February 22, 2010
By Ron Felix
I'm beginning to get a sense of what a golf writer goes though week in and week out -- trying to keep the story fresh about Tiger Woods winning one tournament after another. Of course we won't have that problem with golf for at least a little while.
But it's going to be difficult telling you how great Jimmie Johnson was again this week -- and then next week and the week after that and the week after that -- for 38 weeks. Especially when I know he's got to be the luckiest guy on the planet.
CIA Stock Photos
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Johnson Celebrates 48th Victory
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A fluke of scoring put Jimmie Johnson in the lead following the final pit stop. Johnson was in the middle of his last (green flag) stop when the caution came out. Johnson got the pit work finished and still beat the leader (under caution) Jeff Burton to the start-finish line.
"I figured if things cycled around, we were going to be in good shape and there is no doubt that situation gave us the race win today," said an elated Johnson. "We got a little off probably about 2/3 through the race and we were trying to get things right."
Then on a restart with 20 laps to go, Johnson wasn't to be denied, holding off Kevin Harvick in the final laps,
"We had the car much better but had lost track position and had some really fast cars to deal with," Johnson continued. "The gift we got by being on pit road, I took advantage and we got this Kobalt Tools Chevrolet running good."
Johnson picked up his fifth victory at Auto Club Speedway. Johnson picked up his 48th Sprint Cup win in a 293 career races. Johnson also led the most laps, 101 0f 250. The victory vaulted him 23 positions in the standings to 12th after two races of the 36-race 2010 season.
Harvick was closing on Johnson with five or six laps to go but drove Turn 4 a bit too hard and smacked the wall.
"We were making up ground and Jimmie (Johnson) saw that and he moved up and I just got tight," Harvick explained. "I got the thing in the fence and just didn't want....I should have just let off. I kept driving it into the wall and got tight after that. Should have never been there in the first place. I got myself in the back there with the speeding penalty. All-in-all a good day and fast cars."
Quote of the day: Kevin Harvick's comment on Johnson's luck. Jimmie Johnson is a friend of mine and I don't want to take anything away from him but Johnson definitely has a golden horseshoe stuck up his a--.
Burton finished third and ageless Mark Martin was fourth.
"This place is a lot of fun. We ran well all day," said Burton. "We definitely got better as the race went on. I got caught speedin' on pit road and had to start back in the back and rolled up through there really fast.
"That is when we knew our car was really good. There at the end, got a little loose. I didn't ask for the right thing under that caution. Kind of how we got beat at Homestead too. So we will get a little better about that, but good day for us."
Rounding out the top ten were Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle.
Logano was ecstatic following the race, much improved over his 35th place finish last year in this race.
“A top-five here feels like a win for me for as much as we improved at this race track," Logano said. "The first time I came here was last year and we sucked. We ran 35th to 40th the whole time. Last time we came here we ran probably 20th to 25th and this time around we were within the top 10 and sneaked out a top-five there at the end.
"You got to be pleased with that. That was really cool. We worked really hard all day. Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, crew chief) made awesome calls. The pit crew was amazing, we gained spots just about every time we came down pit road. I am really, really stoked about how we ran today. It feels like a win after what we had the first time we came here. To watch yourself improve that much, working with the team better, that feels really good.”
The race was slowed by six cautions for a total of 30 laps. There were 14 different leaders and 28 lead changes.
The Sprint Cup Series moves to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada -- next Sunday, February 28th, for the Shelby American, the third race in the Chase for the Championship.
The race will also be broadcast live on PRN Radio and SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 128. Kyle Busch was the winner at Las Vegas in 2009.
For Full Final Race Results...
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