Johnson Wins 2nd Brickyard 400 Amid Tire Chaos
- Updated: July 27, 2008
Speedway, IN (July 27, 2008) – Jimmie Johnson driving the Lowe’s Chevy Impala SS for Hendrick Motorsports won his second Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Sunday. Johnson who started from the pole, led eight time for 71 laps enroute to victory. As a result of tire wear issues, the race was forced into numerous mandatory caution periods, which slowed the race 11 times for a total of 52-laps. Johnson finished ahead of the Ford of Carl Edwards and the Toyota of Denny Hamlin.
With extreme tire wear that occurred in the practice sessions leading up to the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, NASCAR and Goodyear Tire & Rubber officials held a press conference Sunday morning. Officials determined there would be a competition yellow Sunday after 10 laps [unless a caution comes out sooner], plus officials would monitor the tires for other possible competition yellows. NASCAR and Goodyear officials stated they had Pocono tires on hand that Goodyear trucked in Sunday morning if the ‘Indy’ tires become a problem. NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton also said the new shipment of tires, which were intended to be used at Pocono Raceway next week, could be used during the 160-lap, 400-mile race. If needed, the Pocono tires would be implemented unilaterally across the 43-car Sprint Cup Series field. Pemberton said there would be at least two NASCAR-mandated caution flags to check wear during the early stages of the race. If there is a tire shortage issue the whole field would had to switch to the Pocono tires mandated by NASCAR. This is the first time Goodyear has brought this tire set-up to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The tire combination was selected after a tire test with Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brian Vickers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on April 22-23 . Originally, tire wear was a concern as during practice as teams put down a layer of rubber on the abrasive racing surface due to the grooved racing surface at Indianapolis, tire wear is expected to be high during the weekend.
It was Chamber of Commerce weather as a diminished NASCAR-frenzied crowd gathered for the 15th running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. Sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-80’s greeted Grand Marshal actor, John C. McGinley who waved the green flag to start the race.
At the start it was polesitter, Jimmie Johnson who got the jump on fellow front row starter, Mark Martin. Johnson and Martin seem to separate themselves as the rest of the field fanned out on the backstretch. Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. thrilled themselves and the crowd when Edwards spread out wide coming off of turn two on lap 2, the duo almost ended up on the grass however both continued unharmed.
On lap four, Michael Waltrip spun his own NAPA Toyota after losing downforce running too tight with Sam Hornish, Jr’s Penske Racing Dodge. Coming off of turn two, Waltrip did a half spin and was hit by Paul Menard’s bright yellow DEI Chevy. Thus with the early caution, the mandatory caution for tire inspection was moved to lap 14. Waltrip remarked in the garage, “I got in beside another guy and got loose and then somebody just ran me over. It wasn’t a track issue, it was just racing.”
The second caution came out on lap 13 when Kurt Busch got loose in the short chute between turns one and two. The rear of the Penske Racing Dodge kicked out as Busch slid to the inside. Busch hit the Shell-Pennzoil Chevy of Kevin Harvick causing Harvick’s car to slam starboard side hard against the turn two wall. Both cars limped to the pits with heavy damage. Harvick’s crew instructed him to take it straight to the garage for repairs. Busch’s day was done, eliminating one of Team Penske’s chances to win his first Brickyard 400. Busch commented, “I just got caught up in my own mess. The car wasn’t handling good. I was trying to make it so we could pit at the next caution, and it just snapped loose on me. It’s real tight, and it just snapped loose. I guess I got caught behind in my steering.”
Due to the caution on lap 13, it counted as a mandatory caution for crews and NASCAR officials to inspect tires for wear. With Earnhardt coming in for tires a second time on lap seven, he did not have to come in for the mandatory inspection, thus taking the lead. However, on this day at the Brickyard it looks like everybody going to have to deal with this tire issues. With this first competition yellow, no fueling was allowed. Lap 26, Earnhardt, Jr. felt a vibration while leading, started to fall back and eventually made a green flag pitstop for tires putting him a lap down. Johnson led the first 15 laps.
2000 Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya’s tire right rear exploded on lap 28. The Columbian driver limped his Ganassi Racing Big Red Dodge back to the pits for new tires and repairs to the right rear quarter panel. This ends up being the second mandatory caution period.
After some more pitstops, it’s Kyle Busch in the lead on lap 32, four laps later, four-time “400” winner Jeff Gordon retook the lead. On lap 46, David Reutimann suffered right rear tire failure, however made it back to the pits. Mark Martin gambled and made an off-sequence pit stop with a mandatory caution period about to come out. Edwards is also had tire issues.
The Russian Roulette continues as on lap 48 Kenseth hears the bang as the right rear exploded and shred the right rear tire, bodywork, window, etc. Kenseth spun on backstretch and limped back to the pits as everybody came in for tires. Eventually the car was pushed to the garage for further repairs. Kenseth’s car had the most damage of the cars with tires issues today. “I could see it in the mirror that part of the quarter panel was blown off. It’s a really, really, really disappointing situation. This is one of the two biggest races of the year and to never have this tire here before and not come and do an open test and to work on these things and work on the tires, it’s pretty darn disappointing. We’re running three-quarters speed because we’re worried of the tires blowing out. Kenseth was asked if the tires give you any notice? He remarked, “You get about six corners’ worth of warning, about a lap and a half. It’ll just get loose of it’s the right rear. That’s when it started shaking about three seconds before it blew out.”
Lap 54, Kyle Busch led the field to the green. Seven laps later coming off of turn two, it’s Johnson who muscled his way past Kyle Busch to take the lead on lap 61. For the first time of the day, the field actually made it to a scheduled competition yellow (the fourth one of the day). Before pitstops, it’s Johnson ahead of A.J. Allmendinger, Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon in the top-5. After pitsops, it’s Red Bull Racing’s Allmendinger leading after taking only two tires as did Elliott Sadler and Greg Biffle. Johnson came out in fourth. Sadler jumped and passed Allmendinger down the backstretch. A few laps later it’s a moot point as Johnson charged into the lead.
Kenseth returned to the race on lap 64 after 20 minutes in the garage for repairs. Earlier, Harvick came back to the track on lap 31. Waltrip got going again on lap 72 after one hour and 25 minutes in the garage.
NASCAR tried to explain the tire situation when NASCAR president, Mike Helton went on the ESPN live telecast explaining what they had to do for safety. It was during practice on Saturday when they knew they were having serious issues with wear on the tires. Why? “I don’t know,” Helton explained “That’s a good question. The tire isn’t much different from what we used here last year. There are a lot of unanswered questions.”
On lap 83 another competition yellow was waved as Jimmy Johnson led at lap 80-halfway point.
At lap 88 Roush-Fenway driver, Edwards was in the lead, however Johnson and teammate Gordon were marching forward to the front. Previously, Allmendinger, Michael McDowell and Martin Truex, Jr. took turns leading a lap.
Eventually Hendrick Motorsports cars of Johnson and Gordon powered past Edwards and into the lead on lap 91.
Competition yellow reigned again over the Speedway on lap 99, as Johnson led, Jeff Gordon with Edwards holding third.
On lap 105, Jeff Burton executed two pigeons in front of thousands looking on in turn one. The good news is that Burton didn’t incur any tire problems from running over the birds. Shortly thereafter, Brian Vickers blew an engine on the front stretch and ended up parking against the wall in turn two. A good move since he was trailing oil all the way around the track
With 40 laps to go, Johnson continued to lead with Gordon and Edwards trailing by a second and a half. Shortly thereafter Edwards passed Gordon for second place. A lap later it’s competition caution time again. Denny Hamlin has moved up front by only taking two right-side tires.
Green flag was waved with 34 laps to with Hamlin on the point. Johnson continued stalking Hamlin while Edwards remained third. Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-5. NASCAR officials announced that the next competition yellow would be on lap 138.
25 laps to go, Hamlin continued to be hounded by Johnson, however, even with just taking two tires, Hamlin continued to hold him off. NASCAR officials announced that the teams would have two sets of ‘sticker’ tires left for the teams till the end of the race. With 22 laps left the competition caution came out again. The green flag returned with 19 laps to with Hamlin and Burton leading those who again only changed two tires which included the top seven, however Johnson who changed four restarted in eighth.
The last competition caution occurred with ten laps to go. Hamlin continued to lead, with Elliott Sadler in second, Burton third, Johnson moved up to fourth. On the final round of pitstops it was Johnson’s crew that came ahead big, sending the defending Cup Champion out in first over Edwards and Hamlin who had come in as the leader.
Johnson led to the checkers as Edwards was able to get close but could not pass the #48 of Johnson. Johnson was asked about tire wear, was that the right call to take two tires on the last stop? “I knew what we were setting up for. I was worried the stop before that maybe we had to go two laps to win this thing. Chad called it perfectly. We had a great stop at the end. A great car I just can’t say enough of this race car all weekend long. It really was a pleasure to drive it and its because these guys have been working so hard. Big day for Lowe’s and Chevrolet, this Impala was awesome. Hendricks Motorsports, the engine department, the whole company, we’ve been working really hard to get back and we’re getting there. This is a good sign of it.” Johnson knew Edwards was there, “Carl put about as much pressure on me as he could. I knew from chasing Denny (Hamlin) the run before that even if the guys a little faster he’s not going to get by so I just made sure I hit my marks. I tried not to think about the fact that it was the Brickyard 400. I really just tried to stay focused on the marks and we did it. I’m so stoked for these guys.” While others struggled, the Chad Knaus led crew came through and Johnson was ecstatic about them, “Across the board this team is awesome. All weekend long we’ve just been on the money and fast in qualifying and fast in the race. There at the end a lot of guys had a lot of pace and the stuff to get it done. Great race car, great pit stops, I’m just so stoked for these guys. It’s been a tough year, we’ve had our butts handed to us a few times through the course of the schedule, it’s nice to get back with a win.”
Winning crew chief Knaus commented afterwards, “The thing I was concerned about was that as we were going there that NASCAR would say okay you guys can go ahead and race the final 30 laps after we had had so many competition cautions. They did the right thing by having us come down and do what we needed to do to get the tires on the cars so nobody had any problems and got hurt. This team has worked so hard to get our program turned around and I really feel like we’ve come into our own over the last 10 to 12 weeks and just haven’t gotten the breaks that we needed. Fortunately enough today it all came together. To win the pole here and to win the race, it’s pretty nice.”
Edwards wanted that win, “That’s a long day. Everyone’s trying to do their best. I, personally, want to say to the fans that everybody was doing their best to make that a race. At least we got to run there at the end. I knew it was going to be Jimmie and I, and on the restart, the 11, Denny Hamlin, was hanging back, and I thought he was pretty fast, I thought I was faster than Jimmie, so I really didn’t focus on ruining Jimmie’s restart, getting up there under him in turn one, I thought I would be able to get him – I was more worried about the 11. Then it strung out. Jimmie just was fast; we were about the same. Man, it would be cool to win this one. Second place is not what we came here for. Just thanks to Aflac and everybody, and the fans for putting up with this. It’ll get better.” Could he had passed Johnson? “Well, Jimmie and I were about the same speed. I just couldn’t do anything with him. He did a really good job. We didn’t come here to run second you know, so that’s a little frustrating, but considering everything that happened today, I thought my guys today did a great job, a really great job. We’re going to win this eventually. We get one shot a year, and we get better every time so it’ll be fun to come back.”
Denny Hamlin came home third with Sadler in fourth. Jeff Gordon came across the stripe fifth. With all the competition caution periods there was never more than 12 laps of continuous green flag racing.
Steve Zautke, a Milwaukee, WI native, was raised in the sport of auto racing. His father, Bill, was a movie photographer that shot racing footage at tracks such as the Milwaukee Mile and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 1960’s and 1970’s Steve’s first professional job in racing was as an Emergency Medical Technician at tracks such as Angell Park and Hales Corners Speedway (1988-1991). Steve has also worked for the Milwaukee Mile as videographer, in media relations and historian (1993-2011). Steve also has worked as a reporter for Racing Information Systems (RIS) and has written features for ‘Vintage Oval Racing’ and ‘Victory Lane’ magazines. Most recently, Steve has written a book on Road America for Arcadia Publishing. ( http://www.amazon.com/Road-America-Nascar-Library-Collection/dp/1467111457 ) Steve co-hosts “Sparky’s Final Inspection” a motorsports-based radio show with hosts, Steve “Sparky” Fifer and “NASCAR Girl” Summer Santana on Sports Radio 1250AM in Milwaukee and is also available on the internet at www.Sportradio1250.com. A member of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Induction Committee, Steve follows all types of racing from the dirt tracks to Formula One.
![Porsche Fabcar crosses the finish line. [Robert Madara photo]](https://racingnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/FabcarFinish-108x70.jpeg)
![USF2000 Pro driver Lindsay Brewer. [Eddie LePine Photo]](https://racingnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG_8825_2-108x70.jpg)