(AP Photo/Will Lester)
At the head of the class was the place to be at lap 244 when a multiple car crash took out at least eight cars. A lengthy red flag ensued. When Jimmie Johnson was quiet on the radio while the cars were stopped in turn four, Chad Knaus asked Johnson if he was okay. “Yeah, just thinking.”
“About a shiny, new trophy?”
“No, I hadn’t gotten that far.” With too many laps for the restart to be a green-white-checker (according to Knaus at the time), and a spoiler in the form of Juan Pablo Montoya bringing up the rear of the Hendrick juggernaut of Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin, Johnson knew his hands would be full.
Show me the debris
Debris cautions plagued the race. Kasey Kahne blamed “show” cautions for setting up the wreck with Kurt Busch and Greg Biffle that took him out of the top-10, and eventually put him in the position to be front and center for the major crash in the closing laps.
Throughout the day, Johnson lost his cool when debris cautions flew at times he had some of his greatest margins, like 7 plus seconds, over second place. On lap 184, when a yellow flew, an incredulous Johnson squeaked, “Where?!?” with a chuckle.
All Knaus could say was, “4-10, buddy. 4-10.”
When a subsequent yellow flew, as Tony Stewart was exiting pit road on lap 234, Johnson came completely unglued, dropping choice expletives along the way. Moments later, Johnson demanded, “Explain to me the debris. Where’s it at?” The response - crickets.
Logistics cause difficulty mid-race
Though Johnson’s dominance at Auto Club Speedway is well documented, the day started with Montoya looking like a spoiler to the Johnson homecoming party.
Early on, it also looked like the 48 team was trying to give away the victory in the pits. The yellow on lap 60 due to Jamie McMurray, brought the field down with Johnson running second. A dropped lug on the right front cost Johnson six spots. By lap 76, Johnson had rallied back to third in the running order. Five laps later, the field returned to the pits after a yellow for Ryan Newman. Johnson went in third but lost four positions in the pit.
There were two issues that plagued the early pit visits: a lack of grip in the pit itself and a radio issue among the 48 team. The lack of grip manifested in the car sliding deeper into the pits than would be ideal, as well as rolling problem as the crew worked. Going into the pits at lap 186, Knaus told non-essential personnel to return all radios to the hauler in order to stop interference that hampered communication up to that point. Johnson came in with the race lead and left in third. Though the radio issue subsided, the car had again rolled forward while the crew was working on the lugs.
“Hell yeah!”
On lap 194, Knaus radioed to his driver that he could add some rear brake if necessary, but Johnson replied that he had already added five rounds. “Okay then, go like hell.” That is exactly what Johnson did, retaking the lead the next lap.
Flash forward to lap 245, returning to the red flag condition that lasted more than 21 minutes, Johnson remained quiet and focused straight through the restart. The 48 slid up in front of the 24 and checked out to a 1.5 second lead leaving the real battle to Martin and Stewart for third and fourth. The final top-5 ended up as: Johnson, Gordon, Montoya, Martin, and a lucky Stewart.
“Hell yeah!” Johnson screamed into the radio passing the start-finish line. Quite frankly, Johnson was jubilant, issuing numerous animal-like screams around the track on his cool down lap. “This couldn’t be more special - with the Foundation on the side and being at home.”
Even car owner, teammate, and second place finisher, Jeff Gordon had to concede that Johnson’s performance was super human, “They’re in another category.”
Johnson now takes the point lead by 12 points. He led the most laps at Fontana, with a total of 126 laps. This is now added to his already dominating total of 338 laps led in the Chase. Even before Sunday’s performance, Johnson had led more than double the laps led by any other Chase driver.
For those who questioned whether Johnson’s tendency to catch fire late in the season would remain true in 2009, it looks to be true, yet again, Johnson and the rest of the 48 team knows when to come alive and rise to the occasion. The threat for the rest of the field now is that the Chase now returns to the East Coast and Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Not only it is the last race that Johnson’s sponsor will be the title sponsor of the track, it is another strong intermediate track for Johnson.
For more information on Southern California Motorsports, check out:
Fontana more than just a Chase race for Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson, dog poo, pink tutus, and pompoms mae for an eventful day in Kansas
Jimmie Johnson goes to Kansas hoping to avoid Kryptonite (Hint: The reference is regarding comments by Mark Martin)
Jimmie Johnson takes care of uncertainty with the checkered flag
Janelle Jalbert is a fan of a variety of racing formats and equally enjoys the history of the sport. Janelle grew up in an auto mechanic’s family and swears that there is carb spray running through her veins. She can be reached via email for both comments and story ideas. You can follow Janelle as the Southern California Motorsports Examiner on Twitter as @SoCalMotorsport.
Janelle also serves as the NASCAR Truck Series Examiner. Feel free to join the discussion about the hard racing in the CWTS at the NASCAR Truck Series Examiner fan page on Facebook
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