Post by dalejrfan on May 30, 2006 12:10:18 GMT -5
CONCORD, N.C. -- "Anybody but Jimmie."
Carl Edwards saw those words on T-shirts when he arrived at Lowe's Motor Speedway for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.
They were aimed at Jimmie Johnson, who'd won the past four Nextel Cup points races and five of the past six on the 1.5-mile track a stone's throw from his Hendrick Motorsports shop.
In the end, the fans got their wish.
Barely.
Johnson finished second to Kasey Kahne.
"I'm very proud of the stats that I've had and slightly disappointed that it's come to an end, but all in all a great day in the points and life is good," said Johnson, who extended his points lead to 109 on Matt Kenseth.
Johnson led once for 24 laps, the ninth consecutive LMS race he's been out front. He was second to Scott Riggs with 41 laps remaining and second to Edwards coming out of the last two cautions.
But as crew chief Chad Knaus said over the radio during the cool-down lap, "We were running second and third to [the Evernham Motorsports cars] all week."
Still, most of the more than 150,000 fans probably thought Johnson would win the way he hung around the lead on the track bearing the same name as his primary sponsor.
But instead of making the come-from-behind win as he did last year against Bobby Labonte, Kahne took the lead with 29 laps remaining and pulled steadily away.
"I couldn't believe the speed Kasey had," Johnson said. "We were close. We had a great car. We had the fastest car at times. We didn't have enough speed there at the end."
Johnson said so many short runs because of 15 cautions hurt his effort.
"We were all so programmed in our minds for longer runs," he said. "The crew chiefs had to adjust tire pressure and really set up the car for more of sprint races.
"As the night went on, we didn't stay on top of the adjustments. We threw a lot at it. We had a good idea of what to do, but the car just wasn't responding like it did in the all-star race."
Johnson rallied late last Saturday to capture his second all-star race in four years at LMS. He brought the same car to the 600, figuring it would come around as track conditions cooled once again.
"We didn't get it adjusted like we needed it, but we still were kind of holding our own with Kasey there at the end," Johnson said. "I just couldn't catch him."
It didn't help, Johnson said, that he had to race Edwards so hard once Kahne got around the two of them.
"I just lost a little time there and that really let Kasey get away and check out," he said.
That left Kahne to do a burnout on the turf that Johnson has owned for more than two seasons and Johnson to wonder what if.
"I've had my fair share [of wins], but you want to be greedy and win as many as you can," Johnson said of seeing his streak end. "I've won a couple that I shouldn't have won in a sense."
And while a few fans may have celebrated Johnson's finish, his competitors weren't.
"He's an unbelievable competitor and I'd have been happy for him to win just as much for Kasey," Edwards said. "I wasn't really happy to see him not win.
"I would have been really pumped for him to see him win that many in a row."
Carl Edwards saw those words on T-shirts when he arrived at Lowe's Motor Speedway for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.
They were aimed at Jimmie Johnson, who'd won the past four Nextel Cup points races and five of the past six on the 1.5-mile track a stone's throw from his Hendrick Motorsports shop.
In the end, the fans got their wish.
Barely.
Johnson finished second to Kasey Kahne.
"I'm very proud of the stats that I've had and slightly disappointed that it's come to an end, but all in all a great day in the points and life is good," said Johnson, who extended his points lead to 109 on Matt Kenseth.
Johnson led once for 24 laps, the ninth consecutive LMS race he's been out front. He was second to Scott Riggs with 41 laps remaining and second to Edwards coming out of the last two cautions.
But as crew chief Chad Knaus said over the radio during the cool-down lap, "We were running second and third to [the Evernham Motorsports cars] all week."
Still, most of the more than 150,000 fans probably thought Johnson would win the way he hung around the lead on the track bearing the same name as his primary sponsor.
But instead of making the come-from-behind win as he did last year against Bobby Labonte, Kahne took the lead with 29 laps remaining and pulled steadily away.
"I couldn't believe the speed Kasey had," Johnson said. "We were close. We had a great car. We had the fastest car at times. We didn't have enough speed there at the end."
Johnson said so many short runs because of 15 cautions hurt his effort.
"We were all so programmed in our minds for longer runs," he said. "The crew chiefs had to adjust tire pressure and really set up the car for more of sprint races.
"As the night went on, we didn't stay on top of the adjustments. We threw a lot at it. We had a good idea of what to do, but the car just wasn't responding like it did in the all-star race."
Johnson rallied late last Saturday to capture his second all-star race in four years at LMS. He brought the same car to the 600, figuring it would come around as track conditions cooled once again.
"We didn't get it adjusted like we needed it, but we still were kind of holding our own with Kasey there at the end," Johnson said. "I just couldn't catch him."
It didn't help, Johnson said, that he had to race Edwards so hard once Kahne got around the two of them.
"I just lost a little time there and that really let Kasey get away and check out," he said.
That left Kahne to do a burnout on the turf that Johnson has owned for more than two seasons and Johnson to wonder what if.
"I've had my fair share [of wins], but you want to be greedy and win as many as you can," Johnson said of seeing his streak end. "I've won a couple that I shouldn't have won in a sense."
And while a few fans may have celebrated Johnson's finish, his competitors weren't.
"He's an unbelievable competitor and I'd have been happy for him to win just as much for Kasey," Edwards said. "I wasn't really happy to see him not win.
"I would have been really pumped for him to see him win that many in a row."