Team Lowe’s Earns 48th Career Win with Victory in California
Jimmie Johnson and Team Lowe’s Racing earned their 48th career-win by picking up the victory in today’s Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, Calif.).
Johnson started the 250-lap event from the seventh spot and quickly made his presence known, taking the lead for the first time on Lap 30. He went on to lead eight times throughout the race for a total of 101 laps, more than any other competitor.
Luck fell Johnson’s way when on Lap 224 he brought the Kobalt Tools Chevy down pit road for a green-flag stop. As Johnson received four tires and fuel, a caution flag waved when Brad Keselowski made contact with the Turn 4 wall. Because of Johnson’s pit stall selection and the speedy stop by the 48 crew, he was able to beat the leaders across the line and took the lead when other cars came down the pit lane under the yellow flag.
“The deal on pit road, we got lucky,” said Johnson, who is now tied for 12th on the all-time wins list. “We were in our pit box and the caution came out. We were able to just beat the 31 (Burton) car off of pit road where the scoring line is at the end of pit road. You know, certainly got lucky. We were running third or fourth or fifth at the time, so it’s not like we totally backed into this thing. But we got a really nice gift with the way things worked out, then it was kind of up to me to hang onto it.”
Johnson led the field back to green when the race restarted on Lap 231 and despite a hard charging Kevin Harvick never lost the lead.
“I got away from the 29 (Harvick) and 31 and thought I was going to be able to motor off, have a nice smooth ride till the end,” added Johnson. “I started losing the handling on the car a little bit. The 29 was really coming on. All I could do was kind of change my line of what he was running because I hadn’t really run there yet over the course of the race, and I started working my way higher in turns three and four, trying to find some more grip and anything to help myself out. I guess he got into the fence at one point, did some damage to his car.
“(It was a) great race. I think today was a great race for NASCAR, great race on this racetrack. I know it’s big and spread out from time to time, but in every situation I was in, there was a lot of great racing going on.”
Johnson’s win moved him from 35th to 12th in the driver point standings.
“We led a bunch of the race so it was obvious we had a fast racecar,” offered crew chief Chad Knaus. “It was a great day for the Lowe’s/Kobalt Chevrolet. Jimmie did a fantastic job of driving the racecar. It’s on to Vegas.
The Sprint Cup Series will travel to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s event. It will be broadcast live on FOX beginning at 3 p.m. ET.
First-place finish at California leads Team Lowe’s to Top of the Chase
Jimmie Johnson held on during a frantic finish to Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway to earn his fifth win of the season. He now leads the standings in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Johnson started the race third and maintained top 10 position throughout the day. He battled Juan Pablo Montoya for the lead early in the race and swapped the top position with teammate Jeff Gordon several times in the closing laps.
“It is such a long race and so much takes place,” said Johnson, who led 126 of 250 laps on the way to his 45th career win. “Just a solid day all along. I’m so proud of this Lowe’s team. I’m so thankful to Lowe’s for allowing me to put the (Jimmie Johnson) foundation on the side of the car. Man what an awesome car and what an awesome day. Those cautions at the end really had me nervous. I just didn’t know what to do on the restarts.”
While there were only three cautions in the first half of the event, the yellow flag waved five times in the final 65 laps, including an eight-car accident that brought out the red flag with six laps remaining.
When the race restarted for the final time, there were three laps to go. Johnson lined up on the inside of Gordon and led the field to the green flag.
After several tight double-file restarts, Johnson had no problem the final time, cruising away from Gordon and Montoya and crossing the finish line 1.603 seconds ahead of Gordon.
“The restarts were really tough because it’s such a long straightaway and the draft is so important that the guy who is in the second row really controls who ends up with the lead going into Turn 1,” explained Johnson. “So I was doing it wrong for a while and finally on that last restart I got it right and we had such a good car that I felt like if somebody did pass me I could get back by him in a couple of laps. So with the green-white-checkered at the end I had to get it right and luckily I did.”
Johnson is now in first place in the standings, 12 points ahead of Mark Martin.
“That’s awesome,” said Johnson. “That’s what we wanted. Keep chipping away at it but obviously there’s a lot of racing left. We’re in good shape. My home state, Jimmie Johnson Foundation on the side of the car, fans are going crazy, I can’t thank them enough. I’m just really, really happy.”
The next stop on the Sprint Cup Series circuit is Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
