Johnson Wins in California

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Jimmie Johnson won the Auto Club 400 from Auto Club Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Photo courtesy "NASCAR on NBC" Facebook.

Johnson took the lead after the race was sent into overtime following a late caution.  Johnson said he had a strong car at the very end of the race, which allowed him to overtake Kevin Harvick in the final laps.

“Harvick and I got by Joey [Logano] there at the start, and I got a great run off Turn 2,” Johnson said.  “I thought, ‘I actually got a shot at this thing,’ which I didn’t expect to have.”

“Harvick’s been so fast and I cleared him and I kind of got away.  We saved our best for last.”

Harvick, who led a race-high 142 laps, said his car didn’t take off well on restarts.

“We weren’t very good on restarts for four or five laps unless we were all by ourselves,” Harvick said.  “The 48 [of Johnson] was able to hang with us and we weren’t able to drive it in like we needed to.”

Unofficial results:

1. Jimmie Johnson

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Joey Logano

5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

6. Chase Elliott

7. Carl Edwards

8. AJ Allmendinger

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Jamie McMurray

11. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

12. Brian Scott

13. Brian Vickers

14. Ryan Newman

15. Paul Menard

16. Landon Cassill

17. Casey Mears

18. Clint Bowyer

19. Matt Kenseth

20. Trevor Bayne

21. Aric Almirola

22. David Ragan

23. Regan Smith

24. Austin Dillon

25. Kyle Busch

26. Cole Whitt

27. Matt DiBenedetto

28. Kasey Kahne

29. Michael Annett

30. Kurt Busch

31. Michael McDowell

32. Martin Truex Jr.

33. Chris Buescher

34. Jeffrey Earnhardt

35. Ryan Blaney

36. Josh Wise

37. Greg Biffle

38. Danica Patrick

39. Kyle Larson

Photo courtesy Jonathan Moore/Getty Images