Jimmie Johnson wins at Atlanta, ties Dale Earnhardt’s career wins
HAMPTON, Ga.—Jimmie Johnson still trails Dale Earnhardt by one championship, but he’s now matched the Intimidator for total Cup-level wins.
For better and for worse, the drivers have now gotten the control they’ve always wanted over a NASCAR race. The result at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday was a chess match played on ice skates, a race where daring moves both on the track and in the pit box paid off huge for Johnson.
Most NASCAR teams have repeated the mantra that Atlanta’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 marked the “real” start of the season, since it was the first race at which teams would be using the new low-downforce rules that would give more control to the drivers. The result, at a rough old track like Atlanta, was a race in which soft tires ran out quickly and in-the-pack passing was plentiful.
Early on, however, drivers were almost tentative as they figured out the parameters of the new car. The race ran green for an astounding 210 laps from the start.
But then, the story changed. Inside 100 laps, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick engaged in one of the better green-flag battles for the lead in recent memory. Truex couldn’t quite get the
With about 40 laps remaining, the race flipped on its head. Jimmie Johnson short-pitted about six laps ahead of the field, nine laps ahead of Harvick, and when the race remained green afterward, Johnson found himself a good 11 seconds ahead of the field. Harvick cut that lead in half but couldn’t close, and Johnson was within three laps of victory.
Naturally, that was when everything turned sideways, starting with Ryan Newman. A blown tire sent Newman end-first into the wall, obliterating Johnson’s lead and bringing Kyle Busch, who had started 39th after qualifying miscues, back into the picture. But Johnson was able to hold off Busch and notch his 76th career win, tying Earnhardt’s mark.
“It’s a huge void in my career that I never got to race against him,” Johnson said, “but at least I got to tie his wins.”
Earnhardt’s namesake had high praise for the style of racing. “The fans probably thought it was a boring race,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second, “but we were sliding around driving the hell out of those cars.”
Earlier in the race, the most dominant car suffered a curious penalty. Matt Kenseth was owning the long green flag laps when, on a pit stop, his gas man placed a wrench on the car’s rear deck lid. NASCAR determined that was a fueling violation, and while Kenseth’s team unsuccessfully appealed the penalty, Kenseth was unwittingly driving around ignoring a black flag. The resulting penalty put Kenseth two laps down and eliminated any chance he had of winning.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
