Search results matching tag 'jimmie johnson'

Jimmie Johnson only needs to finish 25th or better at Homestead to clinch his fourth title. So, will he race for the win?

TMS Total Access — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:25:01 GMT

Jimmie Johnson only needs to finish 25th or better at Homestead to clinch his fourth title. So, will he race for the win?

Jimmie Johnson is one step closer to his fourth consecutive Cup Championship.

TMS Total Access — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:12:58 GMT

Jimmie Johnson is one step closer to his fourth consecutive Cup Championship.

Johnson Widens Chase Lead With Win At Phoenix

TMS Media Relations — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:43:00 GMT

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Photo Credit: (Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

(November 15, 2009)

AVONDALE, Ariz.—From his fiasco in Forth Worth, Jimmie Johnson rose like a phoenix in—where else?—Phoenix.

A week after teasing his Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup competitors with a 38th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway—his worst of the season—Johnson regained control of his championship run by winning Sunday’s Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

In a dominating performance in which he led 238 of 312 laps, Johnson increased his advantage over fourth-place finisher Mark Martin (second in the standings) to 108 points. With a finish of 25th or better in the season finale next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Johnson will lock up his record fourth straight championship.

Johnson, who won for the seventh time this season and scored the maximum 195 points (winning and leading the most laps) for the fourth time in the Chase, will eliminate the other 10 Chase competitors as soon as he takes the green flag at Homestead.

The victory was the 47th of Johnson’s career, breaking a tie with Buck Baker for 13th on the career win list.

“First of all, I have to thank this race team for having the strength and mental attitude and everything that they do to bounce back from last week and show up and just put a butt-kicking on everybody today,” Johnson said.

“At the start of the race, we were a little loose but still running second or third. As soon as we put new tires on, the car came to life. We made a couple of small adjustments that really, really helped it, and I could get out to a nice comfortable lead, ride, protect what I had, work my way through traffic—not with ease, but better than other guys.”

The race ran caution-free for the final 134 laps. Johnson lost the lead briefly when he pitted for four tires and fuel on Lap 243 at the 1-mile track, but he regained it on Lap 248 when Matt Kenseth came to pit road.

Johnson kept his No. 48 Chevrolet out front the rest of the way, as third-place finisher Denny Hamlin and runner-up Jeff Burton, who passed Hamlin for second on Lap 284, took turns in pursuit. Johnson’s only anxious moments came when Hamlin teammate rookie Joey Logano made Johnson work especially hard to complete a pass.

“I was trying to be smart through traffic,” Johnson said, “and the 20 car (Logano)—I’m not sure if he was just trying to stay two laps down and didn’t want to go three laps down, or if he was really trying to help his teammate out—but, either way, the 11 car (Hamlin) caught me. Once I cleared him (Logano), I got back going, and everything was fine. But the 20 car wasn’t being all that friendly.”

Johnson, who started third Sunday, plans to take an aggressive approach to qualifying at Homestead to try to avoid a repeat of the early crash that took him out at Texas.

“I think qualifying 12th (at Texas)—even though that’s a good qualifying spot—put us in harm’s way, and I was a little cautious, maybe, in qualifying,” Johnson said. “We need to show up down there and treat it like any other race.

“The farther forward we start, the better off we’re going to be, track-position-wise, the better pit stall selection we’re going to have. Until we get in the race and see what we really have, we’re going to treat it like any other race and just go as fast as we can.”

Notes: Johnson’s margin of victory over Burton was 1.033 seconds. … Polesitter Martin Truex Jr. finished fifth, his first top five of the year in his next-to-last race for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Truex will drive Michael Waltrip Racing’s No. 56 Toyota next year. … Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Gordon and David Reutimann finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

After Jimmie Johnson lost 111-points at Texas, Mark Martin says the championship is still up for grabs

TMS Total Access — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:36:14 GMT

After Jimmie Johnson lost 111-points at Texas, Mark Martin says the championship is still up for grabs

Kyle Busch fall just 2 1/2-laps short of history, while his brother Kurt makes it to Victory Lane, and Jimmie Johnson loses 111 points

TMS Total Access — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:18:59 GMT

Kyle Busch fall just 2 1/2-laps short of history, while his brother Kurt makes it to Victory Lane, and Jimmie Johnson loses 111 points

Johnson Fastest In Final Dickies 500 Practice

TMS Media Relations — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:02:00 GMT

FORT WORTH, Texas (November 7, 2009) – Three-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and current Chase points leader Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) was the fastest during Saturday’s final practice for the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Johnson posted a lap of 186.670 miles per hour on his opening lap of the final practice for Sunday’s Dickies 500 to claim the fastest lap among the 41 drivers that ran during the session.

Defending Dickies 500 champion Carl Edwards (No. 99 Aflac Ford) was second fastest at 186.265 mph and Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota) was third at 185.810 mph.

Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet), the polesitter for the Dickies 500, was 15th at 183.748.

Frontstretch tickets remain for the Dickies 500 and are available by calling (817) 215-8500 or by visiting www.texasmotorspeedway.com.

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Time	Speed
1	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's / KOBALT Tools Chevrolet	28.928	186.670
2	99	Carl Edwards	Aflac Ford	28.991	186.265
3	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Office Toyota	29.062	185.810
4	16	Greg Biffle	3M/Super 33 Tape Ford	29.110	185.503
5	21	Bill Elliott	Motorcraft Ford	29.206	184.894
6	6	David Ragan	UPS/Boys & Girls Clubs of America Ford	29.210	184.868
7	7	Robby Gordon	MAPEI Toyota	29.246	184.641
8	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet	29.261	184.546
9	00	David Reutimann	Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota	29.297	184.319
10	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet	29.305	184.269
11	44	A J Allmendinger	Ford Drive One Ford	29.311	184.231
12	2	Kurt Busch	Miller Lite Dodge	29.312	184.225
13	26	Jamie McMurray	Crown Royal Ford	29.350	183.986
14	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Dream In Color Chevrolet	29.363	183.905
15	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont Chevrolet	29.388	183.748
16	39	Ryan Newman	Haas Automation Chevrolet	29.396	183.698
17	33	Clint Bowyer	Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet	29.406	183.636
18	43	Reed Sorenson	Valvoline Dodge	29.446	183.387
19	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet	29.457	183.318
20	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet	29.502	183.038
21	71	Bobby Labonte	TRG Motorsports Chevrolet	29.521	182.921
22	12	Brad Keselowski	No. 12 Penske Dodge Dodge	29.558	182.692
23	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	AAA Dodge	29.570	182.618
24	29	Kevin Harvick	Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet	29.587	182.513
25	82	Scott Speed #	Red Bull Toyota	29.605	182.402
26	96	Erik Darnell	Academy Sports + Outdoors Ford	29.643	182.168
27	17	Matt Kenseth	DeWalt Ford	29.663	182.045
28	18	Kyle Busch	M&M's Toyota	29.715	181.726
29	5	Mark Martin	CARQUEST/Kellogg's Chevrolet	29.742	181.561
30	07	Casey Mears	Choctaw Casino/Resort Chevrolet	29.748	181.525
31	87	Joe Nemechek	NEMCO Motorsports Toyota	29.788	181.281
32	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevrolet	29.790	181.269
33	02	David Gilliland	Farm Bureau Toyota	29.818	181.099
34	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	29.827	181.044
35	47	Marcos Ambrose	Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox Toyota	29.857	180.862
36	19	Elliott Sadler	Stanley Tools Dodge	29.884	180.699
37	9	Kasey Kahne	Budweiser Dodge	29.949	180.307
38	98	Paul Menard	Vertis/Menards Ford	29.959	180.246
39	20	Joey Logano #	Home Depot Toyota	29.961	180.234
40	36	Michael McDowell	Wave Energy Drink Toyota	30.052	179.689
41	55	Michael Waltrip	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	30.146	179.128
# Denotes Rookie

Johnson During Dickies 500 Practice

TMS Media Relations — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:36:07 GMT

FORT WORTH, TX - NOVEMBER 06: Jimmie Johnson, drives the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet through the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on November 6, 2009 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Darrell Ingham/Getty Images)

Johnson Takes Aim At Historic Fourth Championship During Dickies 500

TMS Media Relations — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:36:00 GMT

FORT WORTH, Texas (November 3, 2009) – No race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup has swung the pendulum in favor of one driver more than the Dickies 500. Three-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson can attest to the importance of Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. Johnson has used the eighth race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup as a springboard in two of his three consecutive championships and walked away with the points lead following the Dickies 500 in each of those previous three seasons. On two of those occasions, he erased a points deficit with a strong outing in the Dickies 500 to wrestle control of the championship lead.

Johnson, who leads Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin by 184 points in the Chase, heads to “The Great American Speedway!” with history at stake as he looks to become the first Sprint Cup Series driver to win four consecutive championships. The Dickies 500 has been the site of some of Johnson’s most important moments of his championship bids. In 2006, a runner-up finish helped turn a 26-point deficit into a 17-point lead over Matt Kenseth for his first championship. The following year he found himself second in the championship again, but his victory in the Dickies 500 helped him overtake teammate and owner, Jeff Gordon, by 30 points en route to his second championship.

Last season, Johnson finished 15th while his closest pursuer, Carl Edwards, won the Dickies 500, but still left Texas with a comfortable 106-point lead.

“It’s been a real pivotal track for me,” Johnson said. “It’s been a good track for me in the past to get some points and have some good momentum going into Phoenix.”

None of the other 11 Chase for the Sprint Cup contenders have performed as well as Johnson at Texas Motor Speedway. Despite only having one victory, Johnson has statistically dominated “The Great American Speedway!” as he ranks first for most top-10 finishes (9) and top starting (8.91) and finishing averages (8.50).

Johnson has finished second or better in four of the last six races at Texas Motor Speedway, including a runner-up finish in April’s Samsung 500. Add to that success his consistency through the first seven Chase races. He has not finished outside the top 10 and has been buoyed by three wins and 720 laps led. Despite Johnson’s success and comfortable points lead, he understands that his closest competitors, teammates Martin and Gordon, have each fared well at the 1.5-mile speedway. Both owns wins at Texas Motor Speedway – Gordon in April’s Samsung 500 and Martin in 1998 – and rank among the career leaders in top-five and top-10 finishes at “The Great American Speedway!”

“I know Texas will be a good race for me, but at the same time it will be a good race for my teammates,” Johnson said. “We finished second in the spring so as excited as I am for myself going back to Texas Motor Speedway, I know Jeff and the No. 24 team won there and Mark has been super strong on the mile-and-half tracks all season. We’ll have to see.”

Even with his 184-point lead, Johnson said he is going to continue to battle for the win each week. Johnson knows that one mistake can erase his advantage and spoil his chance at history. And those who remember his 2007 Dickies 500 win will recall Johnson potentially risking his championship hopes with a daring side-by-side battle with Kenseth late in the race to capture the victory.

“I’m not going to let up and lose focus of the job I need to do and allow the championship to be in the forefront of my mind until it’s mathematically locked out,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing and try to close this thing out as soon as possible. Racing will reach up and bite you at any point and anything can happen.”

Tickets remain for the Dickies 500 and are available by calling (817) 215-8500 or by visiting www.texasmotorspeedway.com.

Jamie McMurray wins at Talladega, and Jimmie Johnson is able to extend his points lead.

TMS Total Access — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:45:52 GMT

Jamie McMurray wins at Talladega, and Jimmie Johnson is able to extend his points lead.

A lot of fans are tired of seeing Jimmie Johnson win so much. So how about his fellow competitors?

TMS Total Access — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:47:36 GMT

A lot of fans are tired of seeing Jimmie Johnson win so much. So how about his fellow competitors?