Johnson gets third Brickyard trophy

Jeff Gordon (left) and Jimmie Johnson (right) talk on pit road at IMS. (photo from NASCAR Media)

The 2009 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard figured to be a race during which history was made, and it didn’t disappoint. Question was, what history would be made.

Mark Martin had already put his name in the record books by winning the pole on Saturday. At the age of 50, he became the oldest driver to win a pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Also looking to make history was Jeff Gordon. The four-time Brickyard 400 winner was hoping to become the first five-time winner in any form of racing at the track.

Also looking to go into the record books was Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya headed into Sunday’s race looking to become the first driver ever to win both the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400.

He even ran a race car complete with a paint scheme that mirrored the one on his 2000 Indianapolis 500 winning Indy car and wore a firesuit with a design inspired by the one he wore to victory lane following that Indy 500 win.

Through much of the race, Montoya looked to be well on his way to accomplishing his goal of adding a Brickyard 400 victory to his resume. He took the lead early on and held on to it, except for during cycles of green flag pit stops, until he was caught speeding on pit road with about 35 laps to go.

“It kinda sucks, but it is what it is,” Montoya said after the race.

The penalty relegated Montoya to a 12th-position restart, and he was only able to make up one position before the checkers fell to be credited with an 11th-place finish.

Meanwhile, it was three-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson who made history. Johnson held off teammate Martin to win his third Brickyard 400. Also last year’s winner, Johnson became the first driver to win consecutive Brickyard 400s.

“For an old guy, he had me pretty worried,” Johnson said of battling Martin in the closing laps.

Johnson is hoping that this year’s win predicts the same success that his previous two did. The other two times he won the Brickyard 400, Johnson went on to win the Sprint Cup title.

This year’s Brickyard 400 win was the seventh for team owner Rick Hendrick (three with Johnson and four with Gordon). So, with 16 NASCAR races at Indianapolis in the history books, nearly half of them have been won by Hendrick Motorsports.

Johnson’s win and Martin’s runner-up showing also marked the fifth one-two finish of 2009 for the Hendrick organization.

“I'm actually just grateful that I had a chance to race for the win,” Martin said. “Would have liked to have won it, but got beat by Superman.”

Overall, Martin seem satisfied with a second-place finish.

“It's better than 42nd, man,” he said.

Johnson’s win aside, it was a good day for Hendrick overall. Three of the four Hendrick cars posted top-10 finishes. Fellow-Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon wound up ninth. The only Hendrick driver who didn’t turn in a top-10 finish was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was running solidly in the top-10 all day until his engine let go with about 33 laps to go. He ended up 36th.

Indiana native Tony Stewart finished third, as Greg Biffle finished fourth.

“To finish third, I'm pretty satisfied with that,” Stewart said.

According to Biffle, his fourth-place finish was a strategic move. He said that he had to let Stewart go by in order to have enough fuel to finish the race.

Brian Vickers rounded out the top-five.