Jimmie Johnson edges NASCAR field for first victory this year
Jimmie Johnson wins with an assist from Dale Earnhardt Jr. Johnson, with Earnhardt as his partner in the two-car drafting tandems that dominated all day, passed Clint Bowyer at the finish line to win Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. The win is the first of the season for Johnson, who has won the last five Sprint Cup Series championships. Jeff Gordon finished third, Earnhardt was fourth and Kevin Harvick was fifth. The race started as expected air max with drivers almost immediately breaking into two-car drafting tandems. By the time the race was 50 laps old, there were already 27 lead changes with five laps being the longest any driver was able to remain out front. On Lap 28, Brian Vickers got turned by Kurt Busch to bring out the first caution. Vickers had to go to the garage for extensive repairs. Busch was involved in another incident on Lap 90 in Turn 3 which also collected the cars of Kasey Kahne, David Ragan, Marcos Ambrose, Trevor Bayne and Brad Keselowski. By Lap 94, the race had 44 lead changes half of the record 88 set just last year. Kyle Busch, who won Saturday’s Nationwide Series, got turned by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano on Lap 140 to bring out the fourth caution of the race. Also caught up in the accident were Matt Kenseth, AJ Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin. Jimmie Johnson also got some front nose damage from the incident. On the restart on Lap 146, Kevin Harvick was the leader followed by Jeff Burton, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard and Kurt Busch. Debris on the track brought out the fifth caution of the race on Lap 164. All of the lead-lap cars elected to pit a final time for fuel and some took tires as well. On the restart on Lap 168, Bowyer led followed by Jeff Burton, Harvick, Dave Blaney and Regan Smith. Ryan Newman spun on Lap 174 which brought out another caution. On the restart on Lap 177, Blaney was the leader followed by Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr. and Mark Martin.