Johnson Makes it Two in a Row with Vegas Win February 28, 2010
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Jimmie Johnson celebrates by doing a burnout after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo courtesy NASCAR.
Jimmie Johnson made it two in a row at Las Vegas, edging out teammate and team co-owner Jeff Gordon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It was Johnson’s 49th career victory, put the sport’s only four-time consecutive champ at No. 12 in the all-time winner’s list for NASCAR’s top series.
Johnson took the lead away after Gordon led a race-high 219 of 267 laps after a restart on lap 234. Johnson restarted fourth out the outside of Kevin Harvick and behind Gordon (2nd) and lead Clint Bowyer, who did not pit. (more…)
From Daytona Disappointment to California Celebration February 21, 2010
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Kevin Harvick (left) and Jimmie Johnson battle for position during the Auto Club 500. Photo courtesy NASCAR.
Do you know how Jimmie Johnson won four consecutive Cup Series championships? Virtually every time his team suffers a setback, they bounce back with a strong finish the next week.
In the season-opening Daytona 500, Johnson and his No. 48 team were involved in a late-race wreck and finished 35th. One week later at the Auto Club 500, he won the race.
But Sunday’s win didn’t come without some good-old-fashioned NASCAR luck. Auto Club Speedway’s wide, 2-mile track leads to long green flag runs and numerous rounds of green-flag pit stops. With 26 laps to go, Johnson pulled down pit road for his final stop. As he passed pit road’s commitment line, Brad Keselowski spun out behind him. The good timing let Johnson pit before the rest of the field and take the lead before the restart. He kept the lead from there, holding off a late charge from Kevin Harvick, who came within a second of Johnson, but scraped the wall with three to go, losing his momentum and his shot at the No. 48. (more…)
McMurray Wins Pothole-Delayed Daytona 500 February 14, 2010
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Jamie McMurray, driving the No. 1 Impala, holds off Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Impala to win the Daytona 500. Photo courtesy NASCAR.
In his first race back driving a car for Chip Ganassi, Jamie McMurray won the Daytona 500 in a race delayed for two and half hours – not by NASCAR’s evil nemesis rain, but a pothole that developed in the racing groove of Daytona’s high-banked turns.
The two delays totaled nearly three hours as crews repeatedly had to fill the pothole that developed between turns one and two. But when racing finally resumed – now under the lights of the 2.5-mile track – McMurray worked his way to the front during a 32-lap shootout.
Before the season-opening race, NASCAR modified its green-white-checker overtime rules to allow for up to three such attempts. Under the previous rules, only one attempt was allowed. During the second and final such restart, a push from Greg Biffle boosted McMurray to the front and to the checkered flag, despite a valiant effort by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who restarting 10th, bobbed and weaved his way through traffic to finish second. (more…)