Opportunistic Johnson Triumphs at the Brickyard
Reid Spencer - SportingNews.com
Jul 27, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS -- Juan Pablo Montoya's loss was Jimmie Johnson's gain Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Capitalizing on a pit-road speeding penalty to the dominant car of Montoya -- and on the outside lane on a restart with 24 laps left -- Johnson held off teammate and polesitter Mark Martin to win his second straight Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and his third in the past four years.
Johnson staved off a last-ditched challenge from Martin through the first two corners at the 2.5-mile track and streaked across the yard of bricks -- the unique finish line at the Brickyard -- .400 seconds ahead of his teammate in a race that gave no hint of the chronic tire problems that punctuated last year's event.
Montoya led 116 laps, more than twice the 57 combined he had led in 92 previous Cup starts, but ended the day frustrated in 11th place. Cup points leader Tony Stewart ran third and leads Johnson by 192 points with six races left before the 12-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field is set Sept. 12 at Richmond.
Johnson moved past ninth-place finisher Jeff Gordon, who trails Stewart by 207 points. Greg Biffle came home fourth, followed by Brian Vickers, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne and David Reutimann. Matt Kenseth ran 10th to hold the 12th and final Chase-eligible position in the standings by 68 points over Reutimann.
"Geez, was he fast," Johnson said of Martin, 50. "For an old guy, he had me pretty worried. ... Those last 15-20 laps, we had to drive it so hard just to stay ahead of the 5 (Martin). I was better in (Turns) 3 and 4 than he was, and he had me beat in 1 and 2, and it was kind of a give-and-take thing that was going on. Luckily we held him off."
To Johnson, the last restart was critical. Martin chose the inside lane for the restart on Lap 137 of 160, and Johnson surged into the lead from the outside as the cars sped through the first two corners.
"Clean air was everything," said Johnson, who won his third race of the year and the 43rd of his career. "You could only get so close to the car in front of you. ... I got that restart and put on a great show for the fans. I hope they enjoyed it."
Over the final green-flag run, Martin said he drove his car as hard as he could without wrecking it.
"I drove my heart out and gave it everything I had," he said. "I'm just thankful that I had a chance to race for the win. I'm disappointed we didn't win, but I got beat by Superman."
Montoya had a lead of more than four seconds when he came to the pits under green for tires and fuel on Lap 125. According to NASCAR, Montoya exceeded the 55 mph speed limit entering the pits and was preparing to serve a pass-though penalty when Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s engine exploded at the entrance to pit road, causing the third caution of the race.
The yellow flag saved Montoya from losing a lap, but Montoya was adamant he had not exceeded the speed limit.
"I swear on my children and my wife, I was not speeding," Montoya radioed to crew chief Brian Pattie. "You know, I was being very conscious of that, you know what I mean?
"I've been robbed before, I've been screwed before, but (NASCAR) overdid themselves this week."
Team co-owner Felix Sabates radioed Montoya in Spanish, trying to calm him. Pattie added his own words of caution.
"Dude, please -- you're making it worse," Pattie said.
Montoya restarted 12th after the caution for Earnhardt's blown engine and improved one position before the finish. By the time he climbed from the car, his attitude had mellowed somewhat.
"Once it happens, you can't change it," Montoya said. "So I'm pretty frustrated, but it shows where we're going with the team."
NASCAR said Montoya had been clocked in excess of 60 mph in two segments entering pit road (NASCAR allows a 5 mph tolerance). Sabates confirmed the data after the race.
Another agonizing finish put Kyle Busch in serious jeopardy of missing the Chase. On Lap 57, the right front tire on his No. 18 Toyota blew as he rolled through Turn 3, sending the car hard into the outside wall.
Busch brought the car to the garage for extensive repairs and lost 46 laps in the process. He finished 38th and fell from 10th to 14th in the Cup standings, 82 points behind Kenseth.
"We were biding our time running there (in the seventh position), and I got stuck behind the 71 (David Gilliland) there and had to push the right front a little bit," Busch said. "Right from that point, I just started losing the right front tire, just getting real tight.
"I had been loose the whole run, so I didn't think I had been abusing it at all, but all of a sudden it just started vibrating, and then, in two laps, it just blew out."
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