Odds stacked against Jimmie Johnson in bid for Sprint Cup title
Six-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson finds himself in a somewhat foreign role these days:
Just one of the guys.
“We haven’t been the dominant car. We’ve been a good car,” Johnson said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. “We still have nine weeks to get our act together. If we turn our good car into a great car at Homestead, then maybe we get the seventh (title). But this is a tough industry.”
The results reflect that. Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet finished 12th last week at Chicagoland in the first race of the Chase. NASCAR tweaked its playoff format this season, creating a series of three-race elimination rounds.
Three of Johnson’s favorite tracks – Dover, Martinsville and Charlotte – await on the Chase schedule. But Johnson has plenty at stake today in the Sylvania 300, on New Hampshire’s 1.06-mile layout.
“We’re eighth in points and certainly don’t want to fall further than that,” Johnson said. “We’re rolling along, hoping to get hot.”
He was hot in May and June, not surprisingly at some of his favorite tracks. Johnson won three races in the span of four weeks at Charlotte, Dover and Michigan.
Johnson was asked Friday how much comfort he takes in the upcoming schedule. Not much, apparently.
“Stats are nice to look at, but you’ve got to live in the present,” Johnson said. “Just because we’ve been good at those tracks doesn’t guarantee us anything going back. It makes the week leading into it feel a little bit better, it gives us some talking points, but you still have to go there and get the job done.”
• Jeff Gordon denied Brad Keselowski’s shot at a perfect weekend with a late run in the final practice Saturday at New Hampshire that put him at the top of the chart at 135.357 mph.
Keselowski had the fastest practice speed on Friday, won the pole, and topped the first practice chart on Saturday. Keselowski and Gordon finished 1-2 in the last two Sprint Cup races. They reversed the order headed into the second Chase for the Sprint Cup championship race today.
Custer, 16, wins trucks
Cole Custer’s first stand as a NASCAR winner landed him in the stock car record book.
Custer became the youngest winner in a NASCAR national series race at 16, taking the checkered flag at New Hampshire in his seventh career Truck Series start.
Custer dominated early and pulled away late off the final restart Saturday to win at 16 years, 7 months, 28 days. Darrell Wallace Jr., Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter and John Nemechek completed the top five.
Gaughan wins Nationwide
Brendan Gaughan surged past rookies Chase Elliott and Ty Dillon in a wild three-wide run after a final restart for a hard-earned victory in the 300-mile Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway.
Elliott and Dillon initially battled for the lead on Lap 192 before Gaughan’s No. 62 Chevrolet rocketed forward on the outside to make it three abreast, getting past both drivers a couple of laps later with Brian Scott in tow. Gaughan went on to his second career victory by .878 seconds over Scott, followed by Dillon, Elliott and Regan Smith.
NHRA event wraps up
Tony Schumacher won in Top Fuel and Matt Hagan topped the Funny Car field to give Don Schumacher Racing a nitro sweep Saturday in Ennis, Texas, in the rain-delayed finals from the NHRA Carolina Nationals.
Jonathan Gray won in Pro Stock and Eddie Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle in the Countdown-opening event that was completed at Texas Motorplex after being washed out last weekend in Concord, North Carolina.
Sprint car driver killed
Sprint car driver Scott Semmelmann was killed in a wreck during practice for a race at Beaver Dam Raceway in Wisconsin.
Semmelmann’s car made contact with another car during the second practice session, flipped three times and hit the outside wall.
The race was canceled.