Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Hendricks Leaves Indy On Top


In a weekend of first at the famed Indianapolis Motorspeedway, it was Jimmie Johnson who kissed the bricks for the fourth time in his career. Denny Hamlin led the field to the drop of the green flag, but when it came time for green flag pit stops on lap 28, it was Johnson who won the race off pit road to gain the lead. On the first restart of the Keselowski had a mirror full of Johnson’s black and white Lowes Chevrolet, who made quick work of Keselowski retaking the lead in turn one. Keselowski watched Johnson pass him up yet again after he got loose off turn two on lap 101. Greg Biffle found himself leading on lap 129 by about seven tenths of a second, but Johnson had something to say about Biffle's lead when he just about blew the sheet metal off Biffles #16 Ford as he retook the lead. Lap 132 saw the caution flag fall once again as Joey Logano spun off turn one collecting points leader Matt Kenseth and cutting his day short. Johnson dropped the hammer on the restart at lap 140 as Biffle and Kyle Busch battled for second but they were no match for Johnson as he took the checkered by over four seconds. Kyle Busch had nothing to complain about with his second place finish; he even stated that his M&M’s Toyota was “phenomenal”, but Busch put it best when he was asked about Johnson stating,  "Jimmie Johnson wasn't even in his own zip code; he was in his own country".
But at the end of the day Johnson was not the only Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a number one next to it. Dale Earnhardt Jr. stole Johnson’s spotlight when he took advantage of Kenseth troubles and captured the points by fourteen points with seven races left until the chase. . Junior is proving to his fans that he and his number 88 crew are working hard by capturing his ninth top-five of the year, and twenty first consecutive race finishing on the lead lap. Junior is proud to be point’s leader, but Junior knows exactly what he has to do if he wants to capture the
Championship, “We need to win more races” Junior said. Junior is hot and is on track but can he stay there.