DOVER, Del. – Jimmie Johnson has already written a few pages in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history book and Sunday afternoon at Dover in the AAA 400 he added one more.
Johnson won for the eighth time at the Monster Mile to take first place on the all-time win’s list, breaking a tie with Bobby Allison and Richard Petty. It was Johnson’s fifth win of the season, his first since Daytona in July, and 65th of his career. He held off a hard charging and hungry teammate in Dale Earnhardt Jr.
“Two [tires] worked good for us in practice. And believe me; I wanted to see four tires line up in the fourth or fifth row. When they lined up right behind me, I thought I was going to have my hands full,” Johnson said about the series of events. “And I really did. Junior drove a whale of a race and track position really gave me the advantage I needed to hold him off.”
Earnhardt Jr. started the day on the pole and led 77 laps but didn’t have enough for Johnson at the end. Even after lining up first among those off pit road with four tires on the final pit stop. Johnson led a race high 243 of 400 laps to clinch the record.
“It’s incredible. To do anything that Bobby or Richard has done is quite an accomplishment,” Johnson said. “We’ve a few sneak away from us here, too, over the years. I’m just so happy to get that done and be the sole leader of race wins here. It’s a very special day.”
The win also moved Johnson to second in points, only eight markers behind Matt Kenseth who finished seventh. Kenseth led early as he looked for his third straight win to open the Chase but lost the handling of his car late. The same affected his teammate, Kyle Busch, who finished fifth and slipped to third in points.
There were only four cautions on the day – three for debris and one for fluid from Brad Keselowski’s car – which allowed for long green flag runs and green flag pit stops. Earnhardt Jr. missed pit road during one and came in slow on another, costing him plenty of time on track both occasions. He overcame those problems for second place but found no solace in it afterwards.
“I’ll be honest with you, it sucks to lose regardless of who wins. It’s probably harder to run second than it is fifth or tenth,” he said afterwards. “When you have a car like we had today, you don’t get good cars every week, you like to capitalize.”
Joey Logano finished third and Jeff Gordon fourth to move to fifth in points and tied with Kevin Harvick.
The NSCS heads to Kansas next weekend where Kenseth won earlier this season. Seven races remain in the NSCS season.
