Lowe’s Racing Finishes 13th in All-Star Extravaganza
Jimmie Johnson commanded the NASCAR Sprint Cup All-Star Challenge Saturday night, leading a race high 56 laps and dominating two of the four total segments.
Johnson started the 100-lap exhibition race seventh after rain washed out qualifying and the field was set by order of the qualifying draw.
He quickly showed the strength of the Lowe’s Chevrolet by climbing through the field dominating the second and third segments of the four-segment event.
He led the 21-car field down pit road following Segment 3 where teams took a 10 minute break to make changes to the car and get prepared for a final 10-lap dash to the finish. Following the break, the cars made one pace lap around the 1.5-mile speedway before returning to pit road for mandatory 4-tire pit stop. Johnson returned to the track third.
“I was pinned down on the inside on that final restart. Really, the restart before that when we were leading and came off pit road third,” said Johnson. “Man, being at the head of the pack was so important and especially the outside lane for the first lap or two. I didn’t have that luxury; I was pinned on the inside and still had a great car. I just couldn’t get going on those first two laps kind of.”
Only green flag laps counted in the 10-lap segment, leaving plenty of time for action in the Saturday night extravaganza.
As Johnson raced around the oval trying to reclaim the top spot, teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were aggressively battling for real estate ahead of him. While Johnson cautiously tried to avoid any ensuing incidents, Kurt Busch snuck by him and moved to the lead.
“I knew mentally to be prepared that anything can happen at the end of this thing and I knew how important it was to restart in control of the field. I knew I lost that control when I came off pit road in third. I was needing a mistake and I almost had one when the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and the No. 11 (Hamlin) got together. But I was so occupied watching them and got out of the gas, I wasn’t sure where they were going to go, then the No. 2 (Kurt Busch) came blowing by on the inside. That was my opportunity there and I was just maybe a little too cautious wondering where they were going to end up.”
On the second-to-last restart of the race, Kurt Busch picked the outside lane and took the green flag with Johnson beside him.
Busch pulled away again, but before the cars got back to the finish line, Johnson spun across the infield grass to put the race under yellow for the sixth time.
“That last time, knew we were coming to the white. Knew I had to clear the No. 11 (Hamlin) on the outside of me so I just kept my foot in it and I could feel them outside of me kind of pulling the back end of my car around but I said the hell with it, it’s the All Star race. Kept my foot to the floor and hoped that I made it off the turn and I didn’t. It turned around on me.”
Johnson didn’t make contact with anything, but came down pit road where the team cleaned the grass off the grill of the Lowe’s Chevy. He returned to the track as the last car on the lead lap, avoided trouble and brought home a 13th-place result.
Kurt Busch went on to win the event, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Hamlin and Tony Stewart.
Johnson finishes 13th in Sprint All-Star Challenge
Jimmie Johnson started from the pole and led every lap of Segment 1 in Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. But what looked to be a dominant car in the early stages of the event eventually crossed the finish line 13th.
After coming in for four tires and adjustments to a slightly-tight race car between the first and second segments, Johnson returned to the track to restart fifth. The two-time All-Star race winner quickly moved to third when the green-flag waved and remained there for the entire 20-lap run, despite reporting the 48 Chevrolet had become very tight.
A yellow flag for an optional pit stop was presented to teams between Segments 2 and 3. While many cars remained on the track, Johnson came down pit road for four tires and adjustments. He returned to the track 14th to begin Segment 3.
Johnson had driven to ninth place when the first caution of the night came at Lap 73. By the end of the third installment, he had moved to fifth, where he would restart for Segment 4, a 10-lap shootout to the finish.
But on the first lap of the final chapter, Johnson was tapped from behind by Denny Hamlin in Turn 4, and went spinning wildly across the track. Johnson made an incredible save and didn’t hit anything, but had to bring the Kobalt Tools Chevy down pit lane for four fresh tires.
“Fortunately I didn’t hit anything and nobody ran into us,” said Johnson. “But we lost so much track position and at that point we just kept coming to pit road and making changes to the car to try to get some more data for next weekend’s race. If you weren’t in those first two or three rows, you really didn’t have a shot. And I was there, but unfortunately got spun around on the back and lost all that track position and was just kind of riding from there.”
Johnson slowly and patiently worked his way through the field for the remaining laps, including two more caution periods, and finished 13th.
“We led a bunch at the beginning and we had a car that was really good for 10 laps,” explained Johnson. “With the final segment being a 10-lap shootout, I thought we were in great shape. I just wish I was on the front stretch partying after the race.”
Tony Stewart won the non-points event, collecting the $1 million dollar prize. Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.
Mark Martin finished sixth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. crossed the line 10th. Jeff Gordon was involved in a wreck and was credited with a 19th-place result.
