Jimmie Johnson Wins the Southern 500 and Claims the 200th Victory for Hendrick Motorsports

[media-credit id=9 align=”alignright” width=”199″][/media-credit]Jimmie Johnson held off Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart to take the checkered flag in the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. He also gave Rick Hendrick his long anticipated 200^th win.  Hendrick Motorsports is only the second team to accomplish this. The first to do so was Petty Enterprises with 268 wins.

It was Johnson’s 56th victory in 374 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. It was the 14^th victory at Darlington Raceway for the Hendrick Motorsports organization.

The two celebrated in Victory Lane with a hug. After the race Johnson said of Hendrick, “Without a doubt, you got to love that man. He just said ‘Let’s go get 250.’”

Johnson went on to say that he was “very proud of the effort that the whole 48 team put together. My mind goes back to the early days of Hendrick Motorsports, to the people that won the early races, worked on those early cars, helped Rick build Hendrick Motorsports to what it is today.”

“I think of Harry Hyde, Tim Richmond, Geoff Bodine and Kenny Schrader. There’s a lot of people over the years that put a lot of time and effort and commitment into this organization. So I think about all those people and I’m just so happy for Rick. His dedication to this sport and to performance and winning is second to none.”

Rick Hendrick also thanked those who helped him get to this point in his career as a team owner.

“I’m just proud of these guys and the whole organization. You want to thank everybody from Harry Hyde to Tim Richmond and Geoff Bodine, all the guys along the way that won races. You think you’re going to get there but then you think you’re never going to win another one when you get to 199.  I’m real proud.”

Johnson also presented Rick Hendrick with a helmet celebrating their 200^th win in the media center after the race. It was signed by the drivers that contributed to this accomplishment.  Family members signed for those drivers who are no longer with us.

Denny Hamlin finished the race in second place giving him his sixth top-ten finish in 2012.

When asked to talk about his run, Hamlin pointed to the last pit stop when he slid through his pit box. As a result, they lost several crucial seconds on the stop. It cost him the lead but he said he was “really proud of our effort” and “it’s definitely a good run for our team.”

Tony Stewart was the third place finisher posting his eleventh top-ten finish in 20 races at Darlington Raceway.

He talked about the adjustments during the race that helped his car but revealed that he had broken the clutch with about 85 laps remaining. His crew determined that he could continue with the broken clutch. Then, with one lap to go, he began losing fuel pressure which caused him to get a slow restart.

Stewart said, “Considering the hurdles of the day I’m pretty happy with a third place run.”

Kyle Busch finished in fourth place and Martin Truex Jr. finished in fifth.

The top five in the points standings after the finish of the Bojangles’ Southern 500 are Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson.