Jimmie Johnson did it again.
In a race delayed a day by rain, Johnson made the pass for the lead with 21 laps to go, as he bypassed Kevin Harvick en route to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory Monday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
It marks Johnson’s second series career Bristol victory, the first coming some seven years ago.
“This track has been difficult over the years and we really hit on something Saturday afternoon in that last practice session around the bottom and honestly, it’s what I’ve been looking for here for 16 years and we finally figured it out,” Johnson said. “So, I’m very, very happy.”
The victory gives Johnson his second straight series win after taking the victory two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway. It also makes a strong statement for the seven time series champion who, up until the Texas race, had seen lackluster results in the opening races of the season.
“I feel like and plus I’ve always been very honest with everyone, we have been close, we have just been making too many mistakes,” Johnson said. “Today was another flawless day of execution and a great race car and we got it done.”
Johnson led 81 laps in all on the day, taking the lead for the first time on lap 393 after pushing his way past Joey Logano. After talking the lead on lap 479 of 500, Johnson then had to hold off a hard charge through lap traffic by Clint Bowyer. Bowyer rebounded from a pit road speeding penalty to move up to challenge over the closing laps. In the end, he had to settle for a second place finish.
“Hell yeah, you want to be up there and win it,” Bowyer said. “But the day we had, I got caught speeding on pit road and had to bounce back. The guys kept working on the car. I appreciate the opportunity that Gene Haas and Tony Stewart gave me.”
Kevin Harvick made the call to stay out on old tires when the final caution came out on lap 461, moving him to the lead on the restart. He would hold his own for about 11 laps before being overhauled by Johnson. He was able to hold on to record a strong third place finish.
“I think we showed how fast it was there on no tires and kind of able to hold our own,” said Harvick. “You just never know where you’re going to come out on those restarts. I felt like we had a couple cautions and we were in control of the race with the 11 (Denny Hamlin) on two tires and we might have had a chance. A good weekend and we’ll just keep going.”
Matt Kenseth finished in fourth, with Logano in fifth.
As the race entered the final 100 laps, Martin Truex, Jr. looked to have something for Johnson. Several times, Truex, Jr., who won the second segment of the race, closed on Johnson, and several times appeared to have the faster car.
But Truex, Jr. saw his chance to win go away with a pit road speeding penalty under the final caution with about 35 laps to go. He would restart at the tail end of the field, and had to settle for a ninth place finish in the end.
“This is the best run we’ve had here in a long time,” he said. “It’s bittersweet, I wish we could have seen if we could have beat the 48 (Johnson). We were close there before that last caution, but it is what it is and you try to get what you can get and sometimes you cross the line and today we crossed the line. All in all, it was an awesome day and a lot of fun.”
Kyle Larson appeared early on to have the car to beat. Larson jumped out to the early lead and went on to win the first segment. In all, Larson led 202 laps on the day.
He spent most of his day racing in the top five. It appeared he would be right in the mix for the win after beating the field off pit road under caution around lap 425. But a pit road speeding penalty set him back in the field. Larson would use pit strategy to restart third after the final caution. In the end, he came home in sixth.
“I’m a little disappointed, but not bad,” Larson said. “I’m more disappointed in myself from getting that speeding penalty with 80 (laps) or so to go. I was just pushing it down pit road and pushed it a little too far. I had a shot there still at the end, but four tires were better than ours.”
Two other pre-race favorites had issues over the course of the race.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was looking to put together a solid race when he made hard contact with the outside wall on lap 218. The impact ruptured the oil cooler on the No. 88 Chevrolet, ending Earnhardt, Jr.’s day with a 38th place finish.
“I don’t know, we broke something in the oil system under caution,” Earnhardt, Jr. said. “The guys said there was some oil in the pit stall after our pit stop. I noticed when I was getting lined up double file for the restart the car was smoking. I just thought maybe we had a tire rub for some reason, but I couldn’t remember what might have caused that. And went into turn 1 on the restart and the car went straight into the wall with oil all over the tires. Came into the garage there and they are working on where the hole in the system is. Just something is messed up, but that is going to be the finish for us.”
Meanwhile, it was a pair of incidents that soured the day for Kyle Busch. The first occurred on lap 85 when a cut tire sent Busch’s No. 18 Toyota into the wall. He was able to drive to the pits for repairs, and fast work by his crew kept him on the lead lap.
The second incident came on lap 383 as Busch ran in seventh position, when another cut tire caused Busch to hit the wall. This time, the damage was enough to end his day with a 35th place result.
“I didn’t need anything, I was the fastest one out there those last two runs picking cars off and driving from the back to the front after we lost our track position the first time,” Busch said. “We had our issues and we were trying to march our way back up towards the front and get there and thought we were doing a good job of that and trying to be conservative with the tires because obviously they can’t make it through a full distance for us for some reason.
“I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s fundamentally wrong what we’re doing, but it seems like all the rest of our five JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) cars are fine.”
In a weekend, plagued by weather delays, the only red flag of Monday’s race was to allow for clean up after an accident. It came after Kurt Busch spun on lap 54, hitting the inside wall. As the field behind him checked up, Chris Buescher ran into the back of Reed Sorenson. Buescher’s car laid down a lot of fluid on the racing surface in turns one and two.
After working on the mess for several laps, race officials brought out the red flag on lap 67 to give crews time to clean up the scene. The race was under red for just over five minutes before the race resumed.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, TN
Food City 500 – April 24, 2017
1. (11) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 500.
2. (9) Clint Bowyer, Ford, 500.
3. (10) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 500.
4. (22) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 500.
5. (5) Joey Logano, Ford, 500.
6. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 500.
7. (2) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 500.
8. (3) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 500.
9. (19) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 500.
10. (16) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 500.
11. (12) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 500.
12. (8) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 500.
13. (21) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 500.
14. (13) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 500.
15. (24) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 500.
16. (26) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 499.
17. (14) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 499.
18. (23) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 498.
19. (32) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 498.
20. (17) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 498.
21. (31) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 498.
22. (18) Aric Almirola, Ford, 497.
23. (33) David Ragan, Ford, 497.
24. (35) * Corey LaJoie #, Toyota, 497.
25. (15) Kurt Busch, Ford, 494.
26. (28) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 494.
27. (37) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 491.
28. (34) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet, 490.
29. (36) Gray Gaulding #, Toyota, 487.
30. (25) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 482.
31. (39) * Derrike Cope, Toyota, 465.
32. (30) Landon Cassill, Ford, 458.
33. (6) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 452.
34. (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 433.
35. (7) Kyle Busch, Toyota, Accident, 383.
36. (29) Danica Patrick, Ford, Accident, 320.
37. (38) * Timmy Hill(i), Chevrolet, Suspension, 234.
38. (20) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 218.
39. (27) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, Accident, 53.
Average Speed: 86.674 MPH
Time of Race: 03 Hrs, 04 Mins, 29 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.199 Seconds
Caution Flags: 9 for 76 laps
Lead Changes: 14 among 7 drivers
Lap Leaders: K. Larson 1-202; M. Truex Jr. 203-211; J. Logano 212; M. Truex Jr. 213-254; J. Logano 255; L. Cassill 256-260; M. Truex Jr. 261-325; J. Logano 326-393; J. Johnson 394-421; J. Logano 422; D. Hamlin 423-432; J. Johnson 433-464; J. Logano 465; K. Harvick 466-479; J. Johnson 480-500.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): K. Larson 1 time for 202 laps; M. Truex Jr. 3 times for 116 laps; J. Johnson 3 times for 81 laps; J. Logano 5 times for 72 laps; K. Harvick 1 time for 14 laps; D. Hamlin 1 time for 10 laps; L. Cassill 1 time for 5 laps.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 42,78,77,22,48,24,1,11,47,18
Stage #2 Top Ten: 78,22,48,4,1,77,42,11,6,17
Top 10 in Points: K. Larson – 360; C. Elliott – 333; M. Truex Jr.- 323; J. Logano – 277; J. Johnson – 244; J. McMurray – 244; C. Bowyer – 239; K. Harvick – 239; R. Blaney – 228.
