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Chevy Rock & Roll 400 - Richmond International Raceway
Johnson Grabs Win, Top Seed at Richmond
Jimmie Johnson did it again.
Johnson took the lead on a restart after 347 laps and never looked back as he raced away from the field to win the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race.
Had Johnson been able to see behind him, he would have witnessed some of the best racing of the year as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart raced side by side for lap after lap before Stewart took control to finish second.
Earnhardt’s valiant effort to race his way into the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup championship went up in smoke with six laps remaining as the engine in his Chevy blew up.
Earnhardt wound up 30th on a night when drama presented itself repeatedly.
Rookie David Ragan finished third, while Gordon was fourth and Johnny Sauter fifth.
Sauter's finish was his best of the season in a race where every position had to be earned with flat-out, wheel-to-wheel racing.
Denny Hamlin was sixth and Kevin Harvick, who took a wild ride through the tri-oval grass and wound up restarting way back in the pack, raced his way back to seventh place.
Kasey Kahne was eighth, Kurt Busch was ninth after being involved in an accident, and J. J. Yeley finished 10th.
The race, the 26th of the NASCAR season, was the last before NASCAR resets the points for the top-12 drivers in the points. Those 12 drivers are eligible for the championship in the final 10 races.
Those drivers are Gordon, Johnson, Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kurt and Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Harvick, Carl Edwards and Martin Truex Jr.
Johnson will be leading the points with 5,060 points. Gordon will be next 20 points behind.
It was an action-packed event throughout the 400 laps, including several multi-car accidents that eliminated numerous drivers, including Juan Pablo Montoya, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray and others.
There was no doubt that this race was going to be a real barnburner, with Gordon and Johnson racing for the win and the extra 10 bonus points in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship seeding that begins next week at New Hampshire. The top 12 spots in the point standings are seeded with each win adding 10 points.
Johnson entered the race Saturday night with five wins this season that would have given him no worse than a share of the top seed in the start-things-all-over scenario next weekend.
Johnson to Start Chevy Rock & Roll 400 from Pole Position
Jimmie Johnson won the Bud Pole for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 with a lap of 21.378 seconds, 126.298 mph.
This is his 10th Bud Pole in 209 career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races.
This is his second Bud Pole and 17th top-10 start in 2007.
This is Johnson’s second Bud Pole and seventh top-10 start in 12 races at Richmond International Raceway.
Jeff Gordon posted the second-fastest qualifying time with a lap of 21.541 seconds, 125.298 mph. It is his 23rd
top-10 start in 30 Richmond races and his 10th on the front row.
Kyle Busch (third) posted his 11th top-10 start in 2007 and his third in six races at Richmond. He gave car owner
Rick Hendrick a sweep of the top-three positions.
Scott Riggs (16th) was the fastest of the drivers required to make the field on time.
David Ragan (eighth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
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