On Tuesday, NASCAR officials brought Sprint Cup Series drivers and team owners together for a closed door meeting in Concord, N.C.
One of the topics that its thought that was discussed was how to make competition on the track more exciting for fans.
Sunday at Dover International Speedway, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle took it upon themselves to take care of things when it comes to that for at least one week.
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The trio gave fans a rousing final 10 laps of action and in the end it was Johnson, the three-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion, passing Stewart for the lead with just over two laps remaining and celebrating in victory lane after the Autism Speaks 400 at Dover. Hartford Courant
“To have to run that hard to pass that many good cars, that’s a challenge,” Johnson said. “I had to really suck it up and get going. I thought I was going to pound the wall a couple of times.”
Johnson, who led a career-high 298 laps, won at Dover for the fourth time.
“We had an awesome race car today,” Johnson said. “We’ve been fast, but this was a very special car today.”
During the last round of stops, Greg Biffle opted for two tires only and exited the pits first. Biffle held the lead until Stewart dove underneath and passed him with less than 10 laps to go. Johnson then moved up to second.
Stewart and Johnson engaged in a fierce battle for the lead before Johnson made the winning pass. MiamiHerald.com
Johnson appeared to have the race under control and was never really challenged for most of the 400-mile race. When he came in for a four-tire pit stop with 36 laps, a faulty exchange by his crew slowed him down and dropped him back into traffic in ninth place.
Johnson was far from sunk.
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“It was a small hiccup,” Johnson said.
One by one, he picked off the drivers in front of him. He charged past Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch until only Biffle and Stewart were ahead of the No. 48 Chevrolet with 10 laps left. Johnson passed Biffle and that set up the frantic finish that rivaled Talladega for the most dramatic end so far this season.
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“I don’t know how it gets much more exciting than that,” Stewart said. The Associated Press
Biffle finished third, followed by Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Ryan Newman, Casey Mears and Mark Martin completed the top 10. In his first race at Hendrick Motorsports with a crew chief other than Tony Eury Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr. faded to 12th after a cracking the top five earlier in the race. NASCAR.com
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