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Jimmie Johnson
annouces his Jimmie Johnson Foundation Friday at
the Brickyard. This special car will race at The Busch Race at
California Sept 2, 2006. The Victory Lane coin is featured on the hood.
Johnson announced his commitment to raise $600,000 to build
"Victory Lanes",
a four lane bowling alley at Kyle & Pattie Petty's Victory
Junction Camp in Randleman, NC
© Oak Park Journal photo
No More Brick
Wall For Jimmie Johnson. Wins 13th Brickyard despite Early Tire Issues
by Dan Peters
INDIANAPOLIS - Jimmie Johnson took an important step to capture his
first Nextel Cup championship, winning the 13th Allstate 400
Indianapolis Motor Speedway...a track that in the
past few years has spelt doom and gloom for the Lowe's Driver.... But
no more. He adds his name to an Elite List of winner's here
at the Brickyard and became only the second driver to win the season
opening Daytona 500 and the Brickyard in the same year. Dale Jarrett is
the only other driver to have accomplished that feat in 1996... also
the same year that Jarrett and his team started the "Tradition"
of "Kissing the Bricks" at Indy. Every driver and
crew since has done it.
Johnson pulled off a gritty win at the Brickyard on Sunday,
battling back from an early tire problem to take the lead, only to
see it evaporate when a late debris caution bunched up the field.
It dropped him from first to eighth and forced him to carve his
way to the front in the final 14 laps.
But he did it with ease and pulled away for his third major victory of
the season. Johnson won the season-opening Daytona 500.
The only event that surpasses Indianapolis in prestige..
The Police
always put on a show for the Fans at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
© Oak Park Journal photo
"Pucker up and get ready to kiss those bricks!" Johnson said in Victory
Lane. Now he'll have to see if he can translate his Indy win into
a championship.
The winner of the Brickyard automatically becomes the favorite to win
the title, and five of the past eight went on to do it.
Matt Kenseth, who has been sitting in second behind Johnson the past
nine weeks, finished second and is 107 points out of the lead.
We had a pretty solid day. It seemed like most of the day, the #31 and
the #29 were better, and we kind of gauged off of them. Kevin was still
better than us at the end, but it seemed like we started to get better
than the #31, and the #48 came out of nowhere and blew by us and won
the race.
Kevin Harvick was third and Clint Bowyer, his rookie teammate
at Richard Childress Racing, was fourth.
Well, my day was really good. We had a good car all day. We
were able to go up and lead laps and keep the car up front all day. The
guys did a great job, and we just got back there. We knew
we needed four tires at the end and couldn’t afford to gamble
with everything that was going on. We thought that was our best chance
to win the race. They just got through traffic a little better, and we
just finished third. So, we didn’t have anything for the
#48, he (Johnson) pretty much had us covered. Harvick said
Jimmie
Johnson's Monte Carlo heads to the pits after the left front tire
has gone down early in the race... Luckily not much damage was done to
his car
© Oak Park Journal photo
Mark Martin was fifth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. stole a sixth-place finish
by not pitting on the final caution to salvage a horrible day and
reclaim the 10th spot in the Chase for the championship standings.
Kyle Busch was seventh, followed by Stewart, Carl Edwards
and Kurt Busch. Jeff Burton, who started from the pole and
led a race-high 87 laps, finished a disappointing 12th after fading
late.
Jeff Gordon, looking to race his way into the record books, never got
the chance. He broke the sway bar on his Chevrolet just eight laps into
the race and had to stop to have the part replaced. The repair work
dropped him three laps off the pace, and even though he worked his way
back onto the lead lap he wound up 16th.
Gordon was trying to add his name to the record books Sunday
and also give himself Birthday Present (Jeff turned 35 on Friday)
from tying two distinguished marks .joining Formula One superstar
Michael Schumacher as the only five-time winners in Indy history, and
the late Dale Earnhardt's mark of 76 Cup wins.
Jeff Gordon's
Car has a new look this week at the 400 as well
as his race
Helmet
© Oak Park Journal photo
Gordon
still had reason to celebrate when his teammate and
protege pulled out the victory...
It was no easy feat, especially when Johnson's Chevrolet got a
flat tire just 39 laps into the race. It forced him into the pits and
dropped him all the way back to 38th. his left front was smoking most
of the race after the incident, but did not become a factor in the
later laps.
The win appeared to be locked up, until the yellow flag came out for
debris on the track with 19 laps left. Johnson was the first car onto
pit road, and crew chief Chad Knaus decided to give him four fresh
tires.
Kenseth also took four, and beat Johnson off pit road. But they were
both trumped by Denny Hamlin and Bowyer, who took only two tires to
beat them off pit road.
Boris Said's
Day Ends after hard contact in turn 3 in his "No Fear" Fusion
© Oak Park Journal photo
They all had to settle in behind four cars that didn't pit at all
including Earnhardt, who was running around 30th most of the
day and was desperate to salvage a decent finish. The race restarted
with 14 to go and Kenseth and Johnson were off,
quickly working their way past Hamlin and Bowyer and a
handful of others.
Then Johnson knocked off Kenseth, and had only Busch and Earnhardt in
front of him. Earnhardt passed Busch to take a brief lead, but never
"Officially" led a lap Today Johnson took it away moments later.
He was off from there, and no one had a chance to catch him.
But he wouldn't count the win until he crossed the finish line,
and even that moment was almost ruined. A three-car accident
that collected Chase contenders Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle
on the final lap almost sent the race into overtime.
But NASCAR didn't call the caution until after Johnson crossed
the line, giving him a win at the track that had vexed him so many
times before.
Johnson came to Indy as the series leader the past two years, but
finished 36th in 2004 and 38th last year to cough up his points
lead. "I'm just speechless," he said. "This track has given me so
many problems." Then..."We made ground through practice
yesterday, through both practice sessions. Then last night Chad really,
really, really racked his head. We spent a lot of time sorting through
the data from the test, thinking through adjustments to be made, and
took a swing at it again today.The issue we had with the tire, I have
to admit, myself personally, it really deflated me inside the car." I
thought, “Man, it's going to be impossible to pass here. The tire
started coming apart when I was trying to get back to pit road. I
thought it destroyed the fender and really took us out of contention. "
Johnson added. "Things were on our side. Luckily, no major damage. We
didn't lose a lap. Caution came out. From then on, next two pit stops I
took it, you know, kind of easy, trying to get through traffic. I was
afraid of that tire, that front tire, having another issue with that.
Chad worked with the Goodyear
engineers, made some changes, and got the tire to where it would
survive and make it the whole run."
Other Driver Quotes:
TONY STEWART (No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet): "It is kind of hard to
pass, so when you get guys in a two-wide situation, a lot of times you
can get a really big run and go three-wide to get by. That's about the
only time that we had to take any chances.
For the most part, it was a lot of fun today."
ROBBY GORDON (No. 7 Menards/Johns Manville Chevrolet): “We ran around
the top 10, 11, 12, 13 all day, then we put some air in the tires, and
the car went to junk. It just wouldn't get any grip. We slid all over
the track, fell back to 27th and got in a
wreck there at the end.”
CARL EDWARDS (No. 99 Office Depot Ford): “Had a strong
car, just got it too loose into the corners at the end of the race. It
was just all I could do to hang onto it and not wreck it. Had fun,
though, we were pretty fast at parts of the race. That was a blast.”
(Pit strategy at the end. You took four tires): “Yeah, we were all
right with four, we just didn’t need it that loose, so we lost a lot
of spots there. That’s frustrating, but you try, that’s what you get.”
(Were tires ever an issue?): “No, not for me. The Goodyear’s
were good.”
DALE EARNHARDT JR. (No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet): (About his chances to
win): "I just had old tires trying to hold my position the best I
could. I wasn't a factor to win." (About how the heat affect him): "I
just had to drive really hard at the end. (It was) harder than I
normally drive."
MARK MARTIN (No. 6 AAA Insurance Ford): “Awesome run
for us. I want to thank the fans for making this year so special,
and the AAA team for giving me a car that I could see the front
all day. Couldn’t quite get there. I was proud just to have a chance.
Our car was really good, we barely adjusted all day. We were slow in
practice all day, but it felt like the balance was right, and when the
race started it was just fast. It felt like a different car today
than yesterday.” (Did you have a loose wheel at some point?):
“We had a loose wheel on the next-to-last run. We were very fortunate
to get that caution, that last one.”
DAVID STREMME (No. 40 Coors Light Dodge): “I had a pretty fast car. It
just wouldn't get going off the get-go, but in the long runs we were
good. We did what we had to do and got back in
the top 35, so I'm pretty happy about that.”
Other Notables
from The Brickyard 400...
Sunday marked the end of a 940-race streak with a Waltrip --
Mikey or ol' D.W. -- in the starting lineup. The streak began at
Riverside on Jan. 18, 1976, when Gerald Ford was still in the
Oval Office. ... In the meantime, we've had five presidents --
or, one more than the number of Cup wins for Michael.
With his victory at the Brickyard, bringing his season total to
$6,412,081, the fourth-highest season total -- and still 15 races
remain. With an average take-home purse of $305,337, JJ is on pace to
become the first $10 million driver in NASCAR history.
Pole-sitter Jeff Burton and rookie Clint Bowyer gave car owner Richard
Childress a first front-row sweep at Indianapolis. It was
the second time that a manufacturer has won the top-two starting
positions at Indy (Ricky Rudd and Darrell Waltrip started 1-2 in Fords
on Aug. 5, 2000).
Clint Bowyer's fourth-place finish is his career best and sixth top
-10 finish this year. It also marked the fourth time this season that
Bowyer has been the highest-finishing rookie. At least one rookie has a
top-15 finish in all 21 races this season.
• Jeff Burton has 15 consecutive top-15 finishes, a streak that began
at Texas in April, and he has scored more points in the past 10 races
than any other driver. Meanwhile, RCR teammate Kevin Harvick has posted
five consecutive top-10 finishes.
• At Watkins Glen ...
Dale Jarrett is expected to make his 625th Cup start;
Jeff Burton is expected to make his 425th Cup start;
Kevin Harvick is expected to make his 200th Cup start.
Driver Purvis injured in I-65 crash
Former NASCAR driver Jeff Purvis broke his neck in a crash on
Interstate 65 Saturday after the rig carrying his racecar crossed the
median, struck an oncoming car and burst into flames, officials said.
Purvis, of Clarksville, Tenn., and his StormPay.com crew were bound for
Talladega where he was to compete Saturday night in a Dirt Late Model
Series race at Talladega Short Track. He also broke ribs and was cut
and bruised.
Relatives said the 47-year-old Purvis was airlifted from Cullman
Regional Medical Center to Vanderbilt University Medical Center
in Nashville, largely because of previous head injuries sustained
in a racing crash four years ago.
Officials say seven people, including Purvis' wife and 15-year-old son,
were injured in the crash, three of them seriously. State trooper
spokesman Sgt. Tim Sartain told The Birmingham News the injuries were
not thought to be life-threatening.
Six people were riding in the rig, which carried Purvis' family, his
crew and his racecar. A front tire blew out as the rig passed
through Cullman, causing the vehicle to swerve, cross the median and
collide with a car driven by 21-year-old Beth Copeland of Cullman.
Purvis enjoyed a long Cup and Busch Series career, running in
50 NASCAR races over nine years. In 2002, he was seriously injured in a
crash at Nazareth Speedway, sustaining severe head injuries that kept
him from racing for two years.
More recently, he has competed in short-track racing in the Dirt Late
Model Series.
"Based on his injuries years ago, he probably shouldn't be doing this
[racing] anymore," said Bryan Baggett, vice president of StormPay.com
racing. "But he's not your average guy. He's a little tougher than your
average guy."
1. (5)
Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 160, $452,861
2. (20) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 160, 361,141
3. (10) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 160, 327,636
4. (2) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 160, 271,900
5. (19) Mark Martin, Ford, 160, 239,150
6. (31) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 160, 230,516
7. (37) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 160, 209,825
8. (32) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 160, 237,111
9. (22) Carl Edwards, Ford, 160, 202,975
10. (14) Denny Hamlin, Chevrolet, 160, 177,225
11. (13) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 160, 168,825
12. (3) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 160, 211,933
13. (8) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 160, 198,308
14. (11) Ken Schrader, Ford, 160, 184,264
15. (1) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 160, 243,995
16. (16) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 160, 198,236
17. (30) Brian Vickers, Chevrolet,160, 161,675
18. (24) David Stremme, Dodge, 160, 179,033
19. (23) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 160, 174,733
20. (34) Scott Wimmer, Chevrolet, 160, 152,275
21. (12) Scott Riggs, Dodge, 160, 148,350
22. (26) Bill Elliott, Chevrolet, 160, 143,850
23. (39) Casey Mears, Dodge, 160, 181,308
24. (21) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 160, 171,845
25. (36) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, 160, 158,558
26. (18) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 160, 186,575
27. (40) Kyle Petty, Dodge, 160, 161,508
28. (35) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 160, 172,825
29. (42) Dave Blaney, Dodge, 160, 149,797
30. (41) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 160, 147,725
31. (33) Sterling Marlin, Chevrolet, 160, 136,225
32. (28) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 160, 136,125
33. (7) Greg Biffle, Ford, 160, 156,625
34. (6) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, 160, 170,500
35. (9) Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, 160, 134,925
36. (4) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 159, accident,173,689
37. (17) Mike Skinner, Dodge, 159, 134,750
38. (29) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 159, 142,625
39. (25) Chad Chaffin, Dodge, 158, 134,525
40. (38) Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 135, engine, 171,386
41. (15) Jeremy Mayfield, Dodge, 82, suspension, 164,316
42. (43) Boris Said, Ford, 19, accident, 134,225
43. (27) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 3, accident, 162,383
Race Statistics
Winner's
average speed: 137.182 mph
Time of race: 2:54:57
Margin of victory: under caution
Cautions: 8 for 24 laps
Lead changes: 18 among 9 drivers
Lap leaders: Burton 1-6; Kahne 7; Burton 8-41; Wallace 42; Burton
43-58; Vickers 59-60; Burton 61-69; Harvick 70; Burton 71-72; Harvick
73-89; Burton 90-109; Kenseth 110-116; Johnson 117-123; Kenseth
124-125; Ky. Busch 126; Nemechek 127; Johnson 128-143; Ky. Busch
144-150; Johnson 151-160
Point standings: Johnson 3,124, Kenseth 3,017, Burton 2,749, Harvick
2,733, Ky. Busch 2,733, Martin 2,712, Hamlin 2,648, J. Gordon 2,627,
Stewart 2,619, Earnhardt 2,612
HARVICK DOMINATES AGAIN , CUP DRIVERS
DOMINATE AT O'REILLY
Before an estimated crowd of 35,000, Kevin Harvick dominated the
Kroger 200 at O’REILLY RACEWAY PARK AT INDIANAPOLIS
Saturday Night.
Benefiting Riley Hospital for Children, posting his 22nd
NASCAR Busch Series victory.
"[Saturday] was a long day. It was three or four trips back and forth,"
he said of the practice and qualifying at the speedway and practice,
qualifying and the race at O'Reilly Raceway Park, about 15 minutes away
in neighboring Hendricks County.
"We were fortunate to have a very good car. I was frustrated in
practice because I really didn't know what we had to do to the car.
They made some great adjustments before the race."
The victory by Harvick was the 21st by a Nextel Cup Series
regular in 23 Busch races this season. It also boosted his points
lead to 374 over Carl Edwards with 12 races to go.
"I can't believe the numbers," Harvick said. "You have to do your thing
and keep up what we're doing and hopefully things will work out.
"I think we've got a long way to go, so we've still got a lot of work
to do.
... Running hard and winning races is what we have to do to stay
in control." Caution periods kept the field bunched most of the
race. Harvick went in front by 2.5 seconds before the final
caution and led Sorenson by less than a second after the green came out
with 13 laps to go. Neither Sorenson nor J.J. Yeley, who wound
up third, could cut into the lead in the final laps, and Harvick's
winning margin was 1.4 seconds.
Greg Biffle was fourth and Jeff Burton, who will start from the pole in
Sunday's Nextel Cup race, was fifth.
Kroger
200 benefiting Riley Hospital for Children
O'Reilly Raceway Park
August 05, 2006
Race 23 of 35
Average Speed:
Margin of Victory: 1.414
Time of Race: 01:41:02
Lead Changes: 1
Cautions: 8-11, 13-15, 24-27, 34-38, 55-58, 78-81, 131-135, 139-142,
182-187
A Special tribute before the Nascar Truck Race honored our fallen Heros
© Oak Park Journal photo
CRAWFORD WINS
FIFTH CAREER RACE, PUTS FORD BACK IN VICTORY LANE
Before an estimated crowd of 35,000, Rick Crawford won the
Power Stroke Diesel 200 presented by Ford and International,
posting his fifth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory
Rick Crawford took the lead in a tight four-truck battle with
32 laps remaining, then held on to beat Dennis Setzer by 10
truck-lengths Friday night.
Rick Crawford's
Pit Crew service's his Ford Truck Friday Night at IRP
© Oak Park Journal photo
Crawford, Setzer, Mike Bliss and Ron Hornaday Jr. fought for
the lead going into the third turn at O'Reilly Raceway Park, with Bliss
getting squeezed into the wall in the first turn to bring out a caution
flag.
"I saw him [Bliss] go into the turn and stumble just a little bit,"
Crawford said. "It wasn't much, but I had to make my pass as quickly as
I could." "If you had some other guys involved, it
would be a recipe for a wreck. But this was four veteran guys.
But I'm glad my spotter said 'clear.' It was close. I don't think
we touched at all, but I could smell yellow, red, black and green
paint."
Setzer said....."It was pretty exciting, I guess," he said. "Crawford
and I had the 16 [Bliss], and my spotter called and said Hornaday was
coming up fast, and he was. I thought he was going to get all of us."
Nextel Cup and
Busch Star Carl Edwards takes in the Craftsman Truck Race Friday on a
"Off Night" for Edwards. He pulled triple duty this weekend racing
Thursday at IRP in the USAC race along with Thiago Mederos. Carl's crew
member Tom Giacchi hopes Carl wins soon.... he made a bet with Edwards
last year that he wont shave until Carl Wins.. so far he has kept his
end of the bet.
© Oak Park Journal photo
Hornaday said he could see the mad dash to the checkered flag
coming.... "They had a half straightaway on me, and I could see what
was going to happen," he said. "I knew they were going to squeeze him
[Bliss]. I had a little bit of a run, and I knew things were going to
get interesting."
Crawford stayed out front through four more caution periods,
the last with four laps remaining in the 200-lap race around the
0.686-mile oval. "To win, you have to have a perfect race, and tonight
was a perfect race for me," said Crawford, who won for the first
time since last September at New Hampshire.
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