Jimmie Johnson Wins at Atlanta

Originally written for CLNS Radio. 

Jimmie Johnson won the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 from Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Photo courtesy Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Johnson was dominant during the race, leading 92 of 325 laps.  He said his car was extremely fast, which proved to be the difference when racing Kevin Harvick, who led a race-high 116 laps.

“I had a blast racing with the 4 [of Harvick], he was awfully strong today,” Johnson said.  “I think track position there at the end just kind of set things in place, and we got the restart we needed to and cleared the 88 [of Dale Earnhardt Jr.] and off we went.”

The race was the first real test for teams this season as NASCAR rolled out its new rules package.  The new rules are similar to NASCAR stock cars before the debut of the Car of Tomorrow in 2007. 

Prior to the start of the season, many people believed the new rules would play right into Johnson’s driving style, and Johnson said his team stepped up to the challenge.

“I’m just so excited that…this new team could understand what I was complaining about and what I didn’t like about my racecar,” Johnson said.  “We had some troubles on pit road, but once we kind of got through and got by the 19 [of Carl Edwards], that allowed us to get track position.”

Unofficial results:

1. Jimmie Johnson

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

4. Joey Logano

5. Matt Kenseth

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. AJ Allmendinger

8. Brett Moffitt

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Ryan Newman

11. Aric Almirola

12. Carl Edwards

13. Paul Menard

14. Kasey Kahne

15. Casey Mears

16. Danica Patrick

17. Regan Smith

18. David Ragan

19. Trevor Bayne

20. Justin Allgaier

21. Sam Hornish Jr.

22. David Gilliland

23. Alex Bowman

24. Clint Bowyer

25. Greg Biffle

26. Kyle Larson

27. Michael McDowell

28. Brendan Gaughan

29. Michael Annett

30. Tony Stewart

31. Mike Bliss

32. Josh Wise

33. Joe Nemechek

34. J.J. Yeley

35. Jeb Burton

36. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

37. Cole Whitt

38. Denny Hamlin

39. Austin Dillon

40. Jamie McMurray

41. Jeff Gordon

42. Ron Hornaday Jr.

43. Landon Cassill

Photo courtesy Jerry Markland/Getty Images