Post by dalejrfan on Feb 19, 2006 18:59:24 GMT -5
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Jimmie Johnson, racing with crew chief Chad Knaus back home after being ejected for breaking the rules, passed teammate Brian Vickers late in the race and held on in a green-white-checkered finish to win Sunday's Daytona 500.Johnson actually won the race when Greg Biffle wrecked on the final lap, freezing the field at that point.
But the winning move came on Lap 187 when he moved outside of Vickers to get the lead. As Johnson inched ahead, Kurt Busch got pushed into the wall by contact from behind from Jamie McMurray. Busch's car shredded a tire, spewing debris in his wake, and bringing out a caution.
NASCAR ruled that Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet was leading when the green flew again with 10 laps left. Vickers was second, with Ryan Newman third, Casey Mears fourth and Kasey Kahne fifth.
Johnson never gave the lead up again.
"We want to dedicate this to all the haters of the 48 team," Johnson said in Victory Lane. "I believed in my heart this team could still win. Not having Chad here was a big handicap but everybody stepped up."
Knaus was sent home after the No. 48 Chevrolet didn't pass inspection following qualifying a week ago. He likely faces further penalties to be announced this week for having a rear window that was popped out, deflecting air off the rear spoiler, after it had cleared inspection before qualifying.
"I wish Chad were here, I know he's kicking in his TV set watching this," Johnson said.
A lot of people wanted to kick something afterward. Tony Stewart was mad at Matt Kenseth - and vice versa. Busch was mad at McMurray. And, frankly, a lot of people aren't going to be happy that a car with a cloud of rules violations hanging over it won the sport's biggest race.
Jeff Burton led from the green flag until the first yellow came out on Lap 17 after Martin Truex Jr. scrubbed the wall off Turn 2 and had a tire go down.
Elliott Sadler edged Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the line at the exit of pit road and had the lead on the restart on Lap 21. Earnhardt Jr. moved to the high side and fell back in the pack shortly after the restart, with Jeff Gordon and Johnson leading the line around him.
Gordon got the lead for the first time in Turn 2 on Lap 24, nudging Sadler aside. But in Turn 3 a lap later, Gordon went high and Kenseth dove to the low side in front of Earnhardt Jr., picking up a big push in the process.
Stewart came to third in that exchange. On the next lap, he nearly got sideways in the draft going into Turn 3, but by Lap 28 he'd got enough of a push from McMurray to move into the lead.
On Lap 48, McMurray made a move to the low side in Turn 2 and pushed into the lead past Stewart. As Stewart got passed, his No. 20 Chevrolet washed up the track and Gordon moved into the middle line to go around him.
As Gordon tried to clear Stewart's car their two Chevys - two of the prerace favorites - made contact and both slapped the outside wall and brought out the second caution.
While Gordon and Stewart made lengthy pit stops to repair the damage, McMurray also had to make a second pit stop because of damage to his car when it fell off the jack on his stop.
So when the green flew again on Lap 52, Stewart, Gordon and McMurray were all in the back of the pack. Up front, Penske teammates Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch were lined up on the low side with Matt Kenseth leading the outside line.
The weather, meanwhile, was becoming a factor. After waiting until mid-afternoon to start, thanks to television, clouds that had been around all morning began to morph into a cross between a fog and a light mist. The cars kept going, but the weather threatened to become a factor, too.
So, however, did Stewart and McMurray. By Lap 62, Stewart was back up to 16th and coming fast. But 10 laps later, it was McMurray who'd moved back into the top 10.
At the head of the pack, Kenseth had grabbed the lead on Lap 58 and held it until a wreck on Lap 79 that began when Jeff Green got loose on the backstretch and spun back across the track in his No. 66 Chevrolet. J.J. Yeley and Joe Nemechek also hit Green's car, and then as they ran through the debris Carl Edwards and Kyle Petty crashed into each other, with Edwards' Ford literally getting hooked on the damaged sheet metal on the left side of Petty's Dodge.
Gordon's woes continued limped his No. 24 Monte Carlo to pit road before it opened because he had a flat right-front tire. He also had to make additional stops after the leaders came and went, Kenseth led off pit road, but on the first lap after the green flew Kevin
Harvick slid underneath Kenseth's Ford and grabbed the lead. One lap later, though, Earnhardt Jr. moved low and passed Harvick to grab the top spot.
Earnhardt Jr. and Harvick were battling side-by-side when a yellow flew on Lap 91 for debris on the backstretch. Many of the top teams took only two tires on that stop, including Earnhardt Jr. as he kept the lead ahead of Johnson, Kenseth and Kurt Busch.
As the field completed Lap 104, however, Kenseth got pinched into the low lane and had to lift or risk going under the yellow "out of bounds" line.
That seemed to bog Earnhardt Jr. down, and Mark Martin shot to the lead with a drafting push from Stewart.
Two laps later, Stewart's car jerked left and shoved Kenseth's car down into the grass. Kenseth spun back across the track and into the outside wall, bringing out a yellow.
A week ago, Stewart had complained about aggressive bump drafting in the Bud Shootout. On Tuesday, NASCAR said it would penalize drivers for overly aggressive driving of any kind.
So after that incident, Stewart was ordered to restart at the end of the longest line. As their cars left pit road, Kenseth pulled alongside Stewart's car, and that earned Kenseth a penalty of his own.
Up front, meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr., Johnson and Greg Biffle swapped the lead at the front of the draft. On Lap 116, Kyle Busch made it three-wide going into Turn 2 and swept around the outside into the lead. Next, Johnson fired into the lead and held it until Robby Gordon's car shed a tire and scuffed the wall on Lap 124.
Martin was the leader, just ahead of Earnhardt Jr. and Johnson, while Stewart was relegated back to 30th because he pitted too close to the wall and that led to him running over the jack on his stop under that yellow.
Martin kept the lead until Earnhardt Jr. pulled to the outside lane ahead of three Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets to challenge on Lap 140 with three Roush Racing Fords leading the low line.
Earnhardt Jr. pulled clear on Lap 142, bringing Brian Vickers with him to second. On Lap 144, Vickers got a push from Johnson and those two cars took over the top two positions with their teammate Kyle Busch coming to third.
Vickers had the top spot when debris on the frontstretch on Lap 154 brought out another yellow and brought the field to pit road.
Earnhardt Jr. got off pit road first, just ahead of Vickers, for the restart on Lap 160. But on Lap 163 it was Newman sweeping around on the high side down the backstretch. Newman didn't hold the lead back to the line as Earnhardt Jr. fought back, but Newman was a nose in front at the line the next time by and on Lap 165 was clear and at the head of a two-wide pack screaming behind him.
Newman was in front when Travis Kvapil slapped the wall to bring out a yellow flag on Lap 176. That allowed the teams to come to pit road for the fuel and tires they'd need to make it the rest of the way.
Vickers took fuel only and grabbed the lead, with Sterling Marlin getting two tires and coming out second. Newman narrowly avoided a pit-road collision with Schrader and was third on the restart, with Kyle Busch fourth and Johnson fifth for the restart with just 20 laps - but a day's worth of drama - to go