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Jimmie Johnson extends points lead with ninth-place finish at Talladega

By SceneDaily Staff

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Article Rating: 5.0
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John Harrelson / Getty Images for NASCAR

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TALLADEGA, Ala. – Jimmie Johnson rallied from a lap down and overcame a broken splitter brace on his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to finish ninth in Sunday’s Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway and extend his series points lead.

After dropping to the back because of a prerace engine check by his crew, Johnson remained near the tail end of the field in the opening part of the race, eventually losing a lap to leader David Ragan on lap 25.

It didn’t take Johnson long to get the lap back courtesy of the free pass but his troubles weren’t over. The damage to his car’s splitter brace came after a piece of David Reutimann’s shredded tire hit the front of Johnson’s car. After a pit stop to repair the damage, Johnson quickly moved toward the front. The two-time defending series champion took the lead on lap 76 for one lap and paced the field for two more laps after reassuming the top spot on lap 78.

Then all that was left was to dodge the Big One, which he did – barely.

“We had our fair share of problems today,” Johnson said. “We didn’t have speed in the car like we wanted to. We’ve got to figure out what happened there. It started yesterday with qualifying. We weren’t sure what was going on and today, the car was pretty flat still. I lost the draft at the start of the race because I couldn’t hang on and then from there we got our lap back and dodged wrecks and raced really hard.

“We had great pit calls and all those things. It was a great team effort for all of us today.”

Johnson’s points lead ballooned from 10 to 72 over Roush Fenway Racing’s Carl Edwards and from 30 to 77 over Roush Fenway’s Greg Biffle, who were both involved in a multicar crash on lap 175.

“We just keep racing,” Johnson said of his lead. “And we race smart and we do what we can. I’ve realized in the past that the whole sport falls into a comfort zone and thinks that 60, 80, or 100 points is a big gap. But truly, that can go away in a hurry. So, I’m happy that it is what it is, but I know there is a lot of racing ahead of us.”

Average Rating: 5.0

Comments

9 responses to "Jimmie Johnson extends points lead with ninth-place finish at Talladega"
  1. 1
    Andrew Murodck said:
    Oct 6, 2008 at 4:38 PM

    Jimmy gets the coward of the race award. At least Carl Edwards went for the win. They should take points away when you run like that on purpose.

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  2. 2
    Robert Wingert said:
    Oct 6, 2008 at 4:48 PM

    Andrew, I guess you didn't watch the race just read the results. Johnson was a lap down, got back on the lead lap and was actually leading a lap. Is racing for the championship. I will also say Nascar should drop Talladaga from the chase. There is no racing there only pushing.

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  3. 3
    Ken Harris said:
    Oct 6, 2008 at 4:50 PM

    And yesterday Carl took himself and 2 teammates out of the race. Jimmie's car was not good, but he got a TOP 10. I call that smart, not cowardly. go for the three-peat - Jimmie & Chad

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  4. 4
    Debbie Webb said:
    Oct 6, 2008 at 5:23 PM

    The only way Jimmie was able to rally back was with Nascars help. To keep throwing debris cautions till he got the lucky dog was disgusting. Why is it that everytime an announcer says, Jimmie needs a caution, he gets one. Who needs luck when you got Nascar in your back pocket.

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  5. 5
    Robert Wingert said:
    Oct 6, 2008 at 7:02 PM

    Hey Webb if you watched the race you would have seen Robbie Gordon get the lucky dog after the first caution. The second caution was for a blown tire. You act as if he lost a lap on purpose, he had engine problems which caused him to go a lap down. He is not the leader in the chase because he a coward.

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  6. 6
    Bill Kiely said:
    Oct 6, 2008 at 7:32 PM

    Last week's race, 15 laps to go, Michael Waltrip blows a tire and sends debris everywhere, but no caution was called. Who was leading the race? Jimmie Johnson. He can sure shine at the right times even with Chad at his side!

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  7. 7
    chris welch said:
    Oct 6, 2008 at 10:57 PM

    he did race like a coward, and that "engine problem" was just a cop-out by chad knaus for running at the back and point racing. i cant stand all this conservative racing in NASCAR in the last 5 years. also, getting a lap back today isnt that impressive. NASCAR just gives them the lap back. big deal. he could have won the race at talladega, he did lead, but stayed out of the way, nice.

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  8. 8
    Joshua Rainier said:
    Oct 7, 2008 at 5:16 AM

    As a Johnson fan, I agree and disagree with some of this. For those of you saying NASCAR favors Johnson and orchestrates cautions, get real. They try to leave it green when they can and they call cautions for debris so drivers don't cut tires and spend the night in the hospital or get injured. Johnson lost a race this year to kyle busch because of a yellow. --------------as for the engine problems being a cop out and an excuse to points race, I agree. I was listening to Johnson's in car audio and jimmie told chad he had a bad feeling and thought he used up all his luck despite chad's enthusiasm after missing the big one and his advice to take advantage. i was yelling at my TV when i saw jimmie hanging out in 10th. I don't know for sure if his engine was the culprit, but I am disappointed none the less. he should have gone for the jugular and put this thing out of reach.

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  9. 9
    Graceann Jackson said:
    Oct 9, 2008 at 6:43 AM

    I was at the race, Jimmy ask for someone to drop back and help him because he lost the draft. Do you think he would drop back and help someone? NOOOO, he would have laughed in their faces. The caution lap for debris was called because Chad found something on the track. They didn't know Robby Gordon was the last on passed so it didn't help the "Diva" get his lap back. If you listen to his scanner he was frantic, quite humorous if I do say so.

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