Jammin’ Jimmie Johnson took the lead when it counted Sunday at Richmond International Raceway to win the 400-lap NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race. Johnson ran near the front throughout the sunny afternoon and took the lead for good shortly after a restart with 20 laps remaining.
A capacity crowd of more than 110,000 watched Johnson’s teammate Jeff Gordon lead most of the first half of this postponed event originally scheduled for Saturday night. Johnson passed another lesser-known teammate, Busch, for the win with 19 laps to go. Denny Hamlin was third and Gordon fourth. Kurt Busch was fifth.
Ryan Newman was sixth, passing Kevin Harvick on the final lap. Harvick was the class of the field at one point but a pit road accident damaged the right front of his car and slowed it down. Harvick, nonetheless, held on for his seventh-place finish. Tony Stewart was eighth. Rounding out the top 10 were Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth, neither of which contended for the victory.
Fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., wound up 13th after a collision with Jeff Green. Greg Biffle, also involved in a bumping accident with Green, was a contender before the incident but had to settle for 19th spot. Fourteen caution periods slowed the pace in a race where side by side racing in NASCAR’s new, winged cars was commonplace.
The victory was Johnson’s fourth of the year and owner Rick Hendricks’ seventh of the season. The first caution of the day fell before the cars had time to lay some rubber down on the “green” track.
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