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Johnson Wins His ‘Crazy’ Eighth, Cuts Points Lead To Nine

HAMPTON, GA. ? Jimmie Johnson won a wild-and-wooly Pep Boys Auto 500 here Sunday afternoon.

A bizarre series of circumstances in the final 20 laps of the 325-lap event led to Johnson’s storybook finish and eighth win of the year.

Johnson was lined up behind race leader Denny Hamlin for a green-white-checkered flag finish.

The white starting flag waved and every car took off, every car but one.

Hamlin’s car was out of gas and he rolled slowly down the center of the track like an unlucky duck at a shooting gallery.

Cars went on both sides and sparks flew. Jeff Burton scraped the outside wall and Martin Truex Jr., unable to see Hamlin’s car stalled out until it was too late, buried the nose of his Chevy in Hamlin’s rear end.

On the restart after the caution, more trouble ensued. Shortly after the cars took the green, the left rear wheel came flying off Dale Earnhardt’s car as he entered the turn. He slid up the track directly in the path of oncoming Jamie McMurray, who delivered a KO punch to both cars at speed. That signaled the end of the race.

Neither driver was hurt but the crazy finish sent NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series officials to the monitors for a scoring rundown. NASCAR uses every tool available in determining the running order at the time the caution flag is displayed, including visual, video and scoring loops around the track to determine the final rundown.

When the scoring scrutiny had been completed, the final rundown showed Johnson the winner, Carl Edwards second and Reed Sorensen third, followed by Matt Kenseth, Burton, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers.

Actually, the exciting and totally unexpected ending was created with eight laps remaining when Johnny Sauter suffered a tire failure and hit the wall

At the time of the caution, Kyle Busch was leading, Kenseth was second, Truex third, Kurt Busch fourth, Johnson fifth, Kahne sixth and Hamlin seventh. Gordon was eighth at the time, Earnhardt ninth and Carl Edwards 10th.

All but Hamlin pitted for tires and a splash of gas. Johnson’s team decided to put on two tires instead of four and that put him back on track for the restart in front of everyone but Hamlin.

Once the race was restarted, speedy pit work shuffled the order with Johnson first, followed by Earnhardt, McMurray, Sorensen, Edwards, Burton, Kenseth, Bowyer and Truex.

Young Busch, the leader when the final pit stop began, was 13th when the pit stops were complete.

Johnson gained some points on Gordon in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship by winning the race with Gordon finishing six spots back. Johnson is now nine points behind Gordon in the series standings after entering the race 53 back.

To begin the race, Kurt Busch sped to the front of the field shortly after the start on a crisp, golden day at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Things weren’t so pretty, however, for Juan Pablo Montoya on lap 33. Montoya’s Dodge had a right front tire go down, putting the former Indianapolis 500 winner into the wall.

Earnhardt was penalized under the caution for a commitment line violation. Another caution slowed things at 42 laps when Dave Blaney’s Toyota lost power on the backstretch.

A debris caution on lap 52 gave the drivers another breather, prompting fans to wonder whether the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race was going down the same path as Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series event. The Memphis event tied the caution flag record in that Series, a total of 25 caution periods.

Kurt Busch was still leading at lap 65 when David Gilliland spun on the backstretch, hit the outside retaining wall and slid across the track directly in front of Mark Martin.

Martin’s car plowed into Gilliland, which ended the day for both drivers. Their cars were damaged beyond repair. Neither driver was injured.

The elder Busch was still leading when David Stremme spun off turn four. Busch went from first to 13th after the pit stop.

Truex took the lead at that point.

Another caution fell on lap 148 when rookie David Ragan smacked the wall in turn two.

When the race resumed, Truex was still in the lead with Kenseth trailing. Kurt Busch had battled his way back to third. Hamlin was fourth.

Another caution, the sixth of the beautiful afternoon, waved after Bobby Labonte’s car cut a tire at lap 163.

The field had barely reached speed again after a restart when David Ragan tagged Jeremy Mayfield, sending Mayfield spinning down the track.

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