Auto Club 500 race In California recap

Well after many delays we now know that Carl Edwards had the car to win the Auto Club 500!

After a long delay due to rain the race finally got underway! About two and a half hours after the race was supposed to start we finally got the race underway only to have the #55 car driven by Michael Waltrip drop oil all over the track. The green flag has yet to wave. They have to clean the track up as well as the track is weaping (water is coming out of the cracks in the track) so they are also drying those. A half hour later we finally go green flag racing!!!

Jeff Gordon took the lead right away by about two seconds. We got our first caution on lap 14 when Denny Hamlin in the #11 FedEx car hits the wall in turn three. He hit pretty hard. He had to go straight to the garage. On lap 17 Jimmie Johnson took the lead after pit stops. On lap 20 Jeff Gordon retakes the lead.

On lap 20 the caution comes out again for a wreck. Casey Mears hit the wall then slid down the track right into his teammate Dale Jr. Dale Jr. then slide into Reed Sorenson as well. Then out of the blue Casey was almost stopped against the wall and here comes Sam Hornish Jr. hitting him from behind and actually flipping Casey's car so that the driver's side was against the track. After both cars stop Sam's car catches fire. Luckily everyone made it out fine. Sam and Casey are both out of the race. The red flag comes out for the clean up. The cars were stopped for over an hour! Here are some quotes from the drivers involved:

• Casey Mears: "A couple times I hit the water and right about the time I crossed that seam, I don't know if that's what caused me to get loose."



• Dale Earnhardt Jr.: "We were just sitting there trying to chill. The track's real dirty and everybody's sliding around. The track ain't ready today. The track's dirty, and this was a bad move."



• Sam Hornish Jr.: "There was nowhere to go either way. I couldn't see anything and couldn't steer the car, either."



• Denny Hamlin: "I think there are 42 other drivers out there who would agree; we should not be racing on that racetrack right now. I hit a slick spot and the car just took off."

I guess NASCAR desided to finally listen to these drivers when they said the track was wet. They ended up drilling into the track to get the water out.

Finally on lap 25 we got the race underway with Jeff Gordon leading. On lap Jimmie Johnson took the lead so that he could help his teammate get some debris off his nose. Reed Sorenson also comes back out on the track! On lap 38 Jeff Gordon takes the lead back.

Then on lap 39 there is a caution thrown for rain in turn 4. Most the leaders are pitting now. That hands the lead to John Andretti. Then he pits and Dale Jarrett assumes the lead. On lap 46 Dale pits and Jimmie Johnson takes the lead.

The green flag was thrown again on lap 47 and Jeff Gordon takes the lead. On lap 56 Jeremy Mayfield cuts a tire and the caution comes out for debris. The race restarts after pit stops are made on lap 59 Jeff Burton leads them only to have Jeff Gordon pass him again. Dale Jr. has also rejoined the race 39 laps behind.

On lap 70 Elliott Sadler spins and brings out the caution for the sixth time. On lap 72 Jamie McMurray leads the field to the green after all the leaders make thier pit stops. On lap 73 Greg Biffle takes the lead from Jamie. On lap 81 the rain falls again! By lap 85 NASCAR red flags the race.

Nascar had hoped to run the race last night but at 2am ET Nascar officially postponed the race. It was 15 hours 49 minutes later and the race was yet again underway.

On lap 90 Jimmie Johnson leads the pack to the green flag! On lap 122 Kasey Kahne takes the lead as the leaders start to make the green flag pit stops. On lap 123 Kasey pits and Kurt Bush inherits the lead. Lap 124 Kurt runs out of gaas on the back stretch and Carl Edwards takes the lead. He then pits but maintains the lead. On lap 126 Jimmie Johnson regains the lead.

Caution comes back out on lap 134 when Jeff Burton smacks the wall to bring out that caution. On lap 137 Kyle Busch takes the lead under caution after many drivers make pit stops.

On lap 150 Michael Waltrip spins and hits the wall bringing out the caution yet again. The leaders hit pit road and Robby Gordon stays out to lead a lap. When Robby makes the pit stop Ryan Newman takes the lead. On lap 155 Matt Kenseth takes the lead. Then on lap 158 Jimmie Johnson is able to ease past Matt for the lead again. That only lasted two laps and Carl Edwards then takes the lead back.

On lap 167 Dale Jarrett looses the tire tread from his right rear tire to bring out the caution. Everyone makes thier pit stops and that puts Jimmie Johnson back in the lead. Thanks to a fast pit stop Jeff Gordon takes the lead on lap 170.

On lap 179 Carl Edwards passes Jeff for the lead back. On lap 210 Kevin Harvick takes the lead as drivers start to make green flag pit stops. Then on lap 211 the pit stops cycle through and Carl Edwards resumes as the leader.

On lap 219 Jeremy Mayfield slaps the wall bringing out caution flag numer 11. Everyone hits pit road and that puts Jeff Gordon in the lead thanks to the position of his pit. On lap 122 Jimmie Johnson takes the lead yet again.

On lap 237 Carl Edwards takes the lead for the final time.

Here are the top 10 in points:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Ryan Newman
3. Tony Stewart
4. Kurt Busch
5. Carl Edwards
6. Kasey Kahne
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Greg Biffle
10. Jeff Burton

Next week we are in Las Vegas!

Take care!