Ekström piloted the car in the Toyota Save/Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. He qualified 38th, and finished 21st after leading seven laps.

Under caution, Ambrose switched his car off, which is routine for drivers trying to save fuel. But there was no reason for Ambrose to do that, as he had plenty to last through a green-white-checkered finish. When he went to re-fire it, it wouldn’t start.

He slowed allowing six cars to pass him. When it re-fired, he tried to get back into the lead, but NASCAR rules state that he has to maintain a reasonable speed. And since he didn’t, he had to restart seventh, giving Johnson the lead.

Johnson drove away from the competition over the final laps and earned the first Sprint Cup road course victory of his career. The win is also Johnson’s first since NASCAR switched to the spoiler on the COT.

Top 5: Johnson, Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, and Jeff Gordon.

Marcos Ambrose, Greg Biffle, Boris Said, Tony Stewart, and Juan Montoya finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Notables: Dale Earnhardt Jr (11th), Jan Magnussen (12th), AJ Allmendinger (13th), Mark Martin (14th), Jamie McMurray (15th), Ryan Newman (16th), Jeff Burton (27th), Carl Edwards (29th), Matt Kenseth (30th), Clint Bowyer (31st), Kurt Busch (32nd), Joey Logano (33rd), Denny Hamlin (34th), Kyle Busch (39th), and Martin Truex Jr (42nd).

Around lap 11, AJ Allmendinger got into Clint Bowyer, spinning him out. Elliott Sadler, Jamie McMurray, and Kyle Busch stacked up behind them. Busch made contact with McMurray, spinning him out. Busch got heavy damage to his nose. 

Denny Hamlin suffered nose damage early in the race. Rather than fix it during a green-flag stop, the team decided to wait for a caution. A few laps after Hamlin made his pit stop, his hood flipped up. Hamlin drove to pit road with his hood obstructing his view. His team fixed the car while he was on pit road. He finished 34th.

Martin Truex Jr was running well for most of the day. He was in the top 10 when Jeff Gordon got into him, spinning him around. He was furious with Gordon and Juan Montoya, vowing to wreck them over the radio. 

On a restart on lap 64, Boris Said didn’t get going. Cars stacked up behind him. Truex Jr, Regan Smith, Max Papis, Paul Menard, Sam Hornish Jr, and Denny Hamlin all got together, causing a pile up at the start finish line. The race was red flagged for clean up. Truex Jr and Smith got the worst of it.

Joey Logano spun off the bumper of Juan Montoya on lap 85. Mattias Ekström spun off the bumper of Brad Keselowski while Carl Edwards and David Gilliland also got back together on lap 92.

In the closing laps, Elliott Sadler and Clint Bowyer, who were running in the top 10, got together and spun. Sadler finished 17th while Bowyer finished 31st.

Give a call to Robby Gordon, Marcos Ambrose, Boris Said, Jan Magnussen, and AJ Allmendinger for all finishing in the top 15 despite not being in the most competitive equipment. Good for them.

Mattias Ekström will pilot the car at the Toyota Save/Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway. No decision has been made as to who will fill the seat for the remainder of the season.

Update: Red Bull Racing accnounced that Reed Sorenson will drive the No. 83, beginning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

RBR General Manager Jay Frye said:

Our unique situation has afforded us the opportunity to try some different things, and we’re continuing to do that with Reed. We appreciate Casey’s work and everything he’s done the past five weeks.

Mears is rumored to be taking over Tommy Baldwin Racing’s No. 36.

Mears took over for Brian Vickers earlier this season when Vickers was sidelined for the entire season by blood clots. Mears has had lackluster results, posting a best finish of 22nd, with a 27.5 average finish.

Last weekend, he had a run-in with RBR teammate Scott Speed that resulted in Speed having harsh words for Mears.

At the time, Speed said:

Both of us were struggling but [Mears] wrecking us like that — I mean is ridiculous. Whenever you’re at Hendrick [Motorsports] and Richard Childress Racing and then you still don’t have a ride and haven’t done anything there’s no real excuses after that, but whatever.

Mears has always been considered by many as an underachiever because of his results in relatively competitive rides. He posted only one win in seven seasons, despite being at powerhouse teams such as Chip Ganassi Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, and Richard Childress Racing.

In his defense, however, Mears never had stability at crew chief. He rarely worked with a crew chief for more than one season. Still, after his stint with his fourth competitive team, one has to wonder how many more chances he will get.

Red Bull Racing also recently announced that it is parting ways with its competition director, Elton Sawyer.

Sawyer told FoxSports.com that the news wasn’t too surprising as the team is making budget cuts and is attempting to get leaner. He added that the process has been “cordial and respectful.”

Sawyer said:

I understand the economic conditions of the sport right now, but things are not going well there. I’d like to be part of the solution. It was a little shocking, but hopefully when one door closes another one opens. The Red Bull experience has been great. I was one of the first ones here. I got to help build the foundation and it was an opportunity to learn a lot. Overall, it’s been a great experience.

Ekström tested the No. 83 at Virginia International Raceway. It was during that test, it seems, that Ekström impressed RBR officials enough to earn a shot to start his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

RBR General Manager Jay Frye said:

We were worried about getting him up to speed in a day. He was up to speed in an hour — less than an hour. He’s a phenomenal talent.

Red Bull had to check with Audi before putting Ekström in the seat of their Toyota because Ekström is a factory driver.

Ekström said:

First of all, I’d like to express my sincere thanks — to Red Bull for inviting a Swede with zero NASCAR experience to compete in the United States and to Audi for the possibility and approval that enable me to fulfill this dream.

He added:

It’s always nice to try something new. At the test I felt really at home. So now going to a race will be very nice. The biggest difficulty will be to race with 42 other cars. [In DTM], we have 18. I’m sure it will be interesting and I’m really looking forward to the experience.