Johnson sits back ... for a very short while

            AVONDALE, Ariz. – The first 52 laps of the Checker O’Reilly 500 belonged to Kurt Busch. After that, the action got all too familiar.

            Sprint Cup point leader Jimmie Johnson spent the early laps in third, then moved up to take second place from pole winner Martin Truex Jr., then patiently set his sights on Kurt Busch, passing him on the 56^th of 312 laps.

            Busch later regained the lead during green-flag pit stops, but Johnson made another pass prior to the 100-lap mark.

            Caution tandem – No yellow flag waved at Phoenix International Raceway until the 116^th lap, when debris induced NASCAR officials to slow down Johnson. That caution period led to another when the cars of Erik Darnell, Michael Waltrip, David Ragan, Robby Gordon, Elliott Sadler, Jamie McMurray, David Gilliland and John Andretti tangled taking the green flag.

            Most of the aforementioned cars suffered relatively minor damage.

            Seats without seats -- The grandstands were close to full, but the hill backing turn four was somewhat sparsely populated. Since the track’s “seating capacity” of 76,812 reportedly, or at least according to local sources, counts 20,000 of those seats as being on the hill, where there are actually none other than what fans bring there.

            In other words, a liberal crowd estimate would probably be about 60,000.

            Pile-up – The race’s most noteworthy accident occurred on lap 171, when Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevrolet spun off turn four, creating a pileup that wound up including cars of Tony Stewart, Joey Logano, Scott Speed, Matt Kenseth, Matt Kenseth, Max Papis, Bobby Labonte, Brad Keselowski and Brian Vickers.

            “The ‘88’ got on the apron and got loose,” said Labonte, referring to Earnhardt. “It’s easy to do. I about did it a couple of times myself.”

You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.