Jimmie Johnson overpowered the field Sunday night in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway, grabbing his third victory of the season.

The two-time reigning Cup champion was easily the class of the field in the Pepsi 500, leading 227 of the 250 laps on the 2-mile oval.

He won the race at the former California Speedway for the second straight year and again gave notice to points leader Kyle Busch and series runner-up Carl Edwards _ the two hottest drivers in the series coming into this race _ that he remains a serious contender for a third straight title.

Runner-up Greg Biffle had the next best car throughout the race, but he couldn’t keep up with Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet, finishing more than 2 seconds behind the winner.