Jimmie Johnson raced to his third victory in the Chase for the Sprint Cup to take control of the championship standings.
Johnson held off teammate Jeff Gordon on a handful of late restarts Saturday night for his sixth career victory at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Although he’s long dominated at the track, the win was the Lowe’s-sponsored driver’s first since 2005. The Associated Press
He also claimed his sixth victory at Charlotte, but the first one since October 2005.
With the victory, Johnson took command in the Chase by padding his lead to 90 points over Mark Martin, who finished 17th, and 135 ahead of Gordon.
Johnson, who is marching towards his unprecedented fourth straight Cup title, won last weekend’s 500-mile race at California and grabbed the points lead for the first time this season. He had a dominant week at Charlotte, capturing the pole on Thursday and leading the way in practices.
Matt Kenseth finished second, followed by title contenders Kahne and Gordon. Rookie Joey Logano was fifth. MiamiHerald.com
Johnson is the first driver to win the fall race at Charlotte from the pole since Harry Gant accomplished the feat in 1982.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe’s - Race Results
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.
“It’s a nice points lead; there’s no need for anybody to get too excited yet. We’ve got good tracks ahead for us, so from a team standpoint, we’re excited and optimistic. But at the same time, there’s a lot of danger out there, and we’ve just got to be smart.
“If we don’t have a problem, I feel we have a very good chance to win this championship—racing for it.” NASCAR
“It was disappointing because we had the car to beat, and the guy who beats everybody beat us again,” said Kahne, whose No. 9 Dodge led 67 laps and was labeled by Johnson as perhaps the race’s strongest car.
“I thought, ‘Well, if we can get ahead, maybe the two tires will hold up,’ ” Gordon said. “We gave it everything we had. If we hadn’t taken two, we’d've never had a shot at them. All we can do is keep fighting and do the best we can do.
“Those guys are awful tough. Maybe we can change things around at Martinsville. All we can do is keep putting up this good fight.” USA Today
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