There wasn't much talk about Jimmie Johnson
winning a third straight championship at the start of The Chase. Now, it's
almost a certainty. Johnson took a big step in his pursuit for the championship
by winning the TUMS QuikPak 500 at the
Martinsville Speedway. He
didn't just win the race, he dominated it. Johnson led 339 of the 500 laps.
As there usually is at Martinsville, there were plenty of cautions. The yellow
flag waved 12 time for 76 laps. Most of the wrecks were the usual short track
bumping variety, causing several spin-outs and a lot of contact. There was one
rather odd circumstance that brought out the sixth caution on lap 163.
Kyle Busch,
Sam Hornish Jr., and Tony Raines all had tire troubles at the same time. They stopped around the
same spot on the track to bring out the yellow. Adding to that,
NASCAR penalized Busch two
laps, saying Busch intentionally stopped to cause the caution.
Chase drivers filled out the top five, with
Dale Earnhardt. Jr
finishing behind his Hendrick teammate.
Carl Edwards finished third
with
Jeff Gordon fourth, and Spring Martinsville winner
Denny Hamlin fifth. Casey Mears placed sixth with
Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth seventh and eighth.
Clint Bowyer and
Martin Truex Jr. rounded
out the top ten.
Other notable finishes include
Greg Biffle in 12th, Jeff Burton in 17th,
Tony Stewart 26th, and Kyle Busch in 29th.
Johnson's dominating win along with his closest rivals in the point standings
finishing out of the top ten gave his title hopes a big boost. With just four
races remaining in the season, Jimmie now leads second place Greg Biffle by 149
points and third place Jeff Burton by 152 points. Fourth place Carl Edwards is
198 points back. Anything can happen in the span of four races, but it's
looking more and more likely that Jimmie Johnson will be celebrating his third
straight title.
For this weekend, the Truck Series will be at the
Atlanta Motor Speedway for
the E-Z-Go 200 Saturday while the
Nationwide Series will be in Memphis that same day for the Kroger On
Track for the Cure 250. The
Sprint Cup Series will race in the
Pep Boys Auto 500 at
Atlanta on Sunday.
By: CrimsonCowboy