Search results matching tag 'nascar sprint cup series'

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.

This Week's Chase Driver Interviews And Post-Race Press Conferences - Texas

TMS Media Relations — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:30:00 GMT

Throughout the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, www.texasmotorspeedway.com will be providing you with the special opportunity to watch the Chase driver press conferences as well as the post-qualifying and post-race press conferences LIVE from those respective speedways.

Now you not only can watch the Chase for the Sprint Cup races each week (ABC-TV), but find out what your favorite Chase drivers are saying as they prepare for the next event in addition to interviews from the top finishers following the conclusion of each race.

Here is this week’s schedule of interviews from the media center here at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas for the eighth race of the Chase. In addition to the Chase interviews, NASCAR also will feature media interviews from its other series. The times below are CENTRAL TIME.

THURSDAY: 9 p.m. (approximately) - NASCAR Camping World Truck Series post-qualifying.

FRIDAY: 10 a.m. - Marcos Ambrose (No. 47 Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox Toyota); 10:30 a.m. - Ryan Newman (No. 30 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet); 10:45 a.m. - Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 42 Target Chevrolet); 11 a.m. - Mark Martin (No. 5 CARQUEST/Kellogg's Chevrolet); 11:15 a.m. - Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe's/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet); 1:35 a.m. - Tony Stewart (No. Office Depot Chevrolet); 2:45 p.m. - Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge); 5 p.m. (approximately) - NASCAR Sprint Cup Series post-qualifying; 7 p.m. (approximately) - NASCAR Nationwide Series post-qualifying; 10 p.m. (approximately) - WinStar World Casino 350k NASCAR Camping World Truck Series post-race.

SATURDAY: 2 p.m. (approximately) - O'Reilly Challenge NASCAR Nationwide Series post-race.

SUNDAY: 5:30 p.m. (approximately) - Dickies 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series post-race.

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.

McMurray Survives Talladega Melee For Third Cup Win

TMS Media Relations — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:23:00 GMT

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

(November 1, 2009)

TALLADEGA, Ala.—For the first time since July 7, 2007, Jamie McMurray found himself in the right place at the right time.

Jimmie Johnson, on the other hand, can’t seem to put himself in a wrong position—even when he thinks he has.

McMurray was at the front of the field in Sunday’s Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway when the inevitable “big one,” a 13-car wreck off Turn 4, caused the sixth caution of the race and froze the running order with just more than one lap left. All McMurray had to do was complete the white flag lap to claim his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory since he edged Kyle Busch by .005 seconds at Daytona in 2007.

Johnson, the series points leader, wallowed around in the back of the field for most of the afternoon, but a fortuitous stop for fuel under caution for Ryan Newman’s unnerving crash on Lap 185 helped him get to the finish line past a score of cars that either wrecked or ran out of gas.

Johnson leaves Talladega with a 184-point advantage over second-place Mark Martin, whose car hurtled through the air, flipped and slammed into the frontstretch wall during the final melee on an otherwise ho-hum day—thanks to a stern prerace warning against bump-drafting and push-drafting from NASCAR—that turned ugly in the closing laps at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.

Kasey Kahne overcame a start from the rear of the field because of an engine change to finish second. Rookie Joey Logano came home third. Because of the late caution for the wreck during which Newman’s Chevrolet flip once end-over-end and land on its roof, the race went three laps beyond its scheduled distance of 188 laps, and McMurray was one of many drivers worried about running out of fuel.

“I saw the guys wreck behind me, and I didn’t know if you had to take the white (flag) in order (to win the race)—I wasn’t real sure what the rules were—and the 9 (Kahne) went to the outside because he saw the same issue, but I just moved up and kind of tried to block him,” said McMurray, who won the third Cup race of his career. “As soon as I crossed the start-finish line, I shut the engine off and pushed the clutch in and coasted around as far as I could.

“What an exciting day. It’s been a long time since I’ve won, and I want to assure every fan out there that I appreciate this as much as anybody. So thanks to all my fans who have stuck with me. I just can’t believe it’s here again.”

As late as the final restart, which took place on Lap 190 after a 12-minute, 34-second red-flag period for Newman’s wreck, Johnson was resigned to a finish in the 20s, where he was running after pitting for fuel right before NASCAR threw the red flag.

“From where we were with the red flag to where we finished—I’m still in shock,” said Johnson, who can clinch his record fourth straight title by finishing 10th or better in the final three races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. “I can’t believe that it worked out. I can’t believe that that many guys ran out of fuel and put themselves in that position. We almost stayed out.

“It was such a relief to finish and make up points. … I do feel bad that the guys crashed coming to the finish, and we got wrecked cars. I was really concerned for Mark, because when I looked in the mirror I saw the 5 roof number tumbling and flipping and then it hit the outside fence. I hate to see things take place that way.

“So the crash part, yeah. But making up points on them, that’s what we’re here to do. I wish it would have been under fuel circumstances not under a crash, for sure. But we’ll take them.”

Note: McMurray’s victory was the first for a Ford and the first for Roush Fenway Racing since Matt Kenseth won the first two races of the season. McMurray is looking for a ride for next season because of a NASCAR mandate that requires Roush Fenway to pare its roster from five teams to four.

This Week's Chase Driver Interviews And Post-Race Press Conferences

TMS Media Relations — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:24:00 GMT

It’s easy – all you need to do is click on this link http://americaneg-nascar-liveevent1.wm.llnwd.net/americaneg_nascar_liveevent1 during the scheduled times (see below) to find out what the drivers are saying each week during the Chase, including when they arrive at Texas Motor Speedway next week for the Dickies 500. The Dickies 500 is the eighth race in the 10-event Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Here is this week’s schedule of interviews from the media center at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala. for the seventh race of the Chase. In addition to the Chase interviews, NASCAR also will feature media interviews from its other series. The times below are CENTRAL TIME.

FRIDAY

11:30 a.m. – Ryan Newman (7th in points); 11:50 a.m. – Juan Pablo Montoya (5th in points); 12:15 p.m. – Jimmie Johnson (1st in points); 2:20 p.m. – Carl Edwards (10th in points); 2:30 p.m. – Dodge Press Conference to unveil new NASCAR Nationwide Series Car; 4:15 p.m. – Tony Stewart (4th in points); 4:30 p.m. – Denny Hamlin (9th in points); 4:45 p.m. – Kurt Busch (6th in points) 6 p.m. (approximately) –NASCAR Camping World Truck Series post-qualifying press conference.

SATURDAY

10:15 a.m. – Ron Hornaday Jr. (NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points leader); 2 p.m. (approximately) – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series post-qualifying press conference;

5 p.m. (approximately) – NASCAR Camping World Truck Series post-race press conference.

SUNDAY

3:30 p.m. CT (approximately) – NASCAR Sprint Cup Series post-race press conference.

Double-File Restarts To Add To Excitement Of Dickies 500

TMS Media Relations — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:42:00 GMT

The most pivotal race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup – the Dickies 500 – will have an added element of excitement as NASCAR’s double-file restart will make its Texas Motor Speedway debut Sunday, Nov. 8, for the eighth race in the 10-event Chase.

The format, first implemented at the June Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway and since added to both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, has energized the restarts following a caution. All lead-lap cars are now lined up side-by-side with the race leader owning the option to restart on the inside or outside lane. Under the previous format, cars on the lead lap would line up single file and the cars a lap down would line up to the inside. The double-file format allows for more passing for the lead on the restart as well as for positions throughout the pack, and could lead to some late-race drama.

“The double-file restarts are more advantageous at the bigger race tracks, especially the wider ones,” Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Newman said. “When we get to Texas you can get three and sometimes four wide in the corners, so I’m looking forward to it. Texas will be a great place for it.”

If history is any indication, the double-file restart will make things interesting in the late stages of the Dickies 500. In three of the four previous Dickies 500 races, there has been a caution with 30 or less laps remaining, including a green-white/checkered finish in the 2006 event in which Tony Stewart beat runner-up Jimmie Johnson by 0.272 of a second.

The points leaders following the Dickies 500 the previous four years have gone on to win the Sprint Cup Series championship coupled with a history of late cautions in this event could change the complexion of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

“There is no doubt that the addition of the double-file restart will make for exciting racing during the Dickies 500,” Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage said. “History doesn’t lie, so the Chase contenders will do everything they can to make sure they finish the night in Victory Lane. It’s going to make for some great high-speed drama.”

The double-file restart also will be featured for the first time at TMS in the O’Reilly Challenge Nationwide Series race and WinStar World Casino 350k Camping World Truck Series race during the Dickies 500 triple-header weekend. The new format was not in place at TMS for the Samsung 500 Sprint Cup Series race and O’Reilly 300 Nationwide Series race in April or the WinStar World Casino 400 Camping World Truck Series in June.

Don’t miss how the weekend will unfold. Purchase tickets for all three exciting races by visiting www.texasmotorspeedway.com or by calling the TMS ticket office at (817) 215-8500.

Who's On Track After Martinsville

TMS Media Relations — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:03:00 GMT

By Bill Marx
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 27, 2009)

After two consecutive wins, Jimmie Johnson came up short and finished … second. Superman now leads the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup by 118 points heading into Talladega. Johnson is four races from his fourth straight Cup championship. Here’s the breakdown of the top 12 after Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.

1. Jimmie Johnson, 6,098. Only a four-tire call at Kansas—when most of the other cars in the top 10 took two—has kept Johnson from having top-five finishes in each of the first six Chase races. Instead, that ninth-place day has dragged down his average finish in the Chase to 3.0. Horrors!

2. Mark Martin, 5,980. Martin finished eighth Sunday to get back on the top-10 train after his disappointing 17th-place finish the week before at Lowe’s. To pass Johnson, Martin must average 29.5 points better than Johnson over the final four races.

3. Jeff Gordon, 5,948. Gordon finished fifth for his fourth straight top five. Now he needs to draw on his history at Talladega—six wins, second only to Dale Earnhardt’s 10—to try and make a run at Johnson.

4. Tony Stewart, 5,906. Stewart wasn’t a factor Sunday although he finished ninth for his 22nd top 10 of the season. If Stewart closes out the season with top 10s in the final four races, he’ll set a personal season best.

5. Juan Montoya, 5,898. Montoya continues to shine and entertain. He finished third for his fifth top five of the Chase and traded enough paint and barbs with Jeff Gordon to justify the price of admission right there. I can’t wait until 2010.

6. Kurt Busch, 5,858. Busch finished 17th, leaving him four races to attain personal highs in top fives and top 10s. Busch has eight top 10s; his record is 12 in 2002. He has 18 top 10s; his record is 21, set in 2004, when he won his only Cup championship.

7. Ryan Newman, 5,786. Newman is still looking for his first win of the season, but his seventh-place finish lowered his average finish for the year to 13.7. His previous best is 13.9 in 2003, the best season of his career when he won eight races.

8. Greg Biffle, 5,748. Like Newman, Biffle is winless. Unlike Newman, he has a streak on the line. He has won at least one race in each of the past six seasons. He is winless at Talladega and Phoenix, but has one win at Texas and three at Homestead.

9. Denny Hamlin, 5,746. Any time Virginia-born Hamlin wins at Richmond or Martinsville, it’s a big deal. His win Sunday gave him three for the season, including two in Virginia—he won at Richmond last month. If you are keeping score at home, Hamlin has three wins in the state of Virginia, three at Pocono and one at New Hampshire.

10. Carl Edwards, 5,685. Chase or no Chase, unless Edwards wins a race this year, 2009 will go down as the worst—and most frustrating—season of his career. Edwards failed to lead a lap for the 21st race this season. Last season he led laps in 21 races. How much of a nonfactor has Edwards become? Since leading a season-best 103 laps at Pocono on June 7, Edwards has led five laps.

11. Kasey Kahne, 5,659. Kahne’s feast or famine Chase continued Sunday with a 32nd-place finish. That gave him three finishes of 32nd or worse to go with three finishes of eighth or better.

12. Brian Vickers, 5,568. Vickers finished 11th to match his previous best effort in the Chase at New Hampshire. Coming off finishes of 37th, 29th and 34th, the 11th-place run was a huge positive heading into Talladega, site of his first Cup victory in 2006.

Hamlin Fends Off Johnson At Martinsville

TMS Media Relations — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:48:00 GMT

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Photo Credit: (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

(October 25, 2009)

MARTINSVILLE, Va.—Denny Hamlin may have won the Virginia campaign with a victory Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, but Jimmie Johnson moved ever closer to a record fourth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup championship with a runner-up finish at the .526-mile short track.

In a green-white-checkered-flag finish that ended under caution with John Andretti wrecked at the finish line, Hamlin pulled away from Johnson over the final two laps of the Tums Fast Relief 500. As the cars roared off Turn 4 on Lap 501—one lap beyond the scheduled distance—NASCAR simultaneously displayed the yellow and checkered flags when Andretti was unable to drive away.

Juan Pablo Montoya was third, followed by Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon. Jamie McMurray, polesitter Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10.

Hamlin, who passed Johnson for the lead on Lap 363 and held it the rest of the way, collected his second victory at the narrow, paper-clip-shaped track and the seventh win of his career. In winning his third race of the season, the Virginia native completed a sweep of the fall races at the two racetracks in his home state, having scored an emotional triumph at Richmond on Sept. 12.

“We were really good on the long runs, but I was kind of worried about that short run at the end,” said Hamlin, who is ninth in the standings 352 points behind Johnson. “But we were able to survive it, thank God. I hate to say it was a little bit of a lack of a motor, but it seemed like our car just would not accelerate like those guys’ did. By doing that, it saved the rear tires, and it was able to stay a little bit longer. I think that had a little bit to do with why we were so good at length (long runs).

“Jimmie obviously gave us a lot of respect there toward the end. He knew that we had a faster car and tried to protect his points lead. It was a good situation we were in. We were kind of racing for nothing, and he’s obviously racing for a championship, and, honestly, it was a great run at the end.”

Having won five of the previous six races at Martinsville—a streak interrupted only by a Hamlin victory in the spring of 2008—Johnson found solace in his runner-up finish. He increased his lead in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings to 118 points over second-place Martin. Gordon is third, 150 off the lead.

Johnson said he was concerned with having to line up in the outside lane (in second position) for restarts on Lap 489 and 500.

“Starting from the outside lane, there was so much to lose,” Johnson said. “I was really nervous about getting to the bottom (the preferred line) and protecting the position I was in. All and all, a good day. I wish we could have won, but we just didn’t have anything for the 11 (Hamlin) on that last run.”

Johnson, however, said it was still too early in the Chase to think about protecting a points lead.

“We all know what the answers are,” he said. “It’s the same stuff over and over again. The mechanicals, the stuff we can’t control is the stuff I’m worried about. The stuff we can control, I feel we’re going to be great.

“Four good tracks coming up for us. If we have no issues, I feel that we can race for this championship, and things will turn out as we want. But the stuff I can’t control, I know it gives everybody something to talk about, but I’m tired of talking about all the what-ifs—and I’d just rather not.”

Top 5 And 5 To Watch: Martinsville

TMS Media Relations — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:24:00 GMT

By Bill Marx
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 22, 2009)

Here’s a look at the top five drivers and five to watch in Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway. All statistical references are for Sprint Cup races at Martinsville unless otherwise indicated. Driver rating is based on the past nine races at the track.

1. Jimmie Johnson, 124.3. Johnson’s domination at Martinsville is as documented as it is indisputable. He has six wins, including five in the past six races. He also has won the past two weeks and leads Mark Martin by 90 points. Superman is a heavy favorite to win again this week.

2. Mark Martin, 91.7. The last of Martin’s two wins came in 2000. He finished seventh in March in his first start at the .526-mile paper clip since October 2006. Martin needs to finish ahead of Johnson, which he has done in the two Chase races Johnson hasn’t won. Finishing ahead of Johnson will be a challenge Sunday.

3. Jeff Gordon, 124.3. Gordon faces the same challenge as Martin but is 135 points off the lead and needs to finish way ahead of Johnson. Gordon’s ace in the hole is his record at Martinsville—he leads all active drivers with seven wins and has 21 top fives in 33 starts. How dominant are Johnson and Gordon at Martinsville? They have won 10 of the past 13 Cup races.

4. Tony Stewart, 114.1. Stewart has one of those three wins (April 2006) and two wins overall. In his column in this week’s issue of Sporting News Magazine, Stewart declares, “Nothing is over until we decide it is.” That may have worked in “Animal House,” but that’s Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus over there, not Doug Neidermeyer and Greg Marmalard.

5. Kurt Busch, 79.8. Busch has one win and two fives 10s in 18 starts. The rest of his record is a big ouch. He has seven finishes 31st or worse including in three of the past four races. He finished 18th in March. His last top 10 was in 2005.

5 to watch

6. Juan Pablo Montoya, 80.4. One of Montoya’s three top 10s in 17 starts on short tracks came at Martinsville. Montoya’s top-five run ended last week at Lowe’s. It will say a lot about how much Montoya has progressed in NASCAR if he finishes in the top five Sunday.

11. Denny Hamlin, 106.3. Hamlin won the only race Johnson didn’t win in the past three years (March 2008), and he finished second to Johnson earlier this year despite leading a race-high 296 laps. Hamlin has finished outside the top 10 once in eight races, and five of his finishes were in the top five.

18. Casey Mears, 67.7. Mears is driving for a job, which, in this case, means he is trying to impress a sponsor or sponsors to come on board for 2010. He finished seventh last week, but that was at Lowe’s, site of his only Cup win. He has three top 10s in 13 starts at Martinsville, where his inability to qualify well (25.5 average start) puts him in an immediate hole.

22. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 102.4. Junior is having a miserable season. Since finishing second at Talladega in April, Earnhardt has scored two top 10s—a span of 22 races. In 19 starts at Martinsville, Earnhardt has eight top fives, including a second in this race last year. He has top 10s in each of the past three races at the track, so perhaps Sunday will be a good day for Junior Nation.

25. Jamie McMurray, 87.7. McMurray also is driving for a job. Roush Fenway Racing must drop from five to four teams in 2010, and McMurray is the odd man out. He has the eighth-best driver rating and finished 10th in March for his eighth top 10 in 13 starts. McMurray is having the worst Cup season of his career. That top 10 is one of only three this season.

Johnson Wins Again, Widens Chase Lead

TMS Media Relations — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:43:00 GMT

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)

(October 17, 2009)

CONCORD, N.C.—Saturday night’s NASCAR Banking 500 was appropriately named. After winning the race as his two closest pursuers fell by the wayside, Jimmie Johnson can all but take his fourth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup title to the bank.

Johnson, who started from the pole and led all three practice sessions for the fifth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, pulled away during a 17-lap run to the finish and beat runner-up Matt Kenseth to the finish line by 2.303 seconds.

In winning his sixth race of the year and the 46th of his career—tying Buck Baker for 13th on the all-time list—Johnson extended his series lead to 90 points over second-place Mark Martin, who finished 17th. Kasey Kahne ran third, and Jeff Gordon came home fourth to climb to third in the standings, 135 points behind Johnson.

With the victory, Johnson completed a weekend sweep, having won the pole and having led all three practice sessions for the race. Johnson is the first driver to win the fall race at Charlotte from the pole since Harry Gant accomplished the feat in 1982.

Despite his 90-point advantage, Johnson wasn’t ready to claim a record fourth straight title.

“We’re only halfway through this thing,” he said. “So much can happen. Somebody at Martinsville (next week) can lose their brakes and clean you out. With the double-file restarts, there’s going to be a lot of bumping and banging. Somebody can get into you and knock a valve stem out or cut a tire.

“It’s a nice points lead; there’s no need for anybody to get too excited yet. We’ve got good tracks ahead for us, so from a team standpoint, we’re excited and optimistic. But at the same time, there’s a lot of danger out there, and we’ve just got to be smart.

“If we don’t have a problem, I feel we have a very good chance to win this championship—racing for it.”

Rookie Joey Logano edged Clint Bowyer for fifth, and Casey Mears, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch completed the top 10.

A restart on Lap 125 did significant damage to the cars of Martin and Juan Pablo Montoya, as well as to their Chase aspirations. The field accordioned as Gordon brought the cars to the green flag, and when Montoya checked up behind Bowyer, Martin hit the No. 42 Chevrolet hard enough to knock the rear quarter panel askew.

The impact also damaged the nose of Martin’s No. 5 Chevy, but Montoya was the bigger loser in the exchange. Fighting the handling of his damaged car, he spun off Turn 4 on Lap 164, hit a commitment cone at the entrance to pit road and lost two laps in the process. Montoya finished 35th and fell from third to sixth in the standings, 195 points behind Johnson.

Martin’s handling suffered, too, and on Lap 289, Kahne put the No. 5 a lap down. But Martin got back on the lead lap with a free pass after David Gilliland’s contact with the Turn 2 wall brought out the eighth caution of the race on Lap 300.

Kenseth, who posted his best finish since winning the first two races of the year, was pleased with his performance but reserved most of his admiration for the dominant combination of Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus.

“Those guys are awesome,” Kenseth said. “Since those two got together, they’ve been, in my opinion, the group to beat every single year. Whenever it counts and it’s crunch time, they do this. They’ve done this every year for the last four years, so it shouldn’t really be a surprise to anybody.”

Notes: Johnson’s sixth Cup win at Lowe’s ties him with Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for most at the speedway. … Johnson also has six wins at Martinsville, the next stop in the Chase. He has won the past two races at the half-mile short track and five of the past six. … Johnson became the first driver to win three of the first five races in a Chase. He has won 17 of the 55 Chase races.