Johnson Sails To Victory At Richmond; Earnhardt Misses The Chase

Richmond, Va. ? Jimmie Johnson showed his team?s muscle when it counted to win the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 before 112,000 screaming fans at the Richmond International Raceway on Saturday evening. The race concluded the Nextel Cup regular season and set the line-up for the 2007 Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup.

In the point tally, Jeff Gordon finished first followed by Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick.

When the seeding was completed, Johnson takes over first place followed by Gordon, Stewart, Edwards, Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Truex, Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Burton, Harvick and Bowyer.

Taking the lead for the third and final time on lap 340, Johnson cruised to his sixth victory of the season and the 29th of his highly successful career. His margin of victory was three seconds. By virtue of his Series-leading victories, he assumed a 20-point lead going into the Chase.

?We just had a solid effort all night,? Johnson said in victory lane. ?Parts of the race, especially the first two-thirds of it, we had a good car, maybe not the fastest one. We kept working on the car and got it right. Great pit stops at the end got me the track position I needed, and we were able to set sail after that.?

Driving the Lowe?s Chevrolet, Johnson completed the 400-lap race in three hours and 16 minutes at an average speed of 91.813 miles per hour.

Stewart won a hard fought battle with Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the late going to earn second place.

?Tonight, we really didn?t set the world on fire, but we did keep making the car better and better and better. At the end, it was pretty fun. I had the best seat in the house watching Gordon and Junior (Dale Earnhardt). Since I felt like I was missing out on the fun, I got myself into the mix. Junior was the better of the three, but then he had his problem.?

As the laps wound down, David Ragan, who had sparkled throughout, moved past Gordon for third. In doing so, he posted his career-best finish.

?That was a good, solid run,? Ragan said. ?Our Ford Fusion was good since we unloaded, and everything just worked out good.?

Addressing his battle with the Chase contenders, he added, ?Considering they?re fighting for the championship, you?ve got to race them with a little bit of extra caution. They gave me racing room, but when you have a good car, everything just works out pretty easy.?

Gordon, who had been the point leader entering the race, wound up in fourth place after leading four times for a total of 191 laps. ?We were the car to beat, the first part of the race. But if you are not the car to beat at the end, it doesn?t matter. We made some adjustments and I thought we had hit on it until the No. 8 and 48 took off at the end.?

Earnhardt was the dark horse to qualify for the Chase but an engine problem in the final laps forced him from the race six laps short of the checkered flag. In the final point tally, NASCAR?s most popular driver ended up in the unlucky 13th position.

Said the dejected driver, ?We were having a great race for second with Tony (Stewart), and I thought we had good enough car until we broke another motor. It is just really frustrating but I will get over it. We?ve been running good every week but we haven?t been finishing races.?

Johnny Sauter pulled off a big surprise by taking his Chevrolet to fifth place.

Sixth through tenth places went to Virginia native Hamlin, comeback driver Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch and J. J. Yeley.

In one of the dozen accidents that slowed the race, Harvick slid through the grass picking up grass and dirt, which overheated his car. One of two red flags came out at the time and when the pits opened, his crew cleaned up his car during a lengthy stop. He returned to action in 32nd place but steadily worked his way through the field for a commendable finish.

?It was definitely an eventful night for me,? Harvick said. ?I got the grill work filled with grass and our car started overheating. All in all everybody did a good job. It just stinks having to race with one eye on the scoreboard and one on the Chase. That?s not really my style.?

He ended up as the last driver to qualify for the Chase.

Twelve caution periods slowed the race for 70 laps and two red flags stopped the event for 28 minutes. The red flags came out to allow track crews to clean up oil spills on the track?s surface.

In a fiery accident, Juan Pablo Montoya?s car caught fire when an oil line erupted as a result of an accident. He was not injured.
Thirty-five cars were running at the finish.

Related Posts

• 
  Motorsports Minute: Kyle Busch
• 
  Motorsports Minute: Chase Elliott
• 
  Motorsports Minute: Chase Elliott