin Truex Jr. had to come back down pit road to fix a loose wheel...goodbye Chase!  Under caution #6, Jimmie Johnson falls back to 6th on the pit stop when he takes 4 tires.  Biffle and 4 others beat the 48 crew out of the pits with a 2-tire stop.  So Johnson is further back than he's been all night with the exception of green flag pit stops...no problem, Johnson gets back to the lead in about 2 1/2 laps.

Johnny Sauter would eventually retire from the race due to overheating.  This officially locked Dale Earnhardt Jr. into the Chase.  By night's end, Jeff Burton would also be into the Chase for the Cup.  Meanwhile, back at the OK Corral, Kahne, Ragan, and Bowyer are still running on the lead lap, while Ragan stays out to lead a lap for 5 crucial bonus points.  He's still 17 points out of 12th after the race though.

Lap 181, caution #7, this time it's for the #7 as Robby Gordon goes through the spin cycle but doesn't hit anything.  The car is still okay and Gordon is able to continue.  Also, speaking of the name Gordon, the other Gordon had an awful night compared to the expectations the 24 team had coming into the race.  After qualifying 3rd, the only gear Jeff Gordon had all night was reverse.  He stayed out during green flag pit stops to lead a lap, but still finished 15th and fell back to 10th in the points.

During this pit stop, David Reutimann wins the race off pit road with a 2-tire stop...aaaand backwards goes the 44 car as soon as the green flag is back in the air.  Johnson again comes off pit road in 6th position, and this time it's because the jackman tripped over the airhose.  Biffle gets the lead from Reutimann as expected immediately after the restart, but once again, the rocket that was the 48 car got right back to the front, passing the 5 cars in front of him again in 3 laps.

The final caution comes out with roughly 30 laps to go when the Tasmanian Devil Marcos Ambrose smacks the wall in turn 3 and throws around a few pieces of debris, leading to the final pit stop of the night.  Biffle's team wins him the race off pit road over the 48 team.  Once the field goes back to green, Biffle is able to hold off Johnson...for 3/4 of a lap as Johnson passes him in turn 3 and never looked back.  Jimmie Johnson was the class of the field, and the other 42 cars were no match for the Lowe's bunch.  It was a night a driver dreamed of, complete domination the entire weekend for this Cup race.  Johnson set a record for the most laps led in a Cup race in Fontana.

We didn't mention the 18 once tonight.  That's because he was never a factor.  He never led a lap and was outside the top 15 for most of the middle portion of the race.  Although he did finish 7th, beating Kasey Kahne to the line for the position after he was perpendicular to the race track coming off the final corner.

So there are now 5 drivers into the Chase for the Cup, and it's time for more number crunching.  Remember the (official) magic number is 196.  Greg Biffle is 187 points ahead of 13th, so he's into the Chase once he takes the green flag next Saturday in Richmond.  Also keep in mind the points margin from 1st to 43rd is 161.  Kevin Harvick is 7th in the standings after tonight, and 160 points ahead of 13th.  So Happy is into the Chase once the race starts at Richmond also...technically he's in providing he's not the first car out of the race, but in reality, he's in.  Tony Stewart lost 2 spots and fell back to 8th,but he's still 138 points ahead of 13th.  So that means Tony Stewart just needs to finish 35th or better at Richmond to lock himself into the Chase.  From 9th on down, nobody is safe.  Here are the standings after tonight's race, and who's into the Chase:

1. Kyle Busch -IN
2. Carl Edwards -208 -IN
3. Jimmie Johnson -369 (+1) -IN
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -432 (-1) -IN
5 Jeff Burton -521 -IN
6. Greg Biffle -596 (+1) -IN
7. Kevin Harvick -623 (+1) -IN
8. Tony Stewart -648 (-2) -95% IN
9. Matt Kenseth -674 (+1)
10. Jeff Gordon -681 (-1)
11. Denny Hamlin -690
12. Clint Bowyer -766
================================
13. David Ragan -783
14. Kasey Kahne -814
15. Brian Vickers -956

Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Newman were officially eliminated from Chase contention tonight, as I expected.  Brian Vickers is still mathematically in Chase contention 190 points behind Bowyer.  However, Vickers is eliminated as long as Bowyer takes the green flag at Richmond.

Until next time, I'm your NASCAR VP looking forward to one crazy night in the (appropriately titled) Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond!

BK over and out