Kevin Harvick's thrilling victory at Fontana on Sunday was the NASCAR equivalent to many spectacles in sports.
How clutch was his win?
Simply put, it was like a buzzer beater in basketball, a walk-off homerun in baseball, or a two minute drill successfully completed in football.
While it may be race number five of the season, it sure had the makings to label Harvick and his Richard Childress Racing efforts as legit title contenders.
When it all mattered, the Bakersfield, Calif. native put the spurs to his No. 29 Jimmy John's Chevrolet to the point.
Bumpdrafting five-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson on the backstretch during the final lap, Harvick's car shot into turns three and four.
With just enough power to manuever past the familiar blue and white No. 48 Lowe's machine, Harvick defeated the sport's dominant force to the stripe.
"I knew if I went low, I was not going to beat him," Harvick said per Yahoo! Sports writer Jay Hart's article. "So I just pushed him and was just hoping that I needed that one line to open up on top and it opened and we were able to roll through there."
Sure, the photograph might show a somewhat convincing victory - after all, looks like enough comfort room, right?
In reality, Harvick beat the all-time winningest racer at Auto Club Speedway by just over a car-length or two, or for you racing buffs out there, 0.144 seconds - a razor thin margin in today's stock car scene.
Somewhat reminiscent of his 2007 Daytona 500 victory, per AP Sports Writer John Marshall's race recap, the always entertaining Harvick said, "I wish we could just go out there and wear 'em out one day, just not have to worry about waiting until the last lap.
"It's probably somewhat of a bad habit (that) I have, but I guess it worked out."
Truth be told, the race looked it'd be another patented Kyle Busch victory, as the 2005 Rookie of the Year winner led 151 of the 200 laps that comprised the Auto Club 400, Fontana's sole Cup date this season.
Coming off last weekend's race, filled with absolute winning and victory at Bristol in the Nationwide and Cup races, the 25-year-old Las Vegas star looked poised to bring home his second win of the season.
After winning Saturday's Royal Purple 200 in dominant fashion, the 400-miler almost looked like a replay of that race, just with overcast skies, different participants and cars, and a much lengthier event.
However, his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry wasn't quite strong enough to stave off the Chevrolets of Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson.
Staying out during the last caution, Busch's Toyota washed up in the end, propelling Harvick and Johnson to the top two finishing positions while relegating "Rowdy" to a third place result.
"It's real unfortunate and disappointing and frustrating all in one that we weren't able to seal the deal today," Busch said following the race. "You ask a little more from your race car at the last moments and it just doesn't have anything left to give.
"We were just a sitting duck for those guys to go around us."
Meanwhile, for Johnson and his No. 48 team, all was not lost, even if they were beat on the last lap in a heartbreaking defeat.
"Looking back, maybe if I could have got by Kyle a bit earlier, maybe it could have made a difference," Johnson said. "But he (Harvick) was was rolling off the top really, really fast."
Harvick's victory on Sunday boosted him up to the ninth position in the Cup standings, gaining six spots and sitting just 30 markers behind points leader Carl Edwards.
Edwards, who failed to lead a lap in Sunday's race, placed sixth in his No. 99 Ford, somewhat lengthening his championship lead over second place Ryan Newman to a slim, nine point margin.
As for Johnson and Busch, their strong efforts ushered them to the fifth and fourth positions respectively, within 14 points of the coveted series lead.
Comprising Sunday's top ten finishers at Fontana were Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Some notables who placed outside the top-10 included Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who nabbed a 12th-place result, Tony Stewart (13th), Kurt Busch (17th), Jeff Gordon (18th), and Denny Hamlin (39th).
Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano both experienced engine problems during the race weekend, with the No. 11 FedEx Toyota unable to finish the race.
Logano, on the other hand, had to change motors, relinquishing his third starting spot and struggling to a 25th place finish.
The Sprint Cup circuit heads back to the short track scene, trading paint and flaring up tempers for next Sunday's Goody Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia.
Race coverage will start at 1 PM EST on local FOX Sports affiliates, while MRN will call the racing action for fans via satellite radio.
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