(WOMR file photo)
Stop me if you have heard this one before!
Jimmie Johnson won the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, and thereby, leaping from fifth in the Chase standings to assume the third place in those same standings, only 4 points out of the lead. Sunday Johnson thoroughly dominated the race by leading 197 of the scheduled 267 laps of the Hollywood Casino 400.
Nevertheless, it is very fortunate for Johnson that the race ended when it did. Kasey Kahne was rapidly closing the gap that Johnson had amassed. In fact, Johnson’s winning margin over Kahne was a mere .548 seconds!
Johnson and his race team will head to Charlotte Motor Speedway for next week’s race only four points behind leader Carl Edwards, who finished fifth Sunday, and three behind Kevin Harvick, who was sixth at Kansas.
“This sport is so tough,” Johnson said. “Look at all the second places we have this year, we have been close but just have not got the job done. We were glad to get the win done today. Big win for Mr. Hendrick, #199 and also Chevrolet winning the Manufacturing Championship, couldn’t do without all them and all the great people at Lowes’, they have been behind us since day one. We did our job today and hopefully we can do it six or seven more times.”
Two weeks ago Johnson seemed so vulnerable, limping home after an extremely poor finish at New Hampshire that left him 10th in points, his lowest Chase standing ever. Even more worrisome, he had gone one full year with only a single race win, that coming way back at Talladega in the spring, and was showing very little of the killer instinct that had left opponents trembling and mistake-prone over the final stages of playoffs past. For the first time, his championship reign looked shaky. There appeared to be some kryptonite in the garage area! For the first time, you wondered if someone other than the familiar Jimmie Johnson standing on that stage in South Florida in late November, clutching that sterling silver cup.
It was only natural, given the presence of this new points format that no one really had a feel for, given Johnson’s seeming inability to unleash a tsunami of race victories he had used to inundate challengers so often in the past. This wasn’t about being a “naysayer,” or doubting the abilities of Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus, or considering the #48 team out of it, or anything as simple-minded as that. It was about knowing how Johnson has won championships in the past, seeing his results at a time of year when he’s usually at his best and wondering if the man they call Five-Time (for now) had “anything for ’em” in order to seize title number 6.
Nevertheless, it would appear that the HMS #48 Lowe’s Chevy is poised to make it’s ever so familiar charge in the last ten races of the season, the Chase, to capitalize on an unprecedented sixth championship in a row! Jimmie Johnson is back, although quite honestly, Jimmie and Chad never really went anywhere! The Lowe’s #48 Chevy race team is back in full stride, and more importantly, in familiarly championship form!
Here is the unofficial results of the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas.
After the fourth race in the Chase here is the standings of the Chase for The Cup.
What are your thoughts on Jimmie Jonson becoming Mr. Six-Time?
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
