NASCAR At Fontana: Kevin Harvick Stuns Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch To Win On Final Lap

Carl Edwards is the new Sprint Cup Series points leader following the NASCAR race at Fontana, a result of his sixth-place finish and former points leader Kurt Busch’s off-day.

Edwards is nine points ahead of Ryan Newman – the biggest lead so far through five races of NASCAR’s new, simplified points system. That’s as high in the points as Newman has been since 2008, when he started off the season by winning the Daytona 500.

Jimmie Johnson was explaining to reporters why he didn’t try to press the issue with Kevin Harvick on the last lap of Sunday’s race at Fontana when Kyle Busch playfully interjected.

It was part of a humorous exchange between the two drivers, who finished second and third at Auto Club Speedway.

You already know how the individual drivers finished in Sunday’s NASCAR race at Fontana. But how about the teams? Here’s a look at the four biggest multi-car teams and how they fared at Auto Club Speedway:

Richard Childress Racing (average finish: 9.75)

Dale Earnhardt Jr.‘s 12th-place result Sunday at Fontana left him wondering what kind of finish would have been in store had his qualifying effort on Friday been better.

Earnhardt Jr. said starting 30th or worse – which he did at Auto Club Speedway and overall in three of the last four races – has hampered his team’s ability to get top-five finishes, despite having great race cars.

Here we go! Another live chat is upon us. What do you think will happen in today’s race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana?

Howie Mandel is funny. Brian Scott is funny. This is what happened when Scott, a Nationwide Series driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, tried to teach Mandel what to say in order to start today’s NASCAR race at Fontana (Mandel is the grand marshal for the Royal Purple 300).

Howie: “This is my first time ever at NASCAR. Never been.”

When it comes to reaching a huge number of people and getting exposed to potential new fans, American Idol is about as big of a stage as there is these days.

So when Idol invited NASCAR drivers Joey Logano and Trevor Bayne to attend Thursday night’s results show, both drivers were beyond thrilled to go.

Juan Pablo Montoya had struggled to put together good qualifying results in the first few races of this season, finishing higher than where he started in every Sprint Cup Series event so far in 2011.

But Montoya solved that problem on Friday at Fontana, claiming the top spot for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 starting lineup with a lap of 184.653 mph.

Friday’s Sprint Cup Series practice in Fontana was supposed to be the typical 90-minute session teams usually get before taking their qualifying laps for Sunday’s race.

But because of weather, the session was reduced to 45 minutes – and about five or 10 of those minutes were lost to cleaning up debris from Kyle Busch’s wreck into the infield grass.

Kyle Busch has appeared to be more mellow and relaxed this year, and there’s still debate about why. Is it because he got married? Is it because he’s suddenly matured? Or is it because of something else?

To hear Busch tell it, much of the reason is due to a realization that he could no longer afford to be NASCAR’s bad boy, which could potentially push away new sponsors and fans.

Everyone seems to be jumping to conclusions about the 2011 NASCAR season heading into Fontana, even though only four races have been marked off the schedule so far.

People are talking about Jimmie Johnson (he hasn’t won a race yet!), Kyle Busch (he looks like a championship contender!), Carl Edwards (unstoppable!) and Paul Menard (a Chase driver!), just to name a few.