Five-time NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson wins Aaron 499 in Sprint Cup Series – NASCAR news
Five-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, Aaron’s 499 held at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama.
The race was a brilliant display for the fans when reigning champion Johnson crossed Clint Bowyer in final seconds of the final lap. He won the race with a record holding time gap of 0.002 seconds ahead of runner-up Bowyer.
The bump drafting was at high note throughout the entire race, as being a restrictor plate race. Four pairs of cars appeared to head for the finish line for a traditional finish at the Talladega Super Speedway and it took a review to determine Johnson’s
lead over Bowyer. He won the race by almost a distance of a foot from Bowyer.
A push in the final milliseconds from his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., Johnson ran out Bowyer at the 2.66-mile TSS. This was his first victory of the season and second at the Talladega Super Speedway. In his career, he has won
54 Sprint Cup Series races in total. Sunday’s victory tied him up with Lee Petty, the 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee at the ninth place in the all-time winning list.
The record holding win was a tie with Ricky Craven’s win over Kurt Busch at the Darlington Motor Speedway in 2003 in the closest win category since the electronic timings and scoring were introduced in 1993.
Jeff Gordon ran third to finish and Earnhardt Jr. came fourth. Hendrick Motorsports drivers claimed three places out of the top-four positions. Kevin Harvick was placed fifth followed by Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, David Gilliland and Joey
Logano.
Now Johnson stands at second place in the point standings of the Sprint Cup following Carl Edwards by just five points after eight races on the count of the 2011 season.
“Well I got it and gave it to him,” Johnson said. “He goes, 'I don't want it.' I said, 'Well, I've got to give you something -- here. Thanks.' He's got the checkered flag over there, and I can't wait to tilt a cold one back with him and thank him for
a good job done today.”
Johnson and Earnhardt ran together for more than half of the race. Johnson was in the lead for 14 laps and Earnhardt remained there for 11 laps. Earnhardt was glad to give the winning push to Johnson.
“If I couldn't win the race, I wanted Jimmie to win the race, because I had worked with him all day, and he's my teammate and I'm proud to be driving for Hendrick Motorsports,” Earnhardt said.
Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin sustained their act to run a few seconds off the pace of the leader, which helped them to avoid wrecks which retired their rivals and run to the end.
Tags: