After 10 hours of delays, Fontana race pushed to Mon. afternoon

FONTANA, Calif. -- NASCAR officials finally gave in to the weepers.

After trying for nearly five hours to get the two-mile oval at Auto Club Speedway dry, NASCAR called it a day, postponing the completion of the Sprint Cup series Auto Club 500 until Monday at 10 a.m. PT.

The drivers had completed 87 of the scheduled 250 laps when a heavy downpour caused the third delay of the day.

Two-time reigning series champion Jimmie Johnson was out front when the rains came for the final time, with Travis Kvapil, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon close behind.

Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Gordon, a four-time series champion, dominated while the green flag was out Sunday.

"The car is driving great," Johnson said before the postponement. "I really have to give these guys a lot of credit at Hendrick Motorsports to give us this great driving race car. Both Jeff and I seem real strong."

Despite everyone's best efforts, the race cannot go on Sunday in Fontana. (AP)

The race finally began about 2½ hours after its scheduled 1 p.m. start time, but it was slowed by two early crashes and then halted as NASCAR and track officials looked for a way to stop the weepers -- places where water seeped through the seams of the 2-mile oval.

Both Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt Jr., involved in separate crashes in the early going, were critical of the track, blaming the wet conditions for their problems.

Hamlin slid up the track and hit the wall hard on lap 14 of the 250-lap event.

"I think we can get back out there, but I think there are 42 other drivers that would agree that we should not be racing on that racetrack right now," Hamlin said. "I hit a slick spot and my car took off. You can see it on television -- right at the seams, it's seeping a lot of water. I hit a wet spot and I'm not going to be the last one."

After the race was restarted, Casey Mears apparently slid through water on lap 21 and clipped new Hendrick Motorsports teammate Earnhardt. Behind them, former open-wheel star and Cup rookie Sam Hornish Jr., slammed into the rear of Reed Sorenson and then, with his hood blocking his vision, plowed into Mears, turning his car over.

Hornish's car burst into flame as safety workers arrived and quickly put out the fire. None of the drives were injured.

Earnhardt, still looking for his first Cup victory since May 2006, was irate over the conditions in which the race was started.