Backstretch Motorsports

DOVER, Del. (Sept. 27, 2009) — Polesitter Jimmie Johnson threw down the gauntlet in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway, but Mark Martin was up to the challenge.

The day was frighteningly marked early in the race with a tumbling crash by JGR rookie Joey Logano. The 19-year-old emerged unhurt from his damaged Home Depot No. 20 Camry to the relieved appreciation of the Dover crowd.

With his fifth victory at Dover and second at the track this year, Johnson affirmed that his No. 48 Chevrolet team is a serious threat to win a fourth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

Martin, however, retained the lead in the series standings with a runner-up finish to Johnson, who led 271 laps in claiming his fourth victory of the season. Martin leads his Hendrick Motorsports teammate by 10 points after two of 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Matt Kenseth ran third, his best finish since winning the second race of the season at Fontana, Calif., in February. Juan Pablo Montoya came home fourth — his second straight top five in the Chase — and Kurt Busch kept his hopes for a second Cup title alive with a fifth-place run.

Jeff Gordon, AJ Allmendinger, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman completed the top 10. Greg Biffle (13th), Brian Vickers (18th) and Denny Hamlin (22nd) all lost significant ground in the Chase standings.

Johnson credited crew chief Chad Knaus with adjustments that improved his car after Saturday’s final practice session.

“I was a little nervous yesterday after practice, and knew that we needed to build some comfort in the car. If I was in traffic, I was going to really have my hands full.” said Johnson, who earned the 44th win of his career to tie Bill Elliott for 14th on the career victory list. “Chad worked on a few ideas and got back with me later in the night. It just hit me inside like that is what I need. It was really what I needed today. We had plenty of speed in it. I just needed some comfort, and I had that.”

“I was able to lead a lot of laps, but the few times we were back in traffic because of strategy, I worked my way up through there, and everything went well.”

Martin said his car was slightly off, especially on restarts. Characteristically, he would drop positions on the opening laps of a green-flag run and regain them as the run progressed.

“We had a good-handling car on the long runs, but it was a handful on the restarts,” Martin said. “I think we did really well by finishing second. We were just off a little bit, and it really showed itself on the restarts, but we were off just a little bit even on the long run, even though we would get where we could beat most of the crowd.

“We didn’t hit it perfect, but as competitive as it is, I’m really proud of how well we hit it.”

Johnson beat Martin to the finish line by 1.970 seconds, but hours before the checkered flag, the race was stopped for more than 23 minutes after a spectacular crash involving rookie Joey Logano.

NASCAR threw a competition caution after Lap 25, setting up a restart on Lap 31. Before the field could complete the lap, however, a violent collision in Turn 3 sent Logano’s car barrel-rolling seven times down the 24-degree banking.

The wreck started when Bobby Labonte moved to the inside and clipped Logano as the cars streaked toward the corner. Logano checked up, only to have his No. 20 Toyota hit from behind by Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet.

The chain-reaction collision that followed sent Logano rolling when Reed Sorenson’s Dodge slammed into the side of the car. Logano was unhurt, as were wreck victims Sorenson, Martin Truex Jr. and Robby Gordon, though the cars of all four drivers were mangled.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Logano said, after walking out of the infield care center. “It just really scared the heck out of me. … I’m not sure I want to see a replay. It started rolling, and I was in there like, ‘Damn, please make this thing stop.’ And it wouldn’t — it just kept going and going.”

Notes: Montoya climbed one position to third in the standings, 65 points behind Martin and 10 points ahead of Busch in fourth. Fifth-place Stewart trails Martin by 106 points, while Hamlin dropped three positions in the standings to sixth, 108 points back. … With his fifth victory at Dover, Johnson tied David Pearson for third on the all-time win list at the track. Richard Petty and Bobby Allison posted seven victories each at the Monster Mile.

NASCAR Race Number 28
Unofficial Race Results for the Aaa 400 - Sunday, September 27, 2009
Dover International Speedway - Dover, DE - 1 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 400 Laps - 400 Miles - Purse: $5,273,330

Leader
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet 400 195 10 149.2 $276,076 Running 3 271
2 14 5 Mark Martin Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet 400 170 113.3 $167,400 Running
3 23 17 Matt Kenseth DeWalt Ford 400 165 100.5 $176,515 Running
4 2 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Polaroid Chevrolet 400 160 120.8 $160,998 Running
5 16 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 400 160 5 120.6 $122,750 Running 2 99
6 7 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chevrolet 400 150 112.9 $138,351 Running
7 19 44 A J Allmendinger Super 8 Dodge 400 146 91.1 $93,050 Running
8 6 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Dodge 400 142 101.6 $126,948 Running
9 22 14 Tony Stewart Burger King Chevrolet 400 138 90.8 $111,423 Running
10 3 39 Ryan Newman U.S. ARMY Chevrolet 400 139 5 102.0 $119,429 Running 1 29
11 30 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 400 130 76.7 $128,106 Running
12 20 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet 400 127 84.8 $118,203 Running
13 4 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford 400 124 93.7 $96,500 Running
14 27 47 Marcos Ambrose Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox Toyota 400 121 79.5 $94,673 Running
15 8 33 Clint Bowyer BB&T Chevrolet 400 118 87.6 $96,050 Running
16 28 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 400 115 68.7 $119,506 Running
17 29 07 Casey Mears Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet 400 112 77.6 $90,500 Running
18 12 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 400 109 74.0 $104,298 Running
19 10 98 Paul Menard Energizer/Menards Ford 400 106 74.4 $106,456 Running
20 24 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet 399 103 66.3 $91,700 Running
21 5 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 398 100 86.8 $97,848 Running
22 13 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 398 97 66.4 $89,600 Running
23 41 96 Bobby Labonte DLP Ford 398 94 53.5 $103,779 Running
24 21 6 David Ragan UPS Ford 396 91 49.1 $82,600 Running
25 39 82 Scott Speed # Red Bull Toyota 396 88 44.1 $87,898 Running
26 9 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge 395 85 60.7 $92,835 Running
27 37 34 John Andretti Taco Bell Chevrolet 395 82 36.4 $82,325 Running
28 25 26 Jamie McMurray Crown Royal Ford 394 79 73.6 $81,675 Running
29 17 12 David Stremme No. 12 Penske Dodge Dodge 385 76 54.6 $105,515 Running
30 34 19 Elliott Sadler Geek Squad Dodge 353 73 42.3 $78,875 Running
31 15 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 342 70 82.9 $119,023 Running
32 33 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 337 67 45.7 $70,000 Accident
33 32 1 Martin Truex Jr. Vaseline MEN Body Lotion Chevrolet 251 64 37.2 $105,790 Accident
34 31 7 Robby Gordon Camping World Toyota 181 61 32.5 $88,435 Accident
35 26 43 Reed Sorenson Valvoline Dodge 170 58 39.2 $106,801 Running
36 38 55 Michael Waltrip NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 84 55 43.9 $77,300 Accident
37 35 66 Dave Blaney PRISM Motorsports Toyota 76 52 38.7 $69,175 Transmission
38 43 36 Michael McDowell Wave Energy Drink Toyota 74 49 33.9 $69,025 Brakes
39 18 71 David Gilliland TRG Motorsports Chevrolet 60 51 5 52.4 $68,875 Electrical 1 1
40 36 09 Mike Bliss Miccosukee Indian Gaming & Resort Dodge 54 43 32.0 $68,725 Vibration
41 40 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 51 40 32.1 $68,525 Overheating
42 11 20 Joey Logano # Home Depot Toyota 30 37 48.6 $115,751 Accident
43 42 37 Tony Raines Long John Silver’s Dodge 13 34 26.8 $68,735 Overheating
Race Comments: Before an estimated crowd of 110,000, Jimmie Johnson won the AAA 400, his 44th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. The following cars dropped to the rear of the field to start the race: #37, 19, 33 (engine change).
Failed to Qualify: (1) 4 Scott Wimmer.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 22 Mins, 11 Secs. Average Speed: 118.704 MPH Margin of Victory: 1.970 Seconds
Caution Flags: 9 for 38 laps: Laps: 27-30 (Competition [34]); 32-36 (#1, 7, 14, 20, 43. 96 accident turn 3 [Red Flag: Lap 32, 23:38] [87]); 86-89 (#55 accident turn 2 [82]); 165-168 (Fluid on track [31]); 208-211 (#18 accident turn 2 [96]); 274-277 (#12 accident turn 4 [83]); 326-329 (Debris [31]); 343-347 (#1, 12, 19, 34, 78 accident frontstretch [98]); 370-373 (#77 accident backstretch [88]).
Lead Changes: 6 among 4 drivers: J. Johnson 1-27; D. Gilliland 28; R. Newman 29-57; Kurt Busch 58-146; J. Johnson 147-165; Kurt Busch 166-175; J. Johnson 176-400.
Top 12 Driver Points: (1) M. Martin 5,400;(2) J. Johnson 5,390;(3) J. Montoya 5,335;(4) Kurt Busch 5,325;(5) T. Stewart 5,294;(6) D. Hamlin 5,292;(7) R. Newman 5,290;(8) J. Gordon 5,278;(9) G. Biffle 5,262;(10) B. Vickers 5,249;(11) C. Edwards 5,247;(12) K. Kahne 5,211.
Coors Light Pole Award : Jimmie Johnson, #48 157.356 mph DIRECTV Crew Chief of the Race : Juan Pablo Montoya, #42 crew chief Brian Pattie
DOW Automotive Strategic Call of the Race : Jimmie Johnson, #48 EA Sports Move of the Race : Jimmie Johnson, #48
Goodyear Gatorback Fastest Lap : Jimmie Johnson, #48 152.555 mph, Lap 4 Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race : Jimmie Johnson, #48
Mobil 1 Command Performance Driver of the Race : Juan Pablo Montoya, #42 Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race : Tony Stewart, #14 0.109 seconds
O’Reilly Auto Parts People, Service and Performance : Clint Bowyer, #33 281.481 seconds Raybestos Rookie of the Race : Scott Speed, #82
Sunoco Diamond Performance : Jimmie Johnson, #48 Tissot Pit Road Precision : Clint Bowyer, #33 257.194 seconds
WIX Filters Lap Leader : Ryan Newman, #39 29 Laps
Next Race: Oct. 4, 2009 - Kansas Speedway