Tony Stewart Gets Win at Auto Club Speeway

It's always disappointing to the fans when a race is shortened by rain, and that's what happened at Auto Club Speedway in California.  The race was shortened by 71 laps, and in the end it was Tony Stewart claiming his second NASCAR victory for 2012.

With the clouds looking like they could let loose at any minute, Stewart really did have the dominant car of the day, passing Kyle Busch for the lead on lap 85, just 44 laps before the race would be called. Stewart kept the lead through some green flag pit stops, and under caution for rain (the only caution of the day), Stewart faked as though he was going to pit his car, but jerked the wheel back on to the track, keeping the lead.

With 71 laps to go, NASCAR stopped the race, and Stewart has his second win of the season, and he was proud to get it. He told NASCAR.com,

You hate to have them end with rain like that. But I've lost some that way,The good thing is, we didn't back into the lead because we stayed out, the leaders came in. I mean, we were leading the thing and had earned that spot. Proud of that.

Kyle Busch claimed a second place finish, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third, Kevin Harvick finished fourth, with Carl Edwards rounding out the top 5.

Next the series travels to Martinsville Speedway on April 1st for the Goody's Fast Relief 500, and I am fairly certain we will see a lot more yellow flags there than we did in California. FOX will have coverage beginning at 11:30AM (Central).

There's a good chance we could see Tony Stewart continue his hot streak there. Outside of Kevin Harvick winning in 2011... Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin have won every race at Martinsville since 2006.