He may have qualified in the fourteenth position, but Jimmie Johnson did what he usually does at the Monster Mile, scoring another win, his tenth in fact in the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks at Dover International Speedway.
And with that, the driver of the No. 48 Lowes Pro Services Chevrolet also made history, becoming just the fifth driver in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history to have ten or more victories at a single track, joining Richard Petty, David Person, Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt.
“I felt like it was going to be a game of inches today,” Johnson said. “We were able to leap frog some guys on some pit stops.”
“It all came together for us very late but we were able to get that tenth win.”
“It was so great to be able to come here and compete for it,” Chad Knaus, crew chief, said. “I didn’t really realize we were doing that. To be able to run the way we did was great.”
“We didn’t qualify as well as we wanted but Jimmie got us to fifth quite quickly. Finally we started to put it together and once Jimmie was in position to battle for the lead, he did it.”
“I couldn’t be prouder. It was pretty awesome.”
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 ditech Chevrolet, finished second while the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet Kyle Larson finished third.
“We got really tight and then we freed up a lot and got better,” Larson said. “We gained a couple spots each time.”
“Our first good run of the year and hopefully we have many more.”
“Once the track bar broke, we were pretty much in a box,” Harvick said. “But all in all, the team did a great job. Dover has been a good race track for us. We’ve led laps but haven’t quite finished it off yet.”
“But a good solid day.”
This was Harvick’s 13th top-10 finish in Dover and his 12th top-10 finish for the season. He leads the point standings by 44 over Martin Truex Jr.
Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne rebounded from a 25 place qualifying position to finish fourth in his No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevrolet. And rounding out the top-5 was Aric Almirola in the No. 43 Smithfield Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports.
“I earned my money today that is for sure,” Almirola said. “This Smithfield Ford Fusion was a handful most of the day. It started off extremely tight. Trent Owens and the guys made really good adjustments on the car and got it better and better.”
“Finally we weren’t the lucky dog, we raced and stayed on the lead lap and when the caution came out we got a chance to restart with the leaders. That was the big break for us.”
“Every time we would get the lucky dog I had to start dead last and 30-40-50 laps the leaders were right back on me. It was a great day for us, a really good point’s day for us.”
“I am proud of Trent Owens and all the guys at Richard Petty Motorsports. They have been working their guts out trying to bring better cars to the race track week in and week out.”
“We have to get better qualifying. That is our Achilles heel right now. We start too deep in the field every week. All in all it was a good day for us and I am ready to go to Pocono.”
Martin Truex Jr. led many laps but finished sixth. Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top ten in the FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks.
The full finishing results are as follows:
2015 NSCS FedEx 400 Race Results
| Fin | Str | Car | Driver | Team | Lap | Pts | BPts | Status | TLd | LLd |
| 1 | 14 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Lowe’s Pro Services Chevrolet | 405 | 47 | 4 | Running | 1 | 23 |
| 2 | 6 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | ditech Chevrolet | 405 | 43 | 1 | Running | 2 | 91 |
| 3 | 3 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Target Chevrolet | 405 | 41 | Running | |||
| 4 | 25 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Farmers Insurance Chevrolet | 405 | 40 | Running | |||
| 5 | 23 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 405 | 39 | Running | |||
| 6 | 2 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet | 405 | 40 | 2 | Running | 3 | 131 |
| 7 | 11 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | McDonald’s/Cessna Chevrolet | 405 | 37 | Running | |||
| 8 | 18 | 27 | Paul Menard | Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet | 405 | 36 | Running | |||
| 9 | 20 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | AAA Insurance Toyota | 405 | 36 | 1 | Running | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 22 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | 3M Chevrolet | 405 | 34 | Running | |||
| 11 | 5 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 405 | 33 | Running | |||
| 12 | 19 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Miller Lite Ford | 404 | 33 | 1 | Running | 1 | 28 |
| 13 | 15 | 55 | David Ragan | Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota | 404 | 31 | Running | |||
| 14 | 16 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Nationwide Chevrolet | 403 | 31 | 1 | Running | 1 | 3 |
| 15 | 33 | 10 | Danica Patrick | GoDaddy Chevrolet | 403 | 29 | Running | |||
| 16 | 26 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet | 403 | 28 | Running | |||
| 17 | 7 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Safety-Kleen Ford | 403 | 27 | Running | |||
| 18 | 17 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Caterpillar Chevrolet | 402 | 26 | Running | |||
| 19 | 8 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Stanley Toyota | 402 | 26 | 1 | Running | 1 | 3 |
| 20 | 30 | 7 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 402 | 24 | Running | |||
| 21 | 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Cares Toyota | 402 | 24 | 1 | Running | 4 | 118 |
| 22 | 28 | 9 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Twisted Tea Ford | 400 | 22 | Running | |||
| 23 | 43 | 40 | Landon Cassill(i) | CRC Brakleen Chevrolet | 400 | 0 | Running | |||
| 24 | 29 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Scott Products Chevrolet | 400 | 20 | Running | |||
| 25 | 32 | 38 | David Gilliland | The Pete Store Ford | 399 | 19 | Running | |||
| 26 | 37 | 35 | Cole Whitt | Ford | 399 | 18 | Running | |||
| 27 | 21 | 13 | Casey Mears | GEICO Chevrolet | 399 | 17 | Running | |||
| 28 | 38 | 34 | Brett Moffitt # | Dockside Logistics Ford | 398 | 16 | Running | |||
| 29 | 40 | 23 | JJ Yeley(i) | Dr Pepper Toyota | 397 | 0 | Running | |||
| 30 | 35 | 26 | Jeb Burton # | Maxim Fantasy Sports Toyota | 396 | 14 | Running | |||
| 31 | 13 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Haas Automation Chevrolet | 396 | 13 | Running | |||
| 32 | 36 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto # | Burger King Toyota | 395 | 12 | Running | |||
| 33 | 12 | 3 | Austin Dillon | DOW Chevrolet | 395 | 11 | Running | |||
| 34 | 41 | 62 | Brendan Gaughan(i) | Chevrolet | 392 | 0 | Running | |||
| 35 | 42 | 32 | Mike Bliss(i) | CorvetteParts.net Ford | 391 | 0 | Running | |||
| 36 | 10 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Skittles Toyota | 374 | 9 | 1 | Accident | 2 | 7 |
| 37 | 9 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford EcoBoost Ford | 373 | 7 | Running | |||
| 38 | 27 | 33 | Brian Scott(i) | ACME Chevrolet | 372 | 0 | Accident | |||
| 39 | 4 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Dollar General Toyota | 346 | 5 | Suspension | |||
| 40 | 39 | 98 | Josh Wise | Ford | 346 | 4 | Electrical | |||
| 41 | 34 | 46 | Michael Annett | Pilot Flying J Chevrolet | 317 | 3 | Running | |||
| 42 | 24 | 51 | Justin Allgaier | AccuDoc Solutions/FOE Chevrolet | 310 | 2 | Running | |||
| 43 | 31 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | AdvoCare Ford | 221 | 1 | Running |
# = Rookie, Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led. (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
