Jimmie Johnson Tag

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service JIMMIE JOHNSON ENCOURAGED DESPITE PIT ROAD SNAFU BROOKLYN, Mich. – Despite a pit road problem that ruined his winning chances, Jimmie Johnson was surprisingly chipper after his sixth-place run in Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan Speedway. Johnson led 37 laps, four fewer than race winner Kyle Larson, but the six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion lost 10 seconds on pit road when his second can of fuel failed to engage properly with the intake during a green-flag stop from the lead on LapRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor When the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into Michigan, the impetus for all three manufacturers to run well is accelerated as two of the three, Ford and Chevrolet, are located down the road in Detroit, while Japanese based Toyota always looks to steal the show from the hometown favorites. On Friday, the manufacturer wars heated up ahead of Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 as all three manufacturers were well represented in the top-three of the lineup for the race. Though Toyota gained the upper hand inRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – For most of the final 200 laps of Sunday’s rain-interrupted Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kevin Harvick was where he needed to be – out front and in control of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Behind Harvick, who took the checkered flag 1.933 seconds ahead of runner-up Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the race was often out of control, as the essence of traditional Bristol made an emphatic appearance at the .533-mile concrete short track. Harvick’s victoryRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service BRISTOL, Tenn. – Hendrick Motorsports team owner Rick Hendrick pulled off a major coup earlier this week with the signing of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series rookie William Byron, who is at the top of the standings on the strength of five victories in a Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota this season. The 18-year-old Byron used to go trick-or-treating at Hendrick’s house. As it turned out, Byron did the same at the house of Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson, a six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion,Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Denny Hamlin, winner of Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at the Glen, entertained a sold-out grandstand with a celebratory burnout that trailed a plume of smoke the entire length of the frontstretch at Watkins Glen International. But Hamlin’s smoke show—with a bad back, no less—paled in comparison to the fireworks that preceded the checkered flag, Hamlin’s first at a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series road course. The race was in doubt until the final corner, with Martin Truex Jr. pressuring Hamlin, who ledRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Throughout the history of NASCAR, there have been stories of drivers continuing to race even while injured, never giving up the pursuit of victory lane. In 2011 at Pocono, Brad Keselowski added his name to that list. For that reason, the 2011 Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at Pocono is the focus of this week’s “Throwback Thursday Theater.” The week prior to NASCAR’s second trip of the season to Pocono, Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 team, along with Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 team and Dale Earnhardt,Read More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor Heading into Saturday night’s race at Kentucky Speedway, there were a lot of unknowns with the newly repaved and reconfigured track surface, but it didn’t take long for the track to claim its first victims. Jimmie Johnson, who had never won at Kentucky in five previous starts, had troubles with the track from the time his No. 48 team unloaded, spinning out and crashing his primary car in practice and having to break out his backup car for the race. Though Johnson would be ableRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Jimmie Johnson saw his chances of winning the Axalta ‘We Paint Winners’ 400 at Pocono Raceway end after wrecking with less than 40 laps to go. The incident happened on one of the many frantic restarts as Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet slid in Turn 1, then clipped the rear of Brad Keselowski before making heavy contact with the inside wall. Johnson, a three-time winner at Pocono, has finished outside the top 20 in three of the last five races, with his only notable result beingRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Contributor The greatest day in auto racing is upon us once more with three premier events (F1 at Monaco, the Indianapolis 500, and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte) all taking place throughout the day on Sunday. With the 57th running of the Coca-Cola 600 set for Sunday afternoon into the night, we’ll take a step back to one of the most memorable races at Charlotte in recent memory, the 2005 Coca-Cola 600 and the amazing finish between Jimmie Johnson and Bobby Labonte. Ryan Newman and JeffRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer As one of the newer tracks on the circuit, Kansas Speedway has had its share of races that have both been exciting and those that have been, well, not so exciting. The 1.5 mile track, which boasted 15 degree banking in its turns when added to the Sprint Cup Series schedule in 2001, underwent a facelift in 2012 to increase the banking to progressive banking ranging from 18 to 20 degrees. In this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater”, we’ll take a look back atRead More