Lowe’s Racing Earns Second Straight Win with Victory in New Hampshire
For the second weekend in a row Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe’s Team found their way to Victory Lane, earning their fifth win of the season and third at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Johnson started the 301-lap race from the 10th spot and quickly made his way through the field, grabbing fifth by Lap 28 and moving to second on Lap 81.
When the first round of green-flag pit stops began around Lap 106, Johnson inherited the lead from Kasey Kahne where he remained until he came down pit lane for four tires and fuel on Lap 112.
But a miscue on pit road cost the team time and Johnson exited the pits ninth.
“We lost some track position but I just kept my head down and stayed focused and picked them off one at a time,” said Johnson. “Chad (Knaus) had some great strategy pitting a lap or two early over some guys and we were able to get out on the track and make up time and pick up a couple of spots there.”
Johnson spent the remaining laps climbing back through the field and found himself third when the race restarted on Lap 245 following a caution.
By Lap 281 Johnson erased the lead Jeff Burton had and was looking to grab the top spot just as a yellow flag waved for contact between Juan Pablo Montoya and Reed Sorenson.
While race leader Burton stayed on the track, crew chief Chad Knaus called Johnson down pit road where they opted for two-tires, placing Johnson second when the race restarted on Lap 287.
“At the end, the No. 31 (Burton) it was one of those situations where we’re going to do the opposite of what he does and he stayed out so we came to pit road and luckily the field followed us,” explained Johnson.
Johnson quickly moved around Burton for the lead when the race restarted and just two laps later Burton brought out the final caution when he and Kyle Busch got together in Turn 4.
Johnson led the field to green on Lap 293, which would be the final restart of the race.
Kurt Busch, who was running second, tapped Johnson’s rear bumper on Lap 294, moving him out of the way and taking the top spot. But five laps later, Johnson reclaimed the lead when he passed Kurt Busch and went on to lead the final two laps before grabbing the win.
“We got by (Burton)and got going and then the No. 2 (Kurt Busch) took a shot at me and I got my cool and thought if he’s going to take a shot at me to get by, I don’t care if I finish this race. I’m going to run over the top of him to get back to the lead. And I tried once and didn’t get enough of him and tried the second time and just moved him enough to get out of the way and got going. It was just good short track racing.”
Johnson Earns Top-5 at New Hampshire
Jimmie Johnson started 16th in the first event of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Johnson ran in the top 10 for nearly the entire event and required minor adjustments to fix a tight center on his No. 48 Lowe’s Impala SS early in the race.
Various pit strategies began playing out from the midway point of the race. Johnson even led for 14 laps, earning five bonus points.
The closing laps brought out several cautions and double-file restarts produced some exciting closing laps. Johnson was able to stay out of trouble and maintained a fourth-place spot throughout, bringing home the first top-five finish for the Lowe’s team in the Chase.
“Yeah, good day for us,” said Johnson. “Strategy got a little weird there in the middle part of the race. Cautions at the end really weren’t working for us, we were starting to catch the 2 (Kurt Busch) and the 5 (Mark Martin). The way the tires were cycling around. It worked out well. We were running strong all day long and I’m glad we got a good top-five. Great start to the Chase — very happy with things.”
Johnson’s fourth-place finish puts him in a tie for second in points with Denny Hamlin, 35 points behind leader Mark Martin.
The second race in the Chase takes place at Dover International Speedway where Johnson has four wins and six top-five finishes in 15 starts.
Johnson Finishes 9th in Rain-Shortened New Hampshire Race
Jimmie Johnson finished ninth in Sunday’s rain-shortened Sprint Cup Series event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
After the field was set by driver points due to inclement weather on Friday, Johnson started the scheduled 301-lap race third when the green flag waved. While the No. 48 Kobalt Tools Chevrolet wasn’t that comfortable for Johnson early, Chad Knaus and the No. 48 crew went to work and on Lap 50 Johnson took his first lead.
The two-time New Hampshire winner went on to lead two times for a total of 93 laps throughout the day, more laps than any other driver.
Eventually Johnson lost the lead and restarted the race fourth on Lap 180 after a 12 min. and 48 sec. red-flag period brought out by an eight-car accident in Turn 1. Johnson quickly drove to third when the race resumed but lost valuable track position when Kurt Busch made contact with his Lowe’s Impala.
The contact with Busch coupled with a round of green-flag pit stops late in the race left Johnson running in the 20s at one point. But as the pit stops cycled through and Johnson passed competitors, he found his way back to ninth when the rain began to fall on Lap 268.
“We had a decent finish and a decent run,” said Johnson. “We led laps early and hoped to be in contention for the win – I think we may have even led the most laps. But contact with the (No.) 2 car took us out of the running. We just never could rebound from that, but still a decent day.”
Rookie Joey Lagano was among a group of drivers who were out of sequence with most of the field’s pit cycle. The weather arrived just in time for Lagano as he was able to remain on the track and be in the top spot when the race was called on Lap 273.
Johnson remains third in the Sprint Cup driver point standings, 169 points behind leader Tony Stewart.
