Oct. 9, 2016
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
CONCORD,
N.C. – After Sunday’s victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Jimmie
Johnson can proclaim justifiably “The Boys are Back in Town.”
But
for five other Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers, all of whom
finished 30th or worse in the rain-delayed Bank of America 500, the race
ended in a medley of dire straits.
Taking
the lead from Matt Kenseth after a restart on Lap 317 of 334, Johnson
pulled away to win by 1.474 seconds over the driver of the No. 20 Joe
Gibbs Racing Toyota. Johnson
put his No. 48 Chevrolet in Victory Lane for the third time this
season, the eighth time at Charlotte – the third since the repaving of
the track in March 2006 – and the 78th time in his career.
The
real prize for the six-time champion, however, was a guaranteed berth
in the Chase’s Round of 8 and the accompanying stress-free trip to
Talladega two weeks hence.
“That
is massive,” said Johnson, who led 155 laps in breaking a 23-race
winless streak, the longest of his career. “I’m so happy about that. So
happy to be in Victory Lane with
this guy, with Chad Knaus (crew chief).
“We’re
a brotherhood on this No. 48 team, and just so thankful for the
friendship and the hard work. Same thing for everybody at Hendrick
Motorsports. We’re really going to enjoy
this.”
And no doubt Johnson’s automatic advancement to the next round certainly will enliven the talk of a record-tying seventh title.
Kasey Kahne finished third on Sunday, followed by Ryan Newman and Kyle Larson.
For
2014 champion Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon
and Denny Hamlin, the Charlotte race was an unmitigated disaster.
Logano
blew a right front tire on Lap 117 to cause the third caution of the
race. On Lap 155, he sustained severe damage from hard contact with the
outside wall, lost 78 laps
in the garage for repairs and finished 36th.
“One
was the left front and one was the right front, from what I hear,”
Logano said after his second wreck. “Once you hit the wall once, it kind
of throws the front-end geometry
out of line, and that’s probably what screwed up the second one for all
I know.
“Who
knows? I know it hurts a lot when you hit the wall that hard, but I’m
glad I’m all right… We had a fast car. Our car was capable of winning
the race. We drove up from 10th
and were up to third and running down the leaders, so I felt really
good about what we had. I don’t know. Things happen. It’s part of
racing, I guess.”
Right
before Logano’s No. 22 Ford hit the wall, Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas
Racing Chevrolet lost power. Harvick retired in 38th place, and spoke to
reporters while his crew
was still trying to diagnosed the engine problem that killed the car.
“It
just suddenly shut off, and the things that it points to are no oil
pressure,” Harvick said. “It’s definitely not a power issue with the
battery or anything like that. They’re
trying to diagnosis it.
“I
hate it for everybody on our Busch team. They made some great
adjustments today and got our car back where we needed to be to run up
front, and everything was going fine.
Lots of things can go wrong, and today they did.”
But
misery loves company, and on Lap 259, a 12-car pile-up ended the race
for Chasers Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott. Trying to push Dillon’s No.
3 Chevrolet, which had taken
two tires to gain track position, Martin Truex Jr. tapped the bumper
off-center to the right, turning Dillon’s car into the infield wall.
“I tried to give him a shove,” an apologetic Truex said on his radio. “I just turned him around like a damn idiot.”
Dillon felt the contact and was immediately out of control.
“I’m
fine,” Dillon said after exiting the infield care center. “It just
sucks. We’ll have to work hard the next two weeks to get the points
back. I felt like I got to third gear
pretty clean, and then the next thing – I feel contact, and I’m
spinning through the grass.
“It’s
part of it, and we took two tires there and you know the risk when you
get into it. You just hope that doesn’t happen, obviously. I got to
third without spinning the tires,
and I felt like we got contacted. We’ll just go on to next week.”
As
Dillon spun, Elliott checked up behind him – and right in front of Kyle
Busch, who couldn’t avoid contact and turned Elliott’s No. 24 Chevrolet
into the outside wall. Busch’s
car was damaged, but held together with pop rivets and Bear Bond, his
No. 18 Toyota salvaged a sixth-place finish.
Elliott wasn’t as lucky. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year leader retired in 33rd place.
“We
had such a good car, and I’m devastated that we didn’t get the result
that the guys deserved,” said Elliott, who had led 103 laps before the
accident. “They gave me such
a fast 3M Chevy and that’s all you can ask for. We just have got to go
and do more of that next week (at Kansas).”
Hamlin
was running second when his engine exploded with 26 laps left. The
mechanical failure relegated the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing
Toyota to a 30th-place result.
Hamlin,
at least, is in eighth place in the Chase standings with a cut to the
top eight looming at Talladega. But there’s a huge separation of 16
points between Truex in seventh
and Hamlin. Realistically, as things stand now, five drivers are
fighting for the final spot in the Round of 8.
But any of those drivers can advance automatically with a win.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race - Bank of America 500
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Concord, North Carolina
Sunday, October 09, 2016
1. (11) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 334.
2. (17) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 334.
3. (12) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 334.
4. (21) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 334.
5. (25) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 334.
6. (4) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 334.
7. (20) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 334.
8. (23) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 334.
9. (5) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 334.
10. (16) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 334.
11. (13) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 334.
12. (8) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 334.
13. (7) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 334.
14. (22) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 334.
15. (33) Aric Almirola, Ford, 334.
16. (26) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 334.
17. (31) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 334.
18. (27) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 334.
19. (32) Landon Cassill, Ford, 334.
20. (15) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ford, 333.
21. (35) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 333.
22. (30) Brian Scott #, Ford, 333.
23. (34) David Ragan, Toyota, 331.
24. (37) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 330.
25. (24) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, 329.
26. (38) Jeffrey Earnhardt #, Ford, 328.
27. (36) * Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 327.
28. (39) * Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 321.
29. (40) * Josh Wise, Chevrolet, 320.
30. (9) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Engine, 308.
31. (18) * Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 307.
32. (19) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 258.
33. (3) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, Accident, 258.
34. (28) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, Accident, 258.
35. (14) Greg Biffle, Ford, Accident, 257.
36. (10) Joey Logano, Ford, 254.
37. (6) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Accident, 252.
38. (1) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, Engine, 155.
39. (2) Alex Bowman(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 61.
40. (29) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, Accident, 61.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 134.929 mph.
Time of Race: 03 Hrs, 42 Mins, 47 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.474 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 8 for 51 laps.
Lead Changes: 17 among 9 drivers.
Lap
Leaders: K. Harvick 1-12; C. Elliott # 13-113; J. Logano 114-116; J.
Johnson 117-118; D. Hamlin 119; J. Johnson 120-124; D. Hamlin 125-175;
J. Johnson 176-213; R. Newman
214; Kyle Busch 215; C. Bowyer 216-217; J. Johnson 218-229; C. Elliott #
230; J. Johnson 231-253; C. Elliott # 254; J. Johnson 255-311; M.
Kenseth 312-316; J. Johnson 317-334.
Leaders
Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): J. Johnson 7 times for 155
laps; C. Elliott # 3 times for 103 laps; D. Hamlin 2 times for 52 laps;
K. Harvick 1 time for 12 laps;
M. Kenseth 1 time for 5 laps; J. Logano 1 time for 3 laps; C. Bowyer 1
time for 2 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 1 lap; R. Newman 1 time for 1
lap.
Top
16 in Points: J. Johnson - 3,045; M. Kenseth - 3,040; Kyle Busch -
3,036; B. Keselowski - 3,034; Kurt Busch - 3,033; C. Edwards - 3,029; M.
Truex Jr - 3,028; D. Hamlin -
3,012; A. Dillon - 3,009; C. Elliott # - 3,009; J. Logano - 3,006; K.
Harvick - 3,004; K. Larson - 2,109; T. Stewart - 2,106; J. Mcmurray -
2,084; C. Buescher # - 2,070.
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