Car 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet wins his 2nd straight win of the year at Dover and looks to be getting ready to run for his 7th championship. Jimmie Johnson won the 45th Annual FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks, his 68th victory in 448 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. This is his second victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2014 & is his ninth victory and 18th top-10 finish in 25 races at Dover International Speedway. This is the time of year Jimmie Johnson usually shines and with 2 wins it assures that he is in the chase. He is the contender for the cup again this year!
2nd Place Car 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford, posted his third top-10 finish in nine races at Dover International Speedway. It is his sixth top-10 finish in 2014.
3rd Place Car 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota, posted his 20th top-10 finish in 31 races at Dover International Speedway & leads the point standings by 2 points over Jeff Gordon.
4th Place Car 15 Clint Bowyer Cherry5-hrEnergy Special Ops Warrior Fnd Toyota, bumped Car 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota, and sent Busch into the wall. This ended Busch’s quest to complete a three-race sweep at Dover.
5th place was Car 11 Denny Hamlin Autism Speaks/FedEx Freight Toyota followed by Car 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Chevrolet in 6th place.
7th Place was Car 14 Tony Stewart Code 3/Mobil 1 Chevrolet followed by Car 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford in 8th place.
9th Place went to Car 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard Chevrolet. And lastly in the Top 10 was Car 27 Paul Menard Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet in 10th place.
There was lots of action in the race with 8 cautions for 41 laps and 18 lead changes among 6 drivers. Car 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota lead from lap 1 to lap 81. On lap 66 was the 1st Caution on lap 66 for a crash in turn 1 with Car 23 Alex Bowman Dr.Pepper Toyota.
2nd Caution was on lap 125 for crash Car 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota who was put in the wall by Car 15 Clint Bowyer Cherry 5-hr Energy Special Ops Warrior Fnd Toyota. After the crash Kyle Busch did not go to the pits; instead he went around the track slow to line-up Clint Bowyer for some retaliation, at which point you could hear the in-car radio telling him not to because Nascar had issued a warning.
3rd Caution on lap 135 was for Car 47 AJ Allmendinger Scott Products Chevrolet making contact with team mates Car 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Nationwide Ford, Car 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford and Car 40 Landon Cassill Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet on the Backstretch. That turned in to a red flag for 6 mins 39 secs.
4th Caution on lap 159 was for Car 1 Jamie McMurray Cessna Chevrolet who was in turn 1 as the track came apart, damaging his car and resulted in a red flag to repair track for 22 mins 22 secs.
The 5th Caution went up on lap 223 for a crash again in turn 1 with Car 23 Alex Bowman Dr.Pepper Toyota. 6th Caution on lap 241 for Fluid On Track From Car 44 JJ Yeley Phoenix Warehouse Chevrolet.
7th Caution on lap 362 for Debris on the Backstretch. 8th Caution on lap 394 for Debris in Turn 3 which gave everyone a chance to catch Jimmie Johnson on the restart. But Jimmie was able to hold on to the lead to take the win. Car 42 Kyle Larson Cottonelle Chevrolet 11th place was the highest finishing rookie.
Media conference: FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks Dover International Speedway
1st Place Jimmie Johnson said ”In the 1st segment of the race we were decent in 5th or 6th but from the 2nd run on the track came to us and the car was just incredible for the rest of the day. We had to adjust a bit the track changed for the 1st 3/4s of the race and we had to stay on top of it and then at the end we just honed in on the balance of the race car.”
He also stated “The hernia surgery he had was after the season last year and it was sore for 10 months after. ” But after training he was back to normal. It cost him some testing before the new season started and it was no secret.”
He also said “ We can get on a roll. We got some good tracks ahead for us. Charlotte is a great track here. (Dover) Pocono is Chad’s favorite track. For the summer months, I think you can see who historically runs at certain tracks. It certainly has been that way for us that tracks we have been bad at we gone and been embarrassed and the tracks that have been good to us have still been good to us.”
Crew Chief: Chad Knaus said “ We came in here with high expectations after winning the 600 – we came with a brand new race car. Things went really well for us straight out of the gate. Jimmie made his 1st laps on Friday and was very happy with the race car and we were pretty optimistic at that point.
Qualifying went really well and race practice with very good lap times, at that point we just tried to manage the race and was a very good day for everyone at Hendricks Motorsports. When we went to the 600 I told Jimmie we were bringing his favorite car and I told him his new favorite would be going to Dover and his next favorite car would be going to Indianapolis so far we have been doing pretty good.”
2nd Place Car 2 Brad Keselowski said “With the last restart we got close but just could not take advantage of our pit stall. Regarding the track repair overall though, Nascar did a good job for deciding to fix and the actual repair.”
3rd Place Car 20 Matt Kenseth said “Solid day for us. I did a poor job qualifying but overall a solid day”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race Number 13
Unofficial Race Results for the 45Th Annual Fedex 400 Benefiting Autism
Speaks – Sunday, June 1, 2014
Dover International Speedway – Dover, DE – 1 Mile Concrete
Total Race Length – 400 Laps – 400 Miles
Position Car Driver Team Laps Status
1. Car 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet 400 Running
2. Car 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Ford 400 Running
3. Car 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota 400 Running
4. Car 15 Clint Bowyer Cherry5-hrEnergySpecialOpsWarriorFnd Toyota 400 Running
5. Car 11 Denny Hamlin Autism Speaks/FedEx Freight Toyota 400 Running
6. Car 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Chevrolet 400 Running
7. Car 14 Tony Stewart Code 3/Mobil 1 Chevrolet 400 Running
8. Car 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 400 Running
9. Car 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard Chevrolet 400 Running
10. Car 27 Paul Menard Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet 400 Running
11. Car 42 Kyle Larson Cottonelle Chevrolet 400 Running
12. Car 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 400 Running
13. Car 1 Jamie McMurray Cessna Chevrolet 400 Running
14. Car 99 Carl Edwards Subway Ford 400 Running
15. Car 24 Jeff Gordon Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet 400 Running
16. Car 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford 400 Running
17. Car 4 Kevin Harvick Budweiser Chevrolet 399 Running
18. Car 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation Chevrolet 399 Running
19. Car 5 Kasey Kahne Farmers Insurance Chevrolet 399 Running
20. Car 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol Chevrolet 398 Running
21. Car 47 AJ Allmendinger Scott Products Chevrolet 397 Running
22. Car 66 Brett Moffitt Land Castle Title Toyota 396 Running
23. Car 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy Chevrolet 396 Running
24. Car 36 Reed Sorenson Click It or Ticket Chevrolet 396 Running
25. Car 13 Casey Mears GEICO Chevrolet 395 Running
26. Car 51 Justin Allgaier AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet 395 Running
27. Car 26 Cole Whitt Burger King Toyota 394 Running
28. Car 98 Josh Wise iRacing.com/Reddit.com Chevrolet 390 Running
29. Car 38 David Gilliland The Pete Store Ford 388 Running
30. Car 32 Blake Koch supportmilitary.org Ford 388 Running
31. Car 31 Ryan Newman Caterpillar Chevrolet 387 Running
32. Car 83 Ryan Truex Burger King Toyota 387 Running
33. Car 77 Dave Blaney Ford 383 Running
34. Car 40 Landon Cassill Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet 382 Running
35. Car 7 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 378 Running
36. Car 34 David Ragan Dockside Logistics Ford 350 Running
37. Car 33 David Stremme Little Joe’s Autos Chevrolet 297 Overheating
38. Car 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford 292 Running
39. Car 44 JJ Yeley Phoenix Warehouse Chevrolet 232 Engine
40. Car 23 Alex Bowman Dr.Pepper Toyota 208 Accident
41. Car 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Nationwide Ford 131 Accident
42. Car 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Peanut Butter Toyota 125 Accident
43. Car 55 Brian Vickers Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 73 Engine
3M Lap Leader: Jimmie Johnson, #48 272 Laps American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award : Jimmie Johnson, #48 Coors Light Pole Award: Brad Keselowski, #2 164.444 mph Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Hendrick Engines, #48 Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Matt Kenseth, #20 Moog Chassis Parts Problem Solver of the Race: Tony Stewart, #14 -0.073 secs Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap: Kyle Busch, #18 Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Kyle Larson, #42
Next Race: Jun. 8, 2014 – Pocono Raceway
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series.html