Kevin Harvick Thrills Fans with California Win

Written by Andrew McClellan

Todd Warshaw, Getty Images for NASCAR Kevin Harvick led only one lap of Sunday's Auto Club 400, the all important final lap. Harvick made a thrilling last-lap pass of Jimmie Johnson to claim his 15th career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory.  "We led the right one, that's for sure," said Harvick. Much of the race was a sleeper with Kyle Busch leading 151 laps of the 200-lap race. Jimmie Johnson moved into second with 20 laps remaining and began to challenge Busch until Bobby Labonte brought out the caution on lap 185. The top-seven cars did not pit and held the same running order when the race restarted on lap 192. Everything heated up when Johnson got by Kyle Busch for the lead on lap 197 with Harvick in tow. Harvick, glued to the rear bumper of Johnson's car, bumped Johnson on the backstretch before making the race-winning move in turn three heading to the checkered flag. "When they started racing side by side, we made up the ground," explained Harvick. "Kyle started to get loose and we drove around him. Everything worked out going into turn three and four, it was a good day for us." Harvick won by a margin of 0.14 seconds over Johnson with Busch third, Matt Kenseth fourth and Ryan Newman fifth. Carl Edwards leads the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings as the series heads to Martinsville next Sunday.