Jimmie Johnson was a “survivor” this afternoon….. Coming back from a blown tire, making a late charge in a 14 lap run for the checkers, he captured the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard over Matt Kenseth today under caution for his 4th win of the season (tying him with Kasey Kahne for most wins this year) and the 22nd of his NEXTEL Cup career (he’s now tied with teammate Terry Labonte for 26th on the all-time win list). This was win #147 for Hendrick Motorsports and their 5th in this event. Jimmie Johnson becomes the second driver to do the Daytona/Indy double…. Dale Jarrett accomplished that feat in 1996. The victory was worth $452,861 from the over $9.3M in posted awards….and that includes $120K for the NEXTEL Cup Leader Bonus. They might wanna consider renaming that contingency….the only winner this season has been Johnson and he’s cleaned it out for $210K total on three occasions.
Kevin Harvick (3rd) had his best finish since he was 3rd at Dover in June.
Clint Bowyer (4th) had his career-best finish today. His previous best was 5th at Phoenix in April.
Tony Raines (11th) had his best finish since he was 6th at Rockingham (Where’s Dat?) in November of 2003!
STREAKIN….Kevin Harvick has 5 Top-10’s in a row. Jimmie Johnson has 10 Top-10’s in the last 11 races.
This Week’s Elevator….UP: Operator of the Week is Kyle Busch (+30), followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr (+25) and Tony Stewart (+24). DOWN: The Big Dropper was Kasey Kahne (-32), followed by J. J. Yeley (-28 ), Greg Biffle (-26), Robby Gordon (-26), Jeremy Mayfield (-26), and Mike Skinner (-20). This was BD #3 on the season for Kasey.
Kenny Wallace led a lap today for the first time since he led once for three laps at Richmond in September of 2002! He’s the 44th driver to lead a lap this season….last year’s number was 51.
Johnson’s win today tacked another 10 points onto his lead over Matt Kenseth….it’s now 107. Their “Magic Numbers” are getting up there as well ….they’re not far from clinching. Clint Bowyer (19th to 17th) made the only multiple position advance today (in the Top-40), while Kasey Kahne’s last lap wreck put him on the outside looking in at the “Chase” with a four position drop (7th to 11th).(Stock Car Fans)(8-6-2006)
