The story of the 2016 Auto Club 400 could be a Marvel Comics storyline as NASCAR‘s “Superman” Jimmie Johnson flew in at the end to save the day for his team and score his historic second win of the Sprint Cup season.

Jimmie, a California native and therefore crowd favorite at the race taking place in Fontana, CA had a special Superman paint scheme on his #48 Chevrolet to help promote this week’s premiere of the “Batman Vs. Superman” movie. The day started like any other day on the NASCAR circuit with 39 cars lining up to take the green flag.

It was Kevin Harvick that took the focus most of the race. He took the lead from his front row starting position and made it obvious that he was going to be the car to beat as he led a race high 142 laps of the 200 scheduled laps. Eight drivers would exchange the lead 26 times before the checkered flag waived.

Throughout the race there was a lot of side-by-side racing from the front to the back of the field. Several drivers had to deal with tire issues as the handling of their cars and the rough surface of Auto Club Speedway worked against them to cause them to have tire issues. Those issues caused the yellow flag to fly six times for a total of 33 laps.

Our hero (for this story anyway), the mild-mannered Jimmie Johnson simply took care of his equipment and moved up through the field throughout the race. As the laps were winding down it appeared that Kevin Harvick would easily roll to the checkered flag in the lead.

Then, “KAPOW!” Another tire issue for a driver caused the final caution period of the race and setting up a NASCAR overtime situation.

The drivers headed to pit road for fresh tires and Jimmie pulled open his fire suit to reveal the big “S” on his chest and his cape.

Kevin re-started the race in the lead with Jimmie right behind him. Jimmie pushed and the two cars quickly cleared the other lead cars. Jimmie swooped down to the inside to fly past Kevin and take the lead. He was not only able to take the lead, but also pull away from Kevin to hold that lead and grab his 77th career win. That moves Jimmie out of a tie with the legendary Dale Earnhardt Sr. to sole possession of seventh place on the all-time NASCAR race wins list.

Kevin Harvick followed Jimmie across the line to claim second place with third place going to Denny Hamlin. Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. took home fourth and fifth places respectively. See the complete race results for the NASCAR Auto Club 400 here.

The second place finish was enough for Kevin to remain the leader in the NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings. The win moved Jimmie up a spot to second place. Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin both moved up to spots to third and fourth respectively. Kyle Busch fell three spots to fifth place in the standings. See the complete NASCAR Sprint Cup point standings here.

While he is the top driver in points, Jimmie does sit in the top position on the Chase Grid as the only driver with two wins for the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. See the Chase Grid as it stands after the Auto Club 400 here.

NASCAR will take Easter Weekend off and be back to racing in two weeks when the Sprint Cup series goes “Short Trackin'” in the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway Sunday, April 3rd.

By: Buck Stevens