Jimmie Johnson takes chequered flag in Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway – NASCAR news
Jimmie Johnson looks set to defend his 6th Sprint Cup championship title as he dominated the rest of the field in the Hollywood Casino 400 at the Kansas Speedway on Sunday, October 9, 2011.
This is Johnson’s 55th career Sprint Cup win and his 20th in the chase, which is a record among all drivers.
Johnson started from 19th place in the race and it took him only 21 laps to take the lead. He led a total of 197 laps and this is arguably one of his most dominant performances in a race.
Johnson had to hold of Kasey Kahne near the end, as Kahne tried to make the most of a late yellow flag restart but Johnson was too quick for him in the end and Kahne finished in second place.
Brad Keselowski, who won the Nationwide Series race here a day earlier, came in at 3rd place. He was followed by Matt Kenseth, who came home in 4th.
Carl Edwards escaped disaster one again as he fought back to finish in 5th place. Things had started looking down from Edwards from the start as started from 2nd place but lost 6 places within 6 laps. He was a lap down
to Johnson at one stage but regained his lap on the caution at lap 220.
Kevin Harvick faced the same struggle as Edwards but he too pulled off a miraculous comeback to end up in 6th place.
Clint Bowyer celebrated his new contract at MWR with a 7th place finish with pole sitter Greg Biffle finishing in 8th. Marcos Ambrose and Mack Martin rounded off the top 10.
The rest of the Chase racers are falling off the pace as Kyle Busch finished in 11th and brother Kurt Busch failing to build on his victory at Dover as he finished 13th.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 14th and Tony Stewart now looks to be returning to his early season lack of form as he finished in a disappointing 15th position. Denny Hamlin followed him in 16th.
Ryan Newman came home in 18th place but the major loser of the day will be Jeff Gordon, who had an engine blow up 7 laps before the end of the race and he finished in 34th position.
Debutant Austin Dillon put in a respectable performance but fell two laps short of the finish as he finished in 26th position.
The race has made the points race all the more interesting. Carl Edwards has now taken sole lead of the table, just 1 point ahead of Kevin Harvick in 2nd. Jimmie Johnson is now pushing for his 6th title as he lies 4 points behind
in 3rd. Keselowski jumps two places and is now 4th. Matt Kenseth also makes ground on the leaders and is in 5th place. Kurt Busch fell two places to 6th and Tony Stewart loses 4 places to drop from 3rd to
7th. Kyle Busch remains in 8th. 20 points separate the top 8 drivers in the table.
The other 4 drivers seem to be out of it. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has moved up a place in 9th. He moves up because Jeff Gordon had a disaster and is now 10th, 47 points behind the rest. Ryan Newman is 11th and Denny Hamlin is 12th.
The next race should add ever more drama to the table. Next up on the schedule is the Bank of America 500 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 15, 2011.
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