ALL-STAR: Johnson Storms To Victory

Sprint Cup

ALL-STAR: Johnson Storms To Victory

Jimmie Johnson wins race's first segment then dominates 10-lap conclusion...

Mike Hembree | Posted May 19, 2012 Concord, NC

Jimmie Johnson used strategy and speed to perfection Saturday night and breezed to a relatively easy victory in the Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Johnson led every lap of the closing 10-lap dash for the cash and finished .841 of a second in front of Brad Keselowski to claim his third win – and a $1 million-plus payday – in the All-Star event.

Johnson had the first starting position for the start of the 10-lap finale, got a great start and was never challenged the rest of the way.

“It’s all about the restart,” Keselowski said. “The high line on the restart just wouldn’t go. I thought I could do something with him (Johnson). We got beat by a five-time champ and two-time All-Star winner. I want that one more spot. We just weren’t able to pull it off tonight.

“I was doing all I could to get by him, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

Completing the top five at the finish were Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Johnson won $1,071,340 for 90 laps of racing, and he spent much of it lingering near the rear after winning the race’s first segment.

Johnson’s third All-Star win ties Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Sr. for the most victories in the event’s history.

“This race car was so amazing,” Johnson said. “I put it up on the outside at the start of the first heat and let it rip around the top and take the lead.”

The No. 48 team is on a roll. Johnson won the Southern 500 last week at Darlington Raceway to score Hendrick Motorsports’ 200th Sprint Cup victory. The team also won the Sprint Pit Crew Challenge this week.

Johnson said he has numerous goals in his career, including reaching an eighth championship to break the record of seven owned by Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt.

The winners of the race’s first four segments – Johnson, Kenseth, Keselowski and Earnhardt Jr. – lined up at the front – the race’s reward for leading a segment – for the final restart. None of those following Johnson had a shot at him as he bolted to a strong lead at the drop of the green.

Team owner Rick Hendrick rides to Victory Lane on Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Lowe's Patriotic Chevrolet after winning the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

The post-race celebration took an unusual turn as Johnson picked up team owner Rick Hendrick and gave him a victory ride along the frontstretch on the side of the winning car as Hendrick tried to hang on.

Later, Hendrick, a winner of the All-Star race for the seventh time, described that moment as “the dumbest thing I’ve ever done in racing. That was it. When I climbed in, I got my foot hung in the dash. I thought I was going to be like a busted watermelon out there.”

After Johnson won the race’s first segment and thus was virtually guaranteed a starting spot near the front for the 10-lap final shootout, he fell back for the second, third and fourth segments to stay out of potential trouble. Kenseth and Keselowski joined him at the back after winning segments.

“We were able to get the lead in the first segment,” Johnson said. “Everybody knew if you could win that first segment you could control the night. We were able to do that after starting sixth.”

Although the final 10-lap run was a snoozer as Johnson dominated, the event saw quite a bit of tight racing and three-wide jousting. However, there were no multi-car accidents and none of the controversy that sometimes is generated by the All-Star event.

Earnhardt Jr. roared to the lead in the night’s fourth segment, and Keselowski led the third after turning back a strong challenge from Kasey Kahne. They ran side by side to the finish line, Keselowski edging Kahne by about a foot.

The race’s second segment was led by Kenseth, who passed Denny Hamlin to move to the front.

Parked during the second segment was the Ford of Carl Edwards, who blew the engine in the No. 99. Edwards, who won the race last year, joined SPEED commentators in the booth for the rest of the event.

Greg Biffle, Edwards’ Roush Fenway Racing teammate, blew his engine during the fourth segment.

Johnson roared to the front on lap 15, passing pole winner Kyle Busch, to lead the first 20-lap segment.

The opening segment saw some tough racing. Richard Childress Racing teammates Paul Menard and Kevin Harvick exchanged a little paint during the run, and one of the bumpups between the two resulted in Harvick slamming the outside wall.

Halfway through the segment, Tony Stewart bounced off the wall.

Earnhardt Jr. and AJ Allmendinger finished one-two in the Sprint Showdown to advance to the feature, and Bobby Labonte won the fan vote to also join the All-Star starting grid.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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