Johnson Bests Stewart And The Monster In Dover
Restarting eighth on Lap 374 of 400, after NASCAR called the 10th
caution of the race for David Stremme's hard crash on the frontsretch,
Jimmie Johnson atoned for a slow pit stop and charged through the field to run
down Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart and win his fourth Sprint Cup race at
Dover, his second of the 2009 season and the 42nd of his
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
DOVER, Del.--It's tough to keep a good man down--and when you have the
combination of a great car and an excellent driver, it's downright
impossible, as Jimmie Johnson proved in Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 at
Dover International Speedway.
Restarting eighth on Lap 374 of 400, after NASCAR called the 10th
caution of the race for David Stremme's hard crash on the frontsretch,
Johnson atoned for a slow pit stop and charged through the field to run
down Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart and win his fourth Sprint Cup race at
Dover, his second of the 2009 season and the 42nd of his
Johnson, who led 298 laps, cleared Stewart for the lead through Turns 3
and 4 on Lap 398 and pulled away to finish .861 seconds ahead of the
No. 14 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet. Having taken two tires to Johnson's four
during the final pit stops for each team, Stewart repeatedly ran high
through the corners to try to block Johnson's line.
But Johnson finally found room to the outside through Turns 1 and 2 and
completed the winning pass through the final two corners.
Biffle finished third, followed by Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. Kasey
Kahne, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Casey Mears and Mark Martin completed
the top 10. In his first race at Hendrick Motorsports with a crew chief
other than Tony Eury Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr. faded to 12th after a
cracking the top five earlier in the race.
"Fortunately, I had such a good car that I could run around the top,"
said Johnson, who climbed one position to third in the series
standings. "My hat's off to Tony Stewart. That was one heck of a race.
I had to drive so far over my head to get by him. I'm just very proud
of what we did out there on the racetrack today.
"I wasn't going to give up. I had no idea what was going to happen, but
I knew I had a great racecar. I knew there were some laps left, and it
was just time to go--and I got it done. To have to run that hard to
pass that many good cars to get the lead, that's a challenge. I really
had to suck it up and get going. I thought I was going to pound the
wall a couple of times on the top. I cooked it off in there too fast
and slid right up to the crumbs, and I'm like, 'Please stay, please.'
And it stuck, and I made it back around."
Stewart, who took the series
"We had an opportunity," said Stewart, who became the first owner/driver to lead the
"I mean, when you're the fastest car and you're coming as fast as he
was, it was just a matter of getting the opening that he needed, and we
did everything we could to take his line away from him as often as we
could, but just couldn't do it long enough."
Earnhardt's strong run started to erode after Denny Hamlin smacked the
wall on Lap 231 to bring out the fifth caution of the afternoon. With a
quick pit stop, Earnhardt came out third for a restart on Lap 237, but
his No. 88 Chevrolet developed a tight handling condition and began to
fade.
Despite adjustments under the sixth caution (called because of debris
on Lap 276), the condition worsened after a restart on Lap 281, and
Earnhardt brought the car back to pit road five laps later, after a
wreck on the backstretch involving Paul Menard and Robby Gordon put the
race under caution for a seventh time.
The pit stop dropped Earnhardt to 15th for a restart on Lap 291, but
changes to the car sent the handling from tight to loose, and Earnhardt
wasn't a contender for the win after that. Nevertheless, he gained one
position in the standings to 18th, 215 points out of 12th place, the
last position eligible for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
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By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
DOVER, Del.--It's tough to keep a good man down--and when you have the
combination of a great car and an excellent driver, it's downright
impossible, as Jimmie Johnson proved in Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 at
Dover International Speedway.
Restarting eighth on Lap 374 of 400, after NASCAR called the 10th
caution of the race for David Stremme's hard crash on the frontsretch,
Johnson atoned for a slow pit stop and charged through the field to run
down Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart and win his fourth Sprint Cup race at
Dover, his second of the 2009 season and the 42nd of his
Johnson, who led 298 laps, cleared Stewart for the lead through Turns 3
and 4 on Lap 398 and pulled away to finish .861 seconds ahead of the
No. 14 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet. Having taken two tires to Johnson's four
during the final pit stops for each team, Stewart repeatedly ran high
through the corners to try to block Johnson's line.
But Johnson finally found room to the outside through Turns 1 and 2 and
completed the winning pass through the final two corners.
Biffle finished third, followed by Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. Kasey
Kahne, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Casey Mears and Mark Martin completed
the top 10. In his first race at Hendrick Motorsports with a crew chief
other than Tony Eury Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr. faded to 12th after a
cracking the top five earlier in the race.
"Fortunately, I had such a good car that I could run around the top,"
said Johnson, who climbed one position to third in the series
standings. "My hat's off to Tony Stewart. That was one heck of a race.
I had to drive so far over my head to get by him. I'm just very proud
of what we did out there on the racetrack today.
"I wasn't going to give up. I had no idea what was going to happen, but
I knew I had a great racecar. I knew there were some laps left, and it
was just time to go--and I got it done. To have to run that hard to
pass that many good cars to get the lead, that's a challenge. I really
had to suck it up and get going. I thought I was going to pound the
wall a couple of times on the top. I cooked it off in there too fast
and slid right up to the crumbs, and I'm like, 'Please stay, please.'
And it stuck, and I made it back around."
Stewart, who took the series
"We had an opportunity," said Stewart, who became the first owner/driver to lead the
"I mean, when you're the fastest car and you're coming as fast as he
was, it was just a matter of getting the opening that he needed, and we
did everything we could to take his line away from him as often as we
could, but just couldn't do it long enough."
Earnhardt's strong run started to erode after Denny Hamlin smacked the
wall on Lap 231 to bring out the fifth caution of the afternoon. With a
quick pit stop, Earnhardt came out third for a restart on Lap 237, but
his No. 88 Chevrolet developed a tight handling condition and began to
fade.
Despite adjustments under the sixth caution (called because of debris
on Lap 276), the condition worsened after a restart on Lap 281, and
Earnhardt brought the car back to pit road five laps later, after a
wreck on the backstretch involving Paul Menard and Robby Gordon put the
race under caution for a seventh time.
The pit stop dropped Earnhardt to 15th for a restart on Lap 291, but
changes to the car sent the handling from tight to loose, and Earnhardt
wasn't a contender for the win after that. Nevertheless, he gained one
position in the standings to 18th, 215 points out of 12th place, the
last position eligible for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
SPEAK OUT ON THIS ARTICLE
Be the first to comment on this topic and get the conversation rolling.
Remember to keep your comments clean and on topic. Attack the issue, not the writer or each other. Terms of use
Page 1 of 1
» See Answers
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