Indianapolis Can Be Your Best Friend, Or Your Worst Nightmare
Monday, August 7th, 2006 7:54am CDT
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
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[thumb:168:r:s=1:l=x]While Indianapolis was real doll to Jimmie Johnson, and the bricks just as tasty, Indy showed her mean streak and created a nightmare that couldn’t be woken up from for others. Then again, for some it was a nonchalant kind of day that didn’t really tip either way. Further still, there were some that managed to trick her, and succeed.
Johnson’s run was not an easy one. Several times he found himself fighting his way through the field. On lap 39 he had a flat tire, which saw him back on the track in 38th position. Leading the race with 19 to go, out came the caution. While most drivers hit the pits, a handful of cars stayed out and a couple took two tires. When the caution came out, Matt Kenseth was in 2nd, and he passed Jimmie on pit road. Johnson would restart in 8th with 14 to go. He and Kenseth were the first cars out with 4 tires, and worked their way through to the front. During that work, Johnson passed Kenseth in what would be the race winning pass.
The win marks 3 trumps for Johnson this season, as he also won the Daytona 500 as well as the All-Star race in May. On the books it was his 4th official win of the season, which ties Kasey Kahne, who’s last win came back in June at Michigan.
Speaking of Kahne, he was one of the unfortunate souls who saw Indy rear her ugly head. In a last lap accident that has most everyone scratching their head as to what happened (thanks NBC for pimping that Hall of Fame football game, that sucked by the way, instead of showing a decent replay), Kasey Kahne got turned and plowed into the wall head on. It destroyed his car, and to be honest it was almost surprising to see him hop right out and survey the end result. It looked that bad.
Also caught up in the ordeal was Greg Biffle, that saw him end up finishing 33rd. Kahne finished 36th and dropped to 11th in the point standings, trailing 10th place Dale Earnhardt Jr by 34 points.
Then there was someone who tried to trick Indy, and she fell for it.
When the caution flew on lap 19, one of the cars that stayed out was Dale Earnhardt Jr. He’d been running in about the 30th position, give or take, for most of the race. Dale restarted 2nd, and even took the lead from Kyle Busch with 9 to go. However, the problem was as he took the lead, Jimmie Johnson took 2nd from Busch. It came down to 4 tires vs no tires, and a good car vs a mediocre car.
However, Junior was able to hold on to it through those final 20 miles of racing to pull a 6th place finish out of the back end. According to Junior, when he addressed the team over the radio on the cool down, “when y’all pray tonight, thank the lord because we stole one there!”
That you did, but strategy and risks are as much a part of it as anything else. 6th place is still 6th, and they won’t write (stolen) beside it in the log books.
Filed Under: Nascar, Nextel Cup
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