Sunday, April 12, 2015

Johnson Dominant in Texas

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Jimmie Johnson won the Duck Commander 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

Johnson had a dominant car throughout the race, leading a race-high 128 laps.  

After a late caution shook up the running order, Johnson went from eighth to first in just a few laps, ending with a strong move around Kevin Harvick and Jamie McMurray.
Photo courtesy Sean Gardner/Getty Images

“They brought me a fast racecar,” Johnson said in victory lane.  “It was fast all weekend.”

Johnson said this win was big for his team, who he said have been strong all season but haven’t gotten the victories to prove it.

“We’ve had an awesome start to the year, I know the results don’t show it,” Johnson said.  “I think the off-week was good for us.”

Harvick finished second after leading 96 laps.  He said his car couldn’t keep up with Johnson’s on the final restart.

“Jimmie was really fast for those first couple laps and got around us,” Harvick said.  “I got loose coming off [turn] 4 and then I got in the wall just trying to hang on to where I needed to be.”

Harvick beat Johnson’s teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the line for second place.  Earnhardt said he had a chance to keep the top two finishers behind him on the final restart.

“I had Harvick cleared off of [turn] 2,” Earnhardt said.  “I had a hard time on the top so I wanted to try the bottom in 3 and 4 and he beat me around there.”

“We weren’t as good as the 48 [of Johnson] or the 4 [of Harvick] early in the race, but we definitely improved it.”

Unofficial results:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4. Joey Logano
5. Brad Keselowski
6. Jamie McMurray
7. Jeff Gordon
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Martin Truex Jr.
10. Carl Edwards
11. Denny Hamlin
12. Ryan Newman
13. David Ragan
14. Kurt Busch
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
16. Danica Patrick
17. Greg Biffle
18. Trevor Bayne
19. Aric Almirola
20. Austin Dillon
21. AJ Allmendinger
22. Clint Bowyer
23. Matt Kenseth
24. Tony Stewart
25. Kyle Larson
26. Sam Hornish Jr.
27. Casey Mears
28. David Gilliland
29. Brett Moffitt
30. Chris Buescher
31. Michael McDowell
32. Landon Cassill
33. Alex Bowman
34. Matt DiBenedetto
35. Cole Whitt
36. Mike Bliss
37. Alex Kennedy
38. Josh Wise
39. Justin Allgaier
40. Michael Annett
41. Paul Menard
42. Ryan Blaney
43. JJ Yeley

Photo courtesy Chris Graythen/Getty Images

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