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Jimmie Johnson completed the Daytona sweep becoming the first driver, since Bobbie Allison in 1982, to take the Daytona 500 and the summer classic formerly known as the Firecracker 400 in the same year.
The only three other drivers to have accomplished the sweep were Fireball Roberts (1962), Cale Yarborough (1968) and Lee Roy Yarbrough (1969).
“To do anything Bobby has done is pretty special,” Johnson said in Victory Lane after his fourth win this year tying him with Matt Kenseth for most wins.
The five-time Sprint Cup series champion Johnson put on a commanding performance leading 94 of the 160 laps. He also mastered the late-race restarts and pulled away in the green-white-checkered finish to win his first Coke Zero 400 by a margin of .107 seconds in a Chevrolet.
“It's tough to (dominate) at a plate track, especially with how tight the rules are,” Johnson said. “I think I showed strength early and a lot of guys were willing to work with me and kind of help me through situations, which was great. I don't know if I really made a bad move tonight, so I'm pretty proud of that.”
And the winner thwarted one of the best challenges, with seven laps to go, when Australia's Marcos Ambrose thought that he had a shot at the win on that restart.
Johnson and Kasey Kahne blasted off from the front row. Ambrose went high to stay with Johnson and saw - what he thought - was an opening between the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates. When Johnson went to his left to attempt to block the pass Ambrose's Ford appeared to bounce off it and went hard left in Kahne sending him into the wall. Ambrose was able to continue, but, he had cut down a tire.
“As we came off of Turn two, the 9 (Ambrose) went shooting down below me and I don't know where the 5 (Kahne) was or what happened,” Johnson said.
“The 9 made a strong move to get inside of me and all I saw was the 9 inside of me, so I assume he at some point or someone got into the 5 and sent him for a ride.”
Johnson denied any contact. “I didn't feel anything there.”
“Jimmie got a little loose or he just didn't see my move coming, and I split him coming off of (turn) two," Ambrose said. "He came down to check the spot and I was already there and he just bounced us straight into (Kahne)."
There were two other big crashes including one that caused a red flag stoppage with 11 laps to go. Denny Hamlin's Toyota went out of control causing AJ Allmendinger to crash avoiding other cars avoiding Hamlin's. Neither driver was seriously injured.
The biggest crash of the night was for the green-white-checkered finish. While Johnson was fending off eventual second place, Tony Stewart and third place, Kevin Harvick, chaos was breaking out behind them.
Danica Patrick who was following Dale Earnhardt Jr. was involved. “It felt like I ran just along the wall but it looked like it could have been me that came down in front of the 38 (Dave Gilliland),” she said. “It definitely wasn't what I was trying to do at all. I was just following the 88 (Earnhardt Jr.).
“So, if that's what happened, then I definitely apologize. I lost (finishing) spots doing it.”
The only three other drivers to have accomplished the sweep were Fireball Roberts (1962), Cale Yarborough (1968) and Lee Roy Yarbrough (1969).
“To do anything Bobby has done is pretty special,” Johnson said in Victory Lane after his fourth win this year tying him with Matt Kenseth for most wins.
The five-time Sprint Cup series champion Johnson put on a commanding performance leading 94 of the 160 laps. He also mastered the late-race restarts and pulled away in the green-white-checkered finish to win his first Coke Zero 400 by a margin of .107 seconds in a Chevrolet.
“It's tough to (dominate) at a plate track, especially with how tight the rules are,” Johnson said. “I think I showed strength early and a lot of guys were willing to work with me and kind of help me through situations, which was great. I don't know if I really made a bad move tonight, so I'm pretty proud of that.”
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| Jimmie Johnson celebrating (Photo: NASCAR) |
And the winner thwarted one of the best challenges, with seven laps to go, when Australia's Marcos Ambrose thought that he had a shot at the win on that restart.
Johnson and Kasey Kahne blasted off from the front row. Ambrose went high to stay with Johnson and saw - what he thought - was an opening between the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates. When Johnson went to his left to attempt to block the pass Ambrose's Ford appeared to bounce off it and went hard left in Kahne sending him into the wall. Ambrose was able to continue, but, he had cut down a tire.
“As we came off of Turn two, the 9 (Ambrose) went shooting down below me and I don't know where the 5 (Kahne) was or what happened,” Johnson said.
“The 9 made a strong move to get inside of me and all I saw was the 9 inside of me, so I assume he at some point or someone got into the 5 and sent him for a ride.”
Johnson denied any contact. “I didn't feel anything there.”
“Jimmie got a little loose or he just didn't see my move coming, and I split him coming off of (turn) two," Ambrose said. "He came down to check the spot and I was already there and he just bounced us straight into (Kahne)."
There were two other big crashes including one that caused a red flag stoppage with 11 laps to go. Denny Hamlin's Toyota went out of control causing AJ Allmendinger to crash avoiding other cars avoiding Hamlin's. Neither driver was seriously injured.
The biggest crash of the night was for the green-white-checkered finish. While Johnson was fending off eventual second place, Tony Stewart and third place, Kevin Harvick, chaos was breaking out behind them.
Danica Patrick who was following Dale Earnhardt Jr. was involved. “It felt like I ran just along the wall but it looked like it could have been me that came down in front of the 38 (Dave Gilliland),” she said. “It definitely wasn't what I was trying to do at all. I was just following the 88 (Earnhardt Jr.).
“So, if that's what happened, then I definitely apologize. I lost (finishing) spots doing it.”