Team Takes Points Lead with 9th-Place Martinsville Finish
Jimmie Johnson earned his 16th top-10 finish in 17 starts at Martinsville Speedway with a ninth-place result in Monday’s rain-delayed race.
The result propelled Team Lowe’s Racing to first place in the point standings, 14 ahead of second-place Greg Biffle.
Johnson started the event from the third spot after rain washed out Friday’s qualifying session and the field was set by driver points. When the green flag waved, Johnson began battling a loose Lowe’s Chevrolet, but it quickly took a turn and became tight, a condition he would fight throughout the race.
As the laps ticked off, Johnson maintained top-five position on the track as the Lowe’s crew went to work during pit stops. They continued to work on the free condition but Johnson remained tight throughout the race, falling as low as 13th.
Team Lowe’s Racing was running eighth and looked to be closing in on a top-10 finish when Jeff Burton brought out the yellow flag with seven laps remaining. Crew chief Chad Knaus opted not to pit and Johnson lined up sixth, on the outside of row three, when the race restarted.
Johnson wasn’t able move down the track to the inside line and lost several positions before a final caution flag waved with two laps to go.
With a green-white-checkered finish looming, Johnson lined up 11th and set his sights on a top-10 finish. When the race resumed, Johnson battled his way around the track for two frantic laps.
“It was chaos,” said Johnson. “It is amazing the way these bumpers line up. Somebody four cars back can start pushing the guy four cars ahead if he just gets in there and stays in the gas. Looked like someone started pushing the No. 17 (Kenseth) the way that whole thing looked in front of me. I saw the No. 24 (Gordon) leave the bottom and we go in the next turn and the No. 17 was off the bottom. It looked pretty crazy from where I was sitting.”
Johnson escaped unscathed and crossed the finish line ninth.
“We were trying some stuff through the company, especially on the 48 car today,” explained Johnson. “We thought we would get it sorted out in practice and just came up a little short. Didn’t get enough time with our new ideas. Good race experience with it today and we know what we were trying here today will help us at other tracks down the road. In some respects you wish you could just come back with the same stuff all the time and have it work but this garage area doesn’t sit still. With the fast start we have had we wanted to be smart and try some things out. Ninth today was about it for us.”
The finish propelled Johnson to first place in the driver point standings, 14 points ahead of Greg Biffle and 16 ahead of Matt Kenseth .
Teams will enjoy an off weekend before heading west to Phoenix International Raceway for the next Sprint Cup Series event.
The April 10 event will be broadcast live on FOX beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Team Lowe’s Grabs 1st Bristol Win, 50th Career Win
Jimmie Johnson took his first trip to Victory Lane at Bristol Motor Speedway Sunday, earning his first win at the half-mile track, the 50th of his Sprint Cup Series career and the third of the season.
“I’m just proud of what we continue to do,” said Johnson following the race. “I mean, it’s one thing to have some success, but to continue to do it year after year, to find tracks that really are our weakest tracks, focus on them, get stronger and better at them, is a cool thing to experience. There’s a lot of work that goes into it. I wish everybody could see behind the scenes what effort goes into it from Chad’s side, everyone at Hendrick, building the cars, our engineers, the focus and dedication I have on how to drive this track better, the notes that we pour through, the conversations we have, trying to find the smallest details to make us better week in and week out at this track so we could finally win here.”
Johnson started Sunday’s race fourth and quickly moved to the front of the field, leading for the first time on Lap 6 of 500. He went on to run in the top five for the majority of the race, leading three times for 84 total laps.
When a caution flag waved with only 16 laps remaining, Johnson was running second and came down pit road for fresh tires. Johnson and race leader Kurt Busch opted for four tires while the remainder of the top 10 took only two.
“(Taking two tires) was a pretty easy decision for us,” said crew chief Chad Knaus. “Obviously we were running in the second position coming onto pit road right behind the 2 car. We felt pretty confident that a lot of guys were going to take two tires, but I felt like if we had a really good pit stop, we’d roll out of the pits probably fourth. We had a good pit stop, and were sixth. With the amount of laps we had left, even though they were dwindling, I figured we’d have about 12 laps to go. We felt very confident we’d be able to get back up to the front, get a solid top five.”
Johnson lined up sixth when the race restarted on Lap 490 and quickly picked off the cars ahead of him, moving to third on the first lap and to the lead on Lap 494. The Lowe’s Chevrolet pulled away from the field during the final six circuits and crossed the finish line .894 seconds ahead of runner-up Tony Stewart.
“Every win is extremely special,” said Johnson. “But when a track kicks your butt for so long and you finally can win at that track, there’s just something really unique about that. That’s what I experienced today.”
Johnson moved to third in the driver point standings, 14 behind leader Kevin Harvick.
The Sprint Cup Series will continue short-track racing next weekend when they visit Martinsville Speedway. Johnson has won five of the last seven races at the paperclip-shaped track.
That event will be broadcast live on FOX beginning at 1 p.m. ET.
CAREER NOTES:
Johnson’s Bristol win moves him to a tie with Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson for 10th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.
Johnson needed only 296 starts to hit the 50 mark. Only three drivers have reached 50 victories quicker – Gordon (232), Darrell Waltrip (278) and David Pearson (293).
Team Lowe’s Finishes 12th in Kobalt Tools 500
Johnson started the race 16th but powered through the field when the green flag waved, moving to the sixth spot by Lap 9 of the scheduled 325.
He continued to run up front for the majority of the race, shuffling throughout the top 10 and climbing as high as second place.
Johnson was running sixth and working his way toward the front when a caution flag waved on Lap 293. Because there had been a caution and pit stops on Lap 288, most teams elected not to come down pit road.
But Crew Chief Chad Knaus brought the Kobalt Tools Chevy down the pit lane for four tires after there was an indication of a tire-rub on the No. 48 machine. The team quickly fixed the problem but lost valuable track position when only four lead lap cars pitted.
Johnson restarted deep in the field and worked patiently through traffic during the remaining laps, finishing 12th.
“It definitely wasn’t the finish we were looking for,” said Johnson. “We had to come down pit road to fix the fender and really had no choice. If we got a flat tire we could’ve finished a lot worse than 12th. So not what we hoped for but all-in-all not a bad day.”
The result moves him to fourth in the driver point standings, 74 behind leader Kevin Harvick.
There is no Sprint Cup event next weekend. The series will head to Bristol Motor Speedway on March 21 for the Food City 500. That event will be broadcast live on FOX at 1 p.m. ET.
