Johnson Ends Hendrick's Winless Streak

When your race team wins half of the prior season's events, it's only natural for some to ask "What's wrong?" when you go through the first eight races without a victory. That was the quandary facing Hendrick Motorsports going into Saturday night. It's a question no more. Jimmie Johnson put Hendrick on the board for the 2008 season by winning the Subway Fresh 500.

With all the questions about why they haven't won, you'd think Hendrick Motorsports was having a horrible season.  But when you dominate like they did in 2007, going winless in the first eight races will get some to wonder.  While Casey Mears has struggled and Jeff Gordon has been a bit inconsistent, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have held their end of the bargain.  Both did it again Saturday night, more so for Johnson.  He drove the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet to victory at the Subway Fresh 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway.  The two time defending champion moved two spots to fourth in the points standings.

 

Johnson and his team used gas mileage strategy to their advantage in the win.  While the other leaders had to stop for gas, the Lowe's team decided to roll the dice and stay out.  It proved to be the right call and Jimmie was able to take the checkered flag first.  Aside from winning, Johnson also led the most laps, leading 120 of the event's 312 circuits.

 

There were eight cautions for 42 laps.  The worst incident was the night's fourth caution on lap 134 when pole sitter Ryan Newman has power steering failure, dropping a lot of liquid on the track.  Several cars ran over the fluid left behind by Newman.  Jeff Burton, Reed Sorenson, J.J. Yeley, Johnny Sauter, Dave Blaney, and Matt Kenseth were all involved.  All the fluid and other mess caused the race to be red flagged for a period.  Newman's night started well, leading 37 laps after going from the pole position.  But he finished last in the field after the incident.

 

Clint Bowyer had a nice run, finishing second after starting 24th.  Denny Hamlin finished third with last week's Texas winner Carl Edwards fourth.  Mark Martin had a great run finishing fifth, while also leading 68 laps.  After getting caught up in the lap 134 incident, Jeff Burton recovered to take the sixth spot.  Burton keeps the points lead by 80 over Kyle Busch, who finished tenth.

 

It looked like Dale Earnhardt Jr. might be able to pull it out during the race.  He led 87 laps, but had to settle for a seventh place finish.  Dale had a bit of a frustrated tone in his voice afterwards in post-race interviews.  On the good side for Dale, he moved up a spot to third in the points standings.

 

Other finishers in the top ten at Phoenix were Martin Truex Jr. in eighth and Greg Biffle in ninth.  Other notable finishes were Jeff Gordon in 13th, Tony Stewart 14th, Kevin Harvick in 19th, Kasey Kahne in 36th, and Matt Kenseth in 38th.

 

The Nationwide Series will take center stage this coming weekend when they go south of the border for their annual visit to Mexico City.  Meanwhile, the Sprint Cup Series will take the weekend off to get ready for Talladega on April 27th.  It will be their last until the weekend of July 20th, the week prior to the Brickyard.

By:  CrimsonCowboy