Smoke Outruns Rain At Auto Club Speedway

Tony Stewart made some great moves Sunday en route to a win in the rain-shortened Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. But it was a move he didn’t make that sent him to Victory Lane.

Stewart had them covered in Fontana

The defending NASCAR sprint Cup Series champion surged forward from his ninth-place starting spot Sunday using a series of “slide job” maneuvers reminiscent of his title-clinching win at Homestead Miami Speedway last November. He led the race when rain began to fall 24 laps past the halfway point, then faked a move to pit road before darting back onto the race track. While polesitter Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson elected to pit, Stewart remained on course for five additional lap under caution before the rain increased in severity, forcing NASCAR to red-flag the race.

Kyle Busch also remained on-track during the rain to finish second, with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards completing the Top-5. Point leader Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch finished sixth through ninth, followed by Johnson and Hamlin. Johnson's day was saved by the rain, after the engine in his Hendrick Motorsport Chevrolet began smoking badly under the race’s final caution. Had the rain abated, it is unlikely the five-time series champion would have been able to continue without losing multiple laps.

"I don't think I faked them out," said Stewart of his decisive feint toward pit road. “(It) looked good, though."

Hamlin explained his choice to duck onto pit road, saying, “We were planning on the race going back to green. If it doesn't, we lose some spots. But if we choose to stay out there, we would be behind all the cars that pitted (and) our chance of winning decreases greatly.”

The win was Stewart’s second of the young 2012 season, making him the only multi-event winner to date. “This Office Depot Chevy was bad fast,” he said in a makeshift, rain-soaked Victory Lane. "I'm really proud of Steve Addington and all of our guys."

Stewart’s 46th career Sprint Cup Victory ties him with the late Buck Baker for 14th on NASCAR’s all-time list, and gives him seven checkered flags in his last 15 starts, dating back to September of last year at Chicagoland Speedway.