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Jimmie Johnson dominates in SoCal
By Charlie O. Mallonee October 13, 2009 |
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Jimmie Johnson loves to race on the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Johnson should love it because he is the all-time win leader at the track with four victories. Johnson not only won the race – he took over as the leader in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings. He took first-place away from his teammate – Mark Martin. Johnson even beat his boss. Jeff Gordon owns the No.48 car as part of his deal with Hendrick Motor Sports. The race started out under overcast skies and a cold track. The sun came out on Lap 66 and Johnson’s car settled down and could not be beat. Even restarts could not hold Johnson back. There were eight caution periods for total of 30-laps, but Johnson just kept racing his way to the front of the field. He took the lead 10 different times for a total of 126-laps. Juan Pablo Montoya posted the second most laps led with 78. The massive late race pile-up on Lap 245 could have been a major nightmare for Johnson, but he did just what he had done the entire race – Johnson went to the front of the pack. Johnson opened up a 1.603 second lead during the green, white and checkers three-lap shootout. According to Johnson,” Just because we’ve done well the last three years doesn’t mean that we’re a shoo-in for the fourth. So I’ve just got to stay focused on my job and go out and earn it each lap and see where things fall into place. We needed to run well today to get points because, obviously, the 5 (Martin) and the 42 (Montoya) ran well.” Johnson grew up in El Cajon, CA and considers Fontana to be his home track. The win was the 45th of Johnson’s 285 race career. In other words, Johnson has a 15% chance of winning every time he starts a race. That is an unbelievable record of success. The win gave Johnson a 12-point lead in the Chase over Mark Martin. This Week’s Sprint Cup Race The series moves on to Lowe’s Motor Speedway for a Saturday night under the lights affair. Lowe’s is a 1.5-mile oval with 24° banking that is always full of excitement. David Reutimann won the first race of the year at Lowe’s on Memorial Day weekend. The racing kicks off on Friday night with the Nationwide Series in the Dollar General 300. The race starts at 5:00 PM PDT/ 8:00 PM EDT on ESPN2. The Sprint race – Chase Race #5 – will be run on Saturday night at 4:00 PM PDT/ 7:00 PM EDT on ABC TV. Chase for the Sprint Cup Standings with Six Races Remaining 2009 Top 12 Drivers Driver Points 1 Jimmie Johnson 5,728 2 Mark Martin 5,716 3 Juan Pablo Montoya 5,670 4 Tony Stewart 5,644 5 Jeff Gordon 5,623 6 Kurt Busch 5,607 7 Greg Biffle 5,540 8 Carl Edwards 5,536 9 Denny Hamlin 5,509 10 Ryan Newman 5,505 11 Kasey Kahne 5,422 12 Brian Vickers 5,377 Notes: Danica Patrick: There is no shortage of opinion on Patrick possibly joining NASCAR. Some say that she is not strong enough to muscle a Nationwide or Sprint Cup car in a race. Others say she does not have enough experience to race in NASCAR. What bunch of bunk! The woman has driven in the IndyCar Series since 2005. She has driven in five Indy 500 races. Patrick is the first woman to win a race in IndyCar. She has been racing since 1992. Any worrying about Patrick in NASCAR should be confined to stress and fatigue factors that could develop running in two different series. Former open-wheel drivers tend to do well in NASCAR e.g., Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. The bottom-line: some drivers are scared that Patrick will steal the spotlight away from them … and they are right! Dale Earnhardt, Jr: Is Dale Jr. the odd-man out at Hendrick Motor Sports? Each weekend the fans wait for Jr. to break out of the funk and win a race, but it does not happen. Following the California race, Jr. is in 22nd place in the standings. He has just two Top-5 finishes. Earnhardt is two years into a five year deal with HMS. Jr. needs to beg Rick Hendrick to let him out of his contract and sign on with some like Richard Childress (his father’s old boss). It is just not working out at HMS for Dale Jr. NASCAR needs Earnhardt to be successful to maintain fan interest these poor economic times. Jeff Burton: He will be making his 850th career NASCAR start in Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Lowe’s, driving the No. 29 Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. |
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