Johnson, Team Lowe’s, Earn Third Victory at The Brickyard
Jimmie Johnson grabbed his second consecutive win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by taking the checkered flag in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series event.
Johnson has won three of the past four races at the 2.5-mile track and is the first driver to win in consecutive years in 16 NASCAR races at Indy.
“It’s pretty special,” said Johnson, who now sits second in the driver point standings. “This track has been so tough on me over the years and to be able to win here now three times means the world to me. I wanted to race Indy cars as a kid growing up and some day hoped to race here and now to take three trophies out of here and go kiss the bricks is awfully special.”
Juan Pablo Montoya dominated the majority of the race, leading 116 of 160 laps before being penalized for speeding on pit road with fewer than 35 laps remaining. He served a penalty and dropped back in the field, opening the door for Johnson and other drivers to vie for the victory.
Johnson’s teammate Mark Martin quickly took the lead and led 10 laps before Johnson made a pass on Lap 137. Johnson held off a hard charging Martin in the final 10 laps and led the field to the checkered flag.
“That was unbelievable,” said Johnson, who now has three wins this season. “I hope the fans enjoyed that race. I can’t say enough about this race team and all of Hendrick Motorsports. It was a fun battle with my teammate Mark Martin. Damn is he fast. For an old guy he had me pretty worried.
“Those last 15-20 laps we had to drive it so hard to stay ahead of the five. I was better in (turns) three and four than he was and he had me beat in (turns) one and two and it was kind of a give and take thing that was going on. Luckily we held him off. It’s great to work with him and work with Alan (Gustafson) and work with all my teammates at Hendrick Motorsports to get this Kobalt Tools Impala in victory lane.”
Johnson is 192 points behind Stewart in the driver standings. Jeff Gordon is now third with Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards rounding out the top five.
The next race on the Sprint Cup Series schedule is at Pocono Raceway. The race will be broadcast live on Sunday, Aug. 2 on ESPN at 1 p.m. ET.
Team Earns 8th-Place Finish in Chicago
Jimmie Johnson finished eighth in Saturday night’s Sprint Cup event at Chicagoland Speedway.
After starting third in the 267-lap, 400-mile event, Johnson battled a tight No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS for much of the race, but challenged for top-five position throughout the night, leading 58 laps.
On Lap 251, the three-time Sprint Cup Champion led the field to a restart with fewer than 20 laps remaining, but several cars made contact when the green flag waved and Johnson got loose in the traffic. The Lowe’s Chevy fell out of line briefly and lost valuable track position, squeezing back in in the eighth spot.
“I don’t even know what happened,” said Johnson, who earned his seventh top-ten result in eight starts at the 1.5-mile track. “I think the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) got inside of me and got me loose. He was on new tires. And then the No. 2 (Kurt Busch) and I touched and he body-slammed me after that. So, that was the least of my problems. The bigger problem I had was when I was leading and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) pushed me all the way through (Turns) 1 and 2 and eventually I lost control of the car and that’s what put me back there. But it was just hard racing.”
Johnson was able to avoid other incidents but was never able to make a charge back to the front, crossing the finish line eighth.
“It was one of those days,” he continued. “I thought we had this thing won at one point and then on that restart it didn’t work out so well for us and then everybody was out of control back there racing and body-slamming. The No. 83 (Brian Vickers) and the No. 11 went at it for a little bit. We were bump-drafting down the straightaways and that was some wild racing. I didn’t think we could race like that on a 1.5-mile.”
Johnson’s teammate Mark Martin won the race, his fourth victory of the season.
“Our cars were pretty good and we could get away,” Johnson added. “But Mark (Martin) really had the dominant car in my eyes. There were a couple of segments where we were better, but overall Mark had the dominant car and I’m glad to see him win the race.”
Johnson remains third in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings, 212 behind Stewart. Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin round out the top five.
The Sprint Cup Series will enjoy an off weekend before traveling to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the July 26 event.
Team Lowe’s Survives Wild Night at Daytona; Finishes 2nd
Jimmie Johnson survived a wild Sprint Cup event at Daytona International Speedway Saturday night, crossing the finish line 2nd in the third restrictor plate race of the season.
For the second week in a row, Johnson started third after rain forced NASCAR to set the lineup by points.
Despite fighting a tight Lowe’s Chevrolet early in the race, Johnson ran in the top five throughout the event, falling back only once after a pit stop where the No. 48 Chevy had to backup and maneuver around the No. 78 car to leave the pit stall.
“It was a great run for us,” said Johnson, who earned his first top-five result at the 2.5-mile track since his victory there in the spring of 2006. “I feel bad for sliding through the pits maybe two or three stops from the end. My mistake kept us from hopefully being in the lead, second, somewhere in there, on the restart. We had to avoid a couple of accidents since we were so far back in the pack, but we recovered. The car was strong.”
Johnson drove back to the front of the field and the top four cars broke away from the rest. Johnson was in position to contend for his second victory at Daytona as the closing laps neared and was sitting third with a front-row seat when first and second-place running Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart wrecked coming to the checkered flag.
“I had a feeling something would take place coming to the finish and I might be able to improve my position,” explained Johnson. “Everybody was content to stay in line, and you’re just waiting for the second place car to make a move on the leader, and those guys started racing and passing each other and an opportunity came along and I was in the right lane, and off I went.”
Johnson was able to avoid a spinning Busch and followed Stewart to the finish line, earning his 12th top-10 finish of the season. Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five.
“It was just a strong performance,” added Johnson. “We have really struggled with the COT at Daytona. My teammates have done well at times. But I’m very proud of the hard work Chad (Knaus) put into some setups. We started practice a couple days ago and were terrible, and he had two or three different packages to try, and finally the last package we put under it really worked well for us and got me a good driving car, so we’re happy.”
Johnson remains third in the Sprint Cup Series driver point standings, 194 behind leader Stewart. Gordon remains second with Kurt Busch and Edwards rounding out the top five.
