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Jimmie Johnson
cruised to victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for his 58th career
win.
Nascar.com...
Johnson matches
Gordon with fourth win at Indy
INDIANAPOLIS- Team owner Rick Hendrick may have had better days... but
not many.
Hendrick joined his No. 48 team in kissing the bricks at the finish
line after driver Jimmie Johnson won Sunday’s Crown Royal presents the
Curtiss Shaver 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, taking the checkered
flag 4.758 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Busch and tying teammate
Jeff Gordon for the most Cup Series wins at IMS with four.
The victory was Johnson’s third of the season -- all but assuring he
will remain the only driver to have qualified for the Chase for the
Sprint Cup each year since the inception of NASCAR’s playoff format in
2004. Johnson won for the 58th time, leaving him eighth on the all-time
list and second to Gordon among active drivers.
“Man, you just hope to race here -- to come here and win is a huge
honor,” Johnson said. “And to win four -- four wins! I’m at a loss for
words.”
A fourth-place finish propelled Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr.
into the lead in the series standings, after points leader Matt Kenseth
wrecked out in 35th place.
Greg Biffle came home third, followed by Earnhardt and Gordon.
Pole-sitter Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., Brad
Keselowski and Tony Stewart completed the top 10.
The last time Earnhardt led the Cup standings was October 2004 after
Talladega, but he held the top spot for only two days thanks to a
25-point NASCAR penalty for cursing during a post-race television
interview. He now leads by 14 points over Kenseth.
Johnson was asked whether he was already thinking of a fifth victory at
Indy -- something no one has done either in NASCAR or IndyCar -- but
Johnson prefers to take one thing at a time. Next on his list is a
sixth Cup title.
“I’d love to be a five-time winner here, but I’d also like to win a
sixth championship this year,” said Johnson, whose string of titles was
ended at five straight by Stewart last year. “That’s the thing that’s
on my mind right now.”
Each previous time Johnson has won at the Brickyard, he has gone on to
win the series championship -- in 2006, 2008 and 2009.
Busch had an exceptional car, but it was no match for the rocket ship
of Johnson, who put Chevrolet in the Indy winner’s circle for the 10th
straight year.
“If it wasn’t for the 48, we were probably in our own zip code on the
rest of the field,” Busch said. “But Jimmie Johnson was in his own
country today, so we couldn’t keep up with him.
“He was really, really fast, and you could see it, too, on the
restarts, when he could make it through the corners and he just put his
car anywhere he wanted and would just slam on the gas pedal and take
off from me. His car was down and digging.”
Racing side-by-side with Trevor Bayne on Lap 132, Joey Logano spun his
No. 20 Toyota, bounced off the No. 47 Camry of Bobby Labonte and wiped
out the No. 17 Ford of Kenseth, who was running near the outside wall,
trying to slip past the wreck.
“The farther you got back [in the field], the dumber people drove, and
it got us in some bad spots,” Kenseth said.
Carl Edwards’ first race with new crew chief Chad Norris went awry
nearly from the outset. Edwards started second and contested the lead
with Denny Hamlin for half a lap, but lost power and slowed on Lap 12
and brought his car to pit road.
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