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8th
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No active driver does it better in Martinsville than Jimmie Johnson. Driving a Chevrolet SS the five-time Sprint Cup champion won, from the pole, at the paper clip-shaped track for the eighth time leading 346-laps of the 500 lap event at the half-mile oval.
“Yeah, we had a great weekend and I know that the stats clearly show that,” said Johnson. “But probably the most calm, relaxed thought‑out weekend that we've had as the 48 (team), and mature weekend we've had.”
The only time the race was in doubt was on a restart with eight laps to go after Kurt Busch's car went into the wall catching fire and red-flagging the race. “Something let go in the brakes,” explained Busch. "The brakes got real spongy and then the pedal went straight to the floor. I had to turn the car to the right otherwise I was going to hit harder than what we did.
On the final restart Johnson had to watch out for Clint Bowyer and teammate Jeff Gordon who finished second and third respectively.
“I mean, I had a real nice comfortable lead at that point, and didn't want to see a caution at all and give those guys another chance at me, to get alongside of me,” Johnson explained.
“But over the years, I feel like I've learned that there will be cautions, that things you do inside the car to kind of preserve the life of the tire, and then also how to restart and run your best laps, best five, ten laps, whatever it is, on old tires. It's not an easy thing to do. And I've given away a few races over the years, really lost them to Jeff with his great experience here and how awesome he is at this track, and I've learned to adapt,” Johnson added.
Clint Bowyer felt an earlier incident, which damaged his car, hurt his chances at the win.
"We did -- disappointed for sure. We had a fast car all weekend long and really thought we were maybe going to be walking out of here with a Grandfather clock (Martinsville's iconic winner's trophy). I tore the car up pretty bad over here off of (turn) four. I checked up and I got hit from behind, pushed into the 1 (Jamie McMurray) and all hell broke loose. All in all, second place isn't bad, but it sure sucks right now."
Four-time Cup champion, Jeff Gordon, who was tied with Johnson and Rusty Wallace at seven times in Victory Lane, was just a bit envious of the winner. “Congratulations to Jimmie (Johnson, race winner) though; yes he is so impressive here but the thing that impresses me the most are those darn poles! Where did that come from? He used to at least give us a shot when he would qualify like 15th. So when those guys get that number one pit stall they're almost impossible to beat,” Gordon said.
With the victory Johnson moved into first place in the standings by six points over Brad Keselowski who finished sixth, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. who previously led the points fell to third with a 24th place finish.
“Yeah, we had a great weekend and I know that the stats clearly show that,” said Johnson. “But probably the most calm, relaxed thought‑out weekend that we've had as the 48 (team), and mature weekend we've had.”
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| Photo: NASCAR |
The only time the race was in doubt was on a restart with eight laps to go after Kurt Busch's car went into the wall catching fire and red-flagging the race. “Something let go in the brakes,” explained Busch. "The brakes got real spongy and then the pedal went straight to the floor. I had to turn the car to the right otherwise I was going to hit harder than what we did.
On the final restart Johnson had to watch out for Clint Bowyer and teammate Jeff Gordon who finished second and third respectively.
“I mean, I had a real nice comfortable lead at that point, and didn't want to see a caution at all and give those guys another chance at me, to get alongside of me,” Johnson explained.
“But over the years, I feel like I've learned that there will be cautions, that things you do inside the car to kind of preserve the life of the tire, and then also how to restart and run your best laps, best five, ten laps, whatever it is, on old tires. It's not an easy thing to do. And I've given away a few races over the years, really lost them to Jeff with his great experience here and how awesome he is at this track, and I've learned to adapt,” Johnson added.
 |
| Photo: NASCAR |
Clint Bowyer felt an earlier incident, which damaged his car, hurt his chances at the win.
"We did -- disappointed for sure. We had a fast car all weekend long and really thought we were maybe going to be walking out of here with a Grandfather clock (Martinsville's iconic winner's trophy). I tore the car up pretty bad over here off of (turn) four. I checked up and I got hit from behind, pushed into the 1 (Jamie McMurray) and all hell broke loose. All in all, second place isn't bad, but it sure sucks right now."
Four-time Cup champion, Jeff Gordon, who was tied with Johnson and Rusty Wallace at seven times in Victory Lane, was just a bit envious of the winner. “Congratulations to Jimmie (Johnson, race winner) though; yes he is so impressive here but the thing that impresses me the most are those darn poles! Where did that come from? He used to at least give us a shot when he would qualify like 15th. So when those guys get that number one pit stall they're almost impossible to beat,” Gordon said.
With the victory Johnson moved into first place in the standings by six points over Brad Keselowski who finished sixth, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. who previously led the points fell to third with a 24th place finish.