Johnson steals show
Jimmie Johnson gave Hendrick Motorsports its first NASCAR Sprint Cup win of the year, winning a fuel gamble Saturday night at Phoenix International Speedway in Avondale, Ariz.
As leader after leader dove for the pits to take on gas in the waning laps, Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet stayed on track and the two-time reigning Cup champion made it to the finish, beating Clint Bowyer – another gambler – by 7.002 seconds.
Forty-nine-year-old Mark Martin, now a part-time driver in the Dale Earnhardt Inc. No. 8, battled at the front with its former driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., for a lot of the 312-lap race on the mile oval.
And it appeared Martin had his first win since 2005 locked up after he passed Earnhardt for the win on lap 272 and began to pull away, building leads of more than a second. But, with the end in sight, Martin was called into the pits on lap 301, giving up the top spot to Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet.
With crew chief Chad Knaus telling him to keep conserving gas and that he had a big enough lead to slow down and save more, Johnson stayed on track and stayed in front to the end.
“I ran out of gas on the backstretch,” Johnson said, grinning. But he still had enough left for a celebratory burnout after taking the checkered flag.
“We’re back. I couldn’t be more proud of the folks back at Hendrick Motorsports.”
Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Carl Edwards, Martin, Jeff Burton and Earnhardt.
It was the 34th career win for Johnson.
Helton defends policy
The call earlier this week for regular random drug testing by some of NASCAR’s biggest stars apparently will not change the sanctioning organization’s current policy of testing only for “reasonable suspicion.”
But NASCAR president Mike Helton said the reaction by the drivers to the published report that former truck and Nationwide driver Aaron Fike used heroin the same day he drove in some races is a positive sign for the stock car sport.
Referring to the story in the April 21 edition of ESPN The Magazine, Helton said, “When you have a headline like that and the other athletes rare up on it and react like they did, that’s a positive thing.
Helton said he does not know of any policy that can guarantee that no driver will ever race while under the influence of some substance any more than anyone could guarantee that an athlete in another sport will not abuse something on game day.
“The other part though is the fact that when we do find a situation and we do authenticate the abuse of a substance, it is a severe reaction,” Helton said. “It’s not just a couple of weeks off, it’s a very severe, career-changing reaction from us that I think speaks loudly.”
Davis remembered
NASCAR officials wore black arm bands and there was a moment of silence during prerace ceremonies Saturday to honor the memory of series inspector Brienne Davis, 28, killed Thursday in a car accident in North Carolina.
Davis, one of the few full-time female inspectors in the stock car sport, joined NASCAR in 2004. She inspected carburetors and manifolds.
Safety first
There has been a debate for years over whether NASCAR should follow the example of the open-wheel series and the NHRA and have a full-time safety team instead of relying on local medical personnel at each of its racetracks.
Asked about it this week, Jeff Burton said he thinks NASCAR’s system is working just fine.
“I’m not one of those people that believes … that I have to look at a familiar face to get good care, that I have to look at a familiar face to have a competent person doing the job.”