Clouds loomed over the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA this past Sunday, when the Auto Club 400 NASCAR competitors made their way into the Southern California racetrack. The race, which got enough sunlight by the scheduled start time of 12 noon, went underway after the traditions of the national anthem, performed by Night Ranger, the Grand Marshall’s infamous, “Gentlemen, start your engines” line spoken by the actors portraying the new Three Stooges, and finally, the wave of the green flag by actress Kristy Swanson.

The race was one of very odd circumstances, in which there were no cautions at all, throughout the 124 laps raced by the 43 drivers. The only, and final caution flag of the day was waved due to the rain that began to trickle down from the clouds that had been looming over the Cajon Pass north of the racetrack, over turns 3 and 4. When the flag went out, a three-way race for the lead had been going on between Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin, but with Johnson and Hamlin both opting for pit road, Stewart made a sort of “fake” towards pit road, but in the end, stayed out on the track; which may have been the smartest move for the #14 Office Depot Chevrolet driver.

Jimmie Johnson, who was running a good position before the caution flag, surprisingly ended up with a top-10 finish, despite the #48 Cobalt Tools Chevrolet developing an oil line problem, while the rest of the cars circled the 2-mile track. While Johnson gave up his front-runner spot with the choice of pit road, some of the cars that were holding top-10, but not quite front-runner positions, made their way to the top. This included the #88 Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who made his way up to third place, and the #18 M&M Toyota driver Kyle Busch, up to second.

This worked out in favor of the three, when, after the now red-flag change from the caution, the race was called. The race car drivers, and even some diehard fans in the stands wearing their coats and rain ponchos, waited nearly 45 minutes before the race was officially called to a complete stop. However, because the race had passed the halfway point, NASCAR officials were able to call the race and not have a race to finish out the remaining laps the following day; allowing Stewart, Busch and Earnhardt, Jr. to keep their respective spots.

This helped Earnhardt, Jr. to move up in points greatly, and gave Stewart his 46th career win, and the 2nd win of the 2012 NASCAR season