Some days- trying to beat Jimmie Johnson is a bit like trying to beat Le Bron James in a game of “one on one”-or put a skins beat down on Tiger Woods. The “48″ unpacked a beast going into this weekend, making the 3-time champion nigh upon unbeatable in the Autism Speaks 400 presented by Heluva Good.
Credit Jimmie’s competitors for trying. Johnson’s team had a bobble on the final pit stop while changing tires, opening the door for Greg Biffle to lead off pit road, Tony Stewart right behind him and Smoke’s teammate Ryan Newman running in third. With Johnson in 9th, you just wouldn’t think there’d be enough laps left for the winner of his 4th race at Dover to catch the leader.
Stewart would swiftly snatch the lead from Biffle, and doggone it if Johnson wasn’t back up front for one more battle. You could just see it coming. Like Jesse James on horseback, the “48″ rode off into the horizon.
No one, not even Johnson’s fiercest competitors would argue that his car was the class of the field. He could just mash and go. Lord knows it was fun watching the less celebrated likes of David Reutimann, Juan Pablo Montoya and Reed Sorenson run hard in the early going, giving the race the feel of a Saturday trophy dash.
Once we got to lap 48, the serious competition became apparent. Johnson would take
the lead with Biffle, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Stewart getting into the mix. One by one- misfortunes would play havoc on the hopes of Jeff Gordon (caught in the pits when caution came out), Hamlin (blown tire) and Kyle Busch (vibrations)- setting up the final showdown.
In a post-race interview, Stewart said his car wasn’t even really a second place car, so he’s more than happy to play the runner-up on this day. Biffle settled into third iwht teammate Kenseth at his back and Kurt Busch taking 5th- though the Blue Deuce looked quite impressive in stretches.
The day’s results provided encouragement for Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards as they made the top ten. Both have had their ups and downs as the season sits at the halfway point to the chase. Newman and Martin also clocked top tens to fortify their placements within the top 12 for the season. Martin now leads 13th place David Reutimann by 31 points after coming into the race with a razor thin 6 point lead.
Casey Mears quietly led the charge for Richard Childress Racing by taking ninth place. Clint Bowyer just missed the top 10 by finishing 11th.
The first race pairing Dale Earnhardt Jr. with Lance Mc Grew as crew chief gets a passing review. Though Junior took 12th, he ran a decent portion of the day in the top five and the driver of the “88″ was rather upbeat in his assessment of the communication between the two.
A dramatic finish and a racy beginning made up for a race that was largely non-descript in between. If we’ve learned nothing else from the spring race at Dover, we’ve learned this: Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus still have some magic and when they’re on the money about all the competition can do is put up their best fight, but yet join the fans in being witnesses to the domination that is “Team 48.”
PHOTO CREDITS: Upper left by Nick Laham/ Getty Images. Lower right by Todd Warshaw/ Getty Images. Lower left by Jason Smith/ Getty Images for NASCAR.
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They don’t call him cheating Chad Knaus for nothing!
@janine, quite honestly, every team is out there to get the best results, I don’t think Chad Knaus is alone in the “cheating” crowd, it’s a competitive sport, and every single team out there is trying to get that extra edge, while being borderline on the set limits.