Jimmie Johnson won for the third time in the first five Chase races with a convincing victory in Saturday’s NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Johnson edged Kasey Kahne out of the pits during the final round of stops and then held off Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon in three late-race restarts for his Sprint Cup Series-leading sixth victory of the season. He also claimed his sixth victory at Charlotte, but the first one since October 2005. MiamiHerald.com
With the victory, Johnson completed a weekend sweep, having won the pole and having led all three practice sessions for the race. Johnson is the first driver to win the fall race at Charlotte from the pole since Harry Gant accomplished the feat in 1982.
Despite his 90-point advantage, Johnson wasn’t ready to claim a record fourth consecutive title.
“We’re only halfway through this thing,” he said. “So much can happen. Somebody at Martinsville [next week] can lose their brakes and clean you out. With the double-file restarts, there’s going to be a lot of bumping and banging. Somebody can get into you and knock a valve stem out or cut a tire. NASCAR
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 2 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 3 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 4 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 5 20 Joey Logano * Toyota 6 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 7 7 Casey Mears Chevrolet 8 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 9 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 10 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 11 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 12 25 Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 13 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 14 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 15 0 David Reutimann Toyota 16 16 Greg Biffle Ford 17 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 18 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 19 12 David Stremme Dodge 20 6 David Ragan Ford 21 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 22 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 23 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 24 171 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 25 202 David Gilliland Toyota 26 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge 27 98 Paul Menard Ford 28 82 Scott Speed * Toyota 29 21 Bill Elliott Ford 30 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 31 96 Bobby Labonte Ford 32 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 33 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 34 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 35 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 36 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 37 8 Terry Labonte Toyota 38 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 39 99 Carl Edwards Ford 40 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 41 113 Max Papis * Toyota 42 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 43 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota
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