Johnson seeks road course win
Jimmie Johnson’s quest to win a record fourth straight Sprint Cup Series title remains intact, but in the back of his mind. Front and center is winning on a road course.
Johnson has failed to find Victory Lane in 15 career starts over the sweeping courses at Sonoma and Watkins Glen, N.Y., the only road races on the Cup schedule, and for the former champion off-road racer that lack of success grates like nothing else.
“It’s been shocking to me. It really gets under my skin,” said Johnson, who began racing motocross at age 5 and has won six off-road championships. “It’s surprising that I have not been better on a road course in a Cup car. I think that we’re getting closer and closer. At Sonoma (in June), we overcame a lot and finished fourth. It left me extremely optimistic for this race.”
So, too, did qualifying at Watkins Glen. Johnson won his first road-course pole Friday, putting him in the catbird seat – at least at the start of today’s 90-lap race around the 11-turn, 2.45-mile circuit in upstate New York.
The trick will be to remain there, and with Kurt Busch starting alongside Johnson on the front row, that might be difficult. The two spun together and tangled at Sonoma in June, and Busch was fuming with Johnson after some late-race bumping at Chicago last month.
Factor in aggressive Marcos Ambrose, who starts right behind the leaders in fourth, and the chance for an early altercation rises. Ambrose finished third here a year ago after starting last and knows this might be his best chance at getting that first Cup victory.
It might not take long for tempers to flare. The first turn at Watkins Glen International is a bumpy 90-degree right-hander with a large runoff area, and it represents one of the prime places to pass.
“You can go four-wide into turn 1 and not pay a huge consequence,” Kurt Busch said. “But four-wide is starting to push it. The guy on the inside is going to win, the guy on the outside is going to end up in the fence.”
Nationwide
A year ago, Ambrose used pit strategy to win at Watkins Glen International. The second time around he used a little aggression.
The hard-charging Tasmanian passed series points leader Kyle Busch with a daring move through the chicane and won the Nationwide Zippo 200 for the second straight year for JTG-Daugherty Racing.
It was the 10th consecutive top-two finish in Nationwide for Busch, breaking the series record set by Jack Ingram in 1983. Carl Edwards was third, followed by polesitter Kevin Harvick and Canadian road racer Ron Fellows. Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson of the late Dale Earnhardt, finished 24th in his Nationwide debut.
IndyCar
IndyCar points leader Ryan Briscoe captured the pole for today’s Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio in Lexington, Ohio.
Briscoe turned in a lap of 121.905 mph over the winding 2.258-mile course, narrowly beating out Justin Wilson.
Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal will start in the second row, followed by Helio Castroneves and Dario Franchitti in the third.
Briscoe is the defending champion at Mid-Ohio.