Chase Race Four, the Pepsi Max 400 and Tony Stewart went on the Max to catch Sprint Cup Series points leader Jimmie Johnson, after winning the Chase race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.
Stewart edged Clint Bowyer to the finish line by .466 seconds and won his first race at the 2-mile Californian track, his second of the year and the 39th of his career. Stewart, who gets his engines and chassis from Hendrick Motorsports, isn't about to discount his chances of winning a third Cup title.
Stewart, who took the lead one lap after a restart on Lap 188 and held it the rest of the way.
"We're doing everything we can do. We're going to need some help, but we're doing everything we can do. I'm proud of these guys, and just so thankful ... they refuse to give up, they refuse to back down. We'll just keep doing what we're doing here."
Local Californian Hero and Chase leader Jimmie Johnson finished 3rd but earned a 36 points lead to Denny Hamlin, who finished 8th. Non-Chasers Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Mark Martin finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Harvick came home seventh, followed by Hamlin, Gordon and David Reutimann.
With the Chase field spreading out four races into the series' postseason, only Hamlin, Kevin Harvick (54 points back) and Jeff Gordon (85 back) are within 100 points of the four-time defending champion with six races left. In sharp In sharp contrast to Stewart's victory, a handful of Chase drivers were the big losers of the race after experiencing various problems. Down for the count are Kyle Busch on Lap 154 with a blown engine finishing 35th and and a late-race wreck with David Ragan all but dashed his brother Kurt Busch's chances for a second title.
Gordon also took a hit in the points after being flagged for speeding on pit road during stops under caution on Lap 156. He rallied for a ninth-place finish but still lost significant ground to Johnson.
Moreover, it was a disastrous race for Roush Fenway Racing, which got a team-best finish of 30th from Matt Kenseth. Biffle's engine exploded on Lap 40, relegating him to a 41st-place result. On a restart 18 laps later, Edwards developed an ignition rotor failure and lost 14 laps while his crew repaired his No. 99 Ford. Edwards finished 34th and, like Biffle, sustained a crushing blow to his championship hopes.
