* Jimmie Johnson won the Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway. It marked the third straight victory by Johnson in the fall race at California. He scored his fourth Cup win in 14 races at California, the most by any driver.
* A Chase driver won the 21st straight Chase race.
* Johnson scored his 45th career victory in his 285th start. He took over sole possession of 14th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.
* Johnson took the points lead by 12 over Mark Martin. Johnson scored his fifth victory in 2009, tying Martin for the most by a driver in 2009. It marked his second victory in the four Chase races. He also won at Dover.
* Johnson has won a race in eight consecutive seasons (2002 to 2009).
* Johnson scored his sixth straight top-10 finish at California.
* Hendrick Motorsports earned its eighth victory at California, the most by any team.
* Johnson scored the 11th win for Hendrick Motorsports this season.
* Johnson led 10 times for a race-high 126 laps, including the final seven. Johnson has led in 41 of the 54 Chase races. He has led in 25 of the 30 races this season, the only driver to do so.
* Johnson’s worst finish in the past 30 Chase races is 15th (Texas and Homestead in 2008).
* Chevrolet has scored 16 wins in 2009, leading all manufacturers. Toyota has nine, while Dodge has three and Ford has two.
* Jeff Gordon (second) scored his fourth straight top-15 finish at California and second runner-up finish in the Chase. He finished second at Kansas. Gordon has finished second in eight of the 30 races in 2009.
* Juan Pablo Montoya (third) posted his best finish and first top-10 in six races at California. Montoya is the only driver to score top-5 finishes in all four Chase races. He remained third, 58 points behind new points leader Johnson.
* Martin (fourth) scored his seventh straight top-10 finish, extending a streak that began at Bristol.
* Tony Stewart (fifth) scored his third top-10 finish in the past four races at California. He has been running at the finish in the past 53 races, the longest current streak.
* Carl Edwards (sixth) scored his fifth straight top-10 finish at California.
* Matt Kenseth (13th) ended an eight-race streak of top-10 finishes at California.
* Kyle Busch (24th) ended an eight-race streak of top-10 finishes at California.
* Jeff Burton (30th) has finished 16th or worse in the past 16 races since Michigan in June.
* Joey Logano (14th) was the highest-finishing rookie of the year contender.
* Denny Hamlin (37th) was the lowest-finishing Chase driver at California.
* Elliott Sadler (32nd) ended a 52-race streak of running at the finish (accident).
* The top 10 consisted of seven Chevrolets, two Fords and one Dodge.
(Racing Resources/ESPN)(10-12-2009)
