Eric Reed / AP

Matt Kenseth won his second consecutive Sprint Cup race Sunday.

Sunday, Busch sought to become the first driver to ever win races in all three major pro series on the same weekend. And while he fell short, he managed to get his own sort of redemption as well.

For although Dale Earnhardt Jr. caused Busch to wreck and lose what appeared to be his best chance ever to win the Daytona 500 to date, his rebound at Fontana showed Busch is not only back from last week, he's also back from last year's tailspin in the Chase.

Unfortunately, there's a significant bit of sadness in all the redemption that unfolded and ultimately emerged in Sunday's closing laps. After all, this was still Auto Club Speedway — formerly California Speedway — a place where good races just aren't supposed to happen, a place whose picture many think should be put in a dictionary alongside the meaning of the word "boring."

As a result, the crowd on hand was one of the smallest the Southern California facility has ever seen. Fox Sports seemed to intentionally keep the grandstands out of camera range so as not to show the glut of empty seats all the way around the two-mile motorplex.

And, given how late the race began (6:15 p.m. ET) and how late it finished (after 10 p.m. ET), it's practically a given that when the TV ratings are released Monday, the numbers are going to be poor, indicating the overall small viewership that likely grew even smaller as the race went on as many viewers clicked off the telecast, expecting yet another boring race and even more boring outcome.

Just like those who left the track early to beat what little crowd there was to beat, it was the same for many viewers: They felt that because this was Auto Club Speedway, there just was no point to stick around and watch the finish.

Well, guess what, folks — you wound up being the biggest losers of all. You missed a great finish at the most unlikeliest of places. Already we have a season that looks as if it's going to continue to give us a lot more unlikely finishes, storylines and winners.

And isn't that exactly what we as race fans want?