|
Jimmie
Johnson put NASCAR on
notice that it was
getting close to the
chase for the
championship and he was
bringing his “A – game”
when it cranks up in New
Hampshire in a couple of
weeks. Johnson led 228
of 259 laps to win the
Pepsi 500 in dominating
fashion at the Auto Club
Speedway Sunday night.
Johnson beat Greg Biffle
by over 2 seconds when
he could not mount a
challenge after a late
race caution because he
was overheating due to a
piece of garbage on his
grill. Denny Hamlin came
in third followed by
Kevin Harvick and Matt
Kenseth rounded out the
top 5.
Last
week’s winner and runner
up (also on probation),
Carl Edwards and Kyle
Busch followed. After
the race Johnson said,
“We found a direction
with some tire pressure
that worked and really
didn't touch much all
night long and the car
was really fast and
good. I think the track
came to us. Instead of
us chasing the track,
changing, it came our
direction. The car was
just awesome all night
long.”
Johnson also noted that
the best car doesn’t
always win but he felt
it did tonight, “More
than anything”, Johnson
explained. “I'm happy to
close the deal. It's
very, very rare to have
a car that dominant. In
most cases, you end up
doing something stupid,
and I'm guilty of that
in the past so. It was
nice to close the deal
and lead all those laps
and win the race.”
Johnson also felt like
this could be a good
example for how his
chase could go. He
noted, “Just not sure
how it's going to shake
out. The weak spot for
us has been the mile and
a half, two mile tracks,
and the Chase is loaded
full of those tracks.
And our results at the
start of the season and
early summer, there were
some flashes of hope in
there, but we weren't
where we needed to be.”
Johnson, who was also
the pole winner, had his
one of his most
significant challenges
of the night from
outside pole winner A.J.
Allmendinger who raced
Johnson side by side on
the first lap with
Allmendinger leading lap
1. Johnson got by on lap
2 and never looked back.
It did not take long for
the first caution flag
to fly as Jamie
McMurray’s bad luck
continued when he blew a
tire on lap 3 throwing
debris all over the
track. It was only few
laps later when the
caution lights in turn 1
fell to the track! That
brought out the second
yellow flag. Most
cautions were for debris
on the track or single
car incidents due to
tire issues.
Johnson’s only
competition appeared to
be the Ford of Gregg
Biffle. Biffle led a 1
lap after a restart with
Johnson quickly passing
him or won the race off
pit road when Johnson
took 4 tires and fuel
while others took 2 or
no tires with fuel. All
other lead changes came
when drivers stayed out
after the leaders pitted
or during green flag pit
stops. It really was not
even close. Johnson was
simply dominant.
More drivers secured
their place in this
season’s chase. Johnson,
with his win, Dale
Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff
Burton have all secured
their spots. Biffle and
Kevin Harvick only need
to crank their engines
at Richmond next
weekend. Tony Stewart,
Matt Kenseth and Jeff
Gordon would need
tragedy to strike to
fall out. The same is
essentially true to
Denny Hamlin. It will
come down to Clint
Bowyer, David Regan and
Kasey Kahne battling for
the last spot as they’re
separated by less than
35 points.
You can
contact Ed at
coombse@speedwaymedia.com
The opinions expressed
on this site are not necessarily those of the publisher. All
comments other than website related problems need to be directed to
the author. Copyright 2000-2008 SpeedwayMedia.com.
More by
this author:
|
.gif)
