Nascar Blog

Looked like Tony Stewart might get his first win on Sunday, but a hard charging Jimmie Johnson had a different ending in mind.

Jimmie Johnson won the Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway this past Sunday and even though he dominated most of the race, a bad pit stop forced him to restart in eighth and race his way past Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart and others to take the lead with only a couple or three laps to go. I wasn’t really rooting for anyone at the end, but it was some good racing, Jimmie was coming like a rocket ship and Tony kept trying to keep him out of his groove to slow his momentum, but there was only so much Tony could do. Once Jimmie was past him, there was no way Tony was going to catch him to lay the bumper on him, so it was all over but the celebrating.

Tony did take the points lead from Jeff Gordon, who finished in 26th a couple laps down, but the points lead doesn’t really matter anymore, Gordon has dominated all year long during the chase before and still not won the championship. All Gordon needs to do now is win more races and get some bonus points to start off good in the chase and keep running good the rest of the way. Of course, that’s all everyone needs to do and it’s always easier said than done.

After the big story this past week of Dale Earnhardt Jr. being separated from his cousin Tony Eury Jr., they managed a respectable 12th place finish, but I believe Dale averages at least a mid pack finish at this track, and he has 7 out of 18 top tens here with one win, so there’s nothing for Jr. nation to celebrate about yet. There was also mention of a little conversation between Dale and Kyle Busch because Kyle had told the media Dale’s problems never seem to be his, always the crew chief. No one knows what they said to each other, but I bet Dale would clean his clock if Kyle got too mouthy with him.

Here is how they finished:

1 8 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools 195/10 400 Running
2 31 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Office Depot / Old Spice 175/5 400 Running
3 5 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M Nexcare 170/5 400 Running
4 14 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Dewalt 165/5 400 Running
5 19 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 155/0 400 Running
6 2 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 150/0 400 Running
7 13 99 Carl Edwards Ford Aflac 151/5 400 Running
8 11 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet U.S. Army 142/0 400 Running
9 17 07 Casey Mears Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 138/0 400 Running
10 28 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet Kellogg’s / Carquest 139/5 400 Running
11 25 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet The Hartford 130/0 400 Running
12 22 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Amp Energy / National Guard 127/0 400 Running
13 12 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 124/0 400 Running
14 18 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 121/0 400 Running
15 21 20 Joey Logano Toyota The Home Depot 118/0 400 Running
16 32 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 115/0 400 Running
17 35 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 112/0 400 Running
18 1 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine 114/5 400 Running
19 4 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge U.S. Air Force 111/5 400 Running
20 20 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota RaceSavers.com 103/0 400 Running
21 15 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 100/0 399 Running
22 33 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet Furniture Row Companies 97/0 399 Running
23 6 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M’s 94/0 399 Running
24 26 6 David Ragan Ford UPS 91/0 399 Running
25 9 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 88/0 399 Running
26 42 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 85/0 398 Running
27 10 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Stanley Tools 87/5 398 Running
28 27 96 Bobby Labonte Ford Ask.com / AutismSpeaks.com 79/0 397 Running
29 7 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge Auto Value / Bumper to Bumper 76/0 396 Running
30 3 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Target 78/5 395 Running
31 30 12 David Stremme Dodge Penske Racing 70/0 370 Accident
32 36 98 Paul Menard Ford Pittsburgh Paints / Menards 67/0 363 Running
33 40 7 Robby Gordon Toyota Richmond Water Heaters 64/0 282 Accident
34 43 34 John Andretti Chevrolet Taco Bell 61/0 253 Accident
35 29 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA 58/0 250 Engine
36 16 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Office 55/0 232 Accident
37 23 82 Scott Speed Toyota Red Bull 52/0 118 Engine
38 38 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota G.P.’s Enterprises / Huckleberry’s BBQ / LubePro’s 49/0 67 Drive Shaft
39 39 66 Dave Blaney Toyota Prism Motorsports 46/0 66 Transmission
40 37 09 Mike Bliss Dodge Phoenix Racing 43/0 56 Electrical
41 34 36 Mike Skinner Toyota Tommy Baldwin Racing 40/0 51 Engine
42 41 37 Tony Raines Chevrolet Long John Silver’s 37/0 42 Accident
43 24 171 David Gilliland Chevrolet CompUSA 39/5 38 Engine

And here are the current chase for the cup point standings:
1. +1 Tony Stewart 1,853 —
2. -1 Jeff Gordon 1,807 -46
3. +1 Jimmie Johnson 1,789 -64
4. -1 Kurt Busch 1,762 -91
5. +2 Ryan Newman 1,680 -173
6. — Kyle Busch 1,634 -219
7. -2 Denny Hamlin 1,630 -223
8. +1 Matt Kenseth 1,625 -228
9. +1 Greg Biffle 1,618 -235
10. -2 Jeff Burton 1,587 -266
11. — Carl Edwards 1,582 -271
12. — Mark Martin 1,567 -286