Jimmie Johnson Wins at Charlotte, Chase Drivers Falter

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Jimmie Johnson locked himself into the Round of 8 following a victory in Sunday’s Bank of America 500 from Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Johnson returned to victory lane after a 24-race winless drought.  Johnson and his team have shown speed the last few weeks, which hasn’t been the case for Hendrick Motorsports throughout the year.

Jared C. Tilton (Getty Images)

“When you drive for Rick Hendrick and have all the great people at Hendrick Motorsports working for you…I just knew it was taking way too long,” Johnson said.  “We knew we’d get back; it was slower than we wanted it to be.”

Johnson led 155 of 334 laps on Sunday.  After restarting on the outside most of the day, Johnson said the track conditions changed before the final restart.

“The track got so slick that I found out that restarting on the inside turned out to be a little bit better,” Johnson said.  “I was able to throw it inside of [Kenseth] in Turn 3 and made the pass.”

Five Chase drivers stumbled at Charlotte, putting themselves in a hole for the rest of the second round.  Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin had engine failures, while Joey Logano made hard contact with the wall and had to spend time in the garage.  Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott were involved in a big accident on a restart with 80 laps to go, leaving them outside the top 30.

Unofficial results:

1. Jimmie Johnson

2. Matt Kenseth

3. Kasey Kahne

4. Ryan Newman

5. Kyle Larson

6. Kyle Busch

7. Brad Keselowski

8. Kurt Busch

9. Tony Stewart

10. Jamie McMurray

11. Danica Patrick

12. Carl Edwards

13. Martin Truex Jr.

14. Michael McDowell

15. Aric Almirola

16. Chris Buescher

17. Clint Bowyer

18. Trevor Bayne

19. Landon Cassill

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Regan Smith

22. Brian Scott

23. David Ragan

24. Michael Annett

25. Matt DiBenedetto

26. Jeffrey Earnhardt

27. Cole Whitt

28. Reed Sorenson

29. Josh Wise

30. Denny Hamlin

31. Ryan Blaney

32. Austin Dillon

33. Chase Elliott

34. Paul Menard

35. Greg Biffle

36. Joey Logano

37. AJ Allmendinger

38. Kevin Harvick

39. Alex Bowman

40. Casey Mears

Jerry Markland (Getty Images)

Weekly Pull List: 10/5/2016

All the comics available this week can be found on ComicList, and any comic book news is on CBR.

Image
The Walking Dead #159

Marvel
Amazing Spider-Man #19
Champions #1
Deadpool and the Mercs for Money #4
Deadpool: Back in Black #1
Death of X #1
Jessica Jones #1
Spider-Man 2099 #16
Spidey #11
Uncanny X-Men #14

Dillon Hopes to Spoil Round 2 as Underdog

Austin Dillon advanced to the second round of the Chase on Sunday after finishing eighth in the Citizen Soldier 400 from Dover International Speedway.

Dillon had a strong car on Sunday, and spent most of the day inside the top 10 after starting 14th.  Dillon said the car was one of the fastest his team has ever brought to the track.

“I’m proud of this team for building a fast car,” Dillon said.  “There’s countless hours on this racecar, and we were able to make it to the next round.”

Sarah Crabill (Getty Images)

Dillon came into the race five points behind Kyle Larson for the final transfer spot, tied with Jamie McMurray for 13th in points.  Both Larson and McMurray had trouble early on, and it allowed Dillon to play defense for most of the race.  After finishing 11 points ahead of Tony Stewart in 13th, Dillon said he was happy to make the next round.

“I was just glad, I didn’t care how much it was.  11, 2, 1 [point], as long as we’re on to the next round.”

Dillon said he was conservative because he was racing for a Chase spot, but that his car was strong enough to run up front.

“I wanted to get more, but I knew what was at stake.  We probably could have had a top-5 car pretty simple there, I just didn’t want to hurt our chances of making the Chase.  I feel like we had a little bit of a right-front issue, so I didn’t want to push it too hard.”

Dillon finished outside the top 10 in the first two races in round 1, but he was able to finish strong in the final race to get into the next round.  Dillon hopes to continue to play the spoiler in the next round and knock out some of the top contenders.

“Now it’s time to knock some of these guys out, because we’ve got this opportunity.  We’re going to be the underdog in this next round, so let’s go do it.”

Round 2 of the Chase begins next Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway before heading to Kansas Motor Speedway on October 16th.  The round will end at Talladega Motor Speedway on Oct. 23rd, in what most drivers consider to be the wildcard of the entire Chase.

Truex Wins at Dover, Dillon Transfers to Round 2

Originally written for CLNS Radio.

Martin Truex Jr. won the Citizen Soldier 400 from Dover International Speedway on Sunday afternoon, leading 187 of 400 laps in dominating fashion.

The victory was the fourth of the season for Truex, who said the win shows his team is here to win.

“We’re not messing around,” Truex said.  “We are here to get it done, and this is the best bunch of guys you could ever ask for.”

Truex has had his fair share of struggles in the past, and he said this is the best start to the Chase he could ever ask for.

Getty Images

“I can remember going home on days really frustrated.  The last month and a half has just been ridiculous; it’s been like a fairytale dream.”

The race was also the final race of the first round for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.  Austin Dillon was able to advance after Ganassi Racing teammates Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson had trouble early on.  Larson was upset following the race after a pit road penalty put the race out of reach.

“A nice little Christmas present to Austin there from the Ganassi cars,” Larson said.

Dillon said his car was one of the fastest his team has had all season.  After locking himself into the next round, Dillon believes his team has what it takes to play spoiler to some of the top contenders.

“Now it’s time to knock some of these guys out,” Dillon said.  “We’ve got this opportunity, and we’re going to be the underdog in this next round.” 

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kyle Busch

3. Chase Elliott

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Matt Kenseth

6. Joey Logano

7. Jimmie Johnson

8. Austin Dillon

9. Denny Hamlin

10. Jeff Gordon

11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

12. Kasey Kahne

13. Tony Stewart

14. Carl Edwards

15. Kurt Busch

16. Aric Almirola

17. Ryan Newman

18. Greg Biffle

19. AJ Allmendinger

20. Trevor Bayne

21. Brian Scott

22. Paul Menard

23. Chris Buescher

24. Clint Bowyer

25. Kyle Larson

26. Casey Mears

27. Matt DiBenedetto

28. Danica Patrick

29. Landon Cassill

30. David Ragan

31. Regan Smith

32. Ty Dillon

33. Michael Annett

34. Timmy Hill

35. Reed Sorenson

36. Jeffrey Earnhardt

37. Kevin Harvick

38. Ryan Blaney

39. Josh Wise

40. Jamie McMurray