By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
PHOTO CREDIT: CIA STOCK PHOTO

DOVER, Del.(Sept. 26, 2010) —The leading rebounder in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series solidified his status in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Lest any of his competitors happened to forget that Jimmie Johnson will be a factor in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Johnson gave them a smoky reminder Sunday afternoon as he rallied from last week’s rocky start to the Chase at New Hampshire.

Moments after beating Jeff Burton to the checkered flag by a convincing 2.637 seconds on the 1-mile concrete oval, Johnson stirred up a cloud of smoke with a burnout on the Monster Mile’s asphalt apron near the entrance to the garage.

As the drivers he beat rolled through the gate to the garage area, they had to pass through Johnson’s smoky celebration. It wasn’t exactly a case of “eat my dust,” but it was close.

“Man, you are rubbing it into all these guys’ faces here,” crew chief Chad Knaus radioed to the driver, after Johnson completed the best-case rally from last week’s 25th-place run.

Indeed. Johnson won the pole, led the most laps (191) and scored maximum points (195) as he vaulted four positions to second in the Chase standings, 35 points behind ninth-place finisher Denny Hamlin, who posted a respectable result at a track that has plagued him in past Chases.

“It’s a huge weight off my shoulders that we were able to come here and win a race in the Chase, rebound from last week,” said Johnson, who won for the sixth time this season, the sixth time at Dover and the third time in the past four races at the Monster Mile.

With 53 Cup victories, Johnson is 10th all time, one behind Lee Petty and two behind Rusty Wallace.

Johnson regained the lead from Carl Edwards on Lap 366 of 400, when Edwards brought his No. 99 Ford to pit road during a cycle of green-flag stops. Johnson pulled away from Burton over the final 35 laps.

“Today is a great day for us, because it shows us what we are capable of and the fact that we can win races and be competitive in this Chase,” Johnson said. “This summer was hard on us—there’s no way around that. We had bad races and finished bad. We had good races and finished bad. So it’s nice today to do things start-to-finish all weekend long on the right foot.”

Joey Logano—the only non-Chase driver in the top six—finished third. Kurt Busch ran fourth, Edwards fifth and Kyle Busch sixth. Kyle Busch remained third in the standings and trails Hamlin by 45 points.

Burton hadn’t written off Johnson’s No. 48 team after New Hampshire—far from it.

“Well, they’re good,” he said before correcting himself. “They’re not good—they’re great. That word is not being overused when I say that. They’ve won four (championships) in a row. You’re not good doing that. You have to be great to do that.

“They’ve been in the hunt. They’ve been in the mix. I think they’re as seasoned as you can possibly be together. They fought the fights together. They haven’t won every championship together. They’ve lost some, too. Through losing some, you gain wisdom. Through winning some, you gain wisdom. They perform. That’s what they did.

“I expected them to come here and perform. This is one of their best race tracks. It didn’t surprise me to see them run as well as they did.”

Notes: A problem on the final green-flag pit stop dropped Jeff Gordon to 11th at the finish. He lost four spots in the standings to eighth, 83 points behind Hamlin. … Hamlin’s 35-point lead is the largest in Chase history after two races, but no driver who has led the standings after two races has gone on to win the title. … Clint Bowyer finished 25th, three laps down, and trails Hamlin by 235 points pending the result of Wednesday’s appeal of a 150-point penalty NASCAR levied against Bowyer when his race-winning car at New Hampshire failed inspection. … Tony Stewart went a lap down early and ultimately came home 21st, two laps down. After running out of fuel and finishing 24th at Loudon, Stewart is 10th in the standings, 162 points behind Hamlin.

1 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet
2 27 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
3 19 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota
4 8 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge
5 10 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford
6 11 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota
7 9 98 Paul Menard Sylvania/Menards Ford
8 13 39 Ryan Newman Haas Automation Chevrolet
9 4 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota
10 2 43 AJ Allmendinger Insignia HDTV Ford
11 15 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont/Law Enforcement Museum Chevrolet
12 42 5 Mark Martin Delphi/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
13 7 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald’s Chevrolet
14 5 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
15 33 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet
16 12 83 Reed Sorenson Red Bull Toyota
17 22 19 Elliott Sadler Air Force Ford
18 14 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford
19 6 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
20 23 47 Marcos Ambrose Bush’s Baked Beans/Scott Branded Products Toyota
21 25 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet
22 31 12 Brad Keselowski No. 12 Penske Dodge Dodge
23 32 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet
24 29 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
25 24 33 Clint Bowyer BB&T Chevrolet
26 18 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
27 34 09 Bobby Labonte Phoenix Construction Chevrolet
28 16 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser/Stanley Ford
29 26 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota
30 35 38 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford
31 41 37 Tony Raines A&W All American Food Ford
32 20 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota
33 30 34 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver’s Ford
34 3 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Toyota
35 17 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
36 21 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge
37 40 7 Kevin Conway # Extenze Toyota
38 39 71 Landon Cassill TRG Motorsports/TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet
39 43 46 Michael McDowell Cash America Dodge
40 38 55 Mike Bliss PRISM Motorsports Toyota
41 28 87 Joe Nemechek HeatRedefined.com Toyota
42 36 81 JJ Yeley Whitney Motorsports Dodge
43 37 36 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet

RACE RECAP | DOVER

10 A.J. Allmendinger
9 Denny Hamlin keeps the points lead by 35
8 Ryan Newman
7 Paul Menard
6 Kyle Busch
5 Carl Edwards
4 Kurt Busch
3 Joey Logano
2 Jeff Burton up to 7th in points

VICTORY LANE

1 Jimmie Johnson takes home his 53 career win, started on the pole, 6th win this season, 6th Dover win, and is back up to 2nd in points

Led the most laps

OTHER STORIES ON THE DAY

-First caution came out due to a loose caution light

-Ryan Newman got loose under David Reutimann, sending the 00 into the wall

-Tony Stewart sped on pit road and went 2 laps down

-AJ Allmendinger led more laps in this one than in his entire Cup Series career, but a right rear flat tire ended his chances

-Clint Bowyer got really loose and tagged the wall and was later caught speeding on pit road

-Matt Kenseth missed pit road coming to pit road, and then his left front tire blew, tearing apart the fender

-Add Kurt Busch to the list of Chase drivers caught speeding in pit road

-Martin Truex Jr. broke an axle while leaving pit road

Guest Column by Cathy Elliott

Have you heard about NASCAR’s massive conspiracy against Richard Childress Racing? It’s a humdinger.

On September 22, NASCAR announced that Mr. Childress and driver Clint Bowyer had each been penalized with the loss of 150 championship owner/driver points for one, actions detrimental to stock car racing; two, a determination by NASCAR officials that equipment used in a race did not conform to NASCAR rules; and three, that car body location specifications in reference to the certified chassis did not meet NASCAR-approved specifications.

VIDEO: SEE THE WAR OF WORDS – HAMLIN VS. HARVICK

Additionally, the crew chief of Bowyer’s No. 33 Chevrolet, Shane Wilson, was fined $150,000, and both Wilson and car chief Chad Haney were suspended from the next six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events and placed on probation until the end of the calendar year. This ruling dropped Bowyer from second to 12th place in the driver standings and left him with a serious staffing deficit in the shop, the garage and on pit road.

Ouch.

After Bowyer raced his way into the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Richmond, NASCAR warned RCR that his car was, according to Mr. Childress himself, “very close to their maximum tolerances. They also told us they were going to take our New Hampshire car to the NASCAR Technical Center after that race,” he said.

If you spend much time on message boards or listen to NASCAR Radio, you know there’s generally some sort of outcry when NASCAR levies a penalty for “actions detrimental to stock car racing.” People say the phrase is simply a non-specific catch-all excuse for a penalty, and that it means nothing.

But it does mean something. The NASCAR rulebook works roughly the same way as a beach town souvenir shop — if you break it, you buy it.

Well, don’t you know Bowyer went to New Hampshire and won the race, the first of the 10 Chase events?

As they said they would, NASCAR took the car — a different car than the one Bowyer raced at Richmond — back to its Research and Development Center and gave it a thorough going-over, after which it was determined that the left rear corner panel was about 60 one-thousandths of an inch too high. That’s about as thick as a fake fingernail, for those of you who know about stuff like that.

“We feel certain that the cause of the car being out of tolerance … happened as a result of the wrecker hitting the rear bumper when it pushed the car into the winner’s circle. The rear bumper was also hit on the cool down lap by other drivers congratulating Clint on his victory. That’s the only logical way that the left-rear of the car was found to be high at the tech center,” Mr. Childress said.

“It doesn’t make any sense at all that we would send a car to New Hampshire that wasn’t within NASCAR’s tolerances. I am confident we fixed the area of concern and the New Hampshire car left the race shop well within the tolerances required … We will appeal NASCAR’s ruling and take it all the way to the NASCAR commissioner for a final ruling, if need be.”

In the hours following the announcement, a calm Bowyer basically said he had no clue what the deal was, that he just showed up at the track with a helmet and a HANS device each weekend and raced the car.

But in a press conference at Dover on September 24, a much more agitated Bowyer implied that violations could be found on most, if not all, of the 43 cars in any given race if examined under the R&D Center microscope, and that he was being unfairly punished for breaking “a rule nobody in this room even understands.”

About 14 seconds after the news initially broke, Facebook exploded with a wide variety of its own grassy-knoll theories. While many of the complainers were disgruntled RCR supporters, there were plenty of fans claiming, “The fix is in.” NASCAR wants a Hendrick Motorsports driver to once again win the Sprint Cup championship.

Well, of course they do. A Richard Childress/Clint Bowyer championship would be devastating for NASCAR, right?

Bowyer made it into the Chase in the final race of the regular season. In most pre-Chase predictions I’ve seen, he is considered the driver least likely to win the 2010 Sprint Cup Series title. Shoot, he’s only won two Cup races in his entire career.

Bowyer’s image is that of a ‘regular guy,’ the type you could have a beer and some nachos with and actually relate to. He is potentially a real-life Cinderella story. Everybody hates those.

And then there’s that dreadful Richard Childress, respected team owner and dear friend of probably the most popular driver who ever lived. For nearly a decade now, we have seen Mr. Childress struggling to deal with personal loss and professional frustration. We’re definitely not tired of that yet, because it’s been a real treat to watch, right?

I will now remove my tongue from my cheek and assume this all sounds as ridiculous to you as it does to me. One thing I have noticed is that not one person on my Facebook page has commented on the fact that actual rules have been broken. Instead, those affected are saying that it honestly was accidental. I use that one on the cops all the time when they pull me over for speeding. Sometimes it’s even true.

It may be true in this case, too. Who knows? But isn’t it NASCAR’s job to enforce the rules especially closely during the Chase? Isn’t that exactly the right thing to do? A championship is at stake, after all.

If a team incurs a late-game penalty during the NFL playoffs and loses the game as a result, that’s it. Season over. See ya. But in NASCAR, you can go back and try again.

Unfortunately, we are often best remembered for the rules we break. Bowyer is not in the greatest shape right now, but he has time to make up lost ground. He did, after all, say the best way to deal with the penalty situation was to just go out and win some more races.

My favorite line from the movie “Seabiscuit” came from the Tick Tock McGlaughlin character, who said “One comeback I can take, but two? Who’s next? Lazarus?”

Lazarus is a long shot … but Clint Bowyer is still in the running.

The opinions expressed in this articles are solely those of the author and not this website.

By Brian Hilderbrand
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
Photo: CIA Stock Photo

(September 25, 2010)

LAS VEGAS—Rookie Austin Dillon grabbed the lead from James Buescher with 35 laps remaining and pulled away to post a commanding victory Saturday night over Johnny Sauter in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Dillon’s 5.588-second margin of victory in the Smith’s Food & Drug Stores 350 was the largest winning margin in 14 truck series races in Las Vegas. Buescher finished third, series points leader Todd Bodine was fourth and Matt Crafton was fifth.

Aric Almirola, Brian Ickler, Justin Lofton, Ricky Carmichael and Ken Schrader rounded out the top 10.

Dillon, who earned his first series victory at Iowa Speedway in July, had the dominant truck all night—once he got out front and was running in clean air. Dillon, 20, led 93 of the 146 laps.

“Anytime you’re in victory lane, it’s awesome,” said Dillon, whose grandfather is longtime NASCAR team owner Richard Childress. “This Chevy was awesome all night and (my crew) is the bomb.”

Dillon, who started from the pole, and Buescher waged a back-and-forth battle for much of the last third of the race before Dillon took the lead one lap after a restart on Lap 111. Buescher stayed on Dillon’s bumper before losing second place to Sauter on a restart on Lap 119 following the final caution of the race.

Dillon extended his lead over Sauter to nearly seven seconds before a spinning truck on the final lap forced Dillon to slow coming to the checkered flag.

Dillon had lost the lead to Buescher on a couple of restarts earlier in the race after choosing to start on the outside. On the final restart, Dillon moved down to the inside position and got the jump on Buescher and pulled away.

“At the beginning of the race, James was laying back so I was kind of timing it and that’s why I could get a really good restart,” Dillon said. “Then he started catching onto it, and there at the end I just waited for him to do his little move and I was able to catch it and (my truck) pulled off.”

Dillon’s victory no doubt provided an emotional lift for Childress, whose No. 33 Sprint Cup Series team was penalized by NASCAR and suffered accusations of cheating for much of the week.

“I talked to (my grandfather) earlier in the week, and he said, ‘Man, you’ve got to go win this race for me out here,’ ” Dillon said. “To come out here and do it is pretty awesome. You dream about stuff like this and when it comes true, it’s great.”

By virtue of finishing two places ahead of Almirola, Bodine increased his lead in the drivers’ standings to 262 points over Almirola with five races remaining. Sauter remained in third place in the standings, 300 points behind Bodine.

There were 14 lead changes among nine drivers and the race was slowed by seven caution periods for 30 laps.