Auto Club 400: Tony Stewart Rolling Toward Championship with Win in Fontana

The sunny California sky gave way to heavy rain, bringing out the first caution at the Auto Club 400 with 76 laps to go. The race was red-flagged, and Tony Stewart snatched his second win of the season.

Though Kyle Busch dominated much of the race with his No. 18 Toyota, Stewart had powered his No. 14 Chevrolet to the lead.

Rain was in the forecast, so the teams were racing for the halfway point. There was hard racing between Stewart and Kevin Harvick early in the race, and Harvick put the bumper to the No. 14.

Once the rain started, the radar indicated there would be no restart of the race.

If you were looking for action, the race at Fontana was a bit of a sleeper. Pit mistakes by some of the teams were costly, especially Jeff Gordon.

Gordon had his No. 24 running in the top five when the gas man failed to withdraw the fuel can from the car before the driver left the pits.

As he and the gas can rolled out of the pits, Gordon was assessed a drive-through penalty. It seems Gordon can't catch a break this season. NASCAR does not allow equipment outside of the pit box.

When the caution came out for rain, Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 was smoking and headed for the pits. It appeared to be an oil cooler problem. Johnson finished 10th, which moved him to ninth in points.

Stewart now moves on to Martinsville where he found his confidence to win the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup title.

The reigning Cup champion now has 46 career wins. Two wins this early in the season takes some of the pressure off this owner/driver as he makes his way to the Chase. He is fourth in the standings.

Greg Biffle remains the points leader. The second-place finisher was Busch, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards who rounded out the top five.