Catchfence

Jimmie Johnson held off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, by 1.604 seconds to win his 45th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career race, as he took the Pepsi 500 checkered flag at Auto Club Speedway.

This is Johnson’s fifth series win of the 2009 season, his fourth series win at Auto Club Speedway (making him the first to win four racea at the track) and the first to win the Pepsi 500 for three consecutive seasons. This also marks Johnson’s second win during the “chase.” and the Pepsi 500 victory places him 12 points ahead of former points leader, Mark Martin.

Following Johnson and Gordon to the drop of the checkered flag were Juan Pablo Montoya finishing third, Mark Martin fourth, Tony Stewart fifth, Carl Edwards sixth, David Ragan seventh, Kurt Busch eighth, Clint Bowyer ninth and Kevin Harvick rounds out the top-10 finishers.

Race Notes:

Average Speed: 143.908 MPH
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 28 Mins, 28 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.603 Seconds
Lead Changes: 29 among 9 drivers
Cautions: 8 for 30 laps
Attendance: 70,000

Unofficial Top-12 in the Points Standings:

1. (+1 From Last Race) Jimmie Johnson – 5728 Leader
2. (-1) Mark Martin – 5716 (-12 Behind Leader)
3. (–) Juan Montoya – 5670 (-58)
4. (–) Tony Stewart – 5644 (-84)
5. (+2) Jeff Gordon – 5623 (-105)
6. (-1) Kurt Busch – 5607 (-121)
7. (+1) Greg Biffle – 5540 (-188)
8. (+2) Carl Edwards – 5536 (-192)
9. (-3) Denny Hamlin – 5509 (-219)
10. (-1) Ryan Newman – 5505 (-223)
11. (–) Kasey Kahne – 5422 (-306)
12. (–) Brian Vickers – 5377 (-351)

2009 Pepsi 500 NSCS Race Results

Fin	Str	Car	Driver	Team	Lap	Pts	BPts	Status	TLd	LLd
1	3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet	250	195	10	Running	10	126
2	10	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont/Pepsi Chevrolet	250	175	5	Running	2	6
3	4	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	250	170	5	Running	7	78
4	9	5	Mark Martin	Kellogg's/CARQUEST Chevrolet	250	165	5	Running	1	5
5	20	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet	250	160	5	Running	2	6
6	11	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	250	150		Running
7	31	6	David Ragan	UPS Ford	250	146		Running
8	24	2	Kurt Busch	Miller Lite Dodge	250	147	5	Running	2	3
9	8	33	Clint Bowyer	Prilosec OTC-Walmart Chevrolet	250	138		Running
10	7	29	Kevin Harvick	Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet	250	134		Running
11	16	7	Casey Mears	Jack Daniel's Chevrolet	250	130		Running
12	22	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Mobil 1 Dodge	250	127		Running
13	17	17	Matt Kenseth	R&L Carriers Ford	250	124		Running
14	6	20	Joey Logano #	Home Depot Toyota	250	121		Running
15	36	39	Ryan Newman	Haas Automation Chevrolet	250	118		Running
16	14	12	David Stremme	No. 12 Penske Dodge Dodge	250	115		Running
17	34	55	Michael Waltrip	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	250	112		Running
18	42	0	David Reutimann	Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota	250	109		Running
19	40	34	John Andretti	Taco Bell Chevrolet	250	111	5	Running	1	1
20	2	16	Greg Biffle	3M/Scotch-Blue Ford	250	103		Running
21	21	82	Scott Speed #	Red Bull Toyota	249	100		Running
22	5	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Guitar Hero 5 Chevrolet	249	102	5	Running	1	4
23	27	47	Marcos Ambrose	Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox Toyota	249	94		Running
24	19	18	Kyle Busch	M&M's Toyota	248	91		Running
25	37	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet	248	88		Running
26	35	96	Bobby Labonte	DLP Ford	247	85		Running
27	41	98	Paul Menard	Energizer/Menards Ford	247	82		Running
28	26	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet	247	79		Running
29	32	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	246	76		Running
30	18	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevrolet	245	73		Accident
31	28	43	Reed Sorenson	Rosie Organic Chicken Dodge	244	70		Accident
32	39	19	Elliott Sadler	Stanley Tools Dodge	244	67		Accident
33	12	44	A J Allmendinger	Dassault Systemes Dodge	244	64		Accident
34	25	9	Kasey Kahne	Budweiser Dodge	244	61		Accident
35	15	13	Max Papis #	GEICO Toyota	244	58		Running
36	29	26	Jamie McMurray	Crown Royal Ford	209	55		Running
37	1	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Ground Toyota	195	57	5	Accident	4	21
38	38	7	Robby Gordon	Jim Beam Toyota	121	49		Accident
39	13	87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports Toyota	29	46		Electrical
40	43	36	Michael McDowell	Wave Energy Drink Toyota	25	43		Overheating
41	33	66	Dave Blaney	PRISM Motorsports Toyota	22	40		Overheating
42	30	71	David Gilliland	TRG Motorsports Chevrolet	13	37		Overheating
43	23	9	Mike Bliss	Miccosukee Indian Gaming & Resort Dodge	11	34		Engine