Tony Stewart wins again, and again untouchable. But after all the buildup, Sunday's California 400 turned into a rain-shortened bust

  Not quite the victory lane Tony Stewart was figuring on, but then a win is a win is a win, rain or no (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   (Updated)

    By Mike Mulhern
    mikemulhern.net

    The day opened with bright, sunny skies, albeit with rain just off the coast. The threat of that rain set strategy, with teams trying to make it to lap 100, the halfway mark, which makes the race official.
    And the only yellow of the day was for the rain. The race was never restarted, and NASCAR officials called it a day at 2:23 p.m. PDT, even though the track has lights and sunset wasn't until 7:08 p.m. NASCAR called the crowd 90,000.
    There was precious little hot action on the track, with drivers generally strung out single file and well separated.
   But Stewart, calling his car "bad fast," easily took the lead at lap 85 of the scheduled 200-lapper, just when rain became an imminent threat, and he held it the rest of way, except for a routine round of green flag pit stops on lap 105.
    So Stewart, who turns 41 in May, certainly doesn't look over-the-hill. He's won seven of the Sprint Cup tour's last 15 races. And he's winning with awesome strength. 
   "I turned 40 last year and I’m definitely not losing anything with age," Stewart says with a laugh. "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 and the leaders came in. We were leading the thing and had earned that spot."
    And how.

    
Gentleman, start your umbrellas (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
   

    Kyle Busch charged early and dominated for nearly an hour. Then Stewart took the point, and Busch, who finished second, said he didn't have enough speed to keep up with Stewart.
    "Once the track rubbered in, and every lane was good and black, our times fell off, but Tony's car was still digging," Busch said.
   Busch said the day was a rain game right from the start: "We all knew it was just a matter of time. By lap 60 or 70, we figured we'd be racing to lap 100, halfway.
   "That played into our pit strategy good. Everyone started short-pitting, so we came in early too, not to lose any time."
   Short-pitting, a good tactic when tires fall off as much over a run as these tires did, means drivers pit for fresh tires while they still have plenty of gas.
   In a curious move Denny Hamlin's crew chief Darian Grubb, when the rain brought out the only caution of the day on lap 125, ordered Hamlin to pit for tires and gas, while most of the field stayed on the track, expecting continued rain.
    At first blush Grubb's move didn't look good, since Hamlin gave up second place and wound up 11th.
    However Grubb was banking that a gamble for victory was worth it, reasoning that wins this season are more important than just points.
   After all Grubb and Stewart won the 2011 championship based on season wins, more than rival Carl Edwards.
   Hamlin and Grubb are among the 10 teams typically expected to make the playoff; 12 teams make the chase. Thus there is little risk for any of those 10 to thus gamble for a win. Hamlin lost nine points with the move; he stood to gain five on Stewart if the race were restarted and he won.
   

   

   
Before the rain, the track rubbered in well on Goodyear's new tires, and drivers could run three-wide....when they wanted to (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
   

    Stewart, Hamlin and Busch clearly had the best cars on the track.
    Still Dale Earnhardt Jr. was among those second-guessing Grubb and Hamlin: "I was surprised everyone didn't stay out. I was pretty certain that once it started raining it wasn't going to stop."
    The rain proved a big plus for Jimmie Johnson, whose car had just developed an odd oil leak moments before the yellow flag essentially ended the race.
    Johnson, smoking heavily as he followed the caution-flag field down pit road, was credited with 10th; and it was unclear if he could have continued racing, if the event went green again.
    "Either a piece of debris hit an oil line and knocked the fitting off or split the line, snagged a line," Johnson said. "I was just idling along and my friends pulled up alongside of me and were pointing 'You're smoking.'"
   Many, if not most, teams started the race hoping to race the looming rain to the halfway mark, 200 miles.
   Steve Addington, Stewart's crew chief, said "Tony and I talked before the race about racing to halfway, but Tony said he was figuring on the race going all 200 laps, so I told him that's what we'd do, and I'd keep him updated on the weather.
    "When we got 35 laps from halfway, I told Tony the situation with the weather, rain coming from three to five miles out. He was running Kyle down at the time.
   "We figured if it started raining, it wasn't going to stop."
  
   Busch led 160 miles until Stewart slipped by him in traffic. "I was trying too hard to catch back up to him, and I slipped and got in the fence," Busch said.
"We tore up a couple things on the back half of the car that are important to make it turn."
    So the rain was a plus? Busch said yes. "With our car right now, second is great."
   Hamlin agreed with Grubb's final pit stop:
   "I feel we took the safe move; the risky move was to stay out," Hamlin said. "If this goes back green, Tony is going to have to restart way in the back, and it's going to really hurt your chances of winning the race.
    "We were planning on the race going back green. 
     "You either give up a few spots, or you lose a chance to win."

    Dale Earnhardt Jr., third, continues his strong performance this season. He's now up to third in the standings, and his confidence is clearly growing.
    "Tony had an awesome car….and I thought Jimmie was pulling away from me steadily throughout the entire day," Earnhardt said. "But the track was going to tighten up, and we were prepared for that; that is something we have had problems with this year. 
   "We had great pit strategy too, stopping a little earlier than most people and gaining some track position.
   "I haven't run as good here as I would have liked to, but I love the track.  The multi-grooves are a lot of fun to run on.  It's definitely getting some age on it, but I think the asphalt will last a few more years." 
 
   One of the most disappointed was Greg Biffle, who had boasted coming into this event that his car was the best to ever come out of the Jack Roush Ford shop. But Biffle was not a strong competitor, finishing sixth. However he did hold on to the top spot in the Sprint Cup standings.
   "I like this track but the last few times here we've been off just a tick, and today I didn't keep up with the track," Biffle said.
    "If they had gotten the track cleaned off and going again, I think we would have had a chance, because we're good on a cold, green track.  When it gets hot and slick, we're not as good as they are."
    Teammate Carl Edwards finished just ahead of Biffle. Edwards left the track quickly without comment.
    Fellow teammate Matt Kenseth gambled at the end and lost, finishing 16th. Kenseth, usually one of the strong runners here, conceded it wasn't a good weekend, and his poor qualifying run Friday didn't help.
    "We gambled pitting at the end, hoping it would go back green," Kenseth said. "But after the penalty (for a tire violation) that was pretty much it
either way. 
    "We ran 13th to 16th the whole day. We just missed it.  I thought we would be pretty good and we never really were that great."

    Smoke usually isn't a good thing, but Jimmie Johnson, here with an unexplained oil leak, lucked out (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)