By Dick Mittman
allstate400atthebrickyard.com
Monday, November 1, 2004
An emotional Jimmie Johnson said he had "10 angels riding along" as he won his third consecutive NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race Oct. 31 at Atlanta Motor Speedway to jump into second place in the point standings with three races remaining.
Johnson was referring to the 10 people killed the previous Sunday in the crash of a Hendrick Motorsports plane while attempting to land at an airport near Martinsville, Va.
Johnson snatched the lead from Kasey Kahne with nine laps to go and brought the victory to the grief-stricken Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports families. The latter includes drivers Jeff Gordon, Brian Vickers and Terry Labonte. They and all of their crews gathered in Victory Circle for a somber and touching ceremony after Johnson's victory.
They wore their caps backward, at the request of team owner Rick Hendrick, in honor of Hendrick's son, Ricky, among those lost in the tragic accident.
"Things happen for a reason," said Johnson, who sat for several minutes inside his winning Lowe's Chevrolet gaining his composure before climbing out to accept the win.
Johnson is the first driver to win three in a row in six years.
The victory catapulted Johnson from fourth to second in the standings as he gained 148 points on leader Kurt Busch. In the first six races, Busch had not placed lower than sixth, but this time his engine blew on Lap 52, and he was relegated to 42nd place in the Sharpie/IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford. Only his younger brother Kyle, a rookie, finished behind him.
After five of the 10 races in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, Johnson was mired in ninth place, 247 points behind Busch. Now he trails by only 59 and is in fighting position to, like Busch, win his first championship.
But even on his worse-scoring day, Busch retained the lead, because his primary challengers, Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., didn't have very good races, either. They held second and third, respectively, entering the race and easily could have assumed the points lead.
It didn't happen.
Gordon battled a poor-handling car and then had to have a rear-end gear replaced in his DuPont Chevrolet. He was still running at the finish but completed only 299 of 325 laps to finish 34th, just eight spots ahead of Busch. He did pick up 24 points and, though slipping from second third in the standings, is just 72 points out of first.
The departure of Busch and Gordon opened the door for Earnhardt to jump to the front. And he was in good position to do just that with 15 laps remaining when he drove his Budweiser Chevrolet past eventual third-place finisher Carl Edwards. But as Earnhardt cut up in front of Edwards on the backstretch, his car clipped Edwards' World Financial Group Ford and caused Earnhardt to spin into the inside wall. Instead of a top-five finish, Earnhardt ended up finishing 33rd for the second straight week.
In the standings, Earnhardt slipped a position to fourth, 98 points back.
Moving up to fourth in points was veteran Mark Martin. His Viagra Ford was the dominant car in the race, leading 227 laps. But a late caution was costly as Johnson, stopping for four new tires, drove to the lead and held Martin off by .293 of a second at the checkered flag.
Martin did gain 143 points on Busch and still is in the hunt, only 81 behind.
Tony Stewart picked up 101 points with his ninth-place finish but still is 145 out in sixth. Defending series champion Matt Kenseth also blew an engine and placed 41st. That virtually eliminated him from contention since he is 257 behind with only three races left to climb from ninth to first.
The NEXTEL Cup "Chase" heads west again for the Checker Auto Parts 500 on Nov. 7 at Phoenix International Raceway before returning to the Southeast to finish at historic Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Nov. 14 and Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 21.
THE CHASE
1. Kurt Busch 6,052 (Chase finishes: 1-5-5-6-4-5-42)
2. Jimmie Johnson -59 (5,993; 11-10-37-32-1-1-1)
3. Jeff Gordon -72 (5,980; 7-3-19-13-2-9-34)
4. Mark Martin -81 (5,971; 13-2-15-20-13-12-2)
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -98 (5,954; 3-9-1-9-3-33-33)
6. Tony Stewart -145 (5,907; 39-6-6-14-10-15-9)
7. Ryan Newman -186 (5,866; 33-1-16-33-14-3-17)
8. Elliott Sadler -237 (5,815; 8-20-22-4-7-32-36)
9. Matt Kenseth -257 (5,795; 2-32-14-17-11-16-41)
10. Jeremy Mayfield -316 (5,736; 35-7-38-5-30-6-26) ***
2005 tickets: The 12th Brickyard 400 is scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 7, 2005. Customers who are upgrading or purchasing Brickyard 400 tickets for the first time should act quickly to increase their chances of obtaining their desired seats.
To purchase tickets, camping or parking, contact the IMS ticket office at (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area, (317) 492-6700 locally or log on to www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.
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