CUP: Johnson Frustrates Gordon At Vegas

Sprint Cup

CUP: Johnson Frustrates Gordon At Vegas

Jimmie Johnson was the winner in Las Vegas in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Shelby American...

Mike Hembree | Posted February 28, 2010 Las Vegas, NV

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

Jimmie Johnson keeps on rolling.

Results: Shelby American

For everyone else, it could be a long season.

After watching teammate Jeff Gordon dominate the Shelby American race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, Johnson stormed to the front late in the day and won for the second straight week.

Johnson now is batting .667 for the three-race season and once again is showing the driver and team strength that carried him to four straight Sprint Cup championships.

The Drive for Five appears to be very much alive.

After riding in Gordon’s shadow for a series of laps in the closing miles, Johnson, riding with four fresh tires as opposed to two for Gordon, pushed underneath and around the No. 24 Chevrolet in Turn 3 with 16 laps to go and led the rest of the way.

Johnson led only 18 laps.

“There was no luck involved in that one,” said crew chief Chad Knaus, referring to Johnson’s “lucky” win at Fontana, Calif., last week.

Johnson’s 49th career victory extended Gordon’s win drought to 32 straight races.

Gordon was a Chase driver last season and had more than a few good runs, but his failure to win, despite having a strong car Sunday, extended through another week.

Gordon dominated the first half of the race, leading 68 of the first 73 laps and staying upfront despite sliding through his pit during one of the team’s early pit stops. He led 217 of the race’s 267 laps.

The difference Sunday came on the teams’ last pit stops. Gordon’s crew went for two tires; Johnson’s went for four. That gave Johnson the boost he needed, although it put Gordon out front on the track.

“That was one heck of a race,” Johnson said. “All afternoon long Jeff and I were racing each other so hard – then (too) at the end of the day. I wasn’t sure if I could get away from him once I got by him, but I did.”

Gordon was passed by Kevin Harvick for second place with four laps to go. Following Gordon in the finish order were Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Joey Logano.

Logano thus scored the second top-10 finish of his sophomore season.

Gordon called his car “awesome all day. It was incredible. Steve (crew chief Steve Letarte) called a great race all day. I know he’s beating himself up over the two-tire thing, but we thought more people would take two.”

The race’s first major incident occurred on lap 95 as Kurt Busch and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing teammates Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya damaged their cars in a three-way incident.

McMurray moved up the track and hit Montoya, and Busch was drawn into the accident. Montoya voiced bitter complaints about McMurray on his team radio.

Two early caution periods were caused by malfunctioning caution lights that popped on unexpectedly, causing NASCAR to make the cautions official.

Harvick’s second-place finish kept him on top of the early-season point standings. He is followed by Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle.

Teams move on to Hampton, Ga. and Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend for the fourth race of the season.

Results: Shelby American

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". 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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